First Ever Countdown - Part 2 Of 4

[jtv57]

0:08-0:11 That woman with the long brown hair looks like she doesn't want to be there.

[forzalarobur]

Did people not know how to say please in 1982??

[ChadaProductions]

That Farmer Ted bloke is a legend... didn't have a clue what he was doing but made me laugh nontheless :)

[flakelorenz02]

I'm glad they told me the rules because despite being on 30 years I never quite understood how this game worked.

[OrodesIII]

I can't see this game catching on somehow.

[poglad]

Used to love Cathy. Thanks for this!

[odsall]

Blimmey Carol looked a bit frumpy!!!!!

[semlohd]

Cathy looks in deep thought at 5:59...

[iluvthecompanioncube]

Having only ever seen extremely recent episodes, this whole thing is bizarre. I love it.

[mclarenguy22]

You cannot have Birthname, it's not a word. 7 is the longest available.

[FilipeGrean86]

Is ir nor an item of clothing...?

[FilipeGrean86]

Is ir nor an item of clothing...?

[thelyniezian]

Cathy Hytner stod in front of the letters during the progress of one of the rounds- not exactly very professional...

[weatherallc05]

@thelyniezian oh leave her alone, it was accidental

[semlohd]

'Birthname' would not be allowed because it's either hyphenated or two separate words.

[GrannyPig21]

3:00 Birthname

5:50 Toupees

7:30 Usuals

I got the Maths in 2 seconds (I typed this part before answers on Maths, but)

6+1=7 x7= 49 (49x10)=490 + 3=493

[GrannyPig21]

3:00 Birthname

5:50 Toupees

[GrannyPig21]

@id2291 Odam!

[JamesC1981]

I hadn't heard of Ted Moult before so looked him up on wikipedia;

"Moult committed suicide by gunshot after a period of depression[1] in 1986." !

[martinbizarro]

D'ye ken Ted Moult?

[p1nkAcid]

jesus if this was made today they would have to torch the studio and double for whiteleys pseudo hair

[gritneck]

what was carol vordermans maiden name

[paulisftw]

@gritneck fav

[pdxist]

@id2291 Yes, BIRTHNAME, TOUPEES and USUALS are the longest words in these three games.

[formulacountdown]

Isn't it interesting that the clock seems to stop at 31 secs

[formulacountdown]

Caro Voderman can stop boasting she's the first female to be seen on Channel 4 - at 0:15 , it's lexicorographer Mary

[TheKid965]

Looking closely at the clock, you can clearly see it has lights installed for a 45-second duration. I know that was the format it had when it was Calendar Countdown as a local Yorkshire production, but I didn't know it'd gotten that far for the "real deal" as to have the clock built for it.

For an American game show fan, that's like noticing the boarded-up "fourth row" of Winner's Circle categories on the original $10,000 Pyramid, mute evidence of a last-minute rule change.

[formulacountdown]

They're not connected up; they're just spares

[brandstifter68]

"Zulus"? That doesn't count - it's a proper noun!

[Chazzoli]

"Slags" could've been used for 7:20

[formulacountdown]

And Slugs

[JoeRoss1993]

That contestant Micheal would be in his late 70s now! You can't beleive how coundown has changed over the years from Whitely to Stelling!

[countdowngoofs]

Sadly he passed away in 1995

[JoeRoss1993]

Oh! Oh dear.

[paulisftw]

@countdowngoofs richard whiteley? he passed away in 2005...

[monsieurwoodful]

@paulisftw No the contestant called Michael

[paulisftw]

@monsieurwoodful oh well, LOL

[spongebot64]

@countdowngoofs Na-ah, it was 2005.

[countdowngoofs]

@spongebot64 No, it's 1995.

Source: Michael's page on The Countdown Wiki

[spongebot64]

@countdowngoofs Oh, I though you were talking about Richard Whiteley. Sorry about my mistake.

[countdowngoofs]

@spongebot64 Ahh right. No problem :)

[Tidmouthsheds]

Pity Ted died

[candcpictures]

No way in hell is that guy 28!! :P

[Brendan2da]

carol looks older there than she does now lol

[RWL2011]

@Brendan2da its Cathy Hytner

[olires]

He is an accountant. I wonder if he was born with a moustache.

[psychodan16]

when did cathy leave and why?

[Zenon222]

@psychodan16 She left in 1987, don't know why though.

[Tidmouthsheds]

LOL! Kathys in the way at 5:24!

[Tidmouthsheds]

That tune was VERY different to what we have today

[countdowngoofs]

I know - I wonder when it changed to the current one?

[97channel]

I'm fairly sure that the current version has been used since about 1992/93.

They changed the tune dramatically around 1991/92, with really distracting dramatic bursts every 5 seconds. Everyone hated it. And even the contestants were complaining that it was off-putting. so they rapidly ditched it in favour of the current one.

In fact, the current one is essentially a much toned down version of the awful jazzy one.

[formulacountdown]

@97channel It changed to the current one in July 1989. The dramatic version was for introduced in 1996, and it was ditched after 1 week.

[97channel]

@formulacountdown Thanks. The timeline of the changes to the clock theme are somewhat different to how I'd thought they were introduced. The dramatic version must have been extremely unpopular with those in the studio then, as that would only amount to about one day of filming.

[formulacountdown]

@countdowngoofs July 1989