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00:32Well, welcome to Celebrity Countdown and a warm welcome to everybody watching on Moor 4.
00:38The clock's poised, the letter's all neatly stacked, the numbers are tucked away in their little compartments.
00:45Everything's ready for Celebrity Countdown.
00:48We have two arbiters of the airwaves, both radio presenters, so we know they can make entertaining radio.
00:53But can they make long words from a selection of letters?
00:56First, from Radio 6 Music, we have the wonderful Stuart McHoney.
01:04Now, come on, be honest, Stuart.
01:07It's very important.
01:08Are you a Countdown fan?
01:09Have you watched Countdown?
01:10Have you played at home?
01:12Yes.
01:12Since I was a tiny child when it first came on in 1982?
01:18That's right.
01:19Yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:20Absolutely.
01:21Absolutely.
01:22And what's wonderful, of course, is that you're responsible for actually coming up with a word that's found its way
01:27into the dictionary.
01:28Tell us what it was, what it is, rather, and when you coined it.
01:32So, I believe, back in the 90s when I was a music journalist on a monthly magazine, on monthly magazines,
01:37I got very bored with grunge music.
01:39Yeah.
01:40Which seemed to me a lot of people in, with long hair, singing these songs that were essentially, I don't
01:44want to tidy my room.
01:45And they looked like they'd come to creosote your fence.
01:47And I thought there were a lot of British groups who were stylish and funny and cleverer.
01:51And I lumped a few of them together, blur and suede and pulp, and just, and said they were Britpop.
01:58And I believe that is now in the dictionary, although I believe it's capitalised, so I couldn't have it in
02:03this game.
02:03Don't you worry about that. You coined a phrase and it got into the dictionary.
02:07Where it will remain forevermore, I guess.
02:09Well, I hope so, yeah.
02:11Well, well done for that.
02:12And you're up against LBC's James O'Brien.
02:16Welcome, James.
02:17Thank you, Wayne.
02:21Now, James.
02:23Are you a countdown man?
02:25Well, I can't believe he's swatted up on the date that it started, because I thought that was going to
02:29be my joker in the pack.
02:31But yes, I am. I mean, religiously. I'm just looking forward to discovering how bad I am at it.
02:36But you're from a wordy family. Your dad was a journalist on The Telegraph, I think.
02:41That's right. A newspaper man.
02:42And you're a heavyweight political broadcaster and podcaster, too.
02:46Well, I don't know about heavyweight, but I do do both of those things to the best of my abilities,
02:52yeah.
02:52Expect lots from you.
02:53Oh, don't.
02:53Anyway, a round of applause for both of them.
02:58And over in the corner, Susie, our beloved Susie.
03:02And sitting next to Susie is one of our favourites, Rufus Hound, actor, comedian, poet.
03:12You are a poet.
03:15Only on Countdown.
03:16Only on Countdown.
03:17Only on Countdown.
03:18Well, we love you for it.
03:19We love you for it, Rufus.
03:20And, of course, we have Rachel, just the greatest mathematician that anybody could ever wish to have.
03:26Why, thank you, Nick.
03:26And I've got some news when it comes to numbers.
03:28Come on.
03:29Because today, our contestants are going to score more than they might do on a regular Countdown.
03:33We've actually changed the scoring for the Celebrity Specials.
03:35So, if one of you were to get a six-letter word and one of you were to get a
03:39seven-letter word,
03:40assuming they are both words, you will both score points,
03:42whereas normally it would only be the winning contestants.
03:44So, that works for the letters rounds and the numbers rounds.
03:46Oh, right, OK.
03:47So, it's even worth going for a one, even if you don't find anything.
03:50You can always find an A or an I in there.
03:52Yeah.
03:52You had to do that?
03:53Thanks.
03:54Good.
03:54Thanks for the vote of confidence, Rufus.
03:57And now, we're going to have a letters game.
04:00Stuart, you're up.
04:01It's a letters game.
04:02OK.
04:04Erm, vowel, please, Rachel.
04:07Thank you, Stuart.
04:08U.
04:09Erm, consonant.
04:13M.
04:15Consonant.
04:17N.
04:18Vowel.
04:20E.
04:22Consonant.
04:24R.
04:27Vowel.
04:28I.
04:30How many more have I got?
04:31You've got another three.
04:32OK.
04:33Erm, consonant.
04:35S.
04:38Vowel, please.
04:40A.
04:44And consonant.
04:46And your last one, T.
04:49And here comes the countdown clock.
05:22Well, Stuart?
05:25Seven.
05:27A seven. And James?
05:29Seven. Stuart, seven.
05:32Remains.
05:33James? Minster.
05:36Minster. Very good.
05:38APPLAUSE
05:42Minster. Now, what about the corner? Rufus, Susie?
05:45I was looking at these letters and there is one really good word in here somewhere.
05:51And as I was having that thought, Susie slid over a bit of paper with two eights and two nines
05:55on it.
