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00:31Well, good afternoon. Welcome to Countdown Studio, Rachel.
00:34Yesterday we talked about the Excel and this big scientific exhibition and exploration down there.
00:41Well, today we've got a technological breakthrough that sort of isn't really.
00:45It's called Periscope Glasses, invented by a Brit called Dominic Wilcox.
00:51And he was at a gig and he noticed that in front of him there was a woman, a short
00:54woman,
00:54and she kept hopping up to try and see over the shoulders of the person in front,
00:58because she was so tiny, maybe he was quite tall.
01:01So he went home and he invented the Periscope Glasses, which involved having two sheets of mirrored acrylic
01:07and then positioned at opposing 45 degree angles, one here.
01:13And then there's a stick with the other one up there.
01:16And it created a Periscope effect.
01:18So it actually gave her an additional foot, 12 inches.
01:22And there we are.
01:23What do you think?
01:25Can you see people wearing these things?
01:27I have.
01:28And the image of the person wearing these glasses leaves something to be desired.
01:32Is that right?
01:32It's not the best fashion accessory I've ever seen in my life.
01:36And I can't imagine anyone in a mosh pit wearing one of those.
01:39And when you Google it as well, there's other inventions.
01:41So you can lie in bed.
01:43So you're just lying backwards and you can still read your book that's here.
01:46You can still watch TV without even having to lift your neck up.
01:49Do you want one?
01:50I'd love one.
01:51Right.
01:51We know what to get you for Christmas.
01:52Actually, two.
01:53One for her as well.
01:55All right.
01:55Who's back?
01:56We have the young Matt Rosenfeld back, chemistry student at Oxford, who won his teapot.
02:01You got your teapot, Matt.
02:02Yeah, I'm very happy with that.
02:03And you got a nine-letter word.
02:06That's it.
02:06Which scored you 18 points and rocketed you to your first win.
02:10Excellent.
02:11Well, good luck today.
02:12You've been confronted with a very interesting man called Rob Phillips, who works for the Guardian, Forest Hill, in London.
02:20You're into Thai boxing, but you like a bit of yoga.
02:23It's yin and yang.
02:24And you went off to Thailand and had a bit of both.
02:26Yeah, a bit of pacifism and pugilism.
02:29Are many young British men going over there for a sport of competitive Thai boxing?
02:35I think it's quite easy to go over there and compete if you want to.
02:39You know, you go to a camp and then they train you up for a few weeks and then you
02:43can have a fight at the end of it.
02:44I didn't.
02:45But you see posters over there.
02:48And the fighters, quite a lot of European fighters there.
02:51Yeah.
02:52Yeah, yeah.
02:52It's very big.
02:53But also the ties, you know, they're really, yeah, they start from sort of five.
02:58Yes.
02:58Training them up.
02:59It's quite a sight.
03:01Interesting.
03:01Anyway, good luck to both of you.
03:04Big round of applause now for Rob and Matt.
03:12And over in the corner, of course, joined once again by Jeremy Thompson, that great newsman.
03:17Welcome back, Jeremy.
03:19Thank you very much.
03:22The face and voice of the face and voice of breaking news.
03:26Jeremy's a good man.
03:27Good man.
03:28Matt, your letters came.
03:30Good afternoon.
03:31Good afternoon, Matt.
03:31Can we start with a consonant, please?
03:34Start today with C.
03:36And another.
03:37D.
03:38And a third.
03:41T.
03:42And a fourth.
03:44R.
03:45And a vowel, please.
03:47A.
03:48And another.
03:49I.
03:51And another.
03:53U.
03:54One more.
03:56E.
03:57And a final consonant, please.
04:00And a final L.
04:02And here's the countdown clock.
04:04I.
04:35Well, Matt?
04:36A seven.
04:37A seven.
04:38Yes, Rob?
04:39Seven.
04:40Matt?
04:40Curated.
04:42Rob?
04:42And dialect.
04:44Very nice.
04:45Now, in the corner, Jeremy?
04:47The best I could get was adulter, which I assume means more adult.
04:52It was actually an old term for an adulterer, a male adulterer.
04:56Didn't know that.
04:56But in the dictionary.
04:58There was a nine hidden there, actually, curtailed.
05:01Yeah.
05:02For sure.
05:04Good.
05:08Seven apiece.
