Harvey Freeman

Harvey Freeman.

Harvey Freeman first appeared on Countdown in series 10, and quickly earned a reputation as one of the greatest Countdowners of all time. Making his debut on 31 October 1986 against David Whiting, Harvey won that game and seven more to achieve octochampdom with a then-record aggregate score of 523 points- a record that would stand for almost 14 years before it was beaten by David Williams in series 43. In his second game, Harvey score 82 points- also a record at the time. Harvey returned for the final rounds as the clear #1 seed, and dominated his opponents Elisabeth Jardine and Les Martin in the quarter-finals and semi-finals respectively, before going on to face Mike Percik in the grand final. Despite having OUTTAKES disallowed in the second round, Harvey would enter a commanding performance here too, running out the 96-52 winner.

Harvey returned for Championship of Champions III, and after beating Michael Stephenson and John Clarke, he found a tough opponent in the grand final in the shape of David Trace. Harvey lost out in the first conundrum to David, putting him ten points behind, but he scored in every other round, including the final, crucial conundrum to win 115-107- the highest ever score in a 14-round grand final and the only time anyone has ever scored over 110 under that format.

In 1996, Harvey returned to the Countdown studios one last time to participate in the Supreme Championship. Given a bye in the first round, Harvey defeated Ian Bebbington in the second round and Barry Grossman in a closely-fought group final to put himself into the series quarter-finals. There, he beat Andrew Perry before once again beating John Clarke in the semi-final. In the final, he faced Allan Saldanha in what promised to be a true battle of the greats. However, as it turned out, Harvey managed to spot a 9 letter word in the first round that Allan didn't, and was able to hold on to his lead to win 82-79, winning the title of 'all-time supreme champion', and maintaining his winning streak at an unprecedented 19 games.

Preceded by David Trace

Series winner Series 10

Followed by John Clarke

Preceded by Alan Sinclair

Series winner Series 33

Followed by Huw Morgan

Preceded by Clive Freedman

Champion of Champions Championship of Champions III

Followed by Nic Brown