c4countdown

Well I've been here for about 6 weeks now and rather ashamed that I haven't been on this thread yet.

I'm a 38 year old unemployed alcoholic, originally from Burnley, now living near Southend-on-Sea with my partner Supee.

To be honest, although I was aware of Countdown since its inception, I didn't much care for it, just wasn't me. I started watching properly around the start of Des Lynam's series (purely coincidental) and had become hooked by the end of 2008.

A combination of Jeff becoming part of the show, along with Junaid, Charlie and Kirk plugging this site, led me in this direction and I am so glad to have found myself here.

My interests include Burnley FC, punk rock and motor sport - and now apterous.

hullo folks... I'm Matt. Some of you may have spotted me on apterous for the last week or two.

Back in the day, I watched the very first episode of Countdown, and then probably most episodes for the first ten years, playing along at home like I guess most of us do. I lost interest from the mid-to-late 90s, and only resumed watching regularly when one of my favourite presenters, Jeff Stelling, became host. Hence I watched the recent CoC and found out about this site.

I enjoy trivia and general word puzzling although even when I played a bit of club level Scrabble, I've never really been the kind of person to learn word lists or anagrams or suchlike. I'd rather play with my exisiting knowledge and spend the rest of my time doing the other things I enjoy, which are mainly music or sport-related. Most of my free evenings are spent watching live bands or playing some sport or other.

Matt Bayfield wrote:hullo folks... I'm Matt. Some of you may have spotted me on apterous for the last week or two.

Back in the day, I watched the very first episode of Countdown, and then probably most episodes for the first ten years, playing along at home like I guess most of us do. I lost interest from the mid-to-late 90s, and only resumed watching regularly when one of my favourite presenters, Jeff Stelling, became host. Hence I watched the recent CoC and found out about this site.

I enjoy trivia and general word puzzling although even when I played a bit of club level Scrabble, I've never really been the kind of person to learn word lists or anagrams or suchlike. I'd rather play with my exisiting knowledge and spend the rest of my time doing the other things I enjoy, which are mainly music or sport-related. Most of my free evenings are spent watching live bands or playing some sport or other.

You sound like a nice guy. You'll never fit in here.

(PS Judging by your photo, you must've been watching the first episode in nappies.)
(PPS Sometimes I have to watch in a nappy, it depends what Susie is wearing.)

Charlie Reams wrote:(PPS Sometimes I have to watch in a nappy, it depends what Susie is wearing.)

You've excelled yourself there Charlie, I think that will make the Classic Posts thread as well!

Charlie Reams wrote:You sound like a nice guy. You'll never fit in here.

(PS Judging by your photo, you must've been watching the first episode in nappies.)
(PPS Sometimes I have to watch in a nappy, it depends what Susie is wearing.)

You're too kind. I'll sacrifice fitting in as long as people don't mind playing the occasional game with me on apterous.

The photo is quite flattering (and also a few years old now). So not quite in nappies for the first episode, but still in primary school, yes.

[Edit - I'll probably remove that photo in a few days. Even if others don't mind looking at it every time I post, I'd rather not keep seeing it. Thought it was fair to show ppl a pic though, what with me knowing what some of you look like from tv, etc.]

Matt Bayfield wrote:

Charlie Reams wrote:You sound like a nice guy. You'll never fit in here.

(PS Judging by your photo, you must've been watching the first episode in nappies.)
(PPS Sometimes I have to watch in a nappy, it depends what Susie is wearing.)

You're too kind. I'll sacrifice fitting in as long as people don't mind playing the occasional game with me on apterous.

The photo is quite flattering (and also a few years old now). So not quite in nappies for the first episode, but still in primary school, yes.

[Edit - I'll probably remove that photo in a few days. Even if others don't mind looking at it every time I post, I'd rather not keep seeing it. Thought it was fair to show ppl a pic though, what with me knowing what some of you look like from tv, etc.]

Nice hat.

Ken MacKenzie wrote:Well, courage finally came to the fore and I'm due to record in Manchester on June 16th.

Excellent! I know that at least three forum members will be in the audience on that day.

Howard Somerset wrote:

Ken MacKenzie wrote:Well, courage finally came to the fore and I'm due to record in Manchester on June 16th.

Excellent! I know that at least three forum members will be in the audience on that day.

Oh no, oh no! I can feel the pressure building.

Seriously, though, I look forward to meeting some of you.

Howard Somerset wrote:

Ken MacKenzie wrote:Well, courage finally came to the fore and I'm due to record in Manchester on June 16th.

