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Richard Whiteley

From Countdown
Revision as of 10:08, 16 March 2010 by Vande (talk | contribs) (number of episodes - 4010?)
Host
First appearance 2 November 1982
Last appearance 1 July 2005
Appearances 4010
Episodes with Richard Whiteley
The late Richard "Twice Nightly" Whiteley.
A Treasury of Words and Wordplay

John Richard Whiteley, known on television as Richard Whiteley (28 December 1943 - 26 June 2005) was the presenter of Countdown from its inception in 1982 until his death in 2005. He was the first face on Channel 4 and, with over 10,000 television appearances, he accumulated more broadcast hours than anyone else in the history in British television. He became an OBE in 2004.

Richard started his television career as a newsreader, and from 1982 to 1995 performed both as the Countdown host and as a Calendar newsreader on Yorkshire TV, earning him the nickname "Twice-nightly Whiteley". In 1982, he hosted the short-lived Calendar spin-off Calendar Countdown, which in turn led to Countdown itself on Channel 4. He gave up newsreading in 1995. In 1997, he appeared as a contestant in a Christmas special against co-presenter Carol Vorderman. Due to his links with Countdown, he appeared on Star Spell in 2005, a programme that tested celebrities on spelling, which he won.

In May 2005, Richard was taken ill with septicaemia, and died in hospital after an unsuccessful heart operation in the July. Five more episodes, forming the final games of Series 53, had been filmed before his death. Countdown was not broadcast on the day after his death, but the rest of the episodes were shown later that week. His last episode saw John Mayhew become series champion.

A TV documentary on his life, Richard Whiteley: Television Man was released in 2003. He also wrote the book A Treasury of Words and Wordplay, and an autobiography, Himoff!: Memoirs of a TV Matinée Idle, and was posthumously the subject of a biography, Richard by Kathryn, by his partner Kathryn Apanowicz. On 1 July 2005, the programme Mr Countdown: A Tribute to Richard Whiteley was shown on Channel 4.

Richard was succeeded as Countdown host by Desmond Lynam.

Episodes

# Date Type Contestant 1 Score Contestant 2 Presenters Guest Lex Max
CS1997 25/12/1997 X Richard Whiteley 30 – 43 Carol King William G Stewart Susie Dent Magnus Magnusson Mark Nyman

See also