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This episode was kindly donated by SuperLegendary.
This episode's repeat was broadcast on Tuesday 7th July 2020.
This episode's repeat was broadcast on Tuesday 7th July 2020.
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00:31Good afternoon and welcome to the Countdown Studio with another champion of champions first round tie to decide with just
00:39one more place in the quarterfinals on offer.
00:42So a very important match for these two chaps here.
00:46Now many people at this time of the year think that they'll take off and have a little ski break,
00:51ski break in January, what could be better?
00:53But what about having a little laugh whilst on the slopes? Well, let me tell you, that's exactly what will
00:58be happening in Meerhofen in Austria over the next few days because it's the 10th annual Altitude Comedy Festival.
01:06Clear little niche in the market that somebody spotted there, Rachel.
01:09So top comedians such as John Bishop, Catherine Ryan and Sean Locke, the wonderful Sean Locke will be performing.
01:16So let's hope that at least one of them doesn't break a leg.
01:20What about you? You're a bit of a skier, yeah?
01:24I just went skiing for the second time. Yeah, I think it's brilliant. So much fun.
01:28Yeah, I've only ever been in the States. But I'm getting better.
01:32And what sort of colour are you on at the moment, if I can put it that way?
01:35Have you got to the reds yet?
01:36There aren't any reds in the States, so you don't have to worry about that.
01:39It just goes green, blue, black, and then diamond, and then double diamond, and then death.
01:44Death. Well, you've avoided death. I'm delighted to see.
01:47But you're speeding up.
01:48Yeah.
01:49Taking my time, but it's great. And the apres ski, I mean, that's what that festival's all about.
01:53Loads of fun.
01:54I think the whole just, the fresh air and the cleanliness of the whole thing, and the sun, it's wonderful.
02:01I love it.
02:01Well, after the first time I tried it, I was hooked.
02:04Lovely.
02:04Love it.
02:04All right. Now, who's here? None other than Dan McCollum, champion from December 2014,
02:10currently in Edinburgh, a student doing a PhD in linguistics. Well done, and welcome back.
02:18A great performer. I remember you very well.
02:19Well, as indeed I remember Paul James, a security gatehouse officer from Cumbria, who was champion of the series
02:26in December 2012, when I first really sort of started this business here at Countdown.
02:33It's been a long time. It seems like ages for me. How about you?
02:37It does save my lifetime.
02:38Yeah. Still didn't have any hair then either.
02:40Two good champions anyway, and I wish you, and we all wish you the very best of luck bringing the
02:46stuff.
02:46And over in the corner, of course, Susie and the wonderful John Inverdale, and his great sporting anecdotes.
02:52More of those a little bit later on, John.
02:54Absolutely.
02:55But now, business. Dan McCollum.
02:59Thanks, Nick. Hi again, Rachel.
03:00Hi again, Dan.
03:01Can I start with a consonant, please?
03:02Thank you. Start today with G.
03:05Consonant.
03:07D.
03:08One more consonant, please.
03:10D.
03:12Vowel.
03:12E.
03:15Vowel, please.
03:17I.
03:18Vowel.
03:20A.
03:21Consonant, please.
03:23R.
03:25Vowel, please.
03:27I.
03:29And, well, finish with a vowel, please.
03:32And finish with U.
03:35And here's the countdown clock.
04:06Yes, Dan.
04:08Eight.
04:09An eight.
04:10Pulled.
04:10Seven.
04:11And that's seven?
04:13Triage'd.
04:15Triage'd.
04:16Yes, Dan.
04:16Didgerati.
04:18Yes.
04:20Absolutely brilliant.
04:21People with expertise or professional involvement in IT.
04:26Very, very good.
04:27Didgerati.
04:28Very clever.
04:31You can sort of pop arty at the end of everything, can't you?
04:36Literati, glitterati.
04:37Glitterati.
04:37Yeah.
04:38All that stuff.
04:38It feels like Easter.
04:39It's a very productive suffix.
04:41Now then, John.
04:43We had raged and tried and trade and lots of fives and triaged at seven, but we didn't get the
04:48eight.
04:50Very well done there, Dan.
04:52Now, what shall we do?
04:54Paul?
04:55Hi again, Rachel.
04:56Hi again, Bud.
04:57Could I start with a consonant, please?
04:59Start with P.
05:02And another.
05:04J.
05:06One more.
05:08F.
05:10And a fourth.
05:12H.
05:13Vowel.
05:16A.
05:18Vowel.
05:19O.
05:21Another vowel.
05:23A.
05:27Consonant.
05:28F.