Excellent! I know that at least three forum members will be in the audience on that day.

Who are they then? Anyone in the audience on the 17th?

Welcome to everyone new!

Jason Larsen wrote:Welcome to everyone new!

That's the lazy way out.

I said that because I didn't have time to address anybody due to my hard feelings.

Jason Larsen wrote:I said that because I didn't have time to address anybody due to my hard feelings.

Surely the idea of welcoming people is to make them feel welcome. If I'd seen you'd welcomed loads by name and then I joined and you just lumped me in with all the rest, I would take offence.

Kirk Bevins wrote:

Jason Larsen wrote:I said that because I didn't have time to address anybody due to my hard feelings.

Surely the idea of welcoming people is to make them feel welcome. If I'd seen you'd welcomed loads by name and then I joined and you just lumped me in with all the rest, I would take offence.

....and even worse if he doesn't welcome you at all!

I have welcomed some people by name, and I have not welcomed others.
Nothing personal, but inconsistent I dare say.
If anyone is offended my by my omissions I am sorry.

It's more time consuming to welcome people by name, but to be honest it depends on the day.

Ralph Gillions wrote:I have welcomed some people by name, and I have not welcomed others.
Nothing personal, but inconsistent I dare say.
If anyone is offended my by my omissions I am sorry.

Your apology is accepted

I was just taking the piss, but I'm glad that this overdue debate is now under way.

Gavin Chipper wrote:I was just taking the piss,

I know.

Gavin Chipper wrote:but I'm glad that this overdue debate is now under way.

And run its course I suspect (and hope.)

Hi I'm Marc

Just signed up to the forum today.... been on Apterous for a week or so and just recently got my first score over 100

Still trying to achieve a game where I get all the numbers rounds and conundrum

Hello Marc.
Welcome, and I hope you continue to enjoy it - and achieve your targets.

Hi, Marc!

Welcome to the forum!

I'm from the US and I watch torrents of Countdown.

How did you get so interested in Countdown, and where are you from?

I know, Countdown has changed a lot in the last few years, but it hasn't gone out of style.

I hope you enjoy posting here!

Hi jason thanks for the welcome(you too ralph)

I am from east London

Started watching countdown from day 1 but stopped watching around the time Richard Whitely died due to work commitments

Started watching again this year as I now have a laptop and can watch on 4OD if i am too busy at work

Found out about Apterous when Kirk plugged it during his octochamp run

Looking forward to the COC

I predict a Kirk Bevans v Jimmy Gough final

Marc, what do you think of Jeff and Rachel?

Jason Larsen wrote:Marc, what do you think of Jeff and Rachel?

I think they are both brilliant

Jeff is probaby good enough to be a reasonable contestant with his word knowledge

Rachel is great with figures as well as having a great figure

marc meakin wrote:stopped watching around the time Richard Whitely died due to work commitments

Countdown, the silent killer.

marc meakin wrote:
Looking forward to the COC

I predict a Kirk Bevans v Jimmy Gough final

Interestingly lots of people call the finals the COC when the COC (Champion of Champions) is actually a completely different competition.
Also, how come so many people don't spell my surname correctly?

Kirk Bevins wrote:Also, how come so many people don't spell my surname correctly?

I think there was a lot of misspelling in the 1940s and 1950s when
Ernest Bevin and Aneurin Bevan were both active in politics. Neither of them had an S on the end though.
(Sorry to go off at a tangent, but the spelling remark reminded me of these two politicians.)

Marc, nobody said that Jeff can't actually play along on Countdown because that would be unfair.

All the staff are wonderful!

Kirk Bevins wrote:

marc meakin wrote:
Looking forward to the COC

I predict a Kirk Bevans v Jimmy Gough final

Interestingly lots of people call the finals the COC when the COC (Champion of Champions) is actually a completely different competition.
Also, how come so many people don't spell my surname correctly?

Sorry Kirk for getting your surname wrong

Having had my christian name spelt wrongly enough times I ought to know better than to piss people off getting names wrong

Also wrong about mixing COC with series 60 final

Although theoretically Kirk Bevins and Jimmy Gough could conceivably meet in a future COC final

Kirk Bevins wrote:

marc meakin wrote:
Looking forward to the COC

I predict a Kirk Bevans v Jimmy Gough final

Interestingly lots of people call the finals the COC when the COC (Champion of Champions) is actually a completely different competition.
Also, how come so many people don't spell my surname correctly?

Name misspelling also pisses Jimmy Goff.

All we have to do is rememember it rhymes with cough and hope that none of us get swine flu.

