Arthur Page
| Arthur Page octochamp statistics | |
|---|---|
| Final position | Champion |
| Seeding | 1 |
| Points total | 953 |
| Conundrums solved | 3 |
Arthur Page was an octochamp in and the champion of Series 89. He is the fourth series champion that was born in the 21st century; and the second since Richard Whiteley's passing (following Ronan Higginson). He was a Year 12 A-Level student at Dr. Challoner's Grammar School from Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire studying Biology, Chemistry, German and Maths at the time of his appearances.
Appearances
Series 89 heat games
Debuting against fellow Apterite Alex Robertson, Page unseated the one-time winner by 97 points to 46. The next day, he achieved his first century and followed this with the highest score of the series with 137 points which included the nine-letter word spots of DIAGNOSED and PENUMBRAS. The further nines he was able to pick out were MODALISES, SUIVANTES, PRENTICES and POLARISES which were in the midst of other impressive word spots like WAIRUAS, SUBERATE, TONTINE and OROGENIC. He also stood out by his wide variety of numbers round choices instead of sticking to a specific option.
Of particular note that in his seventh game against Apterite James Cook, only the missed conundrum of OSPREYCOG prevented Page from achieving a max game. He followed this by securing octochampdom with a Jos game of 120 points against returning contestant, Ben Furness, bringing his total to a very impressive 953. This took him to the top of the seed table at the expense of Mark Finnerty, while also becoming the only member of the 900 club in the series. Colin Murray finished things off by anointing him with his nickname as "A5".
His run marked a number of achievements: he was only the sixth contestant ever to surpass 125 points three times in a row, and his run completed a full line-up of octochamps for the Series 89 finals while making him the No. 1 seed. He is also the highest scoring octochamp who didn't score centuries in every game which beat the virtual eleven-year record previously held by Series 69 semi-finalist, Glen Webb.
Finals
Page returned for the series finals on 20 June 2024 as the No. 1 seed to play against No. 8 seed and second-time series finalist, Isabelle Heward. Page proved to have lost none of the form from his heat games, cruising through the match while maxing twelve rounds in the process. He finished with 123 to confidently march onto the semi-finals, giving him an eighth century that included another nine-letter word spot of URANOLITE and this was despite a rather unfortunate miss on the conundrum of GOTLAYOUT; Page's attempt in autology ☓ of missing the first T would've given him an additional ten points.
Jessica Pratesi ultimately turned out to be Arthur's sternest test; despite some excellent spots from Page such as GWEILOS and CONDUIT and taking an initial fourteen-point lead at the start of the game, two critical misfires in Round 11 with rankage ☓ and a mistake on the final four-large numbers round meant that Pratesi kept within range and ultimately be only two points behind to force a crucial conundrum. Arthur buzzed in first with OBEDIENCY which was correct; this meant that he thus marched onto the grand final, having maxed ten rounds and secured his ninth century albeit with his lowest score since his first heat game.
Michael Calder sat waiting for him, fresh off of two giant-killing victories against Toby Byfield and Mark Finnerty. But Arthur ultimately proved far too much for Calder to handle, not losing any rounds to the latter and eventually racing off to a very dominant victory which was certified after the brilliant final letters round spot of TABLESIDE. After neither player cracking the conundrum of SUDIIDENT, Arthur lifted the Richard Whiteley Memorial Trophy with a tenth century under his belt and an impressive Xicount total of 1,299 from his eleven appearances; this also just bested Dan McColm's total for the most of all-time without scoring centuries on each occasion.
| Preceded by Harry Savage |
Series winner Series 89 |
Followed by Fiona Wood |
Other information
Page is also an accomplished chess player.
After starting a medical degree at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry in 2026, he began attending FOCAL Co-events when he made his debut at Co:London 2026 and finished 24th out of the 56 participants.
Episodes
| # | Date | Type | Contestant 1 | Score | Contestant 2 | Presenters | Guest | Lex | Max | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8273 | 15/05/2024 | P | Alex Robertson | 46 – 97 | Arthur Page | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Sunetra Sarker | Susie Dent | 144 | ||
| 8274 | 16/05/2024 | P | Arthur Page | 105 – 35 | Lesley Hayler | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Sunetra Sarker | Susie Dent | 121 | ||
| 8275 | 17/05/2024 | P | Arthur Page | 137 – 37 | Sam Lawrence | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Sunetra Sarker | Susie Dent | 149 | ||
| 8276 | 20/05/2024 | P | Arthur Page | 128 – 10 | Wayne Dewsbury | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Pat Nevin | Susie Dent | 135 | ||
| 8277 | 21/05/2024 | P | Arthur Page | 135 – 43 | Jim Horan | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Pat Nevin | Susie Dent | 143 | ||
| 8278 | 22/05/2024 | P | Arthur Page | 114 – 23 | Bekk Kennedy-Escott | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Pat Nevin | Susie Dent | 132 | ||
| 8279 | 23/05/2024 | P | Arthur Page | 117 – 76 | James Cook | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Pat Nevin | Susie Dent | 127 | ||
| 8280 | 24/05/2024 | P | Arthur Page | 120 – 53 | Ben Furness | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Pat Nevin | Susie Dent | 124 | ||
| 8299 | 20/06/2024 | QF | Arthur Page | 123 – 51 | Isabelle Heward | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Greg Rusedski | Susie Dent | 135 | ||
| 8303 | 26/06/2024 | SF | Arthur Page | 102 – 90 | Jessica Pratesi | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Marcus Brigstocke | Susie Dent | 134 | ||
| 8305 | 28/06/2024 | GF | Arthur Page | 121 – 61 | Michael Calder | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Marcus Brigstocke | Susie Dent | 144 | ||