05:56Come along.
05:57Come along. So there's raiment, an aneurysm for eight.
06:01Ooh.
06:02But for nine, ruminates and anti-serum.
06:07Amazing.
06:11That's wonderful. Well done.
06:12So it's seven apiece. And now, over to Rachel. Rachel.
06:16Well, I'm going to give some more tips today for how to solve the Countdown Numbers game.
06:20So I've pre-selected, it's one of everyone's favourite selections, the six small numbers.
06:24I say that as a joke because it's one of the hardest ones.
06:27So if I press my magic button, we shall get a target.
06:30And sometimes when you look at a number, it gives away something about yourself by just looking at it.
06:34So I'm going to talk about factors. I'm going to take you back to school today.
06:37And if you look at this number, you can see instantly that the last number is a five.
06:41So five is always a factor of 385.
06:45So, and you can work it out.
06:46You can divide 385 by five, work out it's five times 77.
06:50But there's actually another hidden factor that's lurking in this number that I can just see instantly as soon as
06:56I see it.
06:56And it's one of my favourites because it's the day I was born on.
06:59So I'm going to talk about how to spot if a number is divisible by 11.
07:03And if we think of any three-digit number, if you write the first digit as A, the second digit
07:08as B, and the third digit as C,
07:10there's a rule that if A plus C equals B, then that number is divisible by 11.
07:19If I say the three is the A, the A is the B, and the C is the five, we
07:25have A plus C, three plus five equals eight.
07:29And from that, we also know that AC times 11 equals ABC.
07:35I told you this was like going back to school.
07:37We've got a bit of algebra.
07:38So we know just by looking at this that 35 times 11 equals 385.
07:44And the reason this is so good in the countdown numbers game is because then you can take away a
07:50couple of numbers to make your 11,
07:52and then all you have to do is find the remaining 35 from the other ones, and it becomes a
07:57lot more simple.
07:59There are proper mathematical reasons why this works.
08:02If these two numbers add up to more than 10, then it won't be a hidden number that's divisible by
08:0711,
08:08but this will always work.
08:09If the three-digit number follows this simple rule,
08:11then you can say confidently that the first number, the third number times 11, equals that three-digit number.
08:18APPLAUSE
08:24So that's all digested and ready to go.
08:28So it's back to you, Rachel.
08:30It's back to me, and you might have guessed that I'm going to pick six small numbers now.
08:34Oh, God.
08:34And there might have been a little bit of a hint in that last little tip I gave you,
08:38so you might want to look at finding 11 out of these if we get a lucky target.
08:43Let's see.
08:44Let's keep our fingers crossed.
08:45I'm going to pick six small ones, and I'm hoping that class was paying attention today.
08:49And our six small numbers are five, two, three, seven, nine, and eight.
09:00OK.
09:00And the target to reach, 671.
09:04Six, seven, one.
09:05Six, seven, one.
09:36Six, seven, one.
09:38Yes?
09:38How did it go?
09:39Really quite badly.
09:42Anything to offer?
09:45No.
09:46Don't worry.
09:48And James, how was it for you?
09:52I think I might have got it.
09:54Yeah, come on, James.
09:56Come on, James.
09:57Ready to go top of the class?
09:59Eight plus three is 11.
10:01Eight plus three is 11.
10:03Nine times seven is 63.
10:05Nine times seven is 63.
10:07Take two off the 63.
10:09It's 61.
10:10And 61 times 11 is?
10:13671.
10:14Very well, James.
10:20How about that?
10:21I've already forgotten how I did it.
10:25Well done.
10:26Anyway, there we are.
10:2817 plays seven as we turn to our first conundrum.
10:34Oh, yes.
10:34Fingers on buzzers, gentlemen.
10:36Just in front of you, James.
10:37That's it.
10:37We're about to roll today's Countdown Conundrum.
11:11No.
11:13No, no, no.
11:14Time's up.
11:15Let's roll it.
11:16This has got to be difficult.
11:17Let's see what we've got here.
11:19Broadcast.
11:23You've got to watch this game today.
11:25All right.
11:26So, 17 to 7.
11:27And we turn to our first teaser,
11:30which is Maconied.
11:32And the clue, he's got to be having a laugh, surely.
11:35He's got to be having a laugh, surely.
11:48APPLAUSE
11:55Welcome back.
11:55Warm welcome back.
11:56I left you with the clue,
11:57he's got to be having a laugh, surely.
12:00And the answer to that is comedian.
12:03Comedian.
12:04So, James on 17, Stuart on 7.
12:07And, Stuart, you started as a journalist, I think,
12:11and then radio, you heard the call.
12:13As a music journalist, yeah.
12:14I got my break, as a lot of people did,
12:16in music journalism.
12:17I wrote for the New Musical Express, the NME.
12:19Yeah.
