Wednesday 22 February 2023

Countdown

 Many, many years ago I watched the Channel 4 quiz Countdown on a small black and white TV in the kitchen. It was on at 4.30 as I was getting tea ready for the children. 

When the time changed to a bit earlier it coincided with afternoon cuppa time and after Col retired we always watched it together. They went through some pretty average presenters after Richard Whitely died and I abandoned it altogether when the awful Anne Robinson was in charge for a year but what a pleasure to watch again now with Colin Murray as host - he is so enthusiastic, plays along and really seems to enjoy the whole programme, as am I again - although I would never win a game.

Tucked away in the cupboard is a game that's moved house many, many times. I actually won it in a competition at the children's Primary school in the late 80's. The idea was to invent a game for children to involve adding up.

 
We had some templates for drawing round of a train and coaches and I cut out several and put numbers on them from one to six. The game was to roll a dice and start with a engine with that number then roll again to add coaches and add up the numbers on your train when all the coaches had been used up to see who had won.
I might have been the only entry - no idea - but I won the Countdown game. Colin and I had a go at it but the problem was that without a Susie Dent and a Rachel Riley (or Carol Vorderman back in the day) there was no way of knowing if we had got the longest word or if there WAS a way to do the numbers when we couldn't, so it wasn't so much fun.

 It's about time it went off to a charity shop. 


Back Tomorrow
Sue





27 comments:

  1. If you like words Sue then try the Something Rhymes with Purple podcast with Susie Dent and Gyles Brandreth…one of my favourites. Thanks for continuing your blog ! Anne in Bedfordshire

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    1. Gyles Brandreth is absolutely brilliant on anything he appears on. I've never watched/listened to any podcasts so maybe I should

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  2. I remember Countdown from way back then but haven't seen it for at least 30 years now!

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    1. It's still basically the same - a good brain workout

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  3. I can't even think about putting Countdown on. It's too addictive and that's an hour gone out of my day. Mind I confess to finding most game shows addictive. I've now started watching Bridge of Lies
    Deb in Wales

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    1. I watched Bridge of Lies once or twice but got fed up with the people dithering - so haven't watched it again

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  4. WintersEndRambler22 February 2023 at 08:58

    I love the train game idea...we have a couple of homemade games...they can beat the store bought ones hands down as far as I'm concerned. x

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    1. I have no idea what happened to my home made game don't remember playing it at home

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  5. There are programmes online that, if you put in all the letter, they will come up with every word you can make. I've found it useful at times.

    I used to love Countdown. xx

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  6. Rachel and Carol made Countdown worth watching just for them. Also Rachel is a Manchester United fan. What more could you want?

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  7. Countdown brings back some happy memories for me and it was the very first programme on Channel 4. By its name I thought it was a countdown to a new channel. There was a girl called Kathy who did the letters and Carol with her long hair doing the numbers and there was a selection of girls in Dictionary Corner before Susie Dent. My husband was working abroad at the time, but soon became an avid fan and I would buy the little Countdown puzzle books.

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    1. I don't remember the very early days but I watched it for years on a black and white TV and it was quite a surprise later to see the coloured clock!

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  8. must of been a Bristish show I have never heard of it.
    cathy

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  9. My dear old mum loved Countdown - thanks for the memories
    Alison in Wales x

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  10. I have never heard of countdown, but it made me laugh. As soon as I read Anne Robinson, it popped in my head "You ARE the weakest link!" I had to run off to google and see if I was right.

    The show called for her to be stern and condescending I suppose, but she certainly was not a person to give you the warm fuzzies.

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    1. Yes the same Anne Robinson and she was so unfriendly on Countdown when there was no need to be - very artificial - awful!

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  11. I had never heard of it so I had to search Google to find out a bit more. Sounds complicated! I would be too nervous and distracted to do well on TV!

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    1. Numbers and letters. Sums and words and an anagram - that's all there is to it!

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  12. The host of the game show often makes the show. Countdown never came to the US. Do children play board games today? I remember Monopoly and Scrabble and how much fun they were. Our Monopoly games went on for weeks.

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  13. The farmer and I always played Rummikub in the evening to keep him awake - after getting up to milk at 6am and then farming all day it was always hard for him to keep his eyes open in the evening.

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  14. The host does make the show in my opinion.

    God bless.

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  15. What great memories! Hopefully the new recipient of the game will be able to make great memories with their family.

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  16. Anne Robinson ruined Countdown for me, now she's gone I might have to give it another go. I'll be lamenting the end of Only Connect in a couple of weeks, so I need something to fill the void.

    We once had that Countdown game, bought from a car boot sale when the boys were young, I think we re-sold it at another within weeks.

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