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00:26Good afternoon and welcome to the Countdown studio.
00:30The 15th of February and today, tonight rather, we have a new moon.
00:34Perfect for stargazing, of course, yesterday, Valentine's Day, today, a wonderful new moon.
00:40And of course there are events all over the country whereby you can go and study the moon and study
00:45the stars.
00:46But also we've all got the ability, by getting a little app on our phones, to be able to do
00:51exactly the same thing.
00:53And I've got one on my phone and I absolutely love it.
00:55On a great clear night, away from a polluted city, to point this up and find out exactly which star
01:03is which and what it's called.
01:04With music playing, I think it's the best fun ever, particularly if you've had a few drinks.
01:09What do you think?
01:11Do you have one of those apps?
01:12Oh, we do.
01:13We went to the Galapagos, as you know, last summer.
01:15And one night, it was just the most amazing sky I've ever seen in my life.
01:19And you can't even describe how beautiful it was.
01:21The whole thing was just lit up.
01:24It was just white.
01:25Just so many stars.
01:26You just couldn't even imagine.
01:28Trying to work out how on earth they came up with those constellations because you can't see it at all.
01:31It is the best fun.
01:32Lovely.
01:34Now, we've got two new contestants, Rachel.
01:36We've got Simon Baker, now retired from Thirsk, who loves Italy and is grabbing Italy and learning all about it
01:45and learning the language too.
01:46Is that right?
01:47Yes, Nick.
01:48Yes, I'm taking Italian lessons and going one or two times a year whenever we can to put it into
01:55practice.
01:56Beautiful.
01:56Beautiful.
01:57Well, welcome, Simon.
01:58Now, you're joined by Tony Smith, a retired engineer from East Burkhold in Suffolk, Constable Country, you were telling me.
02:05Absolutely, yeah.
02:06Lovely.
02:07You were an engineer in the sort of, you know, water pumps and winches, you were telling me.
02:11That's right, yeah, yeah.
02:13Oh, wonderful.
02:14We did also a lot of de-watering where you take the water out of the ground to lower the
02:18water table so that the contractor can dig a big hole without it filling in and filling up with water.
02:24Lovely.
02:25Yeah.
02:25Excellent.
02:26Well, look, good luck to you both, Tony and Simon.
02:29Have fun.
02:30Yeah.
02:30Let's give them a big round of applause, shall we?
02:36And over to Susie, of course, on the 15th of February with Pianist, a new musician over, you know...
02:44Yes, a new musician.
02:46...last three years or what?
02:47Yeah, through the last three years I've been throwing myself at it, learning the piano and doing the best I
02:51can.
02:52I'm interested in hearing Simon saying about learning Italian.
02:54It's great to do something later in life, shall we say?
02:57Lovely.
02:58Now, Simon, let us go.
03:02May I have a consonant, please, Rachel?
03:04You may.
03:05Thank you, Simon.
03:05Start with T.
03:08And another, please.
03:10H.
03:13And one more.
03:15N.
03:17And a vowel.
03:19E.
03:21And another vowel.
03:22I.
03:23And a consonant.
03:29V.
03:31And a consonant.
03:33N.
03:34And a final vowel, please.
03:37And a final U.
03:39And here's the countdown clock.
04:11Well, Simon.
04:13Just a five.
04:14A five.
04:15And Tony.
04:15I'm a five, Sue.
04:18Simon.
04:19Naive.
04:20And Tony.
04:21Event.
04:22Oh, sorry.
04:23Mr. No, it's wrong.
04:25Oh.
04:26Bad luck.
04:26Bad luck, Tony.
04:27Now, what have we got in the corner there?
04:31Lots of other fives from me.
04:32Thane.
04:33Thane of Caudor.
04:34Thane.
04:35Vaunt.
04:36Yes, Vaunt.
04:37But there were a couple of sixes as well.
04:38A native was there.
04:41And invent.
04:43Invent.
04:44All right.
04:45So, early start there for Simon.
04:47Now, Tony, what have we got?
04:49Let's start with a consonant, please, Rachel.
04:52Thank you, Tony.
04:53T.
04:54And another.
04:56J.
04:57And a vowel.
04:59I.
05:00And another.
05:02E.
05:03And a consonant.
05:06S.
05:06And another.
05:08T.
05:09And a vowel.
05:12E.
05:12And another.
05:14A.
05:17And a consonant, please.
05:20And lastly, T.
05:22Stand by.
05:23T.
05:24T.
05:55Five.
05:55And Simon?
05:57Five.
05:58Tony?
05:59Tease.
06:01Yeah, Simon.
06:02Jests.
06:03Mm-hmm.