05:09Now, Rob, your first letters game.
05:11Off we go.
05:11Afternoon, Rachel.
05:12Afternoon, Rob.
05:13I'll start with a consonant, please.
05:15Start with G.
05:17And another.
05:19T.
05:20And another.
05:22W.
05:23And a vowel, please.
05:25O.
05:26And another.
05:28And another.
05:29And another.
05:31E.
05:32And a consonant, please.
05:35B.
05:36And another consonant.
05:39R.
05:40And a vowel, please.
05:42And the last one.
05:44A.
05:45Stand by.
05:47O.
06:15I.
06:16I.
06:16Well, Rob, just a six.
06:20A six, Matt?
06:20I'll try a six as well.
06:22Rob?
06:23Bowtie.
06:25And?
06:26Boater.
06:28Um, boater is absolutely fine.
06:31Unfortunately, bowtie is two words.
06:34Ah.
06:34Yeah, sorry, Rob.
06:36Bad luck.
06:36Bad luck.
06:38Jeremy?
06:39Uh, I think goiter.
06:41Is that how it's spelt?
06:42Yes, yes.
06:43Um, that's good.
06:44That's a good six.
06:45Um, and you can just about stretch it to a seven with goatee-er.
06:50So, a cheese might have a goatee-er flavour than the next one.
06:54That's right.
06:55Seven plays 13.
06:56Matt on 13.
06:57Matt, your numbers game.
06:58Um, can we have T-Large and Fource Ball, please?
07:01You can indeed.
07:02Thank you, Matt.
07:03Two from the top four level for the first numbers of the day, which are seven, six, five, two,
07:11twenty-five and seventy-five, and the target, six hundred and seventy-six.
07:17Six, seven, six.
07:18Six, seven, six.
07:41Four.
07:43Four.
07:46Five, seven, six.
07:46Six, six.
07:46One, nine, ten.
07:47Six, seven.
07:48Six, seven.
07:48Five, five.
07:49Matt 6 7 6 Rob 6 7 6 off we go Matt all right so 7 plus 2 7 plus
07:572 9 times 75 675 and then 6
08:01minus 5 is your 1 and lovely Rob yep same way same way there we go Matt maintains his lead
08:1423 to
08:15Rob 17 as we turn to our first tea time teaser which is pulverize and the clue lots of people
08:22wanted to pulverize him for the truly awful things he said they found him this lots of people wanted
08:29to pulverize him for the truly awful things he said they found him this
08:51welcome back I left with a clue lots of people wanted to pulverize him for the truly awful things
08:57he said they found him this they found him repulsive repulsive now Rob your letters came
09:05I'll solve the constant please Rachel thank you Rob Q and a nicer one T and another F and a
09:18vowel please
09:19and a vowel please and the last one A stand by
10:10I'll see you next time
10:13Rob six Matt also sex Rob coits and quotas and quotas and quotas yeah both absolutely fine
10:24any advance um yes um taquitos um actually it's an eight um it's t-a-q-u-i-t-o
10:32-s um a taquito
10:34is a Mexican dish with a small tortilla rolled around a filling of meat and cheese and then fried
10:38that's a keto thank you 29 plays 23 Matt maintains his lead for the moment Matt
10:47can we start with uh vowel please thank you Matt e and another o and the third e and a
10:58consonant please
10:59n and another consonant please x and one more consonant s and another consonant
11:13r and a vowel please and the last one i go down
11:23so
11:35so
11:51Matt, seven.
11:53And Rob?
11:54And seven.
11:55Yes, Matt, Exposa.
11:57And Rob?
11:59Expires.
12:00Yes, both good.
12:02Jeremy?
12:03I was going to reveal Exposa as well, but it's been revealed.
12:06It did.
12:07Susie?
12:08Yes, you can get to an eight with Pioneers.
12:11Pioneers.
12:12Pioneers.
12:16Thanks for that.
12:1736 to 30.
12:20Six points in it.
12:21Matt in the lead.
12:21Rob, your numbers game now.
12:23I'll go for one from the top and five small, please.
12:26Thank you, Rob.
12:27One large five little coming up.
12:29And this time the little ones are three, ten, seven, three,
12:36and two.
12:37And a large one, 100 this time.
12:39And your target, 394.
12:43Three, nine, four.
