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David Acton

From Countdown
David Acton
Octochamp Statistics
Final positionChampion
Seeding1
Points total486
Conundrums solved6
David Acton

David Acton was an octochamp in and the champion of Series 31, as well as a semi-finalist in Championship of Champions VIII.

He first appeared on Countdown on 27 February 1996, beating Bryan Darbey 67 – 42. Acton won his remaining seven games in impressive fashion, including an 81 – 8 drubbing of Peter Chamberlain, the highest score of the series and second largest 9-round winning margin of all time. With 486 points to his name, Acton was the clear #1 seed going into the final rounds.

In the finals, he defeated Kevin Fisk and Anne Bougourd on his way to a Grand Final match-up with Kenneth Michie. Despite having two words disallowed, Acton was still leading by 6 points going into the crucial conundrum, and unscrambled SUSISDENT in 11.5 seconds to become the first undefeated champion since Don Reid in Series 25. However, being a strict vegan, Acton famously declined the first prize of the leather-bound dictionaries and opted instead for the CD-ROM form, donating the difference to a local school.

Acton returned later that year for Championship of Champions VIII, comfortably beating Dennis Fearon in the first round before falling to eventual winner Chris Rogers in the semi-final.

Acton would return to Countdown one last time, for a special episode – a rematch of his final with Kenneth Michie. This time, Michie was the clear winner.

David Acton is also a Scrabble Grandmaster.

Preceded by
Verity Joubert
Series winner
Series 31
Followed by
Alan Sinclair

Episodes

# Date Type Contestant 1 Score Contestant 2 Presenters Guest Lex Max
1759 27/02/1996 P David Acton 67 – 42 Bryan Darbey Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Nigel Rees Catherine Stokes 70
1760 28/02/1996 P David Acton 62 – 21 John Shirreffs Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Nigel Rees Catherine Stokes 83
1761 29/02/1996 P David Acton 47 – 40 Joan Coker Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Jan Harvey Catherine Stokes 70
1762 1/03/1996 P David Acton 81 – 8 Peter Chamberlain Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Jan Harvey Catherine Stokes 83
1763 4/03/1996 P David Acton 52 – 44 Ed Barlow Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Jan Harvey Catherine Stokes 72
1764 5/03/1996 P David Acton 52 – 31 Liz Groombridge Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Jan Harvey Catherine Stokes 72
1765 6/03/1996 P David Acton 70 – 35 Paulinus Barnes Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Jan Harvey Catherine Stokes 72
1766 7/03/1996 P David Acton 55 – 44 Paul Parry Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Jan Harvey Catherine Stokes 73
1776 21/03/1996 QF Kevin Fisk 36 – 63 David Acton Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Rosalind Ayres Susie Dent 93
1780 27/03/1996 SF David Acton 54 – 48 Anne Bougourd Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Rosalind Ayres Susie Dent 74
1782 29/03/1996 GF David Acton 83 – 67 Kenneth Michie Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Martin Jarvis, Rosalind Ayres Susie Dent 127
1849 1/10/1996 CQF David Acton 61 – 13 Dennis Fearon Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Jan Harvey Susie Dent 81
1852 4/10/1996 CSF Chris Rogers 47 – 41 David Acton Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Jan Harvey Susie Dent 83
S8 8/09/2003 S David Acton 70 – 104 Kenneth Michie Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Richard Stilgoe Damian Eadie 141