05:30And another consonant, please.
05:35And the last one.
05:36T.
05:37Stand by.
06:09Pull.
06:10Five.
06:10A five.
06:12Dan.
06:12Six.
06:13So, Paul.
06:15Shape.
06:17And pathos.
06:19Pathos.
06:21Um, pathos is absolutely fine.
06:23Um, no shape, though, because there's no E.
06:26Oh.
06:27I wrote the one thing down.
06:29But, yes, pathos, of course, behind pathetic, etc., in the true Greek sense of the word.
06:34Indeed.
06:35Very good.
06:35All right.
06:36And the corner?
06:37We had a five as shaft and a six as potash.
06:40Potash.
06:41Mm-hmm.
06:42All right.
06:43Well done.
06:43And well done to Dan.
06:44Early lead there.
06:45And now it's a numbers game.
06:47First of the day.
06:48Dan?
06:49Can I fall out, please, Rachel?
06:50Can, indeed.
06:51Thank you, Dan.
06:52Four from the top row.
06:53And two obligatory little ones.
06:55And for the first time today, the little numbers are nine and one.
06:58And then the big ones, 75, 50, 25, and 100.
07:04And the target?
07:06Oh, dear.
07:06Eight hundred and ninety-nine, 30 seconds.
07:10Eight, nine, nine.
07:41Yes, Dan? I think I've got it.
07:45And Paul?
07:47Yes.
07:47You've got it all.
07:48Let's get this over with quickly then, Dan.
07:51100 times 9 at minus 1.
07:53That'll do.
07:54There we go.
07:54Apple?
07:559 times 100.
07:58All right.
08:00Let's not eke it out too much.
08:01There we are, 24 to 10, as we turn to our first Tea Time teaser today,
08:06which is Sad Hints.
08:08And the clue, might this keep all your writing equipment tidy near Wigan?
08:13Might this keep all your writing equipment tidy near Wigan?
08:33Welcome back.
08:34I lived with the clue, might this keep all your writing equipment tidy near Wigan?
08:40And the answer is Standish.
08:43Standish.
08:44Now, 24 plays 10, Dan in the lead, and it's Paul's Letters game.
08:49Paul?
08:50Consonant, please.
08:51Thank you, Paul.
08:53P.
08:55And another.
08:57S.
08:57And one more.
09:01Y.
09:03And a fourth.
09:06N.
09:08Vowel.
09:09E.
09:11Another vowel.
09:13A.
09:15And another.
09:17A.
09:20Consonant.
09:22R.
09:26And another consonant, please.
09:28And lastly, N.
09:30Stand by.
09:32N.
09:32A.
09:33A.
09:58We're going.
09:59Warw為.
10:00A.
10:00B.
10:00B.
10:00A.
10:01A.
10:02Paul. Seven. And, uh? Seven. Paul. Spanner. And? Same. Two spanners. Spanner of the works. And in the corner, John?
10:13We had span, which then found spanner, and pannery, as in your kitchen. Very good. Where you put your pans.
10:21Very good, a pannery.
10:22Yes. Susie, anything else? Pans collectively. No, just sevens. I think spanner is, um, I've discovered it as an insult,
10:28calling somebody you spanner. I've only just been, which obviously applies to me. Why? Why would I do that?
10:33If you're particularly quite clumsy, I'd say you spanner. I find spanners incredibly helpful.
10:4031 to 17. Now then, Dan, letters came. Can I have a consonant, please, Rachel? Thank you, Dan. S.
10:47Consonant. R. One more consonant, please. N. Vowel, please. O. Vowel.
10:58E. Another vowel. I. A consonant, please. P. A vowel, please. E. And a final vowel, please.
11:17And a final I. Countdown.
11:20And a final vowel, please.
11:50Well done. Eight. And eight. Pull. And seven. And that seven. Inspire. Dan. Pioneers. Pioneers.
12:00Excellent. Pioneers. Very good.
12:05Well done. Can we match it, John and Susie?
12:09Well, we have an eight-letter word that I confess I have never heard of. So, Don.
12:12I've got a specific musical term, this. Ripienos. R-I-P-I-E-N-O-S. And it's the body
12:20of instruments
12:20accompanying the concertino in baroque concerto music.
12:26And don't pretend you knew that.
12:27I didn't.
12:29Ripienos. But we do now.
12:31We do.
12:31We shall use it on a daily basis.
12:33Now, 39 plays 17.
12:36Paul, your first numbers game.
12:38Just down one latch, please, Rachel.
12:40Thank you, Paul.
12:41One from the top row and five little ones coming up.