12:45One, two, ten, seven, nine, ten.
12:49One, two, ten, ten, seven, ten.
13:12Take it, two, ten, ten.
13:14If you'd like to say, hey, let's say, first one, 12...
13:15Yes, Rob?
13:173, 9, 4.
13:19Matt? Also 3, 9, 4.
13:21Off we go. Rob?
13:23So 7 minus 3 is 4.
13:25Yep. Times by the 100.
13:27400. And 2 times 3 is the 6.
13:292 times the other 3. Straight forward, this one.
13:32Matt? Yep, same way.
13:35Yep.
13:39So, still 6 points in it, 46 to 40.
13:41Matt's still in the lead as we give them a break and turn to Jeremy.
13:45Jeremy, yesterday you spoke about British Prime Ministers,
13:48Harold Wilson, Margaret Thatcher.
13:50Today it's about US presidents.
13:54I covered six presidential elections in the United States,
13:58so I saw quite a few of them into the White House and out of them.
14:02And then I ended up being based in Washington,
14:06covering the states in the 90s and throughout the Clinton years.
14:11And I found Clinton was, if anything, quite open to the foreign media.
14:16As I discovered, most of them think there are no votes in it,
14:19so why talk to a British correspondent?
14:21But he was very good.
14:21And in fact, one time he even called me
14:23and a bunch of other British correspondents over
14:26and wanted to pick our brains about the Good Friday Agreement
14:29in Northern Ireland because he was about to do a trip there.
14:32So it was quite a good two-way relationship,
14:34which I found wasn't the case when it came to the election year
14:38a couple of years ago when it turned out that Trump was going to be elected.
14:42And we chased around our Trump for a long time
14:44and he was pretty dismissive of the foreign media.
14:49There are no votes in it.
14:50Why should I talk to you?
14:51So eventually I thought up the old ambush trick
14:55and managed to pin him against the back of his car
14:58outside a polling station in New Hampshire
15:00and finally got some questions in.
15:02And I asked a few questions and he gave Trump-like answers.
15:06And then I finally said,
15:06so if you become president, Mr. Trump,
15:09what about the special relationship, U.S. and U.K.?
15:13And he said, special?
15:15Of course it'll be special.
15:17I own golf courses in Britain, don't I?
15:21It was then I realised that America was going to be in very good hands.
15:31So the most charismatic was Clinton?
15:34Without a doubt, yes.
15:36I mean, as I've mentioned before,
15:38the most extraordinary leader I ever met was Nelson Mandela.
15:41But Clinton was an extraordinarily charismatic
15:44and a dazzling speaker.
15:46He's one of those guys that would walk into any room
15:49and light it up like he'd plugged into the mains electricity.
15:52He was, you know, quite a dazzling speaker in his day.
15:56Pretty impressive.
15:57And now we've got President Trump.
16:01I'll leave it in your good hands.
16:04Thank you very much.
16:0646 plays.
16:0740, Matt on 46.
16:09Matt, your letters game now.
16:10Right.
16:11Can we start off the consonant, please?
16:12Thank you, Matt.
16:13And another.
16:16And another.
16:17And a third.
16:19R.
16:21And a vowel, please.
16:23A.
16:24And another vowel.
16:25O.
16:26And another vowel.
16:28U.
16:28And a fourth.
16:30I.
16:32And a consonant, please.
16:34G.
16:35And one more consonant, please.
16:38And lastly, F.
16:39Canta.
16:42Canta.
17:11Well, Matt?
17:12I think I'll try an eight.
17:14An eight, Rob?
17:15I'll try an eight as well.
17:17Matt?
17:19Flowering and...
17:20Same word.
17:22Flowering, there we go.
17:24Cool.
17:28What about the corner, Susie and Jeremy?
17:30I thought flowering looked very nice, but I know it's not right.
17:34No.
17:35Flowering, yeah.
17:36Yes.
17:36Excellent.
17:36Sprinkle something with flower, simple as that.
17:38Anything else?
17:39Nothing better than that.
17:41Fifty-four, forty-eight.
17:42Now, Rob, your letters came.
17:45Start with a consonant, please, Rachel.
17:47Thank you, Rob.
17:47J.
17:49And another.
17:51B.
17:52And another.
17:55M.
17:55And a vowel, please.
17:57E.
17:58And another.