12:19And then a radio producer came to make a documentary
12:22about the NME and said you ought to do some radio
12:26over a few drinks in a pub, you know,
12:28so that kind of thing.
12:29And then they followed on, the radio crew followed on.
12:31A lot of people assume I've got,
12:33wrongly assume I've got my radio jobs through nepotism,
12:35because they wrongly think I'm something to do with Marconi.
12:39So, they assume, like,
12:40well, your grandad invented the medium,
12:42so that's probably how you got the job.
12:44That's quite the fact.
12:45Yeah, yeah.
12:45Tell me about radio.
12:46How important is your voice,
12:49the timbre of your voice, the tone, the...
12:52Well...
12:52Is that important, or is it actually what's up here?
12:54Once upon a time, I don't think somebody spoke
12:56with my accent probably would have been on national radio,
12:59but I don't know, actually, maybe that's unfair,
13:00cos, like, Wilfred Pickles was a big radio star...
13:03Sure he was, when I was a kid.
13:05..just slightly before my time.
13:06But, you know, I think...
13:07I think people like a voice that's kind of...
13:09I don't know what James would think.
13:12Engaging on some level, I guess, you know?
13:14But then again, you hear some people who've got
13:16radio voices that are, like, fingers down a blackboard to me,
13:19and yet they've become hugely successful.
13:21Name names.
13:22No.
13:23An interesting thing about radio, about DJ voices,
13:26is that the great Craig Brown, the humorist Craig Brown,
13:28said that only one piece...
13:29Only one bit of satire has ever worked...
13:32You know, satire's idea was to change the world.
13:33No satire has ever worked.
13:35The only bit of satire's idea that's ever worked,
13:37is Smashy and Nicey.
13:39Mm.
13:40On, um, The Fast Show.
13:41Mm.
13:42That almost overnight, DJs went,
13:44Oh, my God, do we sound like that?
13:46Mm.
13:46And changed the way they spoke, you know?
13:48Oh, interesting.
13:49Brilliant stuff.
13:50Now, 17 to 7, James in the lead.
13:53It's James' letters game.
13:55Yes, sir?
13:55Uh, consonant, please, Rachel.
13:57Thank you, James.
13:58P.
13:59And another.
14:01R.
14:02And another.
14:04C.
14:05And a vowel, please.
14:07O.
14:08And another vowel.
14:10I.
14:11And another vowel.
14:13E.
14:14And a consonant, please.
14:17T.
14:20And a consonant, please.
14:22M.
14:23And a vowel.
14:24And the last one.
14:25O.
14:27Stand by.
14:44And a consonant, please.
14:45And a consonant, please.
14:45And a consonant, please.
14:46And a consonant, please.
14:47And a consonant, please.
14:47And a consonant, please.
14:47And a consonant, please.
14:49And a consonant, please.
14:49And a consonant, please.
14:49And a consonant, please.
14:50And a consonant, please.
14:51And a consonant, please.
14:53And a consonant, please.
14:59Yes, James.
15:01Six.
15:02A six for James. Stuart?
15:06Six.
15:09James.
15:13Cornet.
15:13A Cornet from James. Stuart?
15:15I thought I could get a T-I-O-N to end in something and put some words there, but
15:18I can't.
15:18So, I'm afraid I get nothing.
15:21Oh.
15:23Oh.
15:24Oh.
15:25Oh, Rufus.
15:26Well, I did exactly the same, T-I-O-N.
15:29So, for a six, you could have had option.
15:31Option.
15:32Oh.
15:33But if you'd have added the R, you could have had portion.
15:38Neat.
15:38Susie?
15:39Very neat.
15:39For seven.
15:41Pointer and protein for a couple more sevens, but there is an eight there.
15:44Entropic, something that lacks order or predictability.
15:49Thanks, Susie.
15:52OK.
15:53Stuart, you're on. Let us go.
15:55All right.
15:55Good luck.
15:57Consonant, please, Rachel.
15:59Thank you, Stuart.
16:00Y.
16:02Vowel.
16:03E.
16:05Consonant.
16:06N.
16:09Consonant.
16:10T.
16:13Vowel.
16:14A.
16:17Vowel.
16:19I.
16:21Consonant.
16:22S.
16:25Consonant.
16:26B.
16:28And vowel, please.
16:31And lastly, U.
16:33Vowel.
16:34And the clock starts now.
16:36T.
16:36T.
16:37T.
16:37T.
16:37T.
16:38T.
16:38T.
16:38T.
17:06Well, Stuart?
17:07I think I've only got four.
17:09Not so bad.
17:11And James?
17:12Four.
17:13There we are, you see Stuart.
17:14What's your four?
17:16And I'm hoping that jens.
17:17James?
17:18Boys.
17:20Yes, both fine.
17:22Jen is those of a verb to feel a longing or yearning.
17:25Yeah.
17:26And Rufus.
17:27Rufus and Susie?
17:29This probably says more about me than the game that I immediately saw busty.
17:34But that's only a five.
