COUNTDOWN 30TH CHAMPIONSHIP

Mike Brown · Post by **Mike Brown** » Tue Oct 16, 2012 4:37 pm

Maybe a (shock, horror) random number generator (like a 1-digit CECIL) could decide how many large numbers you get in R14. It's fair for everyone and Rachel isn't put in a difficult position.

EDIT: Oops, I see it's already been suggested in the other thread! (quite like the idea, though, at least for knockout games). Maybe it could choose the number of vowels in R13 too!

David Barnard · Post by **David Barnard** » Tue Oct 16, 2012 7:28 pm

I'll be there

Can't wait to watch a bit of talent fortunately from the audience rather than playing against it. I'm up for joining whoever is going out after filming is done for the day.

Andy Platt · Post by **Andy Platt** » Wed Oct 17, 2012 10:06 am

I only got it for the afternoon on the 21st.

I asked to be added to a reserve list if such thing exists

Andy McGurn · Post by **Andy McGurn** » Thu Oct 18, 2012 7:04 pm

I didn't get picked (not that I thought i would) but a friend of my girlfriend was a series champion back in the 80's and we asked him if he wanted to apply but he decided against it because he hasn't played for years and also didn't want to be destroyed by all the apterites out there.

Im hoping for an Innis Carson-Chris Davies final.

Mark Deeks · Post by **Mark Deeks** » Thu Oct 18, 2012 8:36 pm

It'll mean thinking up a new signature.

Rhys Benjamin · Post by **Rhys Benjamin** » Thu Oct 18, 2012 8:50 pm

Potential Close Games:

Game 4 could be oh-so-close. Ben Wilson was never an octochamp (Series 46, the series of the viscounts) so we never got to see his full potential. Conor Travers was the boy wonder of Countdown at the time (I even think there was once an advert about him - "Can anyone stop Conor Travers...? Countdown, 3:25, on Channel 4") and I wonder whether it will be down to one letters round, or even a tie-break conundrum.

Game 8 - the current Champion of Champions versus Series 61 runner-up, Andrew Hulme. That's one I'm really looking forward to seeing.

Game 9 - two modern players who should have won (and in Ed's case, did) their series.

Game 11 is a game of youth. Both quite young. Science proves that you are at your brainiest on your 25th birthday. Unfortunately, I can't find any record of Jon's age. Kai will be growing brain cells during the recording - but is Jon past that mark? If so, then Kai should win. If not, that will be oh-so-close.

Game 15 won't be an upset as such if Marcus gets knocked out, but that would still mean Marcus Hares would be out in Round One.

Game 19... the (academic) yearly champion match.

Game 22 looks meaty. I expect Nick Wainwright and Jack Hurst to win their prelims but bear in mind that Wainwright was last seen in 2009 for the CoC and could be a lot better.

Game 25 will be interesting, as it's the winners of Games 8 and 9.

Game 27, if my predictions turn out to be true, should be Kai Laddiman versus Barry Grossman. A massive age difference (Barry won his series before Kai was born) and Kai should easily waltz that, to the disappointment of the Series 21 champ.

And then.... who knows what will happen?

Mike Brown · Post by **Mike Brown** » Thu Oct 18, 2012 10:03 pm

Rhys Benjamin wrote:Game 11 is a game of youth. Both quite young. Science proves that you are at your brainiest on your 25th birthday. Unfortunately, I can't find any record of Jon's age. Kai will be growing brain cells during the recording - but is Jon past that mark? If so, then Kai should win. If not, that will be oh-so-close.

Jono was 15 when he first appeared on Countdown in April 2005, so I guess he's either 22 or 23. Must admit I thought he was older than that until I checked!

David Williams · Post by **David Williams** » Thu Oct 18, 2012 10:09 pm

Rhys Benjamin wrote:Science proves that you are at your brainiest on your 25th birthday.

How does it do that?

Graeme Cole · Post by **Graeme Cole** » Thu Oct 18, 2012 10:11 pm

David Williams wrote:
Rhys Benjamin wrote:Science proves that you are at your brainiest on your 25th birthday.
How does it do that?

