c4countdown

David Roe

If rabbits have a greater capacity for suffering than haddock (which they probably do) and you base your diet on how much the organisms you eat have suffered before they ended up on your plate then that would make sense to me. You have to draw the line somewhere, otherwise you can replace haddock w...

David Roe

(I'm not proposing that religion is a 'sensible moral code', by the way, more just saying something that seems relevant.) By "sensible moral code", I didn't actually mean "a moral code you agree with". I'm not vegetarian, but I can see it as understandable if that's how it takes...

David Roe

The Lancashire [Evening] Telegraph is advertising a coach tour to Granada studios to see Countdown recorded on 12th May. Is that the first day of filming?

David Roe

There's nothing hypocritical about eating fish but not other meat, it all depends on your reasons for not eating meat. Quite right, Ben. The hypocritical element is anyone calling themselves a vegetarian and eating fish. I don't consider that particularly hypocritical. What would be hypocritical wo...

David Roe

Kieran Child wrote:A term I heard recently and quite liked was "fish and chip-ocrite"

CJ de Mooi said it on Eggheads, that may have been the one you heard.

David Roe

None of your stories are serious enough for libel cases, George. It costs a fortune to sue for libel, and the rewards for publicity on a site like this would be titchy. Besides, the best defence against libel is truth. He's got to prove you're lying (on balance of probability) to win. Anyway, I want...

David Roe

And then again, the official government definition of "free range" eggs includes (unless they've changed it recently) a giant chicken house with only one small door, so half the chickens don't even know they can get out. As opposed to the little farm where the chickens run around wherever ...

David Roe

Doughnuts have milk & eggs in. Not a problem for vegetarians, but vegans are a little more picky.

David Roe

Also, wrt Rachel saying 'there must be a more straightforward way' for the 424, I ended up doing 28*15 + 4, which I'm not really convinced is more straightforward (tbh, I think doing 106*4 is a pretty intuitive way to do it, I was trying to do that at first, but couldn't make it work). Also, this d...

David Roe

Health and safety on the Railways? It didn't exist in the old days. This is probably of interest only to Railway enthusiasts, and is an indication of how we were expected to work. Just to correct your misconception, George, I'm by no means a railway enthusiast but still find your stories really int...

David Roe

GRRRL for 5, maybe? Or is GRR in there?

David Roe

Just watching it back now I'm sweating as it brings back so many memories. After the edits (hardly any if any at all) I remember Charlie and Sid stormed onto the set and Charlie gave me a massive hug. :D It's a dangerous game, playing well when Charlie's around. Fortunately I'll never be at risk. O...

David Roe

The trick in question 10 - is it that Torbay isn't a town?

David Roe

There are plenty of sentences where recasting them to move the preposition away from the end gives a very awkward result, e.g. "The children knew what I was looking at." and some where even a simple sentence would require major surgery to remove the trailing preposition, e.g. "The do...

David Roe

I don't believe in ghosts, but... When my niece was just about 2, her great-grandma died. Rose was too young to know this. A couple of days before the funeral, Rose said "What's grandma doing in the garden"? The others told her not to be silly, but asked which grandma; Rose said "Gran...

David Roe

I think Kate's sexuality has been thoroughly marginalised by now!

David Roe

Kirk Bevins wrote:So frustrating that no-one ever spells my name right. Grrrr.

Even Channel 4's own subtitler had you as "Bevans" today.

David Roe

Michael Wallace wrote:I'm surprised by the discussion about how the cheat detector works - did no-one else notice Charlie installing cameras in their bedroom?

I did, but it never occurred to me that it was in connection with Apterous.

David Roe

Damian, I asked because when I looked over the e-mail I eventually sent to Des and Carol which Des O'Connor eventually read on the air, I had just realized I forgot to plug UK Nova. Kate suggested this, and I ended up sending an e-mail to Jeff and Rachel congratulating them on getting the job as th...

David Roe

Oh, and nobody's said this because it's of little importance, but did you all notice the challenger asking for "consonance" all the way through the game? You'd think someone who'd been on 8 quiz shows including 15-to-1 would be able to pronounce a nine-letter word. It's of no importance a...

David Roe

I've had my share of idolaters.

Whatever happened to Gentoo? It was the Leotard of the 80's, but hasn't been seen since?