12:45And for this round, the little ones are 10, 6, another 6, 1 and 4.
12:52And the big one, 50.
12:54And the target, 684.
12:566, 8, 4.
13:27Yes, Paul?
13:29Yes, 684.
13:31And Dan?
13:32No, I can only get 685.
13:34Really?
13:35Paul?
13:37OK, then.
13:384 minus 1 equals 3.
13:41Yep.
13:4210 minus 3 is 7.
13:4550 plus the 7 is 57.
13:4857.
13:496 add 6 is 12.
13:51Yep.
13:5212 times 57.
13:54Lovely. Well done.
13:55684.
13:55Brilliant.
13:56Well done.
14:02Tremendous. Well done.
14:0427 now plays 39.
14:07Nothing in it, really.
14:08As we turn to John.
14:09And, John, yesterday, you told us some really cracking stories from the Olympics.
14:13But today, I think you've got a real world beater.
14:15Yeah, only because we're doing this because obviously it's an Olympic year in Rio in the summer, Olympic and Paralympic
14:22year.
14:22And a lot of extraordinary stories over the years, going back to the modern reincarnation in 1896, there are just
14:31extraordinary tales of daring do and of absolute determination not to lose.
14:36And a lot of them actually set against political backgrounds.
14:40We often think that sport and politics is kind of a modern invention, but it's not.
14:44You know, going back to the Nazi Olympics in 1936.
14:48And if you go out to 1912, there's an amazing wrestling story from then.
14:51A guy called Martin Klein was representing Russia in the wrestling, and he'd actually represented Estonia previously in various competitions.
14:59And nobody was quite sure why he was representing Russia, but he was anyway.
15:03And he was fighting against a guy called Alfred Asikainen from Finland.
15:07And why this was significant was Finland was part of the Russian Empire in those days.
15:12And the IOC gave special dispensation to Finland to compete in its own right autonomously under the Finnish flag, which
15:20caused monumental anger to the Tsar.
15:23I mean, he had other things to worry about a few years later, but at the time he was very
15:26angry about that.
15:27Anyway, so this wrestling match took place, and it was a semi-final of the wrestling competition.
15:31And it was in Stockholm in 30 degrees of heat.
15:34And wrestling matches tend to last a few minutes, sometimes, you know, 15, 20 minutes, perhaps at best.
15:41But anyway, this match, there was so much at stake, and they were both so obviously determined not to lose.
15:45But the match lasted not one hour, not two, not three, not four, but 11 hours and 40 minutes.
15:55And they just fought each other to an absolute standstill.
15:59And I assume how it ended, I mean, it says that Klein won with a fall, but I suspect it
16:03just fell on him and just they couldn't get up either of them anyway.
16:06But to this day, there is a Martin Klein memorial big wrestling competition in Estonia.
16:13And to this day, 104 years later, it is the longest wrestling bout in history anywhere.
16:20Just another one of those tales that just adds to the myth and the legend of what is the Olympic
16:24Games.
16:25A great story.
16:26Brilliant story.
16:30Let me tell you, I happened to be travelling during the Beijing Olympics, and I happened to find myself in
16:36just into Mongolia in a place called Hovd, H-O-V-D.
16:40A little town.
16:41And I went to the post office to do, send a, I guess it was an internet connection or something.
16:48And there on the screen, coming out of Beijing, was the Kazakh wrestler in the final, and the whole town
16:56was in the post office.
16:57And he won, and it was fantastic.
17:00We drank a lot that night.
17:0339 plays 27.
17:05And Dan, will you take us on a letters game?
17:08Can I have a consonant, please, Rachel?
17:10Thank you, Dan.
17:11R.
17:12Another one.
17:14S.
17:15Another consonant.
17:16G.
17:18A vowel, please.
17:20U.
17:21Another.
17:22E.
17:24Another vowel, please.
17:26A.
17:27A consonant.
17:29T.
17:31A consonant.
17:33W.
17:36And a final vowel, please.
17:41And the last one.
17:42E.
17:43Stand by.
18:14Yes, Dan.
18:15Seven.
18:16A seven.
18:17Paul.
18:18Seven.
18:19And Dan, seven?
18:20Sweater.
18:21Paul.
18:22Sweater.
18:23There we go.
18:24Sweater.
18:25And over in the corner, John.
18:27Yep, sweater and sweater and gesture and restage.
18:31Lots of sevens.
18:32Yeah, pretty good.
18:32Nothing more than that.
18:33All right.
18:34Susie, that's it?
18:34Yep.
18:35Big collection.
18:36Well done.