06:04Very good.
06:05Oh, actually, saying that for jest, there's only one S there.
06:09I'm sorry.
06:10Sorry.
06:11You misheard.
06:12And Alistair?
06:13There were some bigger ones, sevens, jetties.
06:17Yes.
06:18And you had tatties.
06:20Yes.
06:21And testate, the opposite of intestate, so having a valid will.
06:24Yeah.
06:25Yeah.
06:26Yeah.
06:27Five apiece now, Simon.
06:30Numbers.
06:30How are we on the numbers, I wonder?
06:32One large and the rest small, please.
06:35Thank you, Simon.
06:35One from the top.
06:36And five a little.
06:38And the first numbers game of the day is...
06:40Three, four, four, six, two, and 100.
06:46And target, 371.
06:49371.
06:50Three, four, seven, six, ten minutes, one.
07:22Yes, Simon.
07:233-7-1.
07:243-7-1.
07:25And Tony?
07:25Not really clear.
07:27No.
07:27Simon?
07:29100 times 4.
07:31400.
07:336, 4's, 24.
07:35The other 4, yep.
07:36Add the 3 and the 2 for 29 and take it away.
07:40Perfect.
07:413-7-1.
07:42Well done.
07:45So, a bit of an early lead there for Simon.
07:4715 to Tony's 5 as we turn to our first tea time.
07:50It is, which is Matt clean.
07:52And the clue.
07:53Matt is never clean.
07:55He's always dirty from the farm.
07:57Matt is never clean.
07:58He's always dirty from the farm.
08:15Welcome back.
08:16I left with the clue.
08:17Matt is never clean.
08:18He's always dirty from the farm.
08:21And the answer to that is cattleman.
08:24He's a cattleman.
08:25One word.
08:26Cattleman.
08:2815 plays 5.
08:29Simon in the lead.
08:30Tony's letters game.
08:31Consonant, please.
08:32Thank you, Tony.
08:34M.
08:35And another.
08:36G.
08:39And a vowel.
08:41E.
08:42And another.
08:44O.
08:46Consonant.
08:47R.
08:49And another.
08:51S.
08:54And a vowel.
08:56I.
08:57And another.
09:00E.
09:04Sorry, was that an E?
09:05Yes.
09:06Oh, yeah.
09:07And a consonant, finally, please.
09:09And a final T.
09:11Countdown.
09:12¶¶
09:14¶¶
09:24¶大
09:42Well, Tony?
09:44Seven.
09:44Seven.
09:46Yes, Simon?
09:47Seven.
09:48And Tony, seven?
09:50More toys.
09:52Now, Simon?
09:54Susie's least favourite word.
09:56Sorry.
09:57Moisture.
09:59Yeah, that's absolutely fine.
10:01Are we happy with both?
10:02Well, not happy, but acceptable.
10:06Mortis is absolutely fine.
10:07We talk about 10 and mortis.
10:09Yeah.
10:09So, yeah, little.
10:10No problem with that at all.
10:12Susie, what have you got?
10:13I have something not very nice, actually.
10:15Ergotism.
10:17Ergotism is poisoning produced by eating food affected by ergot,
10:20which is a fungal disease that affects rye.
10:23Erm, and cereal crops, and ingesting it can cause all sorts of havoc.
10:28That's right.
10:2822 plays 12.
10:29Simon on 22.
10:31Simon, you're back.
10:31Let us go.
10:32Er, consonant, please, Rachel.
10:34Thank you, Simon.
10:35L.
10:36And another.
10:38S.
10:39And a vowel.
10:41O.
10:43And another vowel.
10:44A.
10:45And a consonant.
10:51T.
10:54And another consonant.
10:57Z.
10:59And another consonant.
11:02R.
11:03And lastly, a vowel.
11:05And lastly, I.
11:08Stand by.
11:10M.
11:10содержlais.
11:18LAMER
11:18We won.
11:18We won.
11:19We won.
11:20We won.
11:31And another vowel.
11:32We won.
11:32We won.
11:32We won.
11:33We won.
11:33We won.
11:37We won.
11:38We won.
11:38We won.