Jason Larsen wrote:All we have to do is rememember it rhymes with cough and hope that none of us get swine flu.

Well done Jason, that was a lot funnier than my attempted joke

Jason Larsen wrote:All we have to do is rememember it rhymes with cough and hope that none of us get swine flu.

All we have to do is rememememememememeber it rhymes with trough and hope none of us get equine flu.

Kirk Bevins wrote:

Jason Larsen wrote:All we have to do is rememember it rhymes with cough and hope that none of us get swine flu.

All we have to do is rememememememememeber it rhymes with trough and hope none of us get equine flu.

If you put that many Ms, how can you forget to do -MBER at the end?

You're right, Derek.

Lucky thing for Jimmy it doesn't rhyme with tough.

Ralph Gillions wrote:

Gavin Chipper wrote:but I'm glad that this overdue debate is now under way.

And run its course I suspect (and hope.)

We'll see.

Qirq Bevvins wrote:Surely the idea of welcoming people is to make them feel welcome. If I'd seen you'd welcomed loads by name and then I joined and you just lumped me in with all the rest, I would take offence.

If that's above your offence threshold I'm surprised you have enough time in the day to be offended by the things that you need to be offended by!

You're right, Phil.

Gavin Chipper wrote:
If that's above your offence threshold I'm surprised you have enough time in the day to be offended by the things that you need to be offended by!

a) I was being a wind-up merchant - I wasn't really offended.
b) You've lost me. I have no idea what you are on about - again.

Kirk Bevins wrote:

Gavin Chipper wrote:
If that's above your offence threshold I'm surprised you have enough time in the day to be offended by the things that you need to be offended by!

a) I was being a wind-up merchant - I wasn't really offended.
b) You've lost me. I have no idea what you are on about - again.

I was just taking what you said at face value and misspelling your name in the quote as an extra as you'd expressed annoyance at that. But never mind - forget it.

Hi, I'm Sue. I've watched Countdown since the dawn of time and was a contestant in Autumn 2006. Got beaten in a 'crucial' Countdown conundrum so only got the one game... but I scored 80 something. Immediate sense, on losing, was one of relief because I took my place on that chair like a rabbit in headlights. I really thought I couldn't have faced it again but actually would have won the next game as the following contestant, a young student lad carried on the 'rabbit in headlights' theme! And if I'd have hung on in there, next day, I'd have got to meet Jo Brand. Oh well. I didn't make a fool of myself (well there was one round where I declared a non existant word featuring a non present letter!) and Des Lynam was lovely and we exchanged a high five. Brilliant! My best moment - 'palmiest' - Suzi had to check for it!!

Great to know there's a site that might make me stop shouting my spoilers at a non responsive telly!

Sue Sanders wrote:Hi, I'm Sue. I've watched Countdown since the dawn of time and was a contestant in Autumn 2006. Got beaten in a 'crucial' Countdown conundrum so only got the one game... but I scored 80 something. Immediate sense, on losing, was one of relief because I took my place on that chair like a rabbit in headlights. I really thought I couldn't have faced it again but actually would have won the next game as the following contestant, a young student lad carried on the 'rabbit in headlights' theme! And if I'd have hung on in there, next day, I'd have got to meet Jo Brand. Oh well. I didn't make a fool of myself (well there was one round where I declared a non existant word featuring a non present letter!) and Des Lynam was lovely and we exchanged a high five. Brilliant! My best moment - 'palmiest' - Suzi had to check for it!!

Great to know there's a site that might make me stop shouting my spoilers at a non responsive telly!

Welcome Sue! I'm glad you're going to take an active part on this board, as it is very male-dominated, as most females seem to make a few posts and then drift away.

I didn't see Des Lynam's shows, but it sounds like yours was an entertaining one!

Sue Sanders wrote:Hi, I'm Sue. I've watched Countdown since the dawn of time and was a contestant in Autumn 2006. Got beaten in a 'crucial' Countdown conundrum so only got the one game... but I scored 80 something. Immediate sense, on losing, was one of relief because I took my place on that chair like a rabbit in headlights. I really thought I couldn't have faced it again but actually would have won the next game as the following contestant, a young student lad carried on the 'rabbit in headlights' theme! And if I'd have hung on in there, next day, I'd have got to meet Jo Brand. Oh well. I didn't make a fool of myself (well there was one round where I declared a non existant word featuring a non present letter!) and Des Lynam was lovely and we exchanged a high five. Brilliant! My best moment - 'palmiest' - Suzi had to check for it!!

