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July's Featured Article Martin Gardner was an octochamp and semi-finalist in Series 49. Before appearing as a contestant on the show, Gardner had a prominent presence in the online Countdown community; he organised Countdown Advance (the forerunner to Hypercountdown on the Gevincountdown web forum, served as a moderator on this website, and ran the now-defunct Countdown fan site Countdown Update UK. After finding the address to send off for an application form on Ben Wilson's website, he applied for the televised show and was invited to an audition at the end of 2002. Although he failed his audition, Gardner was invited to the studios as a replacement contestant after John Davies became an octochamp, leaving one seat vacated on 14 May 2003. In this opening game Gardner achieved his highest televised score of 107, with offerings including the eight-letter words ATOMISER and ACONITES; Martin found no nine-letter words during his appearances on the show. Seven more victories followed, including three further centuries. Gardner returned to the series finals as #2 seed behind Davies, his forerunner in the heats. In his quarter-final, the eight letter word POTHEADS and conundrum SCOOPGREY helped Gardner to convincingly defeat Peter Jeffery by 101 points to 64. He faced David Wilson in the semi-final and went ahead after three rounds courtesy of the seven-letter word UPRATED. However, he was pegged back in the next round with MORGUES. Thereafter, David scored in every round apart from the conundrum and won the game 98-86. (more...) More Featured Articles... Did you know... Nominate an article Today in Countdown History edit  2025: Chas McLaughlin beat Shemina Kirby, with a score of 81 – 67. 2024: James Swinnerton beat Rachel Gallen in a game that ended 86 – 49. 2021: Laura Savvas beat Chris Anderson, with the game finishing 79 – 38. 2019: Tom Silverlock beat Trevor Coates in a 80 – 73 game. 2018: Lewis Carson beat Ciaran Thompson, by a score of 66 – 64. 2014: Ian Linton beat Tim Gregory in a game that ended 91 – 30. 2013: June Glasspell beat Tom Stoddart with scores of 88 – 57. 2012: Paul James beat Andrew Koffman with final score 106 – 81. 2010: Chris Barrow beat Doug Elkins, scoring 83 – 69. 2009: Andrew Hulme beat Micheal Harris with a score of 133 – 101. 2008: Patricia Jamieson beat Peter Holt in a 82 – 72 game. 2007: Alan Gray beat Philip Knowles, by a score of 111 – 40. 2004: Ian Laird beat Malcolm Major with scores of 87 – 69. 2003: Nick Peel beat Ian Smith with final score 88 – 65. 2002: Grace Page beat Ralph Manterfield, scoring 100 – 64. 1999: Kay Powick beat Kevill Davies with a score of 59 – 20. 1998: Steve Metcalf beat Jackie Anderson in a 59 – 38 game. 1997: Joy Hill beat Allen Horn in a game that ended 42 – 22, which has not been broadcast. 1996: Nan Packer beat Graeme Sugarman, by a score of 66 – 56. 1993: Howard Whiteley beat Jack Jones with scores of 41 – 33. 1992: Peter Etherington beat Mandy Lewis with final score 47 – 40. 1991: Bette Amor beat Frank Little, scoring 45 – 41. 1990: Andrea Parker beat Liz Barber with a score of 43 – 30. 1990: Leslie Preston played Edna Dale in the first leg of a Countdown Masters game. 1987: Hilary Hopper beat Boz Osberg in a 53 – 43 game.

Popular Articles edit  Template:Quicklinks Editors edit  Template:Editlinks Other Countdown websites edit  Template:Links Upcoming Countdown tournaments edit  The full list of FOCAL tournaments for 2026 is here. The next scheduled event is Countdown in Oxford on 11 July. Almost all online tournaments are now held on Apterous: the list of ongoing tournaments is here.

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