11:38well Simon six yes Tony five and that five tiles Simon trails yes and in the
11:54corner Susie and Alistair yes and sevens actually a solaria plural of
12:01solarium tailors are in there and lariats which are ropes used for
12:07missus or for tethering animals lariat yeah thank you 28 to 12 now Tony it's
12:15your numbers game two large and four small please Rachel thank you Tony two
12:19from the top four little ones coming up for you and these numbers we have nine
12:25two four six and then the two big ones 25 and 100 and your target 748 748
12:41so
13:13firmly said now then Simon 100 plus 25 125 times six 750 yeah and four minus two
13:25and all might have to do give you another two lovely there we go and it's 38 playing 12 as
13:33we turn to
13:36Alistair Alistair the radio yes when I was doing my album I had a short list of pieces quite a
13:44long
13:44list of pieces I wanted to try and incorporate into it I was working on those for the nine months
13:47it
13:47took to record it but during that time I still continue to listen to classic FM and radio three
13:52and still heard a few pieces on there and thought that sounds playable because this is the whole
13:56point of this album it's playable pieces that people like me amateur pianists can master there's a
14:01piece on there by Philip Glass which is actually very straightforward and I heard that on radio
14:04three and thought I've got to play that and I had that within a month which is great but I
14:08do skip
14:08around the dial I skip around the dial and I listen to a bit of radio two as well now
14:12and again
14:12sometimes radio four as well we all like the today program which in 2017 celebrated 60 years of the
14:17today program and a lot of people love listening to that Alan Bennett interestingly the playwright
14:21though said recently the one thing I don't like on the today program is a sport and I don't like
14:28to
14:28have sport over my porridge or over anything else come to that and you can get it elsewhere and what
14:34they insist on calling the network so I think why don't they tell me at five and twenty past the
14:38hour about something I am interested in not sport but perhaps theatre they could have the theatre
14:43news and Gary Richardson or whoever could say Dame Judi Dench has failed a late fitness test and will
14:49not be appearing as mistress quickly in the merry wives of Windsor at the Globe Theatre tonight her part
14:54will be taken by her understudy Romelu Lukaku might be more interesting but as I say listen to radio three
15:01a lot and it's surprising how many other people in in show businesses like classical music Frank
15:06Skinner even was talking about this recently I think it was Frank on his absolute radio show and he
15:09said I went the other night to a to a classical concert and I don't go to many but it
15:16was his
15:16cellist Yo-Yo Ma I don't know if you've heard of him and I wasn't sure that I was going
15:21to enjoy it
15:21to be perfectly honest with you but I did enjoy the music but I thought Yo-Yo was playing well
15:27it was a
15:27bit up and down to be perfectly honest with you so you never know who likes classical music
15:32that's lovely that's lovely
15:36very good
15:39Frank Skinner is a lovely bloke isn't he
15:41he is and he's very very funny
15:43you do Frank beautifully lovely 38 plays 12
15:47Simon on 38 and now Simon it's your letters game
15:51consonant please Rachel
15:52thank you Simon N and another please P and another K and a vowel E and a vowel O another
16:10E and a consonant S
16:16and another consonant L and a vowel and the last one I
16:24Countdown.
16:57Simon.
16:59Er, six.
17:01A six. And Tony?
17:02Six.
17:03Simon.
17:04Spoken.
17:06No, Tony.
17:07Spoken.
17:08There we go.
17:10Yeah.
17:11Yes.
17:11And over in the corner, Susie and Alistair?
17:14Er, there are two nice sevens.
17:16Pinkos.
17:17Mm.
17:18Er, for seven.
17:19And Pensile.
17:21Yes.
17:22Er, I was just looking at Pinkos, actually.
17:24Er, derogatory.
17:25Er, left-wingers.
17:26People with liberal views.
17:28Er, Pinkos with the O-E-S.
17:30And Pensile, er, just refers to something sort of hanging down, if you like.
17:35Pendulous.
17:35I didn't like to say what I thought it was.
17:38Pendulous, yeah.
17:39Yeah.
17:4044, please.
17:4118, Simon, in the lead.
17:43It's Tony's letters game now.
17:44Yes, Tony?
17:45Start off with a consonant, please.
17:47Thank you, Tony.
17:48X.
17:49And another.
17:52D.
17:53And a vowel.
17:55A.
17:56And another.
17:57E.
17:58And a consonant.
18:01L.
18:02And another.
18:05N.
18:06And a vowel.
18:08O.
18:09And another.
18:12Another O.
18:13And a final consonant, please.
18:16And a final T.
18:18Stand by.
18:20And another.
18:21And another.
18:48And another.
18:49Tony? Six. A six, Simon? Just a five. And your five? Delt. Now, Tony? Loaned. Yes. Yep. Very, very useful.
19:0624 to 44, but over in the corner, Alistair and Susie.
19:09I was struggling on fives. Toned was there. There were lots of fives, weren't there? But there were a couple
19:13of sevens too. Talend was there. Talend. And one that only Susie can tell us about. Odinate, which is an
19:22insect from the order Odonata. And they're predatory insects. Dragonflies are amongst them. And it comes from the Greek for
19:29tooth because of the insect's mandibles. I see. With which they devour their prey. Pretty good. Thank you very much.
