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Derek Coombs

From Countdown
Derek Coombs
Octochamp Statistics
Final positionRunner-up
Seeding1
Points total462
Conundrums solved6
Derek Coombs

Derek Coombs was an octochamp in and the runner-up of Series 20, and a participant in Championship of Champions VI and the Supreme Championship.

He first appeared on Countdown on 16 July 1990, beating his opponent Richard Hooke 42 – 37. He beat a further seven opponents to become the only octochamp of the series, and duly returned for the final rounds as #1 seed. (In Coombs' seventh game, he scored 72 points, which was the highest score of the series, even including the 14 round grand final.) After inflicting a heavy defeat on Denys Hollis in the quarter-finals and beating Maurice Binks in the semis, he faced Liz Barber in the final. Trailing by one point going into the conundrum, Coombs buzzed in on 18 seconds and looked to have won it, but his answer was incorrect. Barber also answering the conundrum incorrectly later on proved to be academic - Coombs had lost the game, and the series, by a single point.

Oddly, Coombs did not return for Championship of Champions V at the start of the next series, instead returning in 1993 for Championship of Champions VI, where he was beaten in the first round by Fiona Willis.

Coombs would return to Countdown once more in 1996 for the Supreme Championship, where he was beaten in the first round by John Clarke.

Preceded by
Gino Corr
Series runner-up
Series 20
Followed by
Jackie McLeod

Episodes

# Date Type Contestant 1 Score Contestant 2 Presenters Guest Lex Max
1013 16/07/1990 P Derek Coombs 42 – 37 Richard Hooke Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Gyles Brandreth Della Thompson 84
1014 17/07/1990 P Derek Coombs 56 – 15 Pat Daines Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Gyles Brandreth Della Thompson 69
1015 18/07/1990 P Derek Coombs 57 – 30 Neil Kendall Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Gyles Brandreth Della Thompson 68
1016 19/07/1990 P Neil Rich 49 – 58 Derek Coombs Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Eve Pollard Simon Mason 71
1017 20/07/1990 P Duncan Dale-Emberton 33 – 63 Derek Coombs Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Eve Pollard Simon Mason 74
1018 23/07/1990 P Mollie Haigh 18 – 68 Derek Coombs Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Eve Pollard Simon Mason 76
1019 24/07/1990 P Colin Blumen 44 – 72 Derek Coombs Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Eve Pollard Simon Mason 73
1020 25/07/1990 P Kevin Roberts 44 – 46 Derek Coombs Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Eve Pollard Simon Mason 81
1061 20/09/1990 QF Derek Coombs 69 – 10 Denys Hollis Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Simon Williams Simon Mason 73
1065 26/09/1990 SF Derek Coombs 51 – 34 Maurice Binks Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Tim Rice Simon Mason 67
1067 28/09/1990 GF Derek Coombs 66 – 67 Liz Barber Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Tim Rice, Gyles Brandreth Simon Mason 124
1329 5/01/1993 CQF Derek Coombs 54 – 64 Fiona Willis Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Richard Stilgoe Susie Dent 83
1857 11/10/1996 aQF John Clarke 58 – 52 Derek Coombs Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Nigel Rees Susie Dent 72