David Roe

No I'd choose one or two large there. If he's 19 behind then obviously he's gotta try and win, but he's nearly 100 behind! The only immediate example I can think of, is in professional baseball if a pitcher's got a perfect game going in the late innings, you don't try and bunt for a hit, you try an...

David Roe

If you're over 45, you couldn't work out the 15th root of anything unless you had access to a mainframe computer. If you're under 45, the powers that be didn't realise pocket calculators had been invented, so carried on teaching logs.

David Roe

(From the original link) "Under the plans, Emmerdale would become self-contained at its current filming location, but with far fewer staff, and Countdown could move to a different studio facility elsewhere in the UK." Any chance that Emmerdale might have a big studio they can lend out for ...

David Roe

Shame Damian doesn't come on any more. I'd like to tell him about Burnley beating his mob for the second time this season.

David Roe

They've used Tyne-Tees studio in the past, when the Leeds studio was double-booked - I think it was about 2001. (Is Tyne-Tees studio still there?)

David Roe

Paul Howe wrote:
Ben Hunter wrote:The superbly named Ann Abel
Haha, worst parents ever.

Don't blame the parents - she's married.

David Roe

We seem to be better suited to teams that want to try and beat us, hence they come forward and attack, rather than have 10 players camped in their own six yard box like most teams do that come to the Emirates. I don't blame the smaller teams for this tactic, just cant understand why, with the quali...

David Roe

Although I've used the word "butter" a couple of times, I actually use margarine in sandwiches. It spreads more easily and is more neutral-tasting, but has the necessary lubricative properties. If it's just spreading that's the problem, use spreading butter. So much better tasting than ma...

David Roe

Anyway, why has no one yet addressed the far more controversial question I posed earlier, viz: is it a "sand-widge" or a "sand-witch"? Neither. In this case, you are utterly wrong. Never in the field of human conflict has any man or woman ever pronounced the 'd' in sanwitch. (or...

David Roe

If you have a sandwich in your hand, and you eat half of it, what are you left with? Half a sandwich, or a sandwich? Half, surely. If you eat a sandwich in 12 bites, how many sandwiches have you eaten? 1, or 12? 1, surely. So far, I've agreed with every word Phil has said. (I think I need profession...

David Roe

So does a sandwich have a clear definition? What if you don't know the "history" of the bread it is cut from? If you're at a party, and there's a plate of little triangular sandwiches with different fillings, and someone asks you to "pass them a cheese sandwich", do you simply l...

David Roe

I'd just like to say that by posting here I can ensure that searching for my name on this site will bring up the "Best Ever Contestants" thread.

Signed,

David Roe.

David Roe

If you make a sandwich with 2 whole slices of bread, and then cut it in half, you get two sandwiches. If you cut each of the two new sandwiches in half, you get two sandwiches cut in half. The poll is not sufficiently detailed to cover this option. Boo. Be ashamed.

David Roe

I would have thought the great majority of viewers of Countdown want to see good contests and don't care about the domestic arrangements of competitors. Most contestants want to do well, but some it seems have hidden agendas, and use the programme to publicise themselves, either as a job interview ...

David Roe

Michael Wallace wrote:Of course, if you have repeated letters this reduces the number of possible permutations, so POOP scores 1/6 since there are only 6 ways you can distinctly arrange 2 pairs of letters.

OPPO. That makes 2/6.

David Roe

I thought conumdrums only ever had one soloution, if he said measuring would he have been wrong? There was at least one occasion, probably 10+ years ago, when a contestant buzzed in and said some word which sounded to me like one of Jo Brand's words, but RW said let's see if you're right, and it wa...

David Roe

On't bookshelf in't front room. Never been used for tea.

We stopped the tape when the teapot was on, to see if we could spot the difference. we couldn't. Of course, we wouldn't get colour shades.

David Roe

David Roe wrote:When did "grails" become acceptable? It's always been disallowed when I've heard it before, presumably it's got into the NODE2 with a lower case g?

Anyone?

David Roe

You are a bit innocent aren't you David!! Russell T Davies is a playwright best known currently for bringing back 'Doctor Who' to the BBC after a lengthy gap. About ten years ago he wrote a series about homesexual goings-on in Manchester and wanted to call it "Queer as Fuck" but C4 wouldn...