18:00A.
18:04And a consonant, please.
18:07N.
18:09And another.
18:11T.
18:13And a final vowel, please.
18:16A final E.
18:19Stand by.
18:20And a vowel.
18:49Mr.
18:51Rob.
18:51I'll try a seven.
18:53Yes, Matt?
18:54Just a six.
18:55Your six is?
18:56Beaton.
18:57Now, Rob.
18:58Boatmen?
18:59Boatmen.
19:00In the dictionary.
19:00Very well done, Rob.
19:01Yep.
19:02Boatmen's as good as we can get.
19:04I like Bermone was the first one I put down, but Boatmen trumps it.
19:08I can't.
19:09Any better?
19:10No.
19:10No better than that.
19:11Just sevens for us, too.
19:12It'll do.
19:1354-55.
19:15Rob in the lead for the first time, and it's Matt we turn to now.
19:18Matt, your numbers game.
19:20Can we have two large and four small, please?
19:22You can indeed try to reclaim your lead.
19:24Thank you, Matt.
19:25This time, the selection is four, three, eight, two, one hundred and twenty-five.
19:35And the target, 749.
19:37Seven, four, nine.
19:39One, two, one hundred and twenty-five.
19:39One, two, one hundred and twenty-five.
19:47One, two, one hundred and twenty-five.
19:59One, two, one hundred and twenty-five.
19:59One, two, one hundred and twenty-five.
19:59One, two, one hundred and twenty-five.
19:59One, two, one hundred and twenty-five.
19:59One, two, one hundred and twenty-five.
19:59One, two, one hundred and twenty-five.
20:00One, two, one hundred and twenty-five.
20:10Well, Matt, 749.
20:12749 and Rob, 749.
20:15Matt, so 8 times 100.
20:188 times 100, 800.
20:20And then 2 times 25.
20:22Two 25s are 50.
20:24And take that off.
20:24750.
20:25And then 4 minus 3 for 1 and take that off as well.
20:29749.
20:30Rob, same way.
20:34Yeah.
20:39Only a point in it as we turn to our second Tea Time teaser,
20:42which is Me Not Tall.
20:44And McClue, she spends most of her days here minding her P's and Q's.
20:49She spends most of her days here minding her P's and Q's.
21:09Welcome back.
21:10I left with the clue.
21:12She spends most of her days here minding her P's and Q's.
21:17Where is she?
21:18She's on her allotment, lucky lady.
21:21Her allotment.
21:22Now, Rob, your letters came.
21:25Start with a consonant, please.
21:27Thank you, Rob.
21:28R.
21:28And another.
21:30And another.
21:32And another.
21:34T.
21:35And a vowel, please.
21:37A.
21:38And another.
21:40O.
21:41And another.
21:43I.
21:44And a consonant, please.
21:47L.
21:48And, lastly, U.
21:59Stand by.
22:00And another.
22:02I.
22:02I.
22:15I.
22:30Yes, Rob?
22:31Seven, not written down.
22:33Seven and?
22:33I'll try seven as well.
22:35Rob, outlaid.
22:38And match?
22:39Darklit.
22:42Outlay is not there as a verb, so no outlaid, I'm afraid.
22:48I'm sorry about that.
22:49Outlaying would have been OK.
22:50And darklit.
22:52Yeah, T-A-R-K-L-I-T.
22:54Oh, I-T.
22:55Oh, darklit.
22:56Yeah, darklit.
22:56Sorry, got you.
22:57Um, that's not there either, I'm afraid.
23:00So I did a slab, though.
23:02Narrow escape there, Rob.
23:03Jeremy, what have you got?
23:04I had a go.
23:05I was asking Susie about outlaid.
23:08I thought it was a bit of a punt, but possible, but obviously not.
23:12So anything else?
23:13Sadly not.
23:13We had dilator muscle, for example, and that's there for seven.
23:18Sure.
23:18Yeah.
23:2065, 64 stays as it was.
23:22Matt, your letters again.
23:24Can I start the consonant, please?
23:26Thank you, Matt.
23:26N.
23:27And another.
23:29C.
23:30And another.
23:32R.
23:34And a fourth.
23:36H.
23:37And a vowel, please.
23:40E.
23:41And another.
23:42A.
23:44And a third.
23:45O.
23:47And a fourth.
