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00:00Thank you
00:30Good 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 favourite jokes and poems and whatever else you like
00:47And if there's an odd compliment to us here in the studio mixed in with it
00:51We'd also be very grateful
00:53What is the most common question?
00:57The most frequently asked question of me these days
00:59Were you ever an apprentice Nick?
01:02And 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
01:12Who died last year sadly at the good old age of 89 actually
01:16And he ran a PR company and he took me on as a young boy
01:20And I appreciated so much over the years what he did for me
01:23So that was my first job
01:26Rachel, good afternoon
01:28Afternoon, I would have thought the most asked question was
01:30What 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
01:38Direct, frank, not terribly loquacious
01:45Not the graduate of any of the better known charm schools
01:49But 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
02:01Over the coming months Rachel
02:02I shall dribble out some little titbits for you
02:06But in the meantime
02:07Really let us welcome our champ back again
02:11A good day yesterday, first day, 98?
02:13Well done
02:14And reading up on you
02:17I understand that you devised a website
02:20You designed a website that had a quarter of a million hits in a day
02:23Yeah, at its height
02:24It's getting a quarter of a million per day
02:26What was it?
02:27It was to do with the text message service
02:30Where you used to be able to text a landline
02:33And Tom Baker read it out to you
02:35Oh, the great old Doctor Who
02:37Indeed, so I recorded loads of those quotes
02:40And made a website out of it
02:41And 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, apparently not anymore
02:52I think the lawyers are listening
02:54And we won't go into all that
02:55We won't go into all that
02:56But welcome back anyway
02:58Good score
02:58Thank you
02:59Good score
02:59Almost to 100
03:00And we've got Darren with us
03:02Darren Coogan
03:03Related to the great comic?
03:06No
03:06No, 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
03:10And he gave me his book
03:12Which I haven't read yet
03:13And Coogan's 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
03:22Nine months a year
03:23Okay
03:23And you were an electrician
03:25But now you want to be a secondary school teacher
03:27Yeah
03:28I'm into my second year of college
03:30Where?
03:31In this country?
03:32Yeah
03:32Whereabouts?
03:33Huntingdon
03:33Huntingdon
03:34Excellent
03:35So let's welcome our contestants today
03:37And I'm now pressing a live link over to Dictionary Corner
03:45To report on the latest from Susie Dent
03:48The great Susie
03:49And John Suchet
03:50Still with us
03:51So John, it's a while now since you were chasing the news
04:02Because now you're, you know, really established as a radio man on the music scene
04:07As they were, the classical music scene
04:08Do you miss the live news?
04:10I miss it with a smile on my face
04:12Now I did it and it came to a natural end
04:14And now I'm doing classical music
04:16Which is very civilised, very peaceful and very calm
04:19Well, I listen to you
04:20I listen to you
04:22So, time to get this game underway, Mark
04:24It's a letters game
04:25Off you go
04:26Hi, Rachel
04:28Hi, Mark
04:28Could I get a consonant, please?
