John Clarke (Series 11)

For other people called John Clarke, see John Clarke.

John Clarke in the Supreme Championship.

John Clarke on Fifteen to One, 31 years after his Countdown début.

John Clarke was the champion of Series 11, and a semi-finalist in Championship of Champions III and the Supreme Championship.

Appearances on the show

Heat games

An accountant from Tyne and Wear, Clarke started his run on 26 March 1987, late in the series, and had time for only five victories before the finals started, including four scores over 60. He survived narrowly in his second game when, with the conundrum a crucial one, David Carr buzzed in and offered extricator ☓ when the answer, which Clarke offered a few seconds later, was actually EXTRICATE. His remaining heat shows, however, were fairly one-sided. Under the rules of the time, he was offered the opportunity to compete in the finals rather than continue in the next series, and as he was number one seed anyway, he opted to enter the finals.

Finals

A 74 – 56 victory over Maurice Sobell, the highest score of the series, put him through to the semi-finals, and a comfortable 48 – 19 defeat of James Wilkie set up a grand final with number seven seed David Reid. Impressive finds of MARRIAGE and OUTRIDER gave Clarke a 97 – 61 victory to become the 11th series champion. An unsolved final conundrum LOCALTIES (illegal, as it had two valid solutions) denied him the century.

Championship of Champions III

He returned in June for Championship of Champions III, where he drew Series 12 octochamp Jon Marsh. Clarke comfortably emerged the winner with a score of 61 – 29. In the semi-final he faced the legendary Harvey Freeman and delivered a creditable performance in defeat, with Freeman scoring one of the narrowest victories of his unbeaten career.

Supreme Championship

Nine years later, Clarke would return to the studios for the Supreme Championship. In his group, he beat Derek Coombs, Andy Bodle and (by way of a sudden-death conundrum) the previously unbeaten Don Reid. Clarke took the lead with DACOITS but Reid beat Clarke with CHEWIER meaning that it was a crucial conundrum 53 – 53, both players having scored in seven of the eight rounds. Neither player could solve the conundrum BIGPAINTS which meant there was a second conundrum ERIGATION which also went unsolved. Finally, in the 11th round of a 9-round game, Clarke solved TOOCHOPPY to relegate Reid to his only ever defeat, as he had won all of his 16 previous games. In the quarter-finals he faced Chris Rogers who had qualified by winning the Championship of Champions VIII. Both players scored in the first round with MISQUOTE but the key moment of the game was Rogers having pather ☓ disallowed. This meant Clarke had a five point lead going into the conundrum LEFTDANTE which he solved in 17 seconds to qualify for the Series 33 semi-finals. He then faced a rematch with Harvey Freeman in the semi-final — Freeman beat Clarke with PROXIES but it was not enough to avoid a crucial conundrum. The conundrum was ALSHEARER which Freeman solved in one second to relegate Clarke to his second ever loss, both of which were against Freeman on crucial conundrums.

Clarke's impressive Countdown record of having played 15 games and won 13, coupled with the fact that his only defeats were at the hands of the imperious Harvey Freeman, mean that his name invariably comes up in discussions concerning the greatest Countdowner of all time.

Appearances on quiz shows

More than thirty years after his Countdown début, Clarke appeared on Fifteen to One in November 2018. He then appeared on Only Connect on 31 July 2023 as part of the "Drop of Red" team.

Preceded by Harvey Freeman

Series winner Series 11

Followed by Stephen Balment

Episodes

#	Date	Type	Contestant 1	Score	Contestant 2	Presenters				Guest	Lex	Max
533	26/03/1987	P	John Clarke	45 – 29	Bert MacNeill	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman			Cathy Hytner	Russell Harty	Freda Thornton	73
534	27/03/1987	P	John Clarke	61 – 53	David Carr	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman			Cathy Hytner	Russell Harty	Freda Thornton	??
535	30/03/1987	P	John Clarke	61 – 42	Sue Duncalf	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman			Cathy Hytner	Russell Harty	Freda Thornton	74
536	31/03/1987	P	John Clarke	67 – 27	Keith Newby	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman			Cathy Hytner	Russell Harty	Freda Thornton	74
537	01/04/1987	P	John Clarke	69 – 31	Alan Benson	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman			Cathy Hytner	Russell Harty	Freda Thornton	73
538	02/04/1987	QF	John Clarke	74 – 56	Maurice Sobell	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman			Cathy Hytner	Russell Harty	Freda Thornton	106
542	08/04/1987	SF	James Wilkie	19 – 48	John Clarke	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman			Cathy Hytner	Bill Tidy	Catherine Clarke	69
544	10/04/1987	GF	David Reid	61 – 97	John Clarke	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman			Cathy Hytner	Bill Tidy, Gyles Brandreth	Catherine Clarke	131
598	25/06/1987	CQF	John Clarke	61 – 29	Jon Marsh	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman			Cathy Hytner	Sally James	Della Thompson	86
599	26/06/1987	CSF	Harvey Freeman	45 – 38	John Clarke	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman			Cathy Hytner	Sally James	Della Thompson	71
M35	27/11/1989–01/12/1989	M	Lawrence Pearse	75 – 77	John Clarke	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman					none	Freda Thornton	138
M95	Unreleased	M	Michael Wareham	88 – 95	John Clarke	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman					none		??
1857	11/10/1996	aQF	John Clarke	58 – 52	Derek Coombs	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Nigel Rees	Susie Dent	72
1860	16/10/1996	aSF	John Clarke	55 – 39	Andy Bodle	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Philip Franks	Susie Dent	73
1861	17/10/1996	aF	John Clarke	63* – 53	Don Reid	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Philip Franks	Susie Dent	73
1901	12/12/1996	SQF	John Clarke	56 – 41	Chris Rogers	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Jenny Hanley	Susie Dent	82
1905	18/12/1996	SSF	John Clarke	48 – 65	Harvey Freeman	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Nigel Rees	Catherine Clarke	72

* includes 10 points from a tiebreak conundrum