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00:28I'll see you next time
00:31Good afternoon and welcome to Thursday's Countdown.
00:35I'm into my second week and it's feeling okay.
00:39But I want you to write in, email, tweet, whatever you like.
00:42Send in your favorite jokes and poems and whatever else you like.
00:47And if there's not a compliment to us here in the studio mixed in with it, we'd also be very
00:52grateful.
00:54What is the most common question, the most frequently asked question of me these days?
00:59Were you ever an apprentice, Nick?
01:01And the answer actually is yes, I was.
01:04As a young chap, I went to London having had a brief flirtation as a law student.
01:09And I was apprenticed to a wonderful chap called Michael Joyce who died last year sadly at the good old
01:15age of 89 actually.
01:16And he ran a PR company and he took me on as a young boy.
01:19And I appreciated so much over the years what he did for me.
01:24So, that was my first job.
01:26Rachel, good afternoon.
01:28Afternoon.
01:28I would have thought the most asked question was what is Lord Sugar really like?
01:33Surely people want the gossip.
01:34My good friend Lord Sugar is exactly what he appears to be on television.
01:39Direct, frank, not terribly loquacious.
01:45Not the graduate of any of the better known charm schools.
01:50But loyal, honest and the brightest man I've ever met.
01:54Well, you've covered your back in case he's watching.
01:56That was all very amicable.
01:57I think we're going to have to get some more of the dirt out from you.
02:00Over the coming months, Rachel, I shall dribble out some little tidbits for you.
02:06But in the meantime, really, let us welcome our champ back again.
02:11A good day yesterday, first day, 98?
02:13Uh-huh.
02:13Well done.
02:15And reading up on you, I understand that you devised a website, you designed a website that had a quarter
02:22of a million hits in a day.
02:23Yeah, at its height, it was getting a quarter of a million per day.
02:26What was it?
02:27It was to do with the text message service, where you used to be able to text a landline and
02:33Tom Baker read it out to you.
02:35Oh, the great old Doctor Who?
02:37Indeed.
02:37So I recorded loads of those quotes and made a website out of it, and it proved pretty popular.
02:42Is it still running?
02:44No, I had to pull it down recently, unfortunately.
02:47Oh, did Tom not like it?
02:50No.
02:51Apparently not anymore.
02:52I think the lawyers are listening, and we won't go into all that.
02:55We won't go into all that.
02:56But welcome back anyway.
02:57Good score.
02:58Good score.
02:59Almost to 100.
03:01And we've got Darren with us.
03:02Darren Coogan.
03:04Related to the great comic?
03:06No.
03:07No, that's a shame.
03:08Never mind.
03:08I saw him the other week.
03:09He's got long hair now.
03:10It's very odd.
03:10Andy gave me his book, which I haven't read yet.
03:14And Coogan's a good Irish name.
03:16You're from Ireland?
03:17Yeah, I'm from Ireland.
03:18I'm from Drogheda.
03:19Drogheda.
03:20But I live and study in England, nine months to be here.
03:23Okay.
03:23And you were an electrician, but now you want to be a secondary school teacher.
03:28Yeah.
03:28I'm into my second year of college.
03:31Where?
03:31In this country?
03:32Yeah.
03:32Whereabouts?
03:33Huntingdon.
03:34Huntingdon.
03:34Excellent.
03:35So, let's welcome our contestants today.
03:42And I'm now pressing a live link over to Dictionary Corner to report on the latest from Susie Dent, the
03:48great Susie, and John Suchet, still with us.
03:57So, John, it's a while now since you were chasing the news, because now you're really established as a radio
04:05man on the music scene, as they were, the classical music scene.
04:08Do you miss the live news?
04:10I miss it with a smile on my face now.
04:12I did it, and it came to a natural end, and now I'm doing classical music, which is very civilized,
04:17very peaceful, and very calm.
04:19Well, I listen to you.
04:20I listen to you.
04:22So, time to get this game underway.
04:24Mark, it's a letters game.
04:25Off you go.
04:27Hi, Rachel.
04:28Hi, Mark.
04:28Could I get a consonant, please?
04:30We can.
04:31Start today with S.
04:32And another.
04:35P.
04:35And one more.
04:37R.
04:39And a vowel.
04:41O.
04:42And another.
04:44E.
04:45And a consonant.
04:48D.
04:49A vowel.
04:52I.
04:53Another vowel.
04:56E.
04:57And a consonant, please.
04:59And lastly, B.
05:01And here's the countdown clock.