Great to know there's a site that might make me stop shouting my spoilers at a non responsive telly!

Welcome Sue. Here's your game if you haven't found it already http://www.apterous.org/cdb/game.php?game=965. You played rather well and were unlucky to be beaten on a crucial conundrum by another good player.

Hi, Sue!

Welcome to the forum!

I don't dislike Des Lynam, but I don't think he was a good fit for Countdown. He was a better fit for Sport Mastermind.

I hope you enjoy posting here!

Hello everyone!

Regular Countdown viewer here; it's on Sky+ series link and the first thing I watch in the evening after the meal when I sit down to relax with my partner. I don't remember exactly when my "addiction" started but it was probably in the late nineties and the early days of the "Honorary Mayor of Wetwang."

I had a quiet afternoon so decided to Google (is that in the dictionary yet, I wonder?) Countdown and found myself here and at Apterous, which looks interesting but I have yet to play my first game. I might have time to dive into it later and can only hope that mercy is shown to a n00b.

I'm 50-something, female and living in Scotland but not Scottish. We moved here 7 years ago and love the place.

I'm a web designer - for my sins - and an admin on a PHPBB forum (http://www.the-company.com/forum/)
Nice building! Kudos to the designer(s) and maintenance staff.
That's an admin joke btw

I'll try to contribute a bit here when time allows, and I'll spend some time looking around the forum now.
As a Governor said - I'll be back.

Hi, Mo!

Welcome to the forum!

I hope you enjoy posting here!

Hello Mo and welcome. How nice to see such a colourful - some may say eccentric - person join the forums. I am sure you will add a lot to discussions.

Derek Hazell wrote:Hello Mo and welcome. How nice to see such a colourful - some may say eccentric - person join the forums. I am sure you will add a lot to discussions.

You're too late, she's already said goodbye :facepalm:

Jon Corby wrote:

Derek Hazell wrote:Hello Mo and welcome. How nice to see such a colourful - some may say eccentric - person join the forums. I am sure you will add a lot to discussions.

You're too late, she's already said goodbye :facepalm:

Oops yeah sorry, I hadn't visited the Apterous forum.

What a shame, she seemed like quite a character. It really is a challenge getting women to stay around here isn't it!

Bit like real life really . . .

Derek Hazell wrote:

Jon Corby wrote:

Derek Hazell wrote:Hello Mo and welcome. How nice to see such a colourful - some may say eccentric - person join the forums. I am sure you will add a lot to discussions.

You're too late, she's already said goodbye :facepalm:

Oops yeah sorry, I hadn't visited the Apterous forum.

What a shame, she seemed like quite a character. It really is a challenge getting women to stay around here isn't it!

Bit like real life really . . .

Shame as we could do with more retards on the forum

That was a joke by the way

Mo Warden wrote:I had a quiet afternoon so decided to Google (is that in the dictionary yet, I wonder?) Countdown

I can't give you any references, but I am sure that I've heard it said that "google" is in the dictionary as a new verb, note with a lower case "g". It might even have been the great Ms Dent, but don't quote me on that!

me on that!

Oops

Hi, I'm James. I'm from Canada, so I've seen all of one episode of the show, but I've been a fan ever since I happened upon Loz Archer's game in about 2000.

James Leroux wrote:Hi, I'm James. I'm from Canada, so I've seen all of one episode of the show, but I've been a fan ever since I happened upon Loz Archer's game in about 2000.

Hi. Canada is cool.

Hi James.
Welcome. I hope you enjoy it.

Hi, James! Welcome!

As you'll soon find out, some of the people here have made more recent Countdown games.

I hope you enjoy posting here!

Hi all Been lurking for a while, about time I said hello. I appeared in series 60 heats back in April and had a whale of a time. After 3 wins, I was defeated by a spectacular performance from Hamish Williamson, who scored a debut record of 134.

Loving the forum, loving Apterous and above all loving Countdown.

Julie

Welcome, Julie. Good to see you here. If you've read the comments on your game last Thursday, you'll see that you're very highly regarded.

The nearest I've come to you so far is to have played your sister on Apterousa few weeks ago. Now, if you haven't got a sister, or at least a sister who plays on Apterous, then it's prossible that someone's trying to impersonate her.

Hope you enjoy the forum.

Hi, finally got round to introducing myself. Long distance lorry driver, workaholic, general pessimist, been watching Countdown since the early days. Been on Apterous since March. Anyone who's played me will know that I range from crap to the dizzy heights of bad. But I'm persevering, and (slowly) improving, and I'm not going away.

Greg.