19:36Thank you.
19:36So, Tony, 24, as I say, to Simon's 44. And it's Simon's numbers game. Yes, sir. One large and the
19:45rest small, please. Rachel. Thank you, Simon. One from the top of the fire a little. Coming up. And this
19:51time around, we have one, five, four, seven, eight. And the big one, 50. And the target to reach 998.
20:03998.
20:34So, Simon.
20:36998. And Tony? 998. And Tony? 998. It's not very well written down. Let's hear from you, Tony.
20:45Five times four. Is 20. Times 50. Is 1,000. And 8 minus 7 plus what? Is your two. Lovely.
20:57Well done.
20:58Simon. Simon. Yep, the same way. Same way, all right.
21:01That's, yeah, that's fine.
21:03That's good.
21:07So, 20 points in it. 54 to 34. Simon in the lead. And it's time for our second Tea Time
21:13teaser, which is downloads. And the clue, no downloads available in this vicinity. There's no internet connection. No downloads available
21:22in this vicinity. There's no internet connection.
21:44That's because we're in the woodlands. Woodlands.
21:54Now, 54 to 34. Simon in the lead. Tony, your letters go.
21:59So, usual, please start off with a consonant. Thank you, Tony. W.
22:04And another. S.
22:08And a vowel. A.
22:10A. And another.
22:13U.
22:14And a consonant.
22:17D.
22:18And another.
22:20G.
22:21And a vowel.
22:23A.
22:24And another.
22:27E.
22:29And a final consonant, please.
22:32And a final V.
22:34Stand by.
22:35And a vowel.
22:58And a vowel.
22:58And a vowel.
22:58and a vowel.
23:07Tony six and Simon a risky seven now Tony Swage and Sauvage Tony how are you spelling that s-w
23:20-a-d-g-e
23:21oh as in wadges but the other sort of other way around I don't think we're going to find that
23:28unfortunately not there I'm afraid sorry that's fine um and Simon yours was Sauvage and how you
23:36spelling s-a-u-v-a-g-e yeah French for savage um that's not there either I'm really sorry
23:43you
23:44might kick yourself because savaged was there yeah for seven and Susie anything else no just
23:50savaged was our best thank you 54 to 34 as I say and it's Simon's letters game now then Simon
23:56continent please Rachel thank you Simon s and another B and another ah and a vowel I and another e
24:14and
24:16another you and consonant P and a consonant G and a vowel and the last one oh stand by
24:34so
24:47so
24:48so
24:49so
25:02Well, Simon.
25:04Eight.
25:04And A, Tony.
25:06Seven.
25:07And your seven?
25:08Brogues.
25:10Simon.
25:11Groupies.
25:13Very good.
25:13Very, very nice.
25:14Yep.
25:17Yeah.
25:19And in the corner, Susie and Alistair?
25:21But there was one other.
25:22Yes.
25:23Using those same eight letters.
25:24Yes, you've travelled in one of these, and I think Rachel has now as well.
25:28Pirogues.
25:29Long, narrow canoes made from a single tree trunk.
25:31Indeed, yeah.
25:32Absolutely.
25:33Thank you very much.
25:3462 to 34.
25:36Susie, come back to us with your origins of words.
25:41Wonderful time of the day.
25:43Well, very often, a marketing company or even a dictionary publisher
25:48will ask the nation for their favourite words.
25:51So they're regularly polls to see which words we like best.
25:54I don't know what yours is.
25:57I'm not prepared to discuss that with you right now.
26:00Fair enough.
26:00But I'm having a guess that it's not going to be this one, which is surprisingly near
26:05the top very, very often.
26:06And it's a very curious word.
26:08It's defenestration.
26:10Very strange.
26:11A lot of people seem to love it.
26:12And it means throwing someone out of the window.
26:14So I'm not sure what it tells us about the British psyche.
26:17It's an odd word on the face of it, but its story is even odder.
26:21And you have to go back to 1609 and the city of Prague, when the emperor of Bohemia granted
26:27freedom of religious expression to the Protestants in the city.
26:33Eight years later, his very Catholic cousin gained control of Bohemia.
26:38And he instructed his officials, his people, to stop the construction of any new Protestant
26:45churches on royal lands.
26:47Now, as you can imagine, this caused right, kerfuffle.
26:49Kerfuffle, another word that regularly comes near the top.
26:52The Protestants were incredibly disgruntled about this.
26:56And in 1618, a group of people of Protestant faith tried in court two people who were said
27:03to have aided Catholic officials in stopping the construction of two very specific churches.