23:49I.
23:51And a consonant, please.
23:53And the last one, M.
23:55And here's the countdown clock.
24:28Matt.
24:29Eight.
24:30An eight.
24:31Rob.
24:32I think I've got an eight as well.
24:34Matt.
24:35Harmonic.
24:36Yes.
24:38And Machina.
24:40Machina.
24:43Not fair.
24:44No.
24:45No, sorry, Rob.
24:46Jeremy.
24:47Yeah, harmonic.
24:49That's a pretty impressive eight.
24:51Any others?
24:52Choirmen.
24:53Also there.
24:54Yeah, but yeah, that's about it.
24:56A couple of eights.
24:57So 72 to 65.
24:59Matt's back in the lead.
25:00Look at that.
25:01Susie, what have you got for us by way of your origins of words?
25:05I have facial hair for you today.
25:08And facial hair on men, I'm speaking here,
25:12it's been remarkably circular in terms of fashion over the centuries.
25:17And for the last decade,
25:18men have definitely rediscovered their love for facial hair, like Rob.
25:23And the history of beard is quite fascinating, I think.
25:25So in the 1700s,
25:27beards completely disappeared because it was associated with a kind of rough, rustic.
25:32A hundred years later, if you didn't have a beard,
25:34it was like a crisis of masculinity.
25:35You needed to have a beard in order to be,
25:37sort of show your virility, if you like.
25:39But it goes back a lot further than that.
25:40And there's proof of it in English, too.
25:43So it's almost bizarre.
25:45And bizarre itself is a word that might have a beard lurking behind it.
25:49It may go back to a Basque word, bizarre,
25:51which is said to have been applied to Spanish soldiers arriving in the remote
25:56and very clean-shaven villages of the Pyrenees.
26:00And to those people living there,
26:02they obviously looked very, very strange indeed.
26:04And that's possibly where bizarre comes from.
26:05There is an alternative theory that it comes from the Italian bizarro, meaning angry.
26:11So that's another story.
26:12But beards may lurk behind them.
26:14And some of the comments made by the villagers at the time
26:17in those Pyrenees villages might well have been barbed.
26:20And that goes back to the Romans' word barbus, meaning beard,
26:23which, of course, gave us barber as well.
26:25Arrows became known as barbs because of their appendages,
26:29either feathers or the sort of process that curves back from their points
26:32in order to make their extraction quite difficult.
26:35And those short spikes also explained barbed wire,
26:38which, bizarrely, is connected to beards as well.
26:42The ancient Romans really liked to be clean-shaven.
26:45Beards were considered strange and, above all, Greek,
26:47which was a complete no-no.
26:49So Roman barbers did a really, really excellent business.
26:52When the empire fell,
26:54Italy was overrun with trisome with immensely long beards.
26:58This was the sort of thing to have.
27:00And they were known, of course, as the longer barber, the long beards.
27:03And long beards eventually may have become shortened to Lombard.
27:07It might explain why the region in northern Italy is called Lombardy.
27:13Sideburns, I'll finish with those.
27:14We owe sideburns to General Ambrose Burnside.
27:17Fought for the Union during the American Civil War.
27:19Had really distinctive hair running down the side of his face,
27:22connecting to his moustache.
27:24Facial foliage eventually took his name,
27:26but it was flipped centuries later
27:28when his name had kind of disappeared pretty much from view
27:30and sideburn made much more sense.
27:39Just amazingly.
27:40And moustaches, too, in some parts of the world, terribly important.
27:43I mean, to laugh at somebody's moustache
27:46actually sort of caused a fistfight, if it works.
27:49Yeah.
27:49Really, really important.
27:51There's an academic called Alan Withy, if you're interested in it.
27:53He's written some amazing stuff about the history of facial hair.
27:5772 to 65, Matt in the lead, and it's Rob.
28:01Rob, you've got to get back in the lead there.
28:04Letters game.
28:06Constantly, Rachel.
28:07Thank you, Rob.
28:08D.
28:08And another.
28:11H.
28:12And another.
28:14S.
28:15And a vowel, please.
28:18E.
28:19And another.
28:21A.
28:22And another.
28:25U.
28:26And a consonant, please.
28:29B.
28:30And another.
28:32V.
28:34And a final consonant, please.
28:39A final M.
28:41Standby.
