c4countdown

Gevin Chapwell

Last weekend I got my highest ever age-graded percentage. I got 78.19%, beating my best of 77.66%. However, I did this with a time of "only" 18:34, compared to 17:59 previously (also my overall PB). One of the "benefits" of getting older I suppose.

Gevin Chapwell

I found it weird Keir Starmer actually stepped down as an MP altogether. I usually dont care about particular.. people in parliament but it seems like one of those situations where they might say "bring back the old guy. He must have hated being in the job

He just couldn't be arsed if he wasn't ...

Gevin Chapwell

Are we not even doing days of the week in the thread titles now?

Gevin Chapwell

1980 F1 champion, Alan Jones.

Gevin Chapwell

It could be worse. In Formula One they refer to new champions by their middle name only these days.

Gevin Chapwell

Marc Meakin wrote: Thu Nov 05, 2026 11:54 am I was asked to move a huge follow bubble wrap
I asked my boss what to do with it.
He said just pop it in thd corner.
2 hours later I was stress free

Are you trying to shoehorn your material into as many threads as you can?

Gevin Chapwell

Marc Meakin wrote: Sun Nov 01, 2026 3:52 am
Gevin Chapwell wrote: Sat Oct 31, 2026 10:33 pm
Marc Meakin wrote: Sat Oct 31, 2026 3:21 am Is this the highest conversion rate?
The what?
Points scored versus points available.
I thought Countdown experts were familiar with the term

Seems not! But no, without checking, it definitely isn't. Elliott Mellor dropped something like 27 points in his run.

Gevin Chapwell

Marc Meakin wrote: Sat Oct 31, 2026 3:21 am Is this the highest conversion rate?

The what?

Gevin Chapwell

Anyway 6th member of the 1000 club! I remember when 1000 was seen as off limits.

Gevin Chapwell

Bump. It makes sense to have 200 or more because reaching a landmark (200) is the notable thing. Under 30 is correct because not reaching a landmark (30) is the thing. I might edit the pages. Not sure how to find all the games, but giving them the right title would be a start and it can be filled in ...

Gevin Chapwell

Great octorun.

Not sure why Colin seemed to think getting over 1000 was the big deal rather than getting 1000 or more. There's a few pages on the wiki like that. I might edit them because it's just stupid as it is.

Gevin Chapwell

Star Trek is his main claim to fame!

Gevin Chapwell

Another Star Trek death (though The Next Generation) - Patrick Stewart of all people! How is Shatner still going?

Gevin Chapwell

Ian Volante wrote: Mon Oct 26, 2026 1:25 pm
Gevin Chapwell wrote: Sat Oct 24, 2026 6:25 pmWhat?
Yep, not a clue.

Maybe "taught Eya" = tortilla? Even so...

Gevin Chapwell

^Arent they all gone now except the "fit girly", Ms. Weaver?

1979 is a long time ago. (P.s.Im not a cast expert or massive fan of the franchise)

Veronica Cartwright (Lambert) is still with us. She was the little girl in The Birds (1963) don't cha know!

The picture in her Wikipedia article ...

Gevin Chapwell

There's a BBC article about there being lots of old songs in the charts and it's wondering why this might be. The implication is that it wasn't like that in the past. But what the article doesn't mention is that in the past the charts were based on sales and now it's mainly based on streams. People ...

Gevin Chapwell

What?

Gevin Chapwell

Philip A wrote: Fri Oct 23, 2026 2:17 pm At this average Hazel will be the founding member of the... *gulp*... 1100 club.

Yes, but having two 9s per game available is unlikely to continue!

Gevin Chapwell

It's certainly been a very good start. But however it continues, Hazel, and indeed everyone else in this series, will miss the CoC. It's a bit disappointing but there you go.

At least, if she is picked for CoC, she’ll have at least 3 or 4 years to practise for the CoC after.

Yeah, she'll ...

Gevin Chapwell

I don't know who here is in contact with her.