04:30We can
04:30Start today with S
04:32And another
04:33P
04:35And one more
04:37R
04:39And a vowel
04:40O
04:42And another
04:43E
04:45And a consonant
04:47D
04:49A vowel
04:50I
04:53Another vowel
04:54E
04:57And a consonant, please
04:59And lastly
05:00B
05:01And here's the countdown clock
05:04And here's the countdown clock
05:06And here's the countdown clock
05:07And here's the countdown clock
05:08And here's the countdown clock
05:09And here's the countdown clock
05:10And here's the countdown clock
05:11And here's the countdown clock
05:12And here's the countdown clock
05:13And here's the countdown clock
05:14And here's the countdown clock
05:15And here's the countdown clock
05:16And here's the countdown clock
05:17And here's the countdown clock
05:18And here's the countdown clock
05:19And here's the countdown clock
05:20And here's the countdown clock
05:21And here's the countdown clock
05:23And here's the countdown clock
05:24And here's the countdown clock
05:25And here's the countdown clock
05:26And here's the countdown clock
05:27And here's the countdown clock
05:28And here's the countdown clock
05:29And here's the countdown clock
05:30And here's the countdown clock
05:31And here's the countdown clock
05:32And here's the countdown clock
05:33Mark a six a six and mr. Coogan six a six mark your six broods broods okay and
05:47Darren poised poised Susie John you happy with both of those and broods
05:52unfortunately need two o's for and think you probably misread one of the letters
05:56there bad luck so yeah can't have broods what can you offer us John we had a few
06:02seven letters over here didn't we Susie episode disrobe yeah and you got periods
06:08and bedsore it's on this least we know about the better well well done down
06:15you've kicked off strongly a six mark yet to score and Darren it's your turn to
06:20start a letters game hi Rachel hi Darren can I have a consonant please you can
06:24thank you start with L and another N and a vowel A and another O a consonant L and
06:39another Q and another please S fell I and a final vowel please and a final E and
06:56and here's the clock
07:26Darren seven a seven and mark there six a six and what would that be aliens aliens okay and Darren
07:39insults and anyone s insult certainly but not insoles can you help us can you take this further
07:49Susie John not a seven letter but saline is there that's only six letters there yes
07:55couldn't do better than six all right well that sees us both at six mark and Darren and Mark take
08:02us into game three a letters game a consonant please thank you mark R and another D and another J and a vowel
08:18I and another vowel I another vowel E and another A and a consonant N and another R and the final vowel please add a final I
08:40and stand by
08:42so
08:42so
08:44so
08:46so
08:48so
08:50so
08:52so
08:54so
08:56so
08:58so
09:00so
09:02so
09:04so
09:06so
09:12Mark
09:13I'll stick with a seven
09:15stick with a seven
09:16and Darren
09:18yeah seven as well
09:19a seven Mark what is yours
09:20a drainer
09:21drainer
09:23hmm
09:24and Darren
09:25and then randier
09:26randier
09:27randier
09:28they're absolutely fine
09:29and anything else for us
09:30in fact those were the two we came up with over here as well
09:32You came up with randier?
09:33I'm afraid we do
09:34John shame on you
09:35I can't play a bit of Susie
09:36no I'm okay
09:37and there is another one the plural of denarius is denarii you'll see it just said d-e-n-a-r-i-i-i
09:44oh that's Roman coinage
09:45yes
09:46originally worth ten asses
09:47well done
09:52well
09:55turning away from asses
09:56let us game
09:57with the score of thirty and all
09:59Darren
10:00off you go
10:01can I have a consonant please
10:02thank you Darren
10:03t
10:04and another
10:05g
10:07and another
10:08c
10:10a vowel
10:11e
10:13and another
10:14o
10:16and another
10:17a
10:19a
10:20consonant
10:21t
10:23and another
10:24v
10:26and a
10:28final
10:29vowel please
10:30and a final
10:31o
10:32ok pens poised
10:34so
10:35of
10:37make a
10:41efficient
10:42let's
10:44get started
10:45the
10:46good
10:47the
10:48the
10:49you
10:53the
10:54the
10:56the
10:58the
10:59the
11:00the
11:01the
11:02the
11:02Darren? Seven. Seven. Mark? Seven as well. All right. And Darren? Cottage. Cottage. Mark? Cottage, too. Cottage, the same? No squabbling over that, Susie? No at all. Very good. Can you take us on? We've got some quite musical ones here. Octave is there. That's only six, but Gavotte, that nice stately dance, is there? Yes. Yes, lovely. French dance. Very good.
11:29And 20 all, chaps. Mm-hmm, Mark. Pressure. And it's a numbers game, and it's your turn to kick off.
11:38I think I'll take a T, please. A non-inverted one. A non-inverted one. So you want three from the top.
11:45And three small ones. Thank you, Mark. And for this round, the three small are seven, two, and three, and the three large ones, 75, 25, and 100.
11:56And your target, 662.
12:00662.
12:01672.