27:09They were found guilty of violating the earlier decree.
27:12And their punishment was to be thrown out of the window of Prague Castle.
27:17They apparently fell 100 feet, but they were unharmed.
27:19But politically, the event had a really seismic effect because it started the 30 Years' War.
27:23And as with any news event, it needed an epithet.
27:26It needed a nickname, really.
27:28And so defenestration was born.
27:30And it comes from the Latin de, meaning out, and fenestra, meaning window.
27:34So really quite grisly beginnings.
27:3730 Years' War was a pretty horrible time, a pretty horrible sort of military campaign,
27:42if you like.
27:42So for a word that people seem to love today, as I say, it didn't have a very nice beginning.
27:47Well done.
27:49APPLAUSE
27:53Revenestration.
27:54Now, 62 to 34.
27:57Tony, your letters go.
28:00OK.
28:00A consonant, please.
28:02Thank you, Tony.
28:03R.
28:04And another.
28:05D.
28:07And a vowel.
28:09I.
28:10And another.
28:11E.
28:12And a consonant.
28:15P.
28:16And another.
28:17C.
28:18And a vowel.
28:20A.
28:21And another.
28:23U.
28:25And a consonant.
28:28And lastly, N.
28:30Stand by.
28:31And a consonant.
29:01T.
29:02yes tony seven thank you simon six and your six camper tony cramped cramped absolutely fine
29:16very good yeah and in the corner um there was umpired um and uremic uh for sevens but u-r
29:26-a-e-m-i-c
29:27um from the greek for blood and urine and it's a raised level in the blood of urea and other
29:32waste compounds oh happy day nice 62 plays 41 and simon final letters game a consonant please
29:42rachel thank you simon m and another r and another s and a vowel a
29:55and uh another vowel please e and another i a consonant n another l and finally a vowel please
30:14and finally e stand by
30:20so
30:47simon
30:49um six not written down and tony
30:56seven and a seven simon smiler smiler thank you tony marines and marines very nice
31:06very nice and important too 48 to 62 now alistair i had minerals which is eight yeah and there was
31:15another eight as well measlier measlier measlier measlier yes punier
31:23and even more measly so into the final numbers game tony you're on a bit of a roll here
31:30your numbers game
31:32rachel six small i like your style the gamble is on thank you very much tony the last numbers game
31:40today we have eight seven four nine one and three and the target 128
31:51one two eight
31:52that
32:00oh
32:23Tony?
32:25No, sorry. I went the wrong way.
32:28Bad luck. Simon?
32:29One, two, eight.
32:31Thank you, Simon.
32:34Seven, nine to sixty-three.
32:37Yep.
32:38Three minus one is two.
32:40Multiply the two.
32:41One, two, six.
32:42And then eight over four is two.
32:46Yeah.
32:47Well done. One, two, eight.
32:49Very good.
32:51One, two, eight.
32:53All right.
32:54So, seventy-three to forty-eight as we go into the final round.
32:57Gentlemen, fingers on buzzers.
32:59Fingers on buzzers.
33:00Let's roll today's Countdown Conundrum.
33:35No, stumped up here.
33:37But who in the audience?
33:38Oh, I see so many hands, it's difficult to pick.
33:40Yes, sir?
33:42Flustered.
33:43Flustered. Let's see whether you're right.
33:46Well done.
33:47Well done, indeed.
33:53And well done to two good players here.
33:54Tony, I thought you were going to clamber up there and take him on, really,
33:58but at the end, he lost that numbers game.
34:01I remained the cannon fodder.
34:03No, you weren't cannon fodder at all.
34:05You played well.
34:06But, Simon, we shall be seeing you tomorrow as Tony goes back to East Berkhold
34:10with this goodie bag and our very best wishes.
34:13Excellent stuff, Simon.
34:14I'll see you tomorrow.
34:16And we'll see Alistair and Susie, of course, tomorrow.
34:20Indeed.
34:20Look forward to that.
34:21Yeah, see you then.
34:21Brilliant stuff.
34:22And Rachel, too, of course.
34:23See you then.
34:24See you tomorrow.
34:25Same time, same place.
34:26You'll be sure of it.
34:26A very good afternoon to you.
34:28You can contact the programme by email at countdown at channel4.com
34:32by Twitter at C4Countdown
34:34or write to us at Countdown Leeds LS3 1JS.
34:39You can also find our webpage at channel4.com forward slash countdown.
34:46The scientific approach to finding your soulmate.
34:49Six couples test it out and get married at first sight at nine tonight.
34:53Then after that, a brand new series of The Job Interview at ten
34:56where job seekers attempt to make a great first impression.