With Science, of course.

Mike Brown · Post by **Mike Brown** » Thu Oct 18, 2012 10:13 pm

David Williams wrote:
Rhys Benjamin wrote:Science proves that you are at your brainiest on your 25th birthday.
How does it do that?

If you were 25, you'd know.

Gavin Chipper · Post by **Gavin Chipper** » Thu Oct 18, 2012 10:37 pm

Mike Brown wrote:
Rhys Benjamin wrote:Game 11 is a game of youth. Both quite young. Science proves that you are at your brainiest on your 25th birthday. Unfortunately, I can't find any record of Jon's age. Kai will be growing brain cells during the recording - but is Jon past that mark? If so, then Kai should win. If not, that will be oh-so-close.
Jono was 15 when he first appeared on Countdown in April 2005, so I guess he's either 22 or 23. Must admit I thought he was older than that until I checked!

It's because he looks older. It was proved in the pub after COLIN that he looks older than me, and I'm, like, well old.

James Robinson · Post by **James Robinson** » Sun Oct 21, 2012 9:44 pm

UH-OH!!!!!!!!!! Daily Mail alert!!!!!: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/ar ... rsary.html

Bob De Caux · Post by **Bob De Caux** » Sun Oct 21, 2012 10:03 pm

'Carol will not be sitting in dictionary corner'

That seems a pretty uncontroversial statement - does she suddenly fancy herself as a lexicographer now?

David Williams · Post by **David Williams** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 8:40 am

Bob De Caux wrote:'Carol will not be sitting in dictionary corner'

That seems a pretty uncontroversial statement - does she suddenly fancy herself as a lexicographer now?

If it wasn't for the ill-will I think it would have been great to have her as a DC guest for the 30th anniversary. It could be good even so. The Countdown Team would feed her made-up words for Susie to disallow, and Carol could criticise Rachel's dress sense and suggest easier solutions to numbers games.

Lesley Hines · Post by **Lesley Hines** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 8:43 am

Carol Vorderman wrote:I was always terribly loyal to Countdown

Er, isn't the test of loyalty how you behave when they're not paying you a million big ones a year?

Matt Morrison · Post by **Matt Morrison** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 2:09 pm

She didn't lie, she said she was terribly loyal.

Gavin Chipper · Post by **Gavin Chipper** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 7:25 pm

Bob De Caux wrote:'Carol will not be sitting in dictionary corner'

That seems a pretty uncontroversial statement - does she suddenly fancy herself as a lexicographer now?

There's two people in DC, only one of which is a lexicographer. Not that you need to be a lexicographer to do Susie's job...

Bob De Caux · Post by **Bob De Caux** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 8:14 pm

Yeah, I realised this morning that I was being an idiot. For some reason it hadn't occurred to me that they meant as a guest!

szodiac · Post by **szodiac** » Thu Oct 25, 2012 7:12 pm

Latest news:

And I quote from Robert Richland from Facebook: "I have had to withdraw from taking part on "Countdown 30th".

I have been short listed to appear on "Pointless" . . . the recording dates AND the transmission dates for both shows practically coincide, and the rules in the small print state that I cannot appear in both if the transmission dates are less than 3 months apart.

Just have to hope that this gamble pays off . . . otherwise it'll be a mite embarrassing if I end up not appearing on "Pointless" either !"

Mauro

James Robinson · Post by **James Robinson** » Thu Oct 25, 2012 7:20 pm

szodiac wrote:Latest news:

And I quote from Robert Richland from Facebook: "I have had to withdraw from taking part on "Countdown 30th".

I have been short listed to appear on "Pointless" . . . the recording dates AND the transmission dates for both shows practically coincide, and the rules in the small print state that I cannot appear in both if the transmission dates are less than 3 months apart.

Just have to hope that this gamble pays off . . . otherwise it'll be a mite embarrassing if I end up not appearing on "Pointless" either !"

Mauro

Oooooooooooooooh, OK, hands up, who's the first replacement on the standby list

Ian Volante · Post by **Ian Volante** » Thu Oct 25, 2012 7:46 pm

Woohoo, that's me up to 187th!

