Julian Fell

The face of fear.

Julian Fell was the winner of Series 48 and is widely considered to be among the greatest Countdowners of all time. He holds a cornucopia of records, including the highest single score (146) and the highest octochamp score (924). He is particular renowned for his astonishing word knowledge, including definitions, coupled with fast conundrums. His numbers strength is often underestimated in comparison to the other disciplines.

His debut came on Wednesday 16th October 2002, when he posted an impressive 117. Six more centuries followed, and by the following Friday only Carl McDermott stood between Fell and octochampdom. This game is remembered as one of the greatest drubbings in Countdown history, as Fell racked up 138, winning by 109. His place as #1 seed and favourite for the series was assured, and his feat of eight centuries in eight heats has never been matched.

The quarter final saw Fell rack up a hefty 125 against 8th seed Mike Brown to advance comfortably to the next round. In the semifinal, Fell faced Danny Hamilton, finding SALMONIDS, DEPORTING, INGATHERS and DEFLATION to make 146 before the conundrum. With Chris Wills' high score record already surpassed, Fell had his first blank on the conundrum, with THEIRCOPY proving too difficult for either contestant. The final was more closely fought, despite Julian finding a first round winner in MANTICORE. Grace Page played consistently thereafter and the excellent KNITWEAR in Round 9 gave her a chance of a comeback. However the rest of the game produced flat selections and the game was over before the final numbers. Fell ended the series by unravelling APIMOMENT in barely a second.

A few weeks later, he returned to the Leeds studio for Championship of Champions XI. A twelfth consecutive century, this time against Series 42's Terry O'Farrell, eased Fell into the quarterfinals. His match with Series 43 champion Graham Nash was another classic. Both players scored steadily but the game turned on Julian's risky declaration of GAMBIERS, which he knew to be a mass noun plural but believed was likely to be acceptable under the newly revised rules. Susie disagreed - the first time Julian had had a word disallowed. A few points behind going into the crucial conundrum, Nash quickly buzzed with the solution to MENDMEDOC and the game was his - Julian had been felled at last.

Julian organised Template:Corral in the summer of 2004, and beat Jon Stitcher in a closely fought final. Since then he has graduated from Magdalene College, Cambridge, and has largely faded from the online scene.

Preceded by Chris Wills

Series winner Series 48

Followed by John Davies