18:36Well done.
18:36And where shall we go?
18:40Paul.
18:41Left again for you.
18:42Yeah.
18:43Consonant, please.
18:44Thank you, Paul.
18:44B.
18:46And a consonant.
18:48W.
18:51Another.
18:53N.
18:56And a fourth.
18:58P.
19:00Vowel.
19:02A.
19:04Vowel.
19:06O.
19:09Vowel.
19:09I.
19:13Consonant.
19:15D.
19:18And a final.
19:22Consonant.
19:23And a final V.
19:26Countdown.
19:27Vowel.
19:31Bye.
19:33Bye.
19:37Bye.
19:42Bye.
19:44Bye.
19:47Bye.
19:50Bye.
19:57yes Paul five five done yet five sir mm-hmm ball piano same a PI and oh and
20:09John yeah we've only got fires as well loads of fours the fires we had were
20:13vapid and divan divan very good all right 51 plays 39 Dan's in the lead and it's
20:21Dan's numbers game now down can I try for large and please back to the fall large
20:26course can thank you Dan for from the top row two more little ones and this time
20:30around the little ones are eight and ten and then the big one 75 25 150 and
20:38hopefully a trickier one than the last four hundred and forty eight four four
20:42eight
21:13yes Dan four four eight and Paul yeah four four eight think yes all right you
21:22think yep all right done okay so I did 100 over 25 100 over 25 is 4 10 minus 4
21:30is
21:306 plus 50 is 56 times 8 perfect 448 world well done and Paul James yes I'll
21:38have done it at the same yeah that's fine do you have him all right
21:45so 61 plays 49 here's the final tea time teaser for today it's rude shoe and the
21:52clue there was an old woman who lived in a shoe then she was moved elsewhere there
21:57was an old woman who lived in a shoe then she was moved elsewhere
22:20she was rehoused cruel words she was rehoused
22:28poor old girl 61 plays 49 down on 61 and it's Paul's letters game
22:33oh and start with a continent please Rachel thank you Paul G and another and and
22:42another M and fourth ah vowel oh vowel e vowel o vowel o vowel
23:03e and a consonant please and lastly c countdown
23:08countdown
23:09you
23:11you
23:11you
23:12you
23:13you
23:28you
23:29you
23:40Paul, six.
23:42And Dan, six.
23:43Thank you, Paul.
23:45Gino.
23:46Now then, Morgan.
23:48Morgan, M-O-R-G-E-N.
23:52Morgan, yes.
23:53In the Netherlands, South Africa and parts of the US,
23:55it's a measure of land equal to about two acres.
23:59It is a slightly different measurement in Norway, Denmark and Germany,
24:02if we're getting very specific, but it's, yes, unit of distance measuring land.
24:06A Morgan.
24:07It does come from the German Morgan, meaning morning,
24:10because it's the area of land that can be ploughed in the morning.
24:14Oh, that's neat, isn't it?
24:15I like that.
24:16All right, Dan, let's have a letter to get them from you, shall we?
24:19Have a consonant, please, Rachel.
24:20Thank you, Dan.
24:21G.
24:23One more.
24:25D.
24:26Another consonant.
24:26M.
24:29A vowel, please.
24:31O.
24:32Another vowel.
24:34A.
24:35Another vowel, please.
24:37E.
24:38Consonant.
24:40K.
24:42A vowel.
24:45O.
24:48And...
24:49Finish with a consonant, please.
24:52And finish with D.
24:53Stand by.
24:55One more.
25:22One more.