17:36There is a seven.
17:37Yeah.
17:37Your aunties.
17:38Your aunties are there.
17:39Aunties.
17:44All right.
17:4527 plays 11 and it's a numbers game for James.
17:49Yes, James?
17:49Can I have one from the top, please, Rachel, and five smaller ones?
17:52A popular choice, James.
17:54One large one, five little ones.
17:56Moves us swiftly away from the sixth mole.
17:58And for this round we have six, seven, eight, six, two, and 75.
18:05And the target, 414.
18:08414.
18:11One large one, six, seven, eight, six, seven, eight, six, seven, eight, six, seven, eight, six, seven, eight, nine, nine,
18:23nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine,
18:27nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine,
18:27nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine,
18:27nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine,
18:27nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine, nine
18:40Yes, James. 414.
18:43414. Stuart, what news?
18:45No, I think I've only got 411.
18:49It'll do. Stuart?
18:52775s are 385.
18:55Oh, I'm afraid they're 525.
18:58Oh, well, there you go.
19:02385 on the brain from the last tip.
19:03I think I must have, yeah. I think it's my fault.
19:05Oh, wow. Sorry, Stuart.
19:06Let's blame Rachel.
19:08Meanwhile, let's have a word with James.
19:10James is frowning. You all right?
19:11No.
19:14Be brave.
19:15What do you think?
19:158 minus 2 is 6.
19:17That's a good start. I like it.
19:19Times 75.
19:20Times 75 is 450.
19:23Minus 6 times 6.
19:24And then the other sixes times together,
19:27and that is perfect. 414.
19:29APPLAUSE
19:31So, to the round, there we are, 37 to 11.
19:34James in the lead as we swivel, full of expectation and excitement,
19:40to Rufus. Rufus, what's up today?
19:42Well, I only do poems on Countdown,
19:44and this may be an exercise in misjudging the mood,
19:47because this is a much more jolly affair.
19:49Sometimes on regular Countdown,
19:51people like a bit of pathos in the middle of the week.
19:53But anyway, this is it.
19:56I would love to tell you how I feel.
19:59And for you to hear it, and for that to change you.
20:01And for that change to be just so damned meaningful
20:04that from the moment you hear it to your last breath,
20:07your every waking moment is awash with unparalleled joy.
20:10And that every time your eyes ping open from every blink you blink,
20:14the sense of wonder and excitement at being alive,
20:17at the endless possibilities,
20:19at the ripe, reachable fruit begging for your basket
20:22is so overwhelming that you worry you might just judder to a halt,
20:26seize like an overused tin toy,
20:28break at the weight of being's beauty.
20:32I would love to tell you what I think,
20:34and for you to hear it and know deep down
20:36that you had always thought the same way,
20:37because really, it's just what everyone thinks, isn't it?
20:41And that the differences between us are so laughably superficial
20:44and our similarity so deep
20:46that any time we spend arguing just makes us both look stupid.
20:49Two naked emperors laughing at the other's new clothes.
20:53And I used to think that if I just told you how I felt,
20:56that would be enough.
20:57And I used to think that if I just explained what I thought,
21:00that would be that.
21:01So I did.
21:02And it didn't.
21:04And that made me sad.
21:06And that made me angry.
21:07So now I'll tell you what I feel, what I think.
21:10I'll tell you I feel so angry,
21:12and I think you're an idiot.
21:13And that any argument you throw back at me
21:15only goes to prove my point.
21:17God, it feels so good to be right.
21:19Idiot. Idiot. Idiot.
21:20Ha, ha, ha.
21:21That's right. Go.
21:22Cry to your idiot friends, idiot,
21:24while me and my friends who aren't idiots
21:25all laugh at you idiots.
21:27And when you all shout idiot back,
21:29we all shout idiot back at you idiots.
21:31And then let's see how you idiots like that.
21:32Until everyone everywhere is just shouting idiot all the time.
21:37Man, how great is that gonna be?
21:39Some eternally echoing sounds of shrieking.
21:42I mean, they say in space nobody can hear you scream,
21:45but maybe we've just not been trying.
21:47Maybe if we all bellow loud enough,
21:49we could snuff out the sun like sneezing on a birthday candle.
21:53And once we've killed the sun,
21:55once all life on this planet has been snuffed out,
21:57let's see who the real idiots are then, eh?
21:59Yeah. Idiot.
22:03Whoa!
22:04APPLAUSE
22:10That's amazing.
22:12You deserve a drink. That was great.
22:14That really was great. Well done. Thank you.
22:1737 to 11 as we go into our next teaser,
22:21which is C Swirl and the clue.
22:23There are no cables involved with this set at all.
22:27There are no cables involved with this set at all.
22:34BELL RINGS
22:39APPLAUSE
22:41APPLAUSE
22:47Warm welcome back. I left you with the clue.
22:49There are no cables involved with this set at all.