Matt Morrison · Post by **Matt Morrison** » Thu Oct 25, 2012 9:06 pm

Having been shortlisted on Pointless, that is a gamble.

Gavin Chipper · Post by **Gavin Chipper** » Thu Oct 25, 2012 10:39 pm

szodiac wrote:Latest news:

And I quote from Robert Richland from Facebook: "I have had to withdraw from taking part on "Countdown 30th".

I have been short listed to appear on "Pointless" . . . the recording dates AND the transmission dates for both shows practically coincide, and the rules in the small print state that I cannot appear in both if the transmission dates are less than 3 months apart.

Just have to hope that this gamble pays off . . . otherwise it'll be a mite embarrassing if I end up not appearing on "Pointless" either !"

Mauro

Bit of a pointless gamble anyway, as Countdown is clearly the better show.

Kirk Bevins · Post by **Kirk Bevins** » Fri Oct 26, 2012 11:53 am

And surely you could do Pointless further in the future...or say you can't make that filming date and ask to rearrange? The Countdown 30th championship won't come up again and it's a chance you have to take...if you really were interested of course.

JackHurst · Post by **JackHurst** » Fri Oct 26, 2012 1:22 pm

Haha, what a tool!

Tom · Post by **Tom** » Fri Oct 26, 2012 4:47 pm

All each to their own but it just seems crazy to snub it when this is a one off opportunity and accepting an offer to appear is a real honour considering how many applicants there supposedly were.

Out of interest, does anyone know how many reserve players there are in the pipeline?

T

Ben Wilson · Post by **Ben Wilson** » Fri Oct 26, 2012 7:56 pm

Tom wrote:Out of interest, does anyone know how many reserve players there are in the pipeline?

T

Judging by previous posts, about 170-ish.

Countdown Team · Post by **Countdown Team** » Fri Oct 26, 2012 9:02 pm

Series 6 winner Darryl Francis has stepped forward to take the place of Robert, whom we wish the best of luck on Pointless.

Matt Morrison · Post by **Matt Morrison** » Fri Oct 26, 2012 10:05 pm

Countdown Team wrote:Series 6 winner Darryl Francis has stepped forward to take the place of Robert, whom we wish the best of luck in getting on Pointless.

Fixed.

Graeme Cole · Post by **Graeme Cole** » Fri Oct 26, 2012 10:47 pm

Countdown Team wrote:Series 6 winner Darryl Francis has stepped forward to take the place of Robert, whom we wish the best of luck on Pointless.

In light of this development...

I'm very bad at Tetris updated.

CSS? What's that? updated.

This means Darryl is now the earliest-appearing contestant - he showed up in Episode 12 when the programme was 20 days old before coming back for series 6. Unfortunately, we know bugger all squared in a box about this game, so it's not included in any of the stats.

Gavin Chipper · Post by **Gavin Chipper** » Fri Oct 26, 2012 11:50 pm

Graeme Cole wrote:
Countdown Team wrote:Series 6 winner Darryl Francis has stepped forward to take the place of Robert, whom we wish the best of luck on Pointless.
In light of this development...

I'm very bad at Tetris updated.

CSS? What's that? updated.

This means Darryl is now the earliest-appearing contestant - he showed up in Episode 12 when the programme was 20 days old before coming back for series 6. Unfortunately, we know bugger all squared in a box about this game, so it's not included in any of the stats.

This Darryl Francis episode reminds me, a couple of players (like Kirk Bevins and Andrew Hulme) had more than one "career", and I think it would make sense to have statistics just for their main career, not necessarily instead of but perhaps in addition to their overall stats.

Was Darryl actually on the reserve list? I got the feeling that they were struggling to get many contestants from longer ago, implying Darryl definitely would have got on had he initially applied. And "stepped forward" doesn't sound like "plucked off the reserve list". Queue jumping!

James Robinson · Post by **James Robinson** » Sat Oct 27, 2012 8:17 am

Gavin Chipper wrote:
Graeme Cole wrote:
Countdown Team wrote:Series 6 winner Darryl Francis has stepped forward to take the place of Robert, whom we wish the best of luck on Pointless.
In light of this development...