05:05I.
05:06I.
05:19I.
05:27I.
05:27I.
05:35Mark?
05:36A six.
05:37A six.
05:39And Mr. Coogan?
05:40Six.
05:41A six.
05:42Mark, your six?
05:43A broods.
05:44Broods.
05:46OK.
05:47And Darren?
05:47Poised.
05:48Poised.
05:49Seriously, John, are you happy with both of those?
05:51Um, broods, unfortunately, you need two O's for...
05:54Um, I think you probably misread one of the letters there.
05:56Bad luck.
05:57Um, so yeah, can't have broods.
05:59What can you offer us?
06:01John?
06:01Uh, we had a few seven letters over here, didn't we, Susie?
06:04Episode.
06:06Disrobe.
06:06Yeah.
06:06And you got...
06:07Uh, periods and bedsore.
06:10Bedsore.
06:11At least we know about that, the better.
06:14Well, well done, Darren.
06:15You've kicked off strongly.
06:17A six.
06:17Mark's yet to score.
06:19And Darren, it's your turn to start.
06:21A letters game.
06:22Hi, Rachel.
06:22Hiya, Darren.
06:23Can I have a consonant, please?
06:24You can, thank you.
06:25Start with L.
06:26And another.
06:29N.
06:30And a vowel.
06:32A.
06:33And another.
06:35O.
06:36A consonant.
06:38L.
06:40And another.
06:41Q.
06:43And another, please.
06:45S.
06:47A vowel.
06:49I.
06:51And a final vowel, please.
06:53And a final E.
06:56And here's the clock.
06:58We will talk.
06:58I.
06:59I.
07:11I.
07:14I.
07:15I.
07:16I.
07:22I.
07:23I.
07:24I.
07:27I.
07:29Darren. Seven. A seven. And Mark? A six. A six. And what would that be? Aliens. Aliens. Okay. And Darren?
07:39Insults. Only one S. Insults, certainly, but not insoles.
07:46Can you help us? Can you take this further, Susie? John? Not a seven letter, but saline is there. That's
07:53only six letters there. Yes. Couldn't do better than six. All right. Well, that sees us both at six. Mark
08:00and Darren. And Mark, take us into game three, a letters game.
08:06A constant, please. Thank you, Mark. R. And another. D. And another.
08:15J. And a vowel. I. And another vowel. E. And another. A. And a consonant. N. And another. R. And
08:37the final vowel, please. And a final. I. Stand by.
09:12Mark.
09:13Mark. Hard. Stick with a seven.
09:16Stick with a seven. And Darren?
09:19Yes. Seven as well. A seven. Mark, what is yours?
09:21A drainer. Drainer. Hmm. And Darren?
09:26And then. Randia. Randia.
09:28They're absolutely fine. And anything else for us? In fact, those were the two we came up with over here
09:32as well. You came up with Randia? I'm afraid we could. Shame on you.
09:35I played a bit of Susie. No, I'm okay. And there is another one. The plural of denarius is denarii.
09:42You'll see it just said D-E-N-A-R-I-I. Oh, that's for own coinage?
09:46Yes. Originally worth ten asses. Well done. Well, turning away from asses. Letters game with a score at 13-0.
10:00Darren, off you go. Can I have a consonant, please? Thank you, Darren. T. And another. G. And another. C.
10:12A vowel. E. And another.
10:15O. And another. A. Consonant. T. And another. V. And a final vowel, please. And a final O. Okay, pen's
10:34poised.
10:34O. Okay, pen's poised.
11:06Darren? Seven. Seven. Mark? Seven or something. All right. And Darren? Cottage. Cottage. Mark? Cottage, too. Cottage, the same. No
11:17squabbling over that, Susie? None at all. Very good. Can you take us on? We've got some quite musical ones
11:22here. Octave is there. That's only six, but Gavotte, that nice stately dance, is there? Yes. Yes, lovely. French dance.
11:28Very good. Twenty all, chaps. Mm-hmm, Mark. Pressure.
11:33And it's a numbers game, and it's your turn to kick off. I think I'll take a T, please. A
11:40non-inverted one. A non-inverted one. So you want three from the top? Mm-hmm. And three small ones.
11:47Thank you, Mark. And for this round, the three small are seven, two, and three, and the three large ones,
11:5475, 25, and 100. And your target, 662. 662.
12:33So, Mark.
12:33I think 661, but I haven't written it down. Okay, Darren? 667. 667. All right. So, Mark, let's have your
12:43661. Okay. Three times two is six. Yep.