29:14Rob?
29:14Just a six.
29:15A six.
29:16And Matt?
29:17A six or so.
29:18Rob?
29:19Shaved.
29:20Yes, Matt?
29:22Phased.
29:24Phased.
29:24Phased case.
29:25Shaved.
29:26Mm-hmm.
29:27Perfectly comes after what Susie was telling us about facial hair, wasn't it?
29:31It is.
29:32It was meant to be.
29:33It was.
29:33Anything else, Susie?
29:34No, we couldn't get beyond six either.
29:35We had shaped, we had pashed.
29:37To kiss, we didn't have very much more than that.
29:39Give us a pash.
29:40Now, Matt, your lessons game.
29:44All right, let's start off the consonant, please.
29:46Thank you, Matt.
29:47D.
29:48And another.
29:51S.
29:52And another.
29:54T.
29:55And a fourth.
29:57W.
29:58And a vowel, please.
30:00O.
30:01And another.
30:03E.
30:06And one more.
30:10I.
30:11And a final consonant, please.
30:14A final M.
30:16Stand by.
30:33And a vowel, please.
30:35And a vowel, please.
30:35And a vowel, please.
30:36And a vowel, please.
30:36And a vowel, please.
30:36And a vowel, please.
30:36And a vowel, please.
30:36And a vowel, please.
30:37And a vowel, please.
30:48Yes, Matt?
30:49Just six.
30:50A six and?
30:51Just a six as well.
30:52Matt?
30:53Wasted.
30:54And Rob?
30:55Stowed.
30:56Yes.
30:57You can put the I in wasted, as in shirt-waisted.
31:01Sure.
31:02That'll give you seven, and Meadows are there as well, for seven.
31:06Thank you, Susie.
31:07Rob, it's your numbers game.
31:08I'll have one from the top and five small again, please.
31:11Important tactical decision.
31:13Possibly banking on the crucial conundrum.
31:15Let's see.
31:15Final numbers are seven, five, three, ten, two, and a large one, 25.
31:23And the target, 187.
31:26187.
31:28187.
31:59187.
32:00187.
32:00And 187.
32:01Indeed.
32:02Yes, Rob?
32:04Seven times 25.
32:05Seven times 25.
32:06One, seven, five.
32:07Plus the ten and the two.
32:08Simple, this one.
32:10Matt?
32:11Bit different.
32:12Seven times 25 again.
32:14Yep.
32:14And then ten over five for two, times the other two, times the three for 12, and add that one.
32:21And we have a crucial conundrum.
32:23Well done.
32:28So, 94 plays 87.
32:31Final round.
32:32Conundrum time.
32:35Yep.
32:35Things or buzzers?
32:36Let's roll today's crucial countdown conundrum.
33:07Yes, Matt?
33:08Emotively.
33:09Oh, nice.
33:11Let's see whether you're right.
33:13Let's roll.
33:15Emotively.
33:24Yes, siree.
33:26Well done.
33:27Look at that.
33:28104 to Rob's 87.
33:29Well played, Rob.
33:31Well played.
33:32I mean, you were in the lead, and then it went slightly adrift, but you played really strongly.
33:37Thank you very much indeed for coming.
33:38You take this goodie bag.
33:40Thanks for coming.
33:41Thank you for coming.
33:43Good man.
33:44So, well done.
33:45Well done, Matt.
33:46Have a quiet weekend, and we'll see you on Monday.
33:48Yes.
33:49Excellent score.
33:50104.
33:51Brilliant.
33:52See you both on Monday, Jeremy and Susie.
33:55Coming back, Jeremy?
33:56Certainly will.
33:57Spent the weekend digging up some old stories for you.
33:59Well done.
34:00See you then.
34:01And Rachel too, of course.
34:02Yeah, and Matt can spend the weekend recovering from that crucial conundrum by the look on his face when he
34:06bust.
34:07A big sigh of relief.
34:08Excellent.
34:09We'll see you on Monday.
34:10See you then.
34:10Join us then.
34:11Same time, same place.
34:12You'll be sure of it.
34:12A very good afternoon to you all.
34:15Contact us by email at countdown at channel4.com, by Twitter at C4Countdown, or write to us at Countdown Leeds
34:23LS3 1JS.
34:25You can also find our webpage at channel4.com forward slash countdown.