I'm very bad at Tetris updated.

CSS? What's that? updated.

This means Darryl is now the earliest-appearing contestant - he showed up in Episode 12 when the programme was 20 days old before coming back for series 6. Unfortunately, we know bugger all squared in a box about this game, so it's not included in any of the stats.
This Darryl Francis episode reminds me, a couple of players (like Kirk Bevins and Andrew Hulme) had more than one "career", and I think it would make sense to have statistics just for their main career, not necessarily instead of but perhaps in addition to their overall stats.

Was Darryl actually on the reserve list? I got the feeling that they were struggling to get many contestants from longer ago, implying Darryl definitely would have got on had he initially applied. And "stepped forward" doesn't sound like "plucked off the reserve list". Queue jumping!

Well, he's just joined here, maybe we can ask him

Countdown Team · Post by **Countdown Team** » Sat Oct 27, 2012 7:22 pm

Yes, please do.

Graeme Cole · Post by **Graeme Cole** » Sun Oct 28, 2012 3:26 pm

Last week Charlie left a link to an XML dump of the wiki lying around on his user page. I thought it looked pretty shiny so I snaffled it like some kind of data magpie. Hope that's okay, Charlie.

From this I've extracted the round details of most of the Countdown games we have on the wiki, and beat them into a computer-readable form so I can data-mine the bejeesus out of it.

There's now a new improved championship player stats page. Best viewed on a very wide monitor.

A lot of the stuff in there I've put in just because I can, rather than because it's interesting. Games that are not included are Darryl Francis' first game in 1982 (because we don't have details for it), and Sandie Simonis' second Masters game and John Ashmore's special against Mark Fisher (because they were never shown and we don't have the details anyway).

Titbits:
Mark Tournoff has the highest conundrum success rate, having solved 13 out of 15.
David Hoskisson is the only player of the 41 never to have had a word disallowed.
Jack Hurst, Edward McCullagh, Paul Keane and Tom Rowell are the only players never to have faced a crucial conundrum.
The end of Chris and Innis's semi-final was the only time Innis had been behind - not only in that game, but ever.
Over his 11 games, Jack Hurst dropped only three points on numbers rounds. This gives him the best numbers score as a percentage of the maximum (99.1%) of all the players.
Four players have never been beaten on numbers: Nick Deller, David O'Donnell, and preliminary-round rivals Jack Hurst and Mark Deeks.

I've got some other interesting stats that are more general rather than relating to players in this tournament, so I'll do those in a separate thread.

Jon O'Neill · Post by **Jon O'Neill** » Sun Oct 28, 2012 3:57 pm

This is brilliant, I'm very excited for the new thread.

Matt Morrison · Post by **Matt Morrison** » Sun Oct 28, 2012 4:45 pm

Graham, you're amazing. If only you were not so scared of CSS and jQuery! Imagine sortable columns...

Gavin Chipper · Post by **Gavin Chipper** » Sun Oct 28, 2012 9:33 pm

Very nice, but:

Graeme Cole wrote:Jack Hurst, Edward McCullagh, Paul Keane and Tom Rowell are the only players never to have faced a crucial conundrum.

is a bit of a weird stratistic because not facing a crucial conundrum due to being too far behind is a completely different thing from when you're too far ahead, so I'm not sure I'd count this as a "thing".

Jon O'Neill · Post by **Jon O'Neill** » Sun Oct 28, 2012 9:50 pm

Gavin Chipper wrote:Very nice, but:
Graeme Cole wrote:Jack Hurst, Edward McCullagh, Paul Keane and Tom Rowell are the only players never to have faced a crucial conundrum.
is a bit of a weird stratistic because not facing a crucial conundrum due to being too far behind is a completely different thing from when you're too far ahead, so I'm not sure I'd count this as a "thing".

It's a curio, not a KPI. Not everything has to be a KPI.

Nick Deller · Post by **Nick Deller** » Mon Oct 29, 2012 11:57 am

Graeme Cole wrote:Four players have never been beaten on numbers: Nick Deller, David O'Donnell, and preliminary-round rivals Jack Hurst and Mark Deeks.