22:53Maybe that's because it's a wireless set.
22:55Wireless is the answer to that.
22:5737 to 11.
22:58James in the lead.
23:00And James,
23:01you started out as a journalist because your dad was a journalist,
23:04do you think?
23:05Was he a big influence?
23:06Yes, all I ever really wanted to be was like him.
23:09And journalism proved furiously resistant to my charms and talent.
23:15And my student job as a tailor, I was working in menswear,
23:17had become my kind of bread and butter job.
23:19But I still was desperate to get into journalism.
23:21I was getting turned down for traineeships left, right and centre.
23:24And then a flu epidemic swept the whole store
23:27and it meant that a couple of us youngsters
23:29got tasked with kitting John Major, then the Prime Minister,
23:32out with a new suit.
23:35You'll remember at the time,
23:36spitting image was portraying him as grey.
23:38I mean, even his skin was grey.
23:40Everything about him was grey.
23:41And he famously wore his underpants on the outside of his trousers.
23:44And there was a, believe it or not,
23:46there was a European Union summit coming up in Florence
23:49and he said to us,
23:50he fancied something a little bit racy,
23:52so John Major, Mr Grey,
23:55bought a white suit off us.
23:57Which was an astonishing story at the time
23:58because the only people who wore white suits
24:00were John Travolta and Tom Wolfe.
24:02And now John Major.
24:03So I went back to the shop and I thought,
24:05this probably isn't going to endear me to my current employer,
24:08but it might be what I need to get on to my next employer.
24:11I rang up the Daily Express, I offered them the story,
24:13they offered me a few hundred quid
24:15and I asked for a couple of shifts instead,
24:17on my dad's advice,
24:18and I got a couple of shifts
24:20and that finally was the foot in the door that I needed.
24:23That's brilliant.
24:24And did he ever wear the white suit?
24:25He did.
24:26I never got a picture of him in it,
24:27but I did hear on good authority
24:29that he cut quite the dash in it in Florence that summer.
24:33Wow.
24:33Really?
24:33Yeah.
24:34I never saw a picture because...
24:35No.
24:36That was a big story.
24:37It was...
24:38They mocked it up, inevitably,
24:39on the column in the Daily Express.
24:41They mocked him up as John Travolta,
24:43but the suit that I fitted, Nick,
24:45was...
24:45It certainly wasn't flared,
24:47had nice side seams,
24:48two buttons.
24:49It was bang on the money.
24:50Bang on the money.
24:51And that got you into fleets.
24:53That got me through the door.
24:54Well done.
24:54And it's an amazing coincidence
24:55because I once sold Geoffrey Howe a studded leather poncho.
25:00LAUGHTER
25:03APPLAUSE
25:0937, please.
25:1011.
25:10James in the lead.
25:12Stuart, welcome back.
25:14Letters game.
25:16A consonant, please, Rachel.
25:18Thank you, Stuart.
25:19R.
25:21Vowel.
25:23A.
25:24Consonant.
25:26W.
25:28Consonant.
25:30T.
25:31Vowel, please.
25:33I.
25:37Consonant.
25:38P.
25:41Vowel.
25:42O.
25:45Consonant.
25:47M.
25:53Consonant, please.
25:54And the last one.
25:55X.
25:57Oh, wow.
25:58And it's Countdown.
25:591,
26:291,
26:30Stuart?
26:32Seven.
26:33James?
26:34Six.
26:35And your six is?
26:37Ration.
26:38Ration.
26:38Stuart?
26:40Um, portion?
26:42You need two O's.
26:44Oh.
26:45Oh.
26:46I'm sorry.
26:47Why didn't I go with my other, which is weapon?
26:50Yeah, you need an E for that.
26:52Oh.
26:55I think my mind is going, Dave.
26:57She can be cruel, I tell you.
26:58No.
26:59I think the word you're looking for is accurate.
27:01Rufus, what have you got?
27:03Um, ration was what I had, yeah.
27:07Stuart, anything else?
27:08Yeah, prion is a nice five.
27:10A small petrel, the bird of the southern seas.
27:13Um, but that's about it.
27:16Thanks very much.
27:18All right, 43 players, 11.
27:19James, your lessons game now.
27:21Uh, consonant, please, Rachel.
27:23Thank you, James.
27:24G.
27:25And another?
27:27S.
27:28And another?
27:29S.
27:30N.
27:31And a vowel, please.
27:32E.
27:33And another?
27:35O.
27:37And another?
27:39A.
27:41And a consonant, please.
27:43R.
27:44And another consonant?
27:45S.
27:47S.
27:49And a vowel, please.
27:52And lastly?
27:54I.
27:55Stand by.
27:57A.
27:57A.
27:57Together.
28:25A.
28:26A.
28:26O.
