I hope you have enjoyed most of April 11th, a great day for everyone around the world. For Australia, it was the date on which they beat American Samoa 31-0 at football (a world record), for Americans it was the date on which Apollo 13 was launched (yep, that one that Tom Hanks commanded) and for me it is the 101st day of the year which coincides with my house number. Perhaps more interesting about the number 101 is that when the numbers (starting from 1) are written down in order, 101 is the first one to contain the letter A. Simply amazing stuff, this day does not get any better.
Countdown recap for Monday 11 April 2011.
C1: Champion Graham Hill (2 wins, 167 points.)
C2: Challenger David Bailey.
DC: Susie Dent and Ken Bruce.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.
R01: L D D I A T G E J
R02: I U E S T L A X G
R03: M D M O A U L P O
R04: B P I E D F A E T
R05: 75, 25, 100, 50, 2, 7. Target: 553.
TTT: LOSETUBA - "It's zero outside said Kelvin"
R06: K N E U Q A E T N
R07: R N R I A O H R E
R08: A I S N T A C Y L
R09: B R G O A T R I E
R10: 75, 3, 10, 9, 1, 3. Target: 413.
TTT: USEPAINT - "Use paint to make a picture of these flowers"
R11: P N S U E O S T D
R12: N C E A O D S M U
R13: H N W E O R P I G
R14: 75, 1, 4, 10, 1, 8. Target: 486.
R15: F A L L B U S H Y (conundrum)
And now a brief interlude before our main feature:
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Graham Hill is the champion. And no, you've not been whisked back to 1962 or 1968 because Graham Hill is the Countdown champion. He is A Shropshire Lad and enjoys Reading, no sorry that's reading and he enjoys rugby and supporting Manchester United too. Interestingly he used to be a grave digger, something which he shares with Rod Stewart. Graham hasn't had trials for Brentford Town though so the similarities end there (although Bradley Walsh once played pro for Brentford). Enough of that. Back to Graham, well, he's a mature kind of fellow, relaxed and composed and has managed two decent wins so far. He will be hoping to complete a Countdown hat-trick today against his opponent...
...who is David Bailey. Quite fitting since Graham likes photography! Of course it's not the actual photographer though (with whom I share a birthday). This David is from Southampton, and Southampton is of course famous for producing terrible football teams as well as being the port that RMS Titanic set sail from 99 years ago yesterday. David clearly enjoys to receive attention since he once auditioned for X-Factor (that's like this music talent show for those Philistines who profess not to know anything about popular culture) and he won a competition when he was a kid and got to have dinner with the Mayor of Southampton. Woop woop. I've bombarded you with enough information for now so let's meet who is in DC today.
It's Ken Bruce! The man with the most perfect of voices. Ken can be heard on Radio 2 often speaking to fellow Scotsman Ian Volante due to his love for entering the PopMaster quiz. Ken was also behind a nice little trick at the start of the month when Rob Brydon (famed for his "small man trapped in a box" voice) impersonated him for the morning breakfast show. Bi-winning.
This recap is perhaps best read in the voice of Murray Walker as it adopts a Formula One theme to it. (There are some little pointers to remind you at stages that you are meant to be reading it with a Murray Walker voice).
Go! Go! GO!! (in a Murray Walker voice) <----Like this reminder here.
(Enjoy the show.)
Round 1: L D D I A T G E J
C1: DILATED (7)
C2: TAILED (6)
DC: LIGATED (7)
Score: 7–0 (max 7)
Graham is quick off the marks and takes the opening round by spotting one of only two 7's.
Round 2: I U E S T L A X G
C1: LIGATES (7)
C2: GUEST (5)
DC: UGLIEST (7)
OT: LUXATES (7)
Score: 14–0 (max 14)
David fails to remember the word from round 1 whereas Graham doesn't have that difficulty and he races ahead.
Round 3: M D M O A U L P O
C1: LAMP (4)
C2: MOOD (4)
DC: UPLOAD (6)
OT: MODULO (6)
Score: 18–4 (max 20)
A tricky set of letters sees Graham ease off the gas a little and David, after stalling the last two rounds, finally makes progress.
Round 4: B P I E D F A E T
C1: DEFEAT (6)
C2: pated
DC: DEBATE (6)
OT: BAITED (6) BETIDE (6) IDEATE (6) TIEFED (6)
Score: 24–4 (max 26)
The momentum was shortlived for David though whilst Graham accelerates and keeps in pole position.