25:24yes Dan six a six ball under six and Dan McCorm moated Paul yes moated there
25:36we go well done well done and in the corner Susie John yeah we've got another
25:40six six letter word which you can only say in a certain way doomed well done
25:50Susie anything else moated for me as well all right yeah thank you John very
25:55good or at 73 place 61 and we're back with Susie for her wonderful origins of
26:00words yesterday signs of the zodiac and today and today we're going to go back
26:05to the fairs of 18th and 19th century England which were incredibly popular
26:11and there you could see sideshows prize fighters wire walkers freaks wild animals
26:19puppets all sorts of things going on but the most popular in these fairs were
26:24probably the jesters Samuel Pepys writes about Mary Andrews who were the
26:29buffoons if you like of these fairs who entertain the crowds zanies were also
26:33there's any actually goes back to the Italian comedy the commedia dell'arte he
26:38was a servant in those but again a bit of a fool a bit of a buffoon and it's a
26:42shortening of Giovanni the zany but zanies were frequent attractions at these
26:48fairs in the 17th 18th and 19th centuries there's also a silly Billy now
26:54the time the nickname silly Billy is said to refer well the two stories one is
26:58that referred to the Prince William Frederick the Duke of Gloucester he was
27:02supposed to be slightly lacking in intelligence and in the habit of saying
27:05completely ludicrous things that the other option is William the fourth the
27:09Duke of Clarence who was probably mentally unstable we would say now but was
27:13thought of as being slightly eccentric so the epithet silly Billy may have begun with
27:17one of those but certainly silly Billy's were again on the streets in these
27:22medieval fairs and they would be the buffoons the fools the jesters they would
27:27take on the actions of clowns or acrobats dressed up in their red and white
27:32costumes with lots of makeup just acting the fool
27:40well as a kid we used to go to one of the hiring fairs it was called the
27:45Marlboro mop yes it's a great friend used to take over the whole history but what
27:49was special about it I'm sure they don't do it anymore is that there would be an a
27:54marquee where there would be old ex-professional punch drunk boxes John and
27:59they would take on the guys that had been you know hired for the harvest so
28:03these boys would be now in the pub and had a couple of pints of cider they'd take
28:08on these old punchy boxes fun there we go 73 to 61 and Dan's in the lead and it's
28:16Paul's letters game Paul and confident please Rachel thank you Paul S and another D and another
28:51consonant please and the last one H standby
29:25I'll see you in the next one bye
29:27yes Paul just a six down I'll try Nate thank you oh quiet quiet and squished yes no no risk
29:41with
29:41that one at all squished is a lovely oh done and in the corner yeah that was squished yeah pretty
29:47good thing more than that all right Dan's in the lead sure enough and it's his letters game now
29:51final one of the day continent please Rachel thank you Dan D consonant n one more please m a vowel
30:02a vowel I
30:07another vowel please oh a consonant T a vowel e and finish with a consonant please and finish with
30:21X countdown
30:26so
30:58and then dominate dominate and Paul and dominate as well and I'm sure that was in the corner too
31:06yeah we had dominate and also domain there's another one minted for six yeah you can have the men with
31:12an
31:12e as a vineyard in French just to get you to the seven well done all right very good 89
31:17p 69 final
31:19numbers game Paul okay we're gonna try three large three large still in the game to stay in the game
31:27thank you for three large and three little see if that works and these little ones are two ten and
31:33one and
31:34then the big three 125 and 50 and the target 843 843
31:41okay
32:10so
32:12well Paul eight four three eight four three Dan can I get eight four two eight
32:21four two let's kick off with Paul then shall we pull a hundred minus one one
32:29hundred minus one ninety nine eight times no it isn't not gone wrong so bad
32:38luck bad luck Dan McCollum I get it 50 plus 25 50 plus 25 75 minus one minus one
32:47seventy four times ten times ten seven hundred and forty plus hundred plus two
32:52and you haven't used those yes for one away eight four two briskly done but
32:58Rachel can you do it eight four three yeah it was possible if you say 100 plus
33:03two one oh two ten minus one nine times them together for nine hundred and
33:10eighteen and take away the 50 and 25
33:13well done thank you Rachel
33:16perfect as ever and so it is sorry score staying ninety six to sixty nine we enter
33:23the final round conundrum time so Dan and Paul fingers on buzzers let's reveal
33:26today's countdown conundrum my word Dan so fast what is it tomboyish tomboyish let's
33:35see that was tremendously quick tomboyish well done
33:41well done indeed terrific stuff and so it is young Dan that we'll see you in the fourth quarter
33:49final well done thank you tremendous performance 106 points Paul he was good on
33:56the day wasn't he he was but you scored well 69 and here's this piece of kryptonite
34:02future take home as evidence of your success here today in the champion of
34:07champions tournament and of course tomorrow John and Susie will be back with us
34:11John yes I hope so are you here yeah look forward to it okay indeed it's a deal better
34:15be about here tomorrow all right see you tomorrow see you tomorrow and maladies to
34:20Dan in the Russian speaker tremendous all right see you tomorrow same time same
34:25place let's see how we do tomorrow will it be as good as today some challenge
34:30there good afternoon you can contact the program by email at countdown at channel
34:364.com by twitter at c4 countdown or write to us at countdown leads ls3 1js you can also
34:44find our webpage at channel 4.com forward slash countdown a little three-year-old superhero
34:53has suffered a bump to the head and a carpenter suffers a fall onto concrete in only 24 hours
34:59of Nene tonight at 9 from Southampton to southern Italy for a place in the sun here next
35:04the next
35:05.
35:05.
35:06.