28:27Yes, James seven a seven Stuart seven. Thank you James
28:35gassier and
28:36Stuart singers
28:39Yes
28:44Rufus can you match it or beat it
28:47But I got soaring which I was pretty happy about but looking at it was like there's definitely something there
28:53Yeah, just as the bell went I got it as Susie slid it over to me. There's a nine. Oh,
28:59okay, which is
29:01organizes
29:09Thanks chaps 50 to 18 now. It's a numbers game
29:13For our friend Stuart a large one and the rest small please thank you
29:17Stuart one from the top and five little ones and the third one is a charm
29:21That's what they say the little ones here are two six
29:26three four and another four and the large one 50 and
29:33This target seven hundred and thirty eight seven three eight
30:08So how was it stood I'm afraid now. I'm no one here again James. I might have seven four six
30:14off you go
30:16Yeah, four plus six four plus six is ten three plus two three plus two is five 15 times 50
30:23So ten plus the five yeah 15 times that by 50 for 750
30:30Minus whatever's left minus the second four is yep
30:33746 gets you five points well done well done but seven three eight Rachel unwrap that for us would you
30:40this wasn't the easiest one?
30:41but it was possible if you start with 50 times two is 100 add six for
30:48106
30:494 plus 3 is 7 times those together for 742 and you have a second four left over to take
30:56away the seven three eight
30:58terrific
31:04as ever
31:05And it's 55 to 18 as we turn to Susie
31:09Susie your wonderful origins of words. What have you for us today?
31:13Um, well generally I try to come up with the word origin that will somehow link with our guests
31:20but I promise I haven't done that this time so forgive me because I'm going to talk about bastards and
31:24also
31:25Batman and the link between the two because believe it or not there is
31:29But it goes back to an older meaning of a Batman long before the dark night
31:34so in the mid 18th century a Batman was
31:37Someone an officer in charge of a bat horse and this was a pack horse
31:41Who carried the officers baggage and that bat goes back to a Latin word bastum which means pack saddle
31:49um now bastard comes in because it comes from the same Latin word the pack saddle and a feast de
31:57baste in
31:58French was a pack saddle son and the idea was that there was a sort of loose living
32:03driver of the horses or driver of the mules even
32:05Who'd use a pack saddle for a pillow and then wander from one town to the next and
32:11Possibly fathering a few illegitimate children along the way so Batman and and bastard strangely linked
32:18But they only talk about the real Batman as well and a Batman themed word
32:22Has a really surprising origin and that's the name Gotham New York City's Gotham
32:26And we tend to think of Gotham today as a kind of dark
32:28brooding city in the Batman movies
32:30There's always on the brink of destruction and needs rescuing
32:33But the term actually goes back to medieval England and it means goats town Gotham means goats town in Anglo
32:39-Saxon
32:39Which is really strange because you can't see a connection between the two at all
32:43And Gotham is also the name of a town in England. It's in Nottinghamshire
32:48Um beautiful so I'm told
32:50So how did that come about?
32:52Well, it goes back to Washington Irving
32:55In 1807 he had a really satirical magazine called Salma Gundy
32:59And it said that he was inspired by a folk tale called the wise men of Gotham
33:04And in this tale the residents of England's Gotham's village
33:08Um caught wind that King John was about to visit traveling through their town
33:14They thought it would bring chaos
33:16Um you know they need to spend money
33:18It would be an expensive thing and it would just
33:21It wasn't something that they would particularly welcome
33:22So they decided that to avoid the circus
33:25They would decide to just to feign madness
33:29They would pretend to be mad and then he would avoid them all together
33:32So, um, they performed really crazy stunts
33:36They tried to drown an eel in a pond
33:39Built a fence around a bush to prevent a cuckoo from escaping
33:42This is everything that they told
33:43The sort of vanguard of the king's army, if you like, or the king's retinue
33:47And it worked, the shenanigans worked
33:49King John bypassed Gotham thinking I'm definitely not going to go there
33:52Um, and by repeatedly using the word Gotham in a publication
33:56It was created in a way, um, to lampoon New York's culture
34:01So the idea was that New York was full of crazy people
34:04Who would go about doing the oddest things
34:06But New Yorkers loved it and they really embraced, uh, the nickname
34:09Because they knew that he was mocking them a little bit
34:12But they thought, well, we're crazy but, you know, we're proud of it
34:14And I think that's pretty true, certainly of people in Brooklyn and Manhattan that I know
34:18Um, so Gotham, yeah, Gotham in Nottinghamshire still exists
34:22And believe it or not, goat ham, goat home or whatever
34:26Was the inspiration for, you know, the city in the dark night
34:30Which is pretty, pretty strange
34:32Wonderful
34:32Thank you
34:38That's lovely
34:39Batman
34:40I had no idea, that was my link
34:42The first tattoo I ever got on my 21st birthday was Batman
34:46Fantastic
34:48There we go, now
34:4955 to 18
34:51It's time for our next teaser, which is Hear Radio
34:54And the clue
34:54You'll never hear our celebrities spouting this verbal nonsense on the radio
34:59You'll never hear our celebrities spouting this verbal nonsense on the radio
35:25This, er, verbal nonsense and spouting being diarrhoea
35:31Diarrhoea, I should hope not
35:3355 to 18
35:3555 to 18 and it's James in the lead and James's letters came
35:39A consonant please Rachel
35:40Thank you James
35:42B
35:42And another
35:43Another
35:44Another
35:46And another
35:47D
35:48And a vowel please
35:50E
35:51And another vowel
35:53O
35:54And another vowel please
35:56U
35:57And a consonant please
35:59L
36:00L
36:01And a consonant please
36:03M
36:04And one more vowel please
36:06And the last one
36:07E
36:09Stand by
36:41Yes, James?
