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July's featured article Series 47 was the 47th series of Countdown, broadcast on Channel 4 between Boxing Day 2001 and 28 June 2002. Presented by Richard Whiteley and Carol Vorderman, it was the second series to use the 15 round format and was won by Chris Wills (pictured). It was the first series of Countdown where eight octochamps appeared in the preliminaries: alongside Wills were Tom Hargreaves, Lee Hartley, Wendy Roe, Rupert Stokoe, Kevin Thurlow, Mike Pullin and Brenda Jolley. The series also featured three seven-time winners who therefore did not appear in the series finals: David Franks, Peter Coutts, and Julia Wilkinson. Wilkinson won her seventh heat game on the day immediately prior to the first quarter-final, and therefore had to continue her run in Series 48, where she qualified for the series finals as #5 seed. Wills played Jolley in the first quarter-final of Series 47, and whilst both scored 30 out of 30 on the numbers rounds Wills beat Jolley in two letters rounds and unravelled the conundrum CELERYFIT to win 110 – 86. In the second quarter-final between Pullin and Hargreaves, the lead changed hands three times before Hargreaves won on a crucial conundrum. Two further crucial conundrums enabled Thurlow to defeat Hartley, and Stokoe to win against Roe. Stokoe returned the following day to play Wills in the first semi-final, but he lost three consecutive letters rounds to go 22 points behind by round 7, with Wills winning comfortably by 118 points to 78. In the second semi-final, Hargraves dropped just three points across the first 14 rounds, and dispatched Thurlow despite failing to solve the conundrum OUTERSUNS. In the series final, Hargraves had roadsail ☓ disallowed in round 4 and by the second commercial break he had fallen 25 points behind. Both players missed the nine-letter word VIDEOTAPE in round 11, effectively ending Hargreaves' chances as Wills ran out the ENDVICTOR by 110 – 67. In March 2002, approximately halfway through Series 47, there was a three day break from the main competition to make way for the Junior Championship. This three day mini-tournament featured four contestants who were aged between 8 and 12 years old upon their original appearance. The four contestants were Perry Fung from Series 40, Amey Deshpande and Andrew Hulme from Series 42, and Bruce Lambert from Series 43. Hulme beat Fung in the final by 53 points to 41 after a crucial conundrum. He returned to Countdown as an adult, becoming the runner-up of Series 61 and participating in the 30th Birthday Championship. (more...) More featured articles... [edit] Did you know... ...that Series 62 Countdown contestant Clarke Carlisle (pictured) was a Premier League footballer at the time of his appearance? ...that beginning on 2 May 2006, the conundrum was successfully solved by a contestant on a record 24 consecutive games of Countdown? ...that the longest word that can be made from the letters in Graham Nash, the name of the winner of Championship of Champions XI, is ANAGRAMS? ...that as part of a competition on the ITV programme Harry Hill's TV Burp, for one round on 26 October 2009 Rachel Riley's chair was occupied by a knitted toy rabbit? Nominate an article [edit] Today in Countdown history 2021: Daniel Crews beat Steve Francom, with the game finishing 79 – 77. 2019: Colin Beattie beat Imogen Gordon, by a score of 82 – 75. 2016: Andrew Fenton beat Michael Hawkins, scoring 79 – 54. 2015: Pat Lonergan beat Kunal Saujani with final score 67 – 64. 2014: Sue Melling beat James Wall with scores of 73 – 68. 2013: Glen Webb beat Kevin Safford in a 115 – 73 game. 2011: Gareth Lee beat Christopher Moriarty in a game that ended 84 – 56. 2010: Ryan Loughborough beat Jonathan Wynn with a score of 77 – 74. 2009: Innis Carson beat Allan Barnes, by a score of 102 – 43. 2008: Neil MacKenzie beat Shirley Lye, scoring 104 – 80. 2005: In Richard Whiteley's final show, John Mayhew beat John Brackstone in the Series 53 grand final. 2004: David Thirlwall beat Graham Andrews with final score 80 – 74. 2003: Stephen Grant beat Clive Smith in a 89 – 79 game. 2002: Julia Wilkinson beat John Baker with scores of 122 – 62. 1999: Scott Mearns beat Michael Forster in a game that ended 74 – 32. 1998: Robert Muir beat Richard Frost with a score of 52 – 51. 1997: Andy Stacey beat Steven Tepper, by a score of 57 – 36. 1996: David Ligat beat Sue Byrne, scoring 45 – 42. 1991: Una Szewc beat Miri Purse with final score 41 – 25. 1988: Lesley Highton beat Mollie Clay with scores of 38 – 34. 1987: Cath Powell drew with Peter Medhurst in a 47 – 47 game. 1983: Ash Haji beat Maurice Packman in the second Series 2 semi-final.

[edit] Popular articles A brief overview of Countdown and some of its records and terminology. The team – Colin Murray, Rachel Riley, and Susie Dent. The show's institutions – the conundrum, the Countdown clock and its music, Dictionary Corner, the pencam, and the Teatime Teaser. Arthur Page, the reigning series champion, and his series grand final against Michael Calder. The most recent Championship of Champions grand final between James Haughton and Ahmed Mohamed. The 30th Birthday Championship grand final between Conor Travers and Jack Hurst. Richard Whiteley, Des Lynam, Des O'Connor, Carol Vorderman, Jeff Stelling, Nick Hewer and Anne Robinson – the show's former permanent presenters. The highest ever score – 154, achieved by Tom Stevenson on 29 September 2022 and Cillian McMulkin on 31 January 2023. [edit] Editors Everyone can edit the Countdown Wiki, just register and then click the edit link at the top of any page (except this one!) and start editing. Here are some useful links: Learn about this wiki and how to use it. Episode style guide - if you want to help us edit the episode pages, this style guide gives comprehensive help. Suggest a featured article which will in turn be featured on the Main Page. [edit] Other Countdown websites Apterous, an online game from the same people that run this site. The Countdown Android App, created by Series 63 champion Jack Hurst. The Countdown Database, detailed statistics and round-by-round details of over 7,800 episodes. FOCAL, regular in-person events that anyone can enter. c4countdown, Countdown's main online forum, populated by many past octochamps. Quantum Tombola, a numbers game solver designed by Series 65 champion Graeme Cole. A mobile version of the above. Greem, a website listing nearly all Co-event scores until early 2020. The Countdown Page, the original site of Countdown stats, by Mike Brown. [edit] Upcoming Countdown tournaments The full list of FOCAL tournaments for 2024 is here. The next scheduled event is Countdown in Durham on 6 July 2024. Almost all online tournaments are now held on Apterous: the list of ongoing tournaments is here.

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