12:31so mark i think 661 but i haven't written it down okay darren 667 667 all right so mark let's have
12:43your 661 okay uh three times two is six yep and take that from 100 100 take six 94 multiply by
12:52seven multiply by seven is 658 and 75 divided by 25 is three yeah and add it on and that's one away
13:01well done 661 that's pretty good rachel can you do better uh yep this one is possible if you say 100
13:08minus three and minus two is 95 multiply that by seven for 665 and then again you've got the 75
13:17and the 25 for three to take away from that we can always always count on rachel brilliant
13:30so john i turn to you well nick you were asking me about me about classic fm earlier on and um you
13:38know one of the great differences i've discovered between radio and television is radio is much more
13:43intimate i can actually talk to listeners because we run some great competitions on classic fm and
13:49occasionally we give away some amazing holidays and what people have to do is they go onto our website
13:55and answer a question then they come through to me in the studio to answer the question um and i am
14:02then able to give them a holiday now the computer chooses them completely by by random but i often
14:07sit there and think wouldn't it be lovely if someone who really the right kind of person got through
14:14through the whole computer system and it happened just late last year just perfect a woman came through
14:21to the studio she said um my husband and i are shortly going to celebrate our 10th wedding
14:26anniversary we haven't had a holiday since our honeymoon things went a bit wrong financially and if
14:32we could just win this holiday and i thought you know every now and then it just goes the way you want
14:37it to go um and here i am i'm going to be able to give her this wonderful holiday and just make their
14:42lives for them make their marriage and this intimacy with radio allows you to do that that's a lovely
14:48story and then she got the question wrong oh no and that's life that's life oh it was so sad burst
14:57into tears that's terrible but i think that you get a wonderfully loyal sort of uh audience on that
15:03show yes you really rather like countdown a loyal solid yes you know family sort of thing they know
15:08their classical music um i know a lot about one composer but they know a lot about a lot yeah well
15:14there are enough of them of course both audience and composers now it's time for tea time teaser and uh
15:22the teaser is wormhead wormhead uh the clue bound for this place according to the song
15:44welcome back and of course the clue bound for this place according to the song and the answer
15:50homeward remember that homeward bound simon and garfunkel the great simon and garfunkel
15:56and so it is we turn to game six darren let us game take it away can i have constant please thank you darren
16:05and another p and another p a vowel e and another i consonant b and another d and another
16:23a vowel a vowel e and a final consonant please and a final t stand by for the clock
16:44and
16:55and
16:55and
16:55and
16:56and
16:57and
16:57and
16:57Darren and six the six for Darren and Mark six as well six so Darren if you go and pitied
17:19hmm mark a spider spider Susie and John um pitted needs two eyes have you just seen that Darren um
17:30so a spider absolutely fine but no pitted I'm afraid okay could you take us on yes we've got
17:36a seven respite yes and actually you can put a d on that um if you respite it in execution for
17:42example you postponed it right mark it's a loudest game take it away a consonant please Rachel thank
17:50you mark m and another ah and another p a vowel please oh and another e and one more oh a consonant
18:10k another t and a final vowel and a final u there we go
18:23so
18:36So, Mark, a six.
18:56A six? A lot of sixes knocking about.
19:00Darren?
19:00Just a five.
19:01A five. And what would that be, Darren?
19:03Troop.
19:04Troop?
19:05Mark?
19:05A troop with an E.
19:07How are you spelling that, then?
19:09T-R-O-U-P-E.
19:10Yes, absolutely fine. An acting troop, for example.
19:13Very good.
19:14Well done.
19:14OK. And, Susie, John?
19:18Seven letters. Promote?
19:19Yes, the seven.
19:21Very good.
19:22Thirty-nine to twenty mark leads.
19:24It's a letters game, Darren.
19:26Can I have a consonant, please?
19:27Thank you, Darren.
19:29T.
19:31And another.
19:33H.
19:33And another.
19:35D.
19:37A vowel.
19:39A.
19:40And another.
19:42A.
19:44And another.
19:46I.
19:47A consonant.
19:49M.
19:51And another.
19:53C.
19:54And a final vowel, please.
19:55And a final E.
19:57And here's the clock.
19:59And here's the clock.
19:59And here's the clock.
19:59And a conosco.
20:18I.
20:18And a equivalents.
20:19I.
20:20And a new подписées.
20:21I.
20:21And a meeting.
20:22I'll see you next time.
20:22I'm good with you.
20:23And there's three things.
20:23And a to-
20:23I.
20:24I.
20:24I.
20:25And a to-
20:25I.
20:25I.
20:26I?
20:26I'm good with you.