36:43Just a six.
36:44A six, Stuart?
36:46Six.
36:48And James?
36:49Moulds.
36:51You moulding two?
36:52Same one.
36:52Moulds.
36:53Now, Rufus?
36:55We actually got sevens over here because I'm sat next to somebody much smarter than I am.
37:00Modules was one.
37:01Oh, yeah.
37:03But...
37:03Doubles.
37:05Doubles.
37:06Doubles.
37:06There we go.
37:07Excellent.
37:08Perfect.
37:0824 plays 6, D1.
37:11Stuart, your letters again.
37:13Good luck.
37:15Consonant, please, Rachel.
37:17Thank you, Stuart.
37:17N.
37:19Vowel.
37:20A.
37:22Consonant.
37:24F.
37:27Consonant.
37:28M.
37:30Vowel.
37:32E.
37:34Vowel.
37:37I.
37:39Consonant.
37:41R.
37:43Vowel.
37:46U.
37:47Consonant.
37:49And the last one.
37:50D.
37:52Stand by.
37:52Vowel.
37:54Vowel.
37:56Vowel.
38:07Vowel.
38:09Vowel.
38:11Vowel.
38:12Vowel.
38:13Vowel.
38:14Vowel.
38:15Vowel.
38:16Vowel.
38:16Vowel.
38:17Vowel.
38:17Vowel.
38:18Vowel.
38:18Vowel.
38:19Vowel.
38:19Vowel.
38:20Vowel.
38:21Vowel.
38:22Vowel.
38:23Well, Stuart. Oh, what the hell? I'm good. Let me look at it.
38:28Eight. Mm-hm. James? Just six. And your six is?
38:32Framed. Now then, Stuart. Unfarmed. Yes! Very, very good.
38:37APPLAUSE
38:39Come on!
38:44Strong's tough. Now, Rufus and Susie.
38:48Yeah, unfarmed for eight. Maunda for seven.
38:53Yes, to ramble on. Yeah.
38:56Unframed, you could have had as well. You could have stuck the un on.
38:58But, yeah, those are our best. Very good.
39:01OK, 32 to 67. James, it's your letters game now. Off we go.
39:07A consonant, please, Rachel. Thank you, James.
39:10S. And another consonant.
39:12G. And a vowel, please.
39:15A. And another vowel.
39:17E. And a consonant, please.
39:20T. And another consonant.
39:23W. And another consonant, please.
39:27L. And a vowel.
39:31O. And another consonant, please.
39:34And the last one. T.
39:36Stand by.
39:38So, go.
40:07Arf.
40:07Mr.
40:08Well, James?
40:10Five.
40:11Five for James. Stuart?
40:13What the hell? I don't care. Seven.
40:16Ooh!
40:17How we like to see the game played!
40:19Well, I'm crashing out in flames in my mouth,
40:21so I've got to make these...
40:23Let's have a word with James and see what he's come up with.
40:25James. Glows.
40:27Glows now, then. Stuart?
40:29Wattles? Yes, well done again.
40:32APPLAUSE
40:35That's very good.
40:36Now, Rufus and Susie.
40:39Put your heads together and...?
40:41No, that was ours, that kind of fluffy bit
40:43that comes down from a turkey.
40:44Yeah. Wattleneck.
40:45All I would say is be very careful
40:47if you're going to Google that at home,
40:48because quite famously Donald Trump's
40:50looks like something altogether different.
40:52Thank you very much for that, Rufus.
40:55Now, 72 to 39,
40:59we're finished with the letters game,
41:01but we're not finished with you, Rufus.
41:03Because you're on stage,
41:05stand-up, but also you're on the radio.
41:08Yes.
41:08You're on Radio 4,
41:09and you've got a wonderful show called
41:11My Teenage Diary.
41:13Tell us a little bit about that,
41:14and give us a little taste of it.
41:17A little flavour of it.
41:18Well, it's...
41:19It's pretty self-explanatory, really.
41:21We have guests on who wrote diaries
41:23when they were teenagers,
41:24and then they come on and read chunks of it out,
41:27and then I poke fun at them
41:29or tell them it'll all be all right in a minute.