Gevin Chapwell

It's certainly been a very good start. But however it continues, Hazel, and indeed everyone else in this series, will miss the CoC. It's a bit disappointing but there you go.

Gevin Chapwell

They've already got rid of it once. It might re-emerge.

Gevin Chapwell

Your chair broke on the same day the queen died? I'm not seeing anything there really!

Gevin Chapwell

Yeah, "merit". I see what you did there.

Gevin Chapwell

I think it's worth having a look at the wins/scores. All the champions played 11 games and here are their totals with their average in brackets:

1. Ronan Higginson - 1435 (130.45)
2. Patrick Thompson - 1380 (125.45)
3. Arthur Page - 1299 (118.09)
4. Jase Cullen - 1281 (116.45)
5. Harry Savage ...

Gevin Chapwell

Ronan, Harry, Arthur, Fiona, Rhys, Jase and Patrick - the last 7 winners, hopefully all 7 played. Ronan, Jase, Arthur and Patrick definitely did, as did Charlie, Viraj, Jessica and Mark. (I don’t know about the reserve player though).

I've seen a couple of pictures on the Discord. Rhys Jones ...

Gevin Chapwell

16 works best TBF because it’s 15 weekdays over 3 weeks. I never understood why some CoCs have latest players and some don’t but I guess it’s down to logistics and production - so S94 winner and finalists potentially will play the CoC after in about 4 years’ time.

Ronan, Harry, Arthur, Fiona ...

Gevin Chapwell

Filming schedules 2026:
12th Oct: S94 Finals spanning QF3/4, SF1/2 and GF
13th Oct: CoC XVII 1st Rs 1-5
14th Oct: CoC XVII 1st Rs 6-8, QF1/2

then…

2nd Nov: CoC XVII QF3/4, SF 1/2 and GF

In other words, the CoC Final will be filmed on Countdown’s birthday.

So we're saying 16 players? Did we ...

Gevin Chapwell

I have taken up this offer.

Gevin Chapwell

Superb episode - 10 maxes each! Owen very unlucky indeed to run into someone that good in the heats, just as Jamie was unlucky to run into Andrew Macleod 10 years ago (and may be destined to meet Hazel Drury this series in his run). Hopefully Owen will get another crack one day.

If Hazel Drury ...

Gevin Chapwell

RJ Mitte from Breaking Bad. I've never watched it so I had no idea who he was. I have a feeling there was someone else the other day but I gave up on the forum trying to get it to work.

Gevin Chapwell

Another year later, and OPALINES is still haunting us then! For the 625 I managed a 25^2-10. 50*25*7/(10+4)-10 = 615.

Gevin Chapwell

Philip A wrote: Tue Oct 13, 2026 2:32 pm Very sad to see Oliver go: high standard and even contest determined by fine margins; one of those games that felt like a finals match in all but name.

It was a very good game. I think most expected Owen (not Oliver?) to become an octochamp!

Gevin Chapwell

Good debut game from the forum's own Owen Carroll. Good chance of being an octochamp.

Gevin Chapwell

Jeffrey Archer as well.

Gevin Chapwell

I was at the FOCAL finals thing last night, and had somehow qualified in the top 8. There was a discussion about whether people "conundrum" other people's names. That means looking up possible conundrums with players' names in the scramble, in case the host decides to use them. I said to Rob Foster ...

Gevin Chapwell

Esther Rantzen died and I couldn't get on the forum to inform you all!

Gevin Chapwell

I saw PROBITY too but used Graeme's solver for the 899!

At the start they were talking about impressive siblings. Rachel went for the Culkins and was saying about them being in Home Alone. But I don't think many people know about any Culkin other than Macaulay. But apparently there was a Kieran ...

Gevin Chapwell

Graeme Cole wrote: Wed Oct 10, 2018 7:08 pmPete Cashmore was 20 points behind against Paul Peters with two rounds left but went on to win, and of course that record can't be beaten.