Round 5: 75, 25, 100, 50, 2, 7. Target: 553.
C1: 553. (7-2)*100+50+75/25 (10)
C2: 553. (7-2)*100+50+75/25 (10)
Score: 34–14 (max 36)
Graham Hill is showing no signs of stopping and he is in top gear for successive rounds. That solution was unique except for David's whose was identical! [murrayism]
Time for a short break now with a message from our sponsor:
Ken Bruce here. Everyone say "Hi". Who loves Ken Bruce? Yay.
Teatime teaser: LOSETUBA -> ABSOLUTE
Round 6: K N E U Q A E T N
C1: EQUATE (6)
C2: QUAKE (5)
DC: UNEATEN (7) UNTAKEN (7)
Score: 40–14 (max 43)
Graham manoeuvres a tricky section well enough to pull further ahead of David.
Round 7: R N R I A O H R E
C1: HARRIER (7)
C2: HORNIER (7)
OT: HOARIER (7)
Score: 47–21 (max 50)
"And look at that!" ©Walker 1986 Graham uses three R's in that one and the pedal is firmly to the metal. David is trying to gain ground on Graham but it's having no effect.
Round 8: A I S N T A C Y L
C1: SAINTLY (7)
C2: catalis
DC: SCANTILY (8) NASALITY (8)
OT: ANALYTIC (8) SALACITY (8)
Score: 54–21 (max 58)
David has to pull over into the pits meaning Graham goes further clear and laps him.
Round 9: B R G O A T R I E
C1: BARTER (6)
C2: BOATER (6)
DC: BORGATE (7)
OT: ARBITER (7) BEGORRA (7) ORBITER (7) RAREBIT (7)
Score: 60–27 (max 65)
We're well past the halfway stage of this race and there looks to be only one winner in this one.
Round 10: 75, 3, 10, 9, 1, 3. Target: 413.
C1: -
C2: -
RR: 413. ((10-3)*9+75)*3-1 (10) (not within 30 seconds)
Score: 60–27 (max 75)
No! No! NO!! Amazingly Graham comes off the track but at the same time so does David, this was about David's last chance to do anything in this contest.
Teatime teaser: USEPAINT -> PETUNIAS
Channel 4 apologises for any inconvenience that the unintended cut caused to viewers. Oh well, back on with this race for a teapot.
Round 11: P N S U E O S T D
C1: POSSET (6)
C2: POSTED (6)
DC: OUTSPENDS (18)
Score: 66–33 (max 93)
Graham maintains his advantage but both drivers accelerators seemed stuck in that round.
Back to anagrammy and lexonerdy stuff for a brief interlude: M is the only other letter that could have produced a 9 letter word if pulled out for the last letter. What would the 9 have been?
Round 12: N C E A O D S M U
C1: CAMEOS (6)
C2: SCONE (5)
DC: MANUCODES (18)
Score: 72–33 (max 111)
Good stuff from Graham and unless I'm very much mistaken that is as good as it gets on that one...
...I am very much mistaken it could have been a lot better! [murrayism]
Round 13: H N W E O R P I G
C1: WHORING (7)
C2: -
DC: POWERING (8)
Score: 79–33 (max 119)
Graham comes round the penultimate bend and is powering into the final corner.
Round 14: 75, 1, 4, 10, 1, 8. Target: 486.
C1: 498.
C2: 474.
RR: 486. (75+10-4)*(8-1-1) (10)
Score: 79–33 (max 129)
Ohhh, he's not negotiated this final bend very well at all but he's still far far out in front and he's going to be zooming down the home straight as champion.
Round 15: F A L L B U S H Y
C2 buzzes on 29 seconds to say BASHFULLY which is correct.
Final Score: 79–43 (max 139)
It's over. It's over. Graham crosses the line and is champion again. Even with that final spurt from David we've still got to wait for him to come home...
[4 minutes 33 seconds later]
...and David Bailey passes the chequered flag, that certainly wasn't a PHOTO finish. BOOM! All that recap just for that punchline. Bet you're glad you waited for that.
Until next time, so long, farewell, adios.
I would like to apologise to David Bailey and his family for hardly featuring him in today's recap. Normal service will resume next week unless we found ourselves with a Lewis Hamilton sat in the chair.
Further summaries are at:
http://www.apterous.org/cdb/series.php?series=64