It's a statistic, but in my case it's one well worth ignoring. I only played 8 rounds, had at least a couple of fairly straightforward fails, and none of my opponents were strong numberists. Most players in the championship will have lost rounds because they've reached series finals or CofCs and done battle with specialists.

Tom · Post by **Tom** » Wed Oct 31, 2012 5:51 pm

Might be posting in the wrong topic, but does anyone know what happened to Martin Gardner?? He always was on the forums and was really involved with the show but see he hasn't posted for a while - I know he wasn't to everyone's tastes but does anyone have any ideas? Another Zef perhaps

Ben Wilson · Post by **Ben Wilson** » Thu Nov 01, 2012 1:39 pm

Is there any news yet on who'll be in dictionary corner for the recordings?What money the first reply to this will be 'Susie'?

Mike Brown · Post by **Mike Brown** » Thu Nov 01, 2012 8:34 pm

Ben Wilson wrote:Is there any news yet on who'll be in dictionary corner for the recordings?What money the first reply to this will be 'Susie'?

According to the audience co-ordinator, still TBC at present.

Gavin Chipper · Post by **Gavin Chipper** » Thu Nov 01, 2012 10:58 pm

Ben Wilson wrote:Is there any news yet on who'll be in dictionary corner for the recordings?What money the first reply to this will be 'Susie'?

Susie?

You lost the bet though, because this is the second reply.

Martin Bishop · Post by **Martin Bishop** » Fri Nov 02, 2012 6:32 pm

I'd be surprised if Gyles Brandreth doesn't make an appearance. He always gets wheeled out for landmark shows.

Philip Jarvis · Post by **Philip Jarvis** » Fri Nov 02, 2012 10:40 pm

Martin Bishop wrote:I'd be surprised if Gyles Brandreth doesn't make an appearance. He always gets wheeled out for landmark shows.

Gyles will actually make his next appearance on the show due to be screened Mon 19 November 2012. IMO, this is definitely a landmark show.

Graeme Cole · Post by **Graeme Cole** » Sat Nov 10, 2012 12:16 am

Some news which is known to a few people now, and which the powers-that-be have confirmed needn't be kept secret...

Marcus Hares has regretfully had to withdraw from the tournament due to work commitments. Adam Gillard will take his place.

Ian Volante · Post by **Ian Volante** » Sat Nov 10, 2012 12:37 am

Graeme Cole wrote:Some news which is known to a few people now, and which the powers-that-be have confirmed needn't be kept secret...

Marcus Hares has regretfully had to withdraw from the tournament due to work commitments. Adam Gillard will take his place.

Innis will be pleased.

Kirk Bevins · Post by **Kirk Bevins** » Sat Nov 10, 2012 10:11 am

Ian Volante wrote:
Graeme Cole wrote:Some news which is known to a few people now, and which the powers-that-be have confirmed needn't be kept secret...

Marcus Hares has regretfully had to withdraw from the tournament due to work commitments. Adam Gillard will take his place.
Innis will be pleased.

Hmmm. Their head to head 15 rounders: Innis Carson 130 - Adam Gillard 19. I'm not sure he's that bothered.

Matt Morrison · Post by **Matt Morrison** » Sat Nov 10, 2012 10:24 am

Kirk Bevins wrote:
Ian Volante wrote:
Graeme Cole wrote:Some news which is known to a few people now, and which the powers-that-be have confirmed needn't be kept secret...
Marcus Hares has regretfully had to withdraw from the tournament due to work commitments. Adam Gillard will take his place.
Innis will be pleased.
Hmmm. Their head to head 15 rounders: Innis Carson 130 - Adam Gillard 19. I'm not sure he's that bothered.

Ian said Innis will be pleased.

Gavin Chipper · Post by **Gavin Chipper** » Sat Nov 10, 2012 2:12 pm

Shame we won't see Marcus in this, but I think that Adam is a very good choice for replacement. He'd make my top 41.