12:47Take that from 100. 100, take six, 94. Multiplied by seven. Multiplied by seven is 658.
12:56Right. And 75 divided by 25 is three. Yep. And that's one away. Well done, 661. That's pretty good. Rachel,
13:04can you do better? I feel you can. Yep. This one is possible. If you say 100 minus three and
13:09minus two is 95, multiply that by seven for 665, and then again, you've got the 75 and the 25
13:18for three to take away from them.
13:19Yes. Brilliant. Well done.
13:23Well done. Well done. We can always, always count on Rachel. Brilliant. So, John, I turn to you.
13:33Well, Nick, you were asking me about Classic FM earlier on, and one of the great differences I've discovered between
13:40radio and television is radio is much more intimate.
13:43I can actually talk to listeners, because we run some great competitions on Classic FM, and occasionally we give away
13:50some amazing holidays.
13:52And what people have to do is they go onto our website and answer a question. Then they come through
13:57to me in the studio to answer the question, and I am then able to give them a holiday.
14:04Now, the computer chooses them completely by random, but I often sit there and think, wouldn't it be lovely if
14:09someone who really the right kind of person got through the whole computer system, and it happened just late last
14:19year, just perfect.
14:20A woman came through to the studio. She said, my husband and I are shortly going to celebrate our 10th
14:26wedding anniversary. We haven't had a holiday since our honeymoon. Things went a bit wrong financially, and if we could
14:32just win this holiday.
14:33And I thought, you know, every now and then, it just goes the way you want it to go, and
14:38here I am. I'm going to be able to give her this wonderful holiday and just make their lives for
14:43them, make their marriage.
14:44And this intimacy with radio allows you to do that.
14:47That's a lovely story.
14:48And then she got the question wrong.
14:50Oh, no. And that's life?
14:54That's life.
14:55Oh, it was so sad.
14:57I burst into tears.
14:58But I think that you get a wonderfully loyal sort of audience on that show.
15:04Yes.
15:04You really rather like Countdown, a loyal, solid, family sort of feeling.
15:08They know their classical music. I know a lot about one composer, but they know a lot about a lot.
15:14Yeah, well, there are enough of them, of course. Both audience and composers.
15:17Now, it's time for a tea-time teaser, and the teaser is Wormhead, Wormhead.
15:25The clue, bound for this place according to the song.
15:46Welcome back. And of course, the clue, bound for this place according to the song and the answer, Homewood.
15:52Remember that? Homewood bound, Simon and Garfunkel, the great Simon and Garfunkel.
15:57And so it is. We turn to game six.
16:01Darren, let's his game. Take it away.
16:04Can I have a consonant, please?
16:05Thank you, Darren.
16:19And a final consonant, please.
16:34And a final tea.
16:37Stand by for the clock.
17:10Darren, six, six for Darren and Mark, six as well, six, so Darren, off you go, pitied, Mark, spider, spider,
17:26Susie and John, pitied needs two eyes, have you just seen that Darren, so a spider absolutely fine, but no
17:34pitied, I'm afraid, okay, could you take us on, yes, we've got a seven, respite,
17:39yes, and actually you can put a D on that, if you respited an execution, for example, you postponed it,
17:46right, Mark, it's the latest game, take it away, a consonant please, Rachel, thank you, Mark, M,
17:53and another, R, and another, P, a vowel please, O, and another, E, and one more, O, a consonant, K,
18:14another, T, and a final vowel,
18:20and a final U, there we go.
18:55So, Mark, a six, a six, what a six is knocking about, Darren, just a five, a five, and what
19:04would that be, Darren, troop, troop, mark, troop with an E,
19:09how are you saying that then, T, R, O, U, P, E, yes, absolutely fine, an acting troop, for example,
19:14very good, well done, okay, and Susie, John,
19:19seven letters, promote, yes, the seven, very good, 39 to 20, Mark, Leeds, it's a letters game, Darren, can I
19:28have a consonant, please,
19:29thank you, Darren, T, and another, H, and another, D, a vowel, A, and another, A, and another, I, a
19:49consonant, M, and another, C,
19:55and the final vowel, please, and a final, E, and here's the clock.