41:32But we were a little 15-minute show quite late at night
41:36that Radio 4 has sort of 11, 11.15.
41:39And then the guests we got for the second series,
41:41thinking the second series would almost certainly be our last,
41:44was Sheila Hancock,
41:45who'd kept this diary, not of her whole teenage years,
41:48but of a specific trip that she'd taken,
41:50having been an evacuee.
41:52One of her teachers said,
41:54look, the world is a bigger place than it seems to you,
41:58and I've got these friends in Paris who run a theatre,
42:02so I've organised it with them.
42:03You can go off to Paris and basically be their summer maid.
42:07And they had...
42:08She'd done all the work she could do for them
42:10in the first two hours of her day,
42:12and the rest of her day was free to go off and be this kid
42:15who'd come from bombed-out grey London to Paris,
42:19which was, of course, untouched.
42:20And this diary charts the journey of a young woman
42:25from tiny-minded, oh, everything's terrible,
42:28to, oh, my stars, the universe awaits.
42:32And we were very lucky in that somebody from Radio 4
42:34was at that record,
42:36and they just bowled up to us straight afterwards and went,
42:38well, there's no way that can go out in 15 minutes,
42:40we have to have half hours,
42:41and the only slot we've got for that is the 6.30 comedy slot.
42:43So we went from being a real minor thought,
42:47based on Sheila Hancock's brilliance,
42:49to being in, like, the prime-time Radio 4 slot,
42:53and we're now on series nine or something.
42:55Lovely. Thanks, Rufus.
42:57APPLAUSE
43:00OK. So here we go.
43:02Final numbers game.
43:04Rachel.
43:05Lady's choice.
43:07And you know what they say, Stuart,
43:08the fourth one's a charm.
43:09So I'm going to pick the kindest one,
43:11the two from the top and four little.
43:14We'll give you some points for the final numbers game.
43:16And the selection is 3, 2, 6, 4, 75 and 25.
43:25And the target, 306.
43:27.
43:28.
43:28.
43:28.
43:28.
43:29.
43:29.
43:30.
43:30.
43:33Yes, Stuart?
43:33Well, incredible.
43:33.
43:33.
43:33.
43:33I think I've got it.
43:51.
43:55.
43:59Yes, Stuart?
44:00Well, incredibly, I think I've got it.
44:03.
44:03.
44:03.
44:03.
44:03.
44:04.
44:04.
44:04.
44:04.
44:05.
44:05.
44:06.
44:06.
44:06.
44:06.
44:06.
44:09.
44:09.
44:10.
44:11.
44:11Divide by four, 300.
44:13Plus 66.
44:14Perfect.
44:15Plus 6, 300 and 6.
44:16It is indeed, 300 and 6.
44:17And James.
44:18Well, astonishingly, lightning has struck twice on this one.
44:22I have exactly...
44:22Can I have a look, please?
44:22Yeah, well, all right, there you go.
44:25You happy?
44:26Yeah.
44:28OK, guys.
44:29And into the final round.
44:32It's conundrum time, chaps.
44:33Fingers on buzzers.
44:35Here's today's Countdown conundrum.
44:41BUZZER
44:41Stuart?
44:43Frequency.
44:44Oh, well played.
44:45Says James, frequency.
44:47Let's see whether you're right.
44:50APPLAUSE
44:53Well done, Stuart.
44:55Frequency.
44:5559 to 82, nothing in it, really.
44:58So you take this goody bag home with you with our thanks.
45:02APPLAUSE
45:06But, James, you get the priceless kryptonite.
45:08Thank you very much.
45:09Brilliant.
45:10Thank you very much.
45:11Congratulations.
45:11Good game.
45:12A good game indeed.
45:14Rufus?
45:14It was a lovely game.
45:16It was a great game.
45:17It was a lovely game.
45:18It's always nice to see people realising at the end that, you know,
45:21it might be time to try.
45:23And that's always the most thrilling part.
45:26And your poem was something else.
45:29Amazing.
45:30Well, that's very kind.
45:31It was, it was amazing.
45:33You come and see us again soon.
45:34Susie?
45:35Yes.
45:35See you next time.
45:35Definitely.
45:36See you then.
45:37And Rachel too.
45:38Yeah, and it's always interesting when we have contestants in
45:41that have actually watched it since 1982.
45:43It's a bit strange and nostalgic to actually be in the set,
45:46but it was strange for me to actually hear your voices
45:48asking me for consonants and vowels,
45:50cos I'm used to just hearing disembodied Stuart and James.
45:55So it's a privilege.
45:56All right.
45:58And we'll see you again soon.
46:00You'll be sure of it.
46:18And next time is the same time tomorrow when top shoppers Anna Richardson and Sabrina Grant face off.
46:25Over on Channel 4 in a couple of minutes,
46:27get your five a day the food unwrapped way
46:29as New Year health secrets are revealed.
46:32And here are more for next.
46:34Dex bought the biggest mini tractor ever.
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