Tom Cappleman

Tom Cappleman octochamp statistics
Final position	Champion
Seeding	1
Points total	927
Conundrums solved	6

Thomas "Tom" Cappleman in Series 72...

...and again in the Championship of Champions XIV.

Tom Cappleman holding the Richard Whiteley Memorial Trophy after winning Series 72.

Thomas "Tom" Cappleman, also known as T-Cap, was a contestant in Series 59, an octochamp in and the champion of Series 72, and a quarter-finalist in Championship of Champions XIV. As of his Series 59 appearance, he was a secondary school student from Bracknell, Berkshire, about to start an undergraduate mathematics degree at New College, Oxford. As of his Series 72 and Championship of Champions appearances, he had graduated from Oxford and was working as a software engineer based now in Enfield, Greater London. He is also an Apterite and member of c4countdown.

His mother, Catriona, was a quarter-finalist in Series 30, his wife, Ruth, was a contestant in Series 83, and his father, Dave, was a quarter-finalist in Series 87.

Appearances on the programme

Heat games

Cappleman débuted in Series 59, in which he lost his only game to eventual semi-finalist, Martin Bishop. He returned to Countdown for Series 72, starting his second run with an impressive 14-max performance against Charlene Rose. Seven more victories followed, including two by more than 100 points to confirm him as the clear number one seed for the finals.

Finals

In his quarter-final, Cappleman failed to score a century for the first time, but returned for his semi-final with a 12-max performance against Kevin Steede, to set up a grand final with fellow returnee, Tracey Mills. Despite falling behind early on, Cappleman took the lead after the first numbers game and never looked back, eventually winning 107 – 89 and hilariously answering floorlick ☓ to the conundrum.

Championship of Champions XIV

Cappleman returned to the studios in January 2016 as one of sixteen entrants in Championship of Champions XIV. Playing in the first preliminary match of the tournament, he defeated Series 69 semi-finalist, Glen Webb. With both players spotting all three of the game's available nine-letter words, this game proved to yield a joint score of 248 – at the time, the highest achieved in the "new" 15-round format, until it was beaten just 11 days later by Andy Platt and Dylan Taylor's 252. In the quarter-final, Cappleman faced Series 68 champion, Giles Hutchings, but lost on the crucial conundrum ULTIMOLEG and thus bowed out with his first defeat since his one to Martin Bishop in 2008.

Outside Countdown

Appearances on quiz shows

Between October 2012 and April 2013, Cappleman appeared in five episodes of University Challenge, representing New College, Oxford and reached the semi-finals, while not only getting the most starters-for-ten for his team, but achieving the joint-highest total for a single person in the whole of that series.

In July 2016, Cappleman appeared on Series 12 of Only Connect as part of the "Verbivores" team alongside fellow Countdowners Phyl Styles and Series 65 champion, Graeme Cole. They went on to win the series in April 2017. They subsequently lost a one-off "Champion of Champions" special on 3 January 2020.

Cappleman's next quiz show appearance was Mastermind on 9 November 2018. He scored 23 points, but unfortunately lost his heat game by virtue of six passes to the winner's one.

Co-events

In 2011, Cappleman made his Co-event début at Co:Lon 2011, where he finished in an impressive second place, losing out to Matt Bayfield in the grand final. He was also the runner-up of CoStAl2 in 2015 before winning his first event at CO:REA 2016, defeating Paul Erdunast in the grand final on a crucial conundrum.

He came fourth in the 2017 FOCAL finals and then competed in the 2018 FOCAL finals as the number eight seed. He finished in first place in the heats, winning six out of seven games. This was followed by a grand final matchup between him and Jonathan Wynn, where he was defeated. He then reached the 2020–22 FOCAL finals, again as number eight seed, winning five out of seven heat games. This led to a grand final against Jack Hurst, where he lost again. He was number eight seed again for the 2023 FOCAL finals, winning five out of seven heat games and placed third overall.

Eight years after winning his first, he won his second Co-event at Co:London 2024 when he defeated Rob Foster in the final; again on a crucial conundrum.

ZoomDown

Between 2020 and 2022, Cappleman participated in many series of ZoomDown. The first Numberists series (reaching the semi-finals), Series 1, Series 2, the second Numberists series, Series 3 (becoming runner-up to Elliott Mellor), and the Championship of Champions (reaching the quarter-finals).

Preceded by Dan McColm

Series winner Series 72

Followed by Jonathan Wynn

Episodes

#	Date	Type	Contestant 1	Score	Contestant 2	Presenters				Guest	Lex	Max
4707	07/11/2008	P	Martin Bishop	94 – 67	Thomas Cappleman	Des O'Connor	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Paul Zenon	Susie Dent	121
6106	19/03/2015	P	Charlene Rose	46 – 115	Tom Cappleman	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Tim Vine	Susie Dent	123
6107	20/03/2015	P	Tom Cappleman	117 – 51	Sharon Hagger	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Nicky Campbell	Susie Dent	123
6108	23/03/2015	P	Tom Cappleman	117 – 13	Connor Moorst	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Nicky Campbell	Susie Dent	124
6109	24/03/2015	P	Tom Cappleman	135 – 23	Jack Roberts	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Nicky Campbell	Susie Dent	144
6110	25/03/2015	P	Tom Cappleman	120 – 39	Angela Hopson	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Nicky Campbell	Susie Dent	122
6111	26/03/2015	P	Tom Cappleman	109 – 53	Mike Pilkington	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Nicky Campbell	Susie Dent	122
6112	27/03/2015	P	Tom Cappleman	105 – 16	Paul Young	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Chris Packham	Susie Dent	128
6113	30/03/2015	P	Tom Cappleman	109 – 62	Hamish Galloway	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Chris Packham	Susie Dent	125
6150	03/06/2015	QF	Tom Cappleman	98 – 40	Gavin Woolnough	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Gloria Hunniford	Susie Dent	124
6154	10/06/2015	SF	Tom Cappleman	127 – 52	Kevin Steede	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Jo Brand	Susie Dent	132
6156	12/06/2015	GF	Tom Cappleman	107 – 89	Tracey Mills	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Jo Brand	Susie Dent	126
6278	04/01/2016	CP	Tom Cappleman	133 – 115	Glen Webb	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Gloria Hunniford	Susie Dent	147
6286	14/01/2016	CQF	Tom Cappleman	97 – 114	Giles Hutchings	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	John Inverdale	Susie Dent	134