20:32Now, Darren, just a five, a five, Mark, a six, a six, okay, and Darren, timed, timed, Mark, chimed, chimed,
20:44yes, very nice, Susie, you happy, very happy, all right,
20:47John, matched, yes, that takes it one letter further for seven, matched, that's right, good, Mark, you're stretching away, 45
20:56to 20,
20:57and it's your letters game, Mark, off you go, a consonant, please, Rachel, thank you, Mark, R, and another, S,
21:09and another,
21:10D, a vowel, U, and another vowel, another vowel, E, and a consonant, N, and another, W, a vowel, A,
21:31and a final vowel, please,
21:33and a final, E. Now, here's the clock.
22:08Mark, what have you for us, a seven, good, good, because we've been loitering in the sixes and fives, Darren,
22:16Seven, a seven, well done, and Mark, Wonders, Wonders, and Darren, same word, indeed, good, John, Susie,
22:27Yes, answered beats that by one, doesn't it? It certainly does, yes, and also, undersea is all one word, undersea.
22:34Undersea, well done.
22:39Very good. Susie, time for your amazing masterclass, off you go.
22:47Well, I'm often asked about the expression, there's more than one way to skin a cat, which for animal lovers
22:52is not a very pleasant thought,
22:54and there are various versions of the proverb, and it can be traced back as far as the 16th century,
22:59so it's very old.
23:00A Wisconsin newspaper from 1847 uses the most familiar version, that there are two ways to skin a cat, and
23:07two ways to skin a heart.
23:09But the earliest record is slightly different, and it goes, there are more ways to kill a dog than hanging,
23:15which referred to the very grim punishment, which used to be meted out to dogs deemed to have misbehaved, believe
23:21it or not.
23:22But the sheer variety of versions show that the idea is simply fanciful, if unpleasant,
23:27and it's a metaphor for implying simply that there are several ways of approaching something.
23:32Extraordinary.
23:37She says, well, my dog wasn't aware of all this carry-on. She had to be strung up endless times.
23:42Well, there we are. And with the score standing at 52 to 27, I turn to you, Darren, for a
23:50numbers game.
23:51Off you go.
23:52And I'd six small, please.
23:53Six more. You get it, the numbers.
23:56We'll see.
23:56We'll see. We'll see if we've got a tricky one this time.
23:59The six small ones are 1, 5, 7, 8, 9, and 6.
24:07And the target with these six smalls, 641.
24:116, 4, 1.
24:13Away we go.
24:20We'll see you next time.
24:45How did you score, Darren?
24:47Yeah, no, nothing down.
24:49No?
24:50No.
24:50OK.
24:51And Mark?
24:52640, I think.
24:54All right.
24:55Off you go.
24:577 minus 5 is 2.
24:59Yep.
25:02Plus the 6 is 8.
25:04Plus the 6 for 8.
25:05Multiplied by 8 is 64.
25:07Yep.
25:08And 9 plus 1 is 10.
25:09And multiply.
25:10Yep.
25:11And you haven't used any of those for one away.
25:13Well done.
25:13640.
25:14Very good.
25:14Well done.
25:15Rachel?
25:15Oh, yeah.
25:17You could have said 9 plus 7 is 16.
25:21Times 5 is an 80.
25:24Times 8 gets you to 640.
25:26And you have a 1 left over for 641.
25:28Very good.
25:29Very, very good.
25:31Very good.
25:33Well, bad luck, Darren, on that.
25:35But now it's time for the Tea Time teaser.
25:38And the teaser is Elm Beach.
25:41And the clue?
25:42It's white and creamy according to my sources.
26:01And welcome back.
26:03The clue?
26:03It's white and creamy according to my sources.
26:07And those of the culinary event will of course recognise Bechamel.
26:11Bechamel.
26:12Mark.
26:13Letters.
26:14You're on.
26:15Okay.
26:15Consolant please Rachel.
26:17Thank you Mark.
26:19S.
26:19And another.
26:21R.
26:23And another.
26:28E.
26:33Another vowel.
26:35I.
26:37A consonant.
26:39N.
26:41Another consonant.
26:43L.
26:44And a vowel please.
26:45And the last one.
26:47E.
26:49And clock time.
26:51Like youretera.
26:52Whatever.
27:08Like your sovereign or flying.
27:16There's a reputation.
27:17And the cosmos is
27:17F ll環境 away.
27:18From various levels.
27:21So, Mark, a seven, I think, a seven, all right, and Darren, just a six, a six, and what would
27:31that be, Darren?
27:31Yeah, saline.
27:33And, Mark?
27:34And relines?
27:36Relines.
27:37I think you can reline your curtains.
27:42You can reline your curtains.
27:44Well done.
27:45Well done.
27:46And anything else over there, John?
27:47We managed to use the X, relaxes.