This nearly happened again the other day. Geezer made up the 20 points but lost on the tie-break. Have there been other instances of this?

Gevin Chapwell

US president John Tyler was born in 1790 and had a grandson that died in 2025.

On Charlie Chaplin, he was born in 1889 and his youngest son was born in 1962.

Gevin Chapwell

Philip Wilson wrote: Fri Sep 18, 2026 11:54 am Guy from yesterday did the same again, r12. Camera showed him for ages looking for a 6 after challenger declared one. (Uncoil).

Yeah, he did.

Gevin Chapwell

And on the subject of reaching my 500th, I still haven't ordered the 500 milestone shirt, but I might not bother now! Previously it was 50, 100, 250, 500 and 1000 (and 25 maybe, though that used to only be for volunteering and I presume 10 is still just juniors) so each one was supposed to be a ...

Gevin Chapwell

Not a good year for Bonnies with Bonnie Greer now dying.

But don't worry, I've checked and Bonnie Prince Charlie is still alive and well.

Gevin Chapwell

I-I-I don't know.

Gevin Chapwell

But no-one remembers them.

With a girl like you was a no1 hit over here
You might have heard of Love is all around covered by Wet Wer Wet

Yeah, but no-one remembers it as a Troggs song. Like Dolly Parton and I Will Always Love You.

I wonder what will happen when we find out the Bryan ...

Gevin Chapwell

Sad news. I remember her being on the show. I seem to remember she had the reputation of always winning at the Edinburgh Countdown club (perhaps until Innis joined them). How old was she?

Gevin Chapwell

But no-one remembers them.

Gevin Chapwell

Does anyone remember those two guys that used to get on the bus going to school? In hindsight I think they actually got on at adjacent stops rather than the same one, but they must have had some agreement never to be on the bus at the same time.

Gevin Chapwell

When I was a young, idiotic boy, I was convinced that the BBC Six o Clock News reader Nicholas Witchell was actually the first man on the moon Neil Armstrong , and that the actor Peter Sellars was actually Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, based solely off of this stamp. (Collected stamps as a boy ...

Gevin Chapwell

Just realised that What a Wonderful World and We Have All the Time in the World by Louis Armstrong are two songs. This thread will do.

On a similar note to this, Wild Thing by The Troggs and Born to be Wild by Steppenwolf are very easily mixed up. I don't think it helps that both these bands ...

Gevin Chapwell

Just accept that you need reading glasses now.

Gevin Chapwell

Do they put on different voices for each speaking part? In any case, it's an extreme solution for this particular problem!

Gevin Chapwell

Maybe his audition wasn't good enough for a Wednesday start! But that didn't necessarily mean that there would have been a potential Octochamp on the Wednesday as it's only occasional Wednesdays.

Gevin Chapwell

Chris Langham, known for The Thick Of It and other matters.

Gevin Chapwell

There was a nice alternative for the 878.

(100+50)*5 + 8*4*4 = 878

Gevin Chapwell

Geezer definitely didn't have that 9 until the other guy declared.

C1: Nine.
C2: [Stares at the letters open-mouthed in shock] Nine, not written down.

Gevin Chapwell

Yes, I did mean something that's "in the rules" but not nearly as bad... yes.

This makes no sense anyway. Why have you quoted "in the rules" completely devoid of context like that? What Armstrong did wasn't in the rules. You've just taken the beginning off the quote to give it the opposite ...

Gevin Chapwell

Dialogue in books where you get alternating people speaking and you have to count down to check who said each line because it never says beyond the first one, and even then it's often a bit vague.

I think the standard needs to change. If you want a load of dialogue with no narration, put the person ...

Gevin Chapwell

Philip Wilson wrote: Sun Aug 30, 2026 9:58 pm Ha ha Colin missed that one

I'm glad someone picked up on the joke!

Gevin Chapwell

Starting with a Dave - one of the most generic names possible - only adds insult to injury.

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