20:27Now, Darren. Just a five? A five. Mark? A six. A six. Okay. And Darren? Timed. Timed. Mark? Chimed. Chimed. Yes, very nice. Susie, you happy? Very happy. All right. John? Matched? Yes. That takes it one letter further for seven. Matched. That's right. Good. Mark, you're stretching away 45 to 20, and it's your
20:57letters game, Mark. Off you go. A consonant, please, Rachel. Thank you, Mark. R. And another. S. And another. D. A vowel. U. And another vowel. Another vowel. E. And a consonant. N. And another. W. A vowel.
21:27A. And a final vowel, please. And a final. E. Here's the clock.
21:57Mark, what have you for us? A seven. A seven. Good. Good. Because we've been loitering in the sixes and fives. Darren?
22:15Seven. A seven. Well done. And Mark?
22:17Wonders. Wonders. Wonders. And Darren? Same word. Indeed. Good. John? Susie? Yes. Answered beats that by one, doesn't it?
22:28It certainly does. Yes. And also, undersea is all one word. Underssea. Underssea. Well done.
22:33Thank you. Very good. Susie, time for your amazing masterclass. Off you go.
22:44Well, I'm often asked about the expression, there's more than one way to skin a cat, which
22:50for animal lovers is not a very pleasant thought. And there are various versions of the proverb,
22:55and it can be traced back as far as the 16th century, so it's very old. A Wisconsin newspaper
23:00from 1847 uses the most familiar version, that there are two ways to skin a cat and two ways
23:06to skin a heart. But the earliest record is slightly different, and it goes there are more
23:11ways to kill a dog than hanging, which referred to the very grim punishment, which used to
23:17be meted out to dogs deemed to have misbehaved, believe it or not. But the sheer variety of
23:22versions show that the idea is simply fanciful, if unpleasant, and it's a metaphor for implying
23:27simply that there are several ways of approaching something.
23:31Extraordinary.
23:36She says, well, my dog wasn't aware of all this carry-on shit. It's strung up endless times.
23:41Well, there we are. And with the score standing at 52 to 27, I turn to you, Darren, for a numbers
23:48game. Off you go.
23:50And I'm six small, please.
23:51Six small. You get it, the numbers.
23:54We'll see.
23:55We'll see. We'll see if we've got a tricky one this time. The six small ones are one, five,
24:01seven, eight, nine, and six. And the target with these six smalls, 641.
24:08Six, four, one. Away we go.
24:12We'll see you next time.
24:15MUSIC CONTINUES
24:45Yeah, no, nothing now.
24:48No?
24:48No.
24:49OK, and Mark?
24:50640, I think.
24:52All right.
24:53Off you go.
24:567 minus 5 is 2.
24:58Yep.
25:00Plus the 6 is 8.
25:02Plus the 6 for 8.
25:04Multiplied by 8 is 64.
25:05Yep.
25:06And 9 plus 1 is 10, and multiply.
25:09Yep.
25:10And you haven't used any of those for 1 away.
25:11Well done, 640.
25:12Very good, well done.
25:14Rachel?
25:15Yeah, you could have said 9 plus 7 is 16, times 5 is an 80, times 8 gets you to 640, and you have a 1 left over for 641.
25:27Very good.
25:28Very, very good.
25:29Very good.
25:31Well, bad luck, Darren, on that.
25:34But now it's time for the Tea Time Teaser, and the teaser is Elm Beach.
25:40And the clue, it's white and creamy, according to my sources.
25:44And welcome back.
26:00The clue, it's white and creamy, according to my sources.
26:04And those of the culinary bent, we'll, of course, recognise Bechamel, Bechamel.
26:10Mark, letters, you're on.
26:12Okay.
26:13A consonant, please, Rachel.
26:14Thank you, Mark.
26:15S.
26:17And another.
26:18And another.
26:19R.
26:20And another.
26:23X.
26:24A vowel.
26:26A.
26:27And another.
26:29E.
26:30And the last one.
26:44E.
26:46And clock time.
26:48E.
26:49Take care.
27:10E.
27:11And there.
