James Haughton

James Haughton in Series 81.

James Haughton was an octochamp in Series 81. He's a Maths PhD Student at the University of Manchester.

The Apterite began attending Co-events in 2018, and after rapid improvement, he won his first FOCAL event, CoNuT in 2019 — all prior to his run on the show in July of the same year, in which he began his run with a strong début score of 118 and a spot of the nine-letter word ROUTINISE. He then continued a strong run, scoring centuries in all his games, spotting impressive nine-letter words and getting 6 conundrums correct. He ultimately wrapped his run with 958 points to become the second octochamp of the series.

6 months later, Haughton returned for the finals against number 8 seed David Law. Haughton thundered off into a 46 point lead spotting two nines NEFARIOUS and MONRADITE and maxing the first numbers round. Another nine letter spot of the word UNROASTED helped him to finish the game with a strong 147 points – the third-highest score ever – therefore booking a spot in the semi-finals. Law did add an S to Haughton's offering of SAILING, though, denying Haughton from eclipsing the current highest-ever score of 152.

Outside of Countdown, Haughton previously appeared on University Challenge where he represented the University of Manchester in 2015. In 2017, he was a semi-finalist on Mastermind. He also partook in the 66th series of Brain of Britain in 2019.

Episodes

#	Date	Type	Contestant 1	Score	Contestant 2	Presenters				Guest	Lex	Max
7118	16/07/2019	P	James Haughton	118 – 41	Patrick Coombes	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Michaela Strachan	Susie Dent	158
7119	17/07/2019	P	James Haughton	103 – 50	Darren Rampton	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Rory Bremner	Susie Dent	120
7120	18/07/2019	P	James Haughton	133 – 31	Sonia Elston	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Rory Bremner	Susie Dent	156
7121	19/07/2019	P	James Haughton	125 – 20	Ryan Williams	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Rory Bremner	Susie Dent	144
7122	22/07/2019	P	James Haughton	134 – 30	Iain Sime	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Rory Bremner	Susie Dent	150
7123	23/07/2019	P	James Haughton	114 – 30	Rob Payne	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Rory Bremner	Susie Dent	143
7124	24/07/2019	P	James Haughton	118 – 51	Katrina Bond	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Rory Bremner	Susie Dent	133
7125	25/07/2019	P	James Haughton	113 – 16	Frank Coma	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Paul Sinha	Susie Dent	130
7225	12/12/2019	QF	James Haughton	147 – 60	David Law	Nick Hewer	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Jon Culshaw	Susie Dent	166