John Rawnsley

John Rawnsley

John Rawnsley was a contestant in Series 44 and the champion of Series 45.

He first appeared on 19 June 2001, beating Bruno Murray in the penultimate heat game of Series 44. He then won his second game and after standing aside to allow the Series 44 finals occur, he continued his winning run at the start of the next series. He lost his eighth game at the hands of Jim Hopkins, but his seven wins were eventually enough to see him return for the series finals as the No. 1 seed. As Series 45 was shorter than a normal six-month series, there were no quarter-finals that let John enter directly into the semi-finals against Phil Bennett and won 56 – 43 to earn himself a place in the grand final against Geraldine Hylands. The final looked to be going John's way when Geraldine dropped thirty out of the forty points on the numbers games, meaning that John became the 45th champion of Countdown.

John also had the distinction of being the last ever champion of Countdown under the 9-round format, and won the last ever 14-round game.

John returned for Championship of Champions XI at the start of 2003, beating Kevin McMahon on a crucial conundrum in his first game and seeing off the challenge of Rupert Stokoe in his quarter-final before losing to Chris Wills in his semi-final.

Preceded by Stuart Wood

Series winner Series 45

Followed by Ben Wilson

Episodes

#	Date	Type	Contestant 1	Score	Contestant 2	Presenters				Guest	Lex	Max
3034	19/06/2001	P	Bruno Murray	37 – 40	John Rawnsley	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Magnus Magnusson	Catherine Clarke	70
3035	20/06/2001	P	John Rawnsley	54 – 10	David Neale	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Martin Jarvis	Damian Eadie	74
3043	2/07/2001	P	John Rawnsley	61 – 37	Leonard Lavelle	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Stephen Fry	Damian Eadie	85
3044	3/07/2001	P	John Rawnsley	38 – 34	Michael Galgut	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Stephen Fry	Damian Eadie	84
3045	4/07/2001	P	John Rawnsley	65 – 41	Mary Hains	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Stephen Fry	Damian Eadie	75
3046	10/07/2001	P	John Rawnsley	64 – 45	Richard Turner	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Carol Barnes	Susie Dent	85
3047	11/07/2001	P	John Rawnsley	41 – 21	Alexander Duncan	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Carol Barnes	Susie Dent	75
3048	12/07/2001	P	John Rawnsley	46 – 50	Jim Hopkins	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Carol Barnes	Susie Dent	74
3083	19/09/2001	SF	John Rawnsley	56 – 43	Phil Bennett	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Melvyn Hayes	Susie Dent	83
3085	21/09/2001	GF	Geraldine Hylands	63 – 90	John Rawnsley	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Melvyn Hayes	Susie Dent	128
3393	9/01/2003	CP	John Rawnsley	99 – 97	Kevin McMahon	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Martin Jarvis	Susie Dent	141
3399	17/01/2003	CQF	Rupert Stokoe	70 – 89	John Rawnsley	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Tim Rice	Susie Dent	120
3402	22/01/2003	CSF	Chris Wills	120 – 88	John Rawnsley	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Eric Knowles	Susie Dent	132