27:11so mark a seven i think a seven all right and darren yeah just a six a six and what would that
27:28be down and sailing and mark and relines relines i think you can reline your curtains
27:37and uh you can reline your curtains well done well done and anything else over there john
27:45uh we want to use the x relaxes yes relaxes is there for a nice seven and also early's you can
27:51be on early's is the early shift um or early's also potatoes which are ready to be harvested before
27:56the main crop right very good uh sees mark at 66 and darren at 27 and darren it's your go for a
28:05status game a consonant please thank you darren m and another n though a and another u and another
28:19i a consonant s and another g and another t and uh a final consonant please and final m stand by
28:37so
28:39so
28:45so
28:49so
28:51darren a risky seven a risky seven mark a seven a seven seven yeah okay darren let's hear your risk
29:17yeah mustang mustang oh mark summing summing susie you happy i am summing as in summing up
29:27mustang is lovely it's an american feral horse typically small and lightly built very good well
29:33done but could you have taken it on john not in terms of letters but looking back to christmas some
29:38nice magnums magnums that sounds good to me mustang sally i remember that in the irish film
29:45do you remember the commitments they sang mustang sally very good so 73 to 34 and mark it's letters game
29:52and you're away okay uh constant please rachel thank you mark r and another w and another
30:02vowel a
30:08vowel a
30:10vowel a
30:12one more
30:14e a consonant
30:16p
30:18another consonant
30:20f
30:22and a final vowel please and a final o
30:26and it's the countdown clock
30:36and it's the countdown clock
30:40one more
30:42i
30:58what would you do
31:00mark that's just six a six all right and darren just a five a five and what would that be darren spear spear
31:06five and what would that be darren spear spear and yours mark at powers powers susie john thank
31:15mine we've got a great eight letter on here all susie all credit to susie four paws four
31:21ports front paws rather than four not three well done well done
31:27so that sees uh 79 from mark to a 34 darren it's a numbers game uh game 14 off you go
31:40two large and four small please two large and four small very wise i think away from the nasty
31:44six small thank you darren and the last numbers game today is two eight three and one and the large
31:53ones 75 and 25 and the target 854 and here's the clock
32:23so darren how did you fare 856 856 and mark 856 as well 856 so darren off you go
32:42um 75 plus 25 75 plus 25 100 yeah three times two three times two is six plus one
32:52plus one is seven yeah add that onto the 100 add it onto the 100 107 yeah and multiply it by a
32:59yeah 856 two away well done and mark exactly the same okay you're happy there yeah okay well done
33:10seven points apiece and now i turn to rachel i got to 855 but not 854 so i'll have another quick look okay
33:18so fingers on buzzers please it's countdown conundrum time and please reveal today's countdown conundrum
33:37so
33:46so
33:50No takers, I turn to the audience.
34:03Now, come along.
34:04A hand up.
34:06Two hands.
34:06Yes, madam.
34:08Pompously.
34:09Pompously.
34:10Let's see if you're right.
34:13Well done.
34:16Well done indeed.
34:17You've beaten the professionals up here.
34:20And the professionals looking at the scoreboard, it's 86 to Darren's 41.
34:25So, Mark, we're seeing you again tomorrow, and we're saying cheerio to Darren.
34:29And you're going home perhaps soon to follow Podrick Harrington,
34:35because Ireland is stuffed full of great golfers at the minute.
34:39McElroy, the boy McElroy.
34:41Who else desires from playing such a brilliant golf at the moment?
34:43McDowell, Clark, Lowry.
34:46Yeah.
34:46It's all good.
34:47Let me tell you, my son taught Darren Clark's two boys.
34:52Yeah?
34:52Terribly, terribly nice man, apparently.
34:55Anyway, well done.
34:56You're not going home empty-handed.
34:58You're taking home a goodie bag.
35:00And well done, Mark.
35:02Two wins.
35:02Going for a third tomorrow.
35:03Uh-huh.
35:04See you then.
35:04Susie and John, great to see you again, as ever.
35:08See you again tomorrow, too.
35:09And Rachel, any luck with that numbers game?
35:12I think I'm going to have to take this one home with me.
35:15Take me home, Rachel.
35:18And I say good afternoon to you, and we'll see you at the same time tomorrow.
35:24Please be sure of it.
35:25We'll be here.
35:37A platonic threesome, and they're looking for some hot property in North London.
35:41Cue Phil and Kirstie tonight at 8 o'clock.
35:44But next up, shake your afternoon with a deal.