27:50Yes.
27:51Relaxes is there for a nice seven, and also earlys.
27:53You can be on earlys as the early shift, or earlys are also potatoes, which are ready
27:58to be harvested before the main prop.
28:00Right.
28:01Very good.
28:02She's marked at 66, and Darren at 27, and Darren, it's your go for a letters game.
28:09Consulant, please.
28:10Thank you, Darren.
28:12M.
28:12And another.
28:15N.
28:16Vo.
28:17A.
28:19And another.
28:20U.
28:21And another.
28:23I.
28:24Consulant.
28:26S.
28:28And another.
28:29G.
28:31And another.
28:33T.
28:34And a final consonant, please.
28:37And a final M.
28:39Stand by.
28:39film.
28:41And another.
28:41And another.
29:08And another.
29:09And another.
29:09It's going to be a final moment.
29:10Darren? A risky seven. A risky seven. Mark? A seven. A seven? Yeah. Okay, Darren, let's hear your risk. Mustang.
29:21Mustang. Oh, Mark? Summing. Summing. Susie, you happy? I am summing as in summing up. Mustang is lovely. It's an
29:31American feral horse, typically small and lightly built. Very good. Well done. But could you have taken it on, John?
29:38Not in terms of letters, but looking back to Christmas, some nice magnums. Magnums, that sounds good to me. Mustang
29:45Sally. I remember that in the Irish film. Do you remember the commitments they sang, Mustang Sally? Very good. So,
29:5173 to 34. And Mark, it's letters game, and you're away. Okay. Concept, please, Rachel. Thank you, Mark. R. And
30:00another. W. And another. S.
30:07A vowel. E. And another vowel. A. One more. E. A consonant. P. Another consonant. F. And a final vowel,
30:26please. And a final. O.
30:28Is that it? It's the countdown clock.
31:02Mark just six six all right and Darren just a five a five and what would that be Darren spear
31:11spear
31:12and yours mark at powers powers Susie John fine we've got a great eight letter on here all Susie
31:20all credit to Susie four paws four ports front paws rather than four not three
31:28well done well done
31:34so that sees a 79 for mark to a 34 Darren it's a numbers game game 14 off you go
31:42now two large
31:43and four small please two large and four small very wise I think away from the nasty six more
31:48thank you Darren and the last numbers game today is two eight three and one and the large ones
31:5575 and 25 and the target 854 and here's the clock
32:05so
32:12so
32:33Darren how did you fare 856 856 and mark 856 as well 856 so Darren
32:42off you go and 75 plus 25 75 plus 25 100 and 3 times 2 3 times 2 is 6
32:54plus 1 plus 1 is 7
32:56yeah add that on to the 100 add it on to the 100 107 yeah and multiply it by a
33:02yeah 856
33:05and mark exactly the same okay you happy there yeah okay well done seven points apiece and now I turn
33:15to Rachel
33:16mmm I got to 855 but not 854 so I'll have another quick look okay so
33:22fingers on buzzers please it's countdown conundrum time and please reveal today's countdown conundrum
33:30oh
33:41yeah
33:42yeah
33:42yeah
34:02No takers, I turn to the audience, now come along, a hand up, two hands, yes madam, pompously,
34:11pompously, let's see if you're right, well done, well done indeed, you've beaten the professionals up here,
34:22and the professionals looking at the scoreboard, it's 86 to Darren's 41, so Mark, we're seeing you
34:29again tomorrow, we're saying cheerio to Darren, and you're going home perhaps soon to follow
34:36Podrick Harrington, because Ireland is stuffed full of great golfers at the minute, McElroy,
34:42the boy McElroy, who else desires from playing such brilliant golf at the moment, McDowell,
34:47Clark, yeah, Lowry, yeah, let me tell you, my son taught Darren Clark's two boys, yeah, terribly,
34:56terribly nice man apparently, anyway, well done, you're not going home empty handed,
35:01you're taking them a goodie bag, and well done Mark, two wins, going for a third tomorrow,
35:06see you then, Susie and John, great to see you again, as ever, see you again tomorrow too,
35:12and Rachel, any luck with that numbers game? I think I'm going to have to take this one home
35:16with me. Take me home, Rachel. And I say, and I say, good afternoon to you, and we'll see you
35:24same time tomorrow, please be sure of it, we'll be here. A platonic threesome, and they're looking
35:41for some hot property in North London, cue Phil and Kirstie tonight at eight o'clock, but next up,
35:47shake your afternoon with a deal.
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