David Roe

the lgf are a good old lesbian and gay charity in manchester, worth supporting (like george house trust is worth supporting, the charity hiv charity i work for) The guy who put this on the web-site delivers condoms to me at work on a regular basis (it's part of my work - how i wish i could of talke...

David Roe

When did "grails" become acceptable? It's always been disallowed when I've heard it before, presumably it's got into the NODE2 with a lower case g?

David Roe

But, what about Russell T Davies using it in the title 'Queer as Folk' which I know is a play on the expression, but none the less... Don't know who Russell T. Davies is, but I do know the expression "queer as folk" as it is normally used has absolutely nothing to do with homosexuality. I...

David Roe

If that's what the Lesbian and Gay Foundation reckon to be controversial, they must have led very sheltered lives.

David Roe

If you want people to know the difference between mathematics and arithmetic, you need to start at school. That's where the two get confused, with GCSE mathematics. By and large it's only people who've seen or studied maths at university that realise you can be a competent mathematician even though ...

David Roe

Hannah O wrote:Now, seriously, where can one get hold of this Calendar? Is it exclusive to Countdown contestants only (did it arrive in their goody bag), or can the general public buy it too?

You could buy it from Amazon in late 2008, but I've no idea whether they still have them in stock.

David Roe

She drew a 9 from the top today, and it wasn't a great success. The loop was almost closed.

David Roe

1) I am a rampant feminist who believes make-up is demeaning to women, and any woman who wears make-up, is to some extent, prostituting herself. 2) I hate myself and don't think I deserve to look pretty. 3) I'm allergic to make up and would come out in an itchy red rash. 4) It never occured to me t...

David Roe

While I'm here, is there an example that counters this theory: 1: There must be a 1p coin. 2: The gap between each coin must be the same or greater then the preceding gaps of lower calue coins. 3: From the 4th coin onwards, you must be able to make change for that coin from any combination of just ...

David Roe

Maybe she could start her 6's from the bottom, like upside-down 9's?

David Roe

I had the same set of numbers three times in a row on my own choice of numbers on Apterous earlier: 100, 75, 50, 25, 10, 3 The first time, the target was 314, which looks alright until you try it. Towards the end of the time, I came up with this: 75 * 100 = 7500 10 - 3 = 7 7 * 50 = 350 7500 + 350 =...

David Roe

The sum in my head has now become "(7x(75-2))+5", and I neither know nor care what the intermediate totals are. So then I'd say to Rachel, "Take the 2 from the 75, then multiple by 7..." and she'd be saying, "7 x 73 is..." and I haven't a clue what 7 x 73 is! OK so I c...

David Roe

For Roxanne to give an opinion is fine. To give it in a "I'm right, anyone who disagrees is wrong" way is arrogant. But to give an instruction to us all is asking for trouble on this forum. Maybe with only 7 posts she hasn't noticed, but there are people on here who don't like being told w...

David Roe

Tips on 4 large? Best one IMO is that 25 x 25 = 625. You can use (100-75) or (75-50) to get one of the 25s; you've got 100 or 50 left to add or subtract; and you've still got 2 small numbers to fiddle about with for the detail. Anything between 510 and 740 or so and that's my first stop. If it's a b...

David Roe

Danish have a letter Å, or å in lower case, which can also be written as AA or aa. Eg. the town of Ålborg, or Aalborg. With the complication that the letter Åå as a separate letter comes at position 27, after Z, so Ålborg is at the end of any index. But Aalborg is at the beginning of any index. Whic...

David Roe

I find this hard to believe, although there isn't another language I speak well enough to test this out on. I'd love to know what your source is, I'll gladly read (or skim) it. No idea what the source was, sorry, it's something I heard years ago. But it was said in relation to crosswords, and why t...

David Roe

Anglo-French pun: Why does the French President only have one egg for breakfast? Because one egg's un oeuf. I was told English and French are the only two languages where cryptic crosswords really work, because they're the only two languages with puns. Oddly enough, American seems to be included as ...

David Roe

Kai Laddiman wrote:I got all but 7 of the clues right.

I got ALL the clues right. It was the answers I struggled with.

David Roe

Hymn sung every year before the FA Cup Final, and also at funerals - the first line is

"Abide with me, fast falls the eventide"

It means evening.

David Roe

Thomas. Why?

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