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Graham Nash
Graham Nash (born 25 December 1979) was an octochamp in and champion of Series 43, and winner of Championship of Champions XI.
Series 43
Nash made his Countdown debut on July 20 2000, defeating two-times winner and Edinburgh Countdown Club member Melanie Beaumont by 60 points to 49. He demonstrated consistent scoring to polish off seven further wins, including three scores of over 60 and a high score of 72 points against Roger Robinson. Nash amassed an eight game total of 465 points and qualified for the series finals as number 2 seed.
Nash narrowly overcame Gordon Cusworth and Clare Wright in his quarter-final and semi-final respectively, setting up a grand final against number 5 seed Matthew Turner. Turner was perhaps a surprising grand finalist, having beaten #1 seed and then eight game total record holder David Williams during his semi-final. In a close game, Nash was immediately on the back foot after having fainters ☓ disallowed in the first round. Turner soon returned the favour by having easternly ☓ disallowed in round 4, levelling the scores at 23 points apiece.
Both Nash and Turner had halled ☓ declared invalid in round five, but Turner took the lead in round six with a perfect numbers solution. However, it didn't last for long as Nash unravelled the first conundrum GETTENRED to level the scores once more. A decisive penultimate numbers round gave Nash a 10 point advantage, which he was able to hold onto until the crucial conundrum. After six seconds, it was Nash who solved ANEWREBEL to become Countdown's forty-third series champion.
Championship of Champions XI
Nash returned in 2003 for Championship of Champions XI where, in spite of his unbeaten record, he wasn't considered one of the favourites thanks to the presence of players including Chris Wills and Julian Fell. Nash's first game of the tournament pitted him against Series 42 semi-finalist David Ballheimer. Words including VINTAGES and MICROBES helped Nash to a comfortable 103–70 victory.
Nash's second game was against the hotly-tipped Julian Fell. Both players were unbeaten with 12 wins from 12 games, but Julian had the edge in terms of average score. The first key word came in round 4 when Nash had formica ☓ disallowed as it is listed in the dictionary as a proper noun. Both players spotted a nine in round 8, ORGANISED and GRANDIOSE for Nash and Fell respectively. The following round Fell declared eight to Nash's seven, but Fell's offering of gambiers ☓ was disallowed, giving Nash a one point advantage. The players scored equally in every round up to the conundrum, giving Nash a lead of 110 points to 109. In less than two seconds, it was Nash who unravelled MENDMEDOC to beat Fell by 11 points.
Nash faced Series 47 finalist Tom Hargreaves in his semi-final. Three rounds in, Nash had septagon ☓ disallowed which allowed Hargreaves a seven point advantage. Hargreaves held this lead until round seven when both players declared nine: whilst Nash's offering of CLEARINGS was deemed valid, Hargreaves's rescaling ☓ was not. This gave Nash an 11-point lead which, following turbulence from both players, he held until the conundrum AVIANLOUT. Nash solved this in 1.5 seconds to earn a 'valuable' place in the tournament final.
The final against Series 47 champion Chris Wills turned out to be a low-scoring affair. Wills took the lead in round 4 with GAMBADE but, after the first ad break, Nash levelled the scores with the seven-letter word PENSIVE. In round eight Wills had mistle ☓ disallowed, gifting Nash a six point lead courtesy of METALS. Nash held this lead until the final numbers game, where an impossible target obligated both players to score zero points. With the scores set at 79-73, this forced a crucial conundrum. After 30 seconds, neither player had been able to unravel OVERSPADE presenting Nash with a seemingly unlikely Championship of Champions victory.
After Countdown
Nash has appeared on further television game shows including Brainteaser, Grand Slam, Divided, and Wordplay. Therein, he displayed his 'unique' taste for colourful shirts that was apparent during his Countdown appearances.
Preceded by Michael Calder (Series 42) |
Series winner Series 43 |
Followed by Stuart Wood |
Preceded by Scott Mearns |
Champion of Champions Championship of Champions XI |
Followed by Paul Gallen |
Episodes
# | Date | Type | Contestant 1 | Score | Contestant 2 | Presenters | Guest | Lex | Max | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2813 | 20/07/2000 | P | Melanie Beaumont | 49 – 60 | Graham Nash | Richard Whiteley | Carol Vorderman | David Steel | Gillian Evans | |||
2814 | 21/07/2000 | P | Graham Nash | 55 – 26 | Bill Maskew | Richard Whiteley | Carol Vorderman | David Steel | Gillian Evans | |||
2815 | 24/07/2000 | P | Graham Nash | 57 – 49 | Tony Long | Richard Whiteley | Carol Vorderman | Tom O'Connor | Damian Eadie | |||
2816 | 28/07/2000 | P | Graham Nash | 63 – 36 | David Duncan | Richard Whiteley | Carol Vorderman | Tom O'Connor | Damian Eadie | |||
2817 | 31/07/2000 | P | Graham Nash | 72 – 36 | Roger Robinson | Richard Whiteley | Carol Vorderman | Tom O'Connor | Damian Eadie | |||
2818 | 1/08/2000 | P | Graham Nash | 46 – 5 | Sarah Newell | Richard Whiteley | Carol Vorderman | Tom O'Connor | Damian Eadie | |||
2819 | 2/08/2000 | P | Graham Nash | 60 – 49 | Jason Campbell | Richard Whiteley | Carol Vorderman | Tom O'Connor | Damian Eadie | |||
2820 | 8/08/2000 | P | Graham Nash | 52 – 22 | Jo Austin | Richard Whiteley | Carol Vorderman | Tom O'Connor | Damian Eadie | |||
2906 | 18/12/2000 | QF | Graham Nash | 60 – 50 | Gordon Cusworth | Richard Whiteley | Carol Vorderman | Anya Sitaram | Richard Samson | |||
2910 | 22/12/2000 | SF | Graham Nash | 70 – 53 | Clare Wright | Richard Whiteley | Carol Vorderman | Barry Cryer | Susie Dent | |||
2911 | 25/12/2000 | GF | Graham Nash | 89 – 69 | Matthew Turner | Richard Whiteley | Carol Vorderman | Barry Cryer | Susie Dent | |||
3397 | 15/01/2003 | CP | David Ballheimer | 70 – 103 | Graham Nash | Richard Whiteley | Carol Vorderman | Tim Rice | Susie Dent | |||
3401 | 21/01/2003 | CQF | Graham Nash | 120 – 109 | Julian Fell | Richard Whiteley | Carol Vorderman | Eric Knowles | Susie Dent | |||
3403 | 23/01/2003 | CSF | Tom Hargreaves | 83 – 104 | Graham Nash | Richard Whiteley | Carol Vorderman | Eric Knowles | Susie Dent | |||
3404 | 24/01/2003 | CGF | Chris Wills | 73 – 79 | Graham Nash | Richard Whiteley | Carol Vorderman | Eric Knowles | Susie Dent |
Championship of Champions Winners | |
---|---|
I : Mark Nyman | II : Clive Freedman | III : Harvey Freeman | IV : Nic Brown | V : Tim Morrissey | VI : Wayne Summers | VII : Don Reid | VIII : Chris Rogers | IX : Natascha Kearsey | X : Scott Mearns | XI : Graham Nash | XII : Paul Gallen | XIII : Steve Briers | XIV : Dylan Taylor | XV : Zarte Siempre | XVI : Ahmed Mohamed |
External links
- Graham Nash's Countdown experience from The Countdown Page.
- A review of Graham Nash's Grand Slam quarter final from UKGameshows.com.
- Graham Nash on Wikipedia.