Gavin Chipper · Post by **Gavin Chipper** » Sat Nov 10, 2012 2:25 pm

Gavin Chipper wrote:
James Robinson wrote:This is more mental than even I can dream of!!!!

Superb work, Graeme.

Now, who's going to win (I've already made my predictions, if what I hypothesise is true, we've got a cracking tournament coming our way.)
Based purely from what I'd seen on the show, I'd say that Jack Hurst was favourite and then Edward McCullagh, but based on what I've also seen on Apterous, Innis is probably current favourite. Having said that, his number one pro rank position will probably come under a lot of pressure as all those top players go into full training.

Conor Travers, Kirk Bevins and Chris Davies are also three obvious picks.

Looking at Pro Ranks and top 15-round players, Jack Worsley and Mark Deeks can't be overlooked, and now that he's in, Adam Gillard.

I haven't really studied the draw though - that can clearly make a massive difference.

Marcus Hares · Post by **Marcus Hares** » Sat Nov 10, 2012 2:42 pm

Very disappointed not to be able to take part - it was a great honour to have been chosen but I'm very pleased that Adam gets to play - I very much look forward to seeing that match. Good luck to all those involved!

Innis Carson · Post by **Innis Carson** » Sat Nov 10, 2012 5:27 pm

Kirk Bevins wrote:
Ian Volante wrote:
Graeme Cole wrote:Some news which is known to a few people now, and which the powers-that-be have confirmed needn't be kept secret...

Marcus Hares has regretfully had to withdraw from the tournament due to work commitments. Adam Gillard will take his place.
Innis will be pleased.
Hmmm. Their head to head 15 rounders: Innis Carson 130 - Adam Gillard 19. I'm not sure he's that bothered.

Adam is an excellent player and recently my wins against him have almost invariably been on crucial conundrums - to dismiss him like this would be ridiculous.

Gutted to see Marcus miss out on the tournament, but I'm really glad that Adam's got a place now, he fully deserved one from the start.

Adam Gillard · Post by **Adam Gillard** » Sat Nov 10, 2012 6:05 pm

Thanks Marcus and Innis for your kind words. I feel so privileged to be taking part in this historic Championship and I hope we can put on a good show. A real shame for Marcus though

Eoin Monaghan · Post by **Eoin Monaghan** » Sat Nov 10, 2012 7:23 pm

Adam Gillard wrote:Thanks Marcus and Innis for your kind words. I feel so privileged to be taking part in this historic Championship and I hope we can put on a good show. A real shame for Marcus though

But Adam... who can sympathise with me now?

Just kidding... really happy for you!

Tom · Post by **Tom** » Thu Nov 15, 2012 6:58 pm

Is anyone playing/spectating on the Tuesday recording next week gonna be in Manchester on Monday night? I'm getting up there late afternoon and will probably be at the bar in the Jury's Inn sometime in the evening so if you see me come say hi.

Mark Deeks · Post by **Mark Deeks** » Thu Nov 15, 2012 8:55 pm

I will, but it's the missus' birthday, so I'm far more likely to be around the Tuesday.

Kirk Bevins · Post by **Kirk Bevins** » Sun Nov 18, 2012 9:41 pm

Innis Carson wrote: Adam is an excellent player and recently my wins against him have almost invariably been on crucial conundrums - to dismiss him like this would be ridiculous.

Gutted to see Marcus miss out on the tournament, but I'm really glad that Adam's got a place now, he fully deserved one from the start.

I would like to publicly apologise to Adam if I insulted his game in my previous message. He is a class player and that was not my intention.

Philip Jarvis · Post by **Philip Jarvis** » Mon Nov 19, 2012 3:29 pm

Philip Jarvis wrote:
Martin Bishop wrote:I'd be surprised if Gyles Brandreth doesn't make an appearance. He always gets wheeled out for landmark shows.
Gyles will actually make his next appearance on the show due to be screened Mon 19 November 2012. IMO, this is definitely a landmark show.

http://www.c4countdown.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=9379

Jojo Apollo · Post by **Jojo Apollo** » Tue Nov 20, 2012 3:50 pm

Sad to see that Marcus had to withdraw but glad to see Adam added to the line-up.