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Mark Nyman
Lexicographer | |
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First appearance | 22 August 1990 |
Last appearance | 26 May 2000 |
Appearances | 289 |
Episodes with Mark Nyman | |
Guest appearances of Mark Nyman | |
First appearance | 29 May 1984 |
Last appearance | 14 October 1986 |
Appearances | 4 |
Episodes with Mark Nyman |
Mark Nyman was an octochamp in and the runner-up of Series 3, as well as the inaugural Countdown Champion of Champions.
He debuted at the age of 16, running off eight consecutive wins to qualify for the Series finals as No. 1 seed. In the quarter-final he faced Ted Wiles and racked up a then record 79 points, in the semi-final he faced Esther Byers, sister of Series 2 runner-up Russell Byers and beat her by 5 points. The final was a tense, close affair rather than a high scoring one, Nyman was ahead going into the conundrum against Andrew Guy, but it was Guy that solved RREEALOTC in three seconds, relegating Nyman to the runner-up's spot.
A few months later, Nyman was asked to stand in as an emergency Dictionary Corner guest for 3 episodes when the booked guest, Ned Sherrin got his dates confused and didn't turn up. Later in 1984, Nyman returned at 17 to compete in the Championship of Champions I where he beat octochamp William Bradford and Series 2 champion Ash Haji on the way to a final against Series 1 champion Joyce Cansfield. It turned out not to be a close game as Nyman took the game 65 – 34, nearly double Cansfield's score, and making him the first number one seed to win a Countdown final. Nyman returned after the Championship of Champions II to face the event's winner Clive Freedman and beat him. The game was close, but Nyman avoided a crucial conundrum and eventually won the game by 9 points. Nyman also appeared on the special episode to celebrate Countdown's 500th show on 2 February 1987. He made one further appearance as contestant in the Countdown Masters and beat Harvey Freeman, the only time that Freeman has lost a game of Countdown, although it was not part of a standard series.
Later in 1990, Nyman took on the role of lexicographer, making 289 appearances in this capacity, the last being in Series 42.
Nyman served as the show's producer from 1992 until 2002, and because the Supreme Championship was organised in 1996, he was forbidden from inviting himself.
Nyman's father Les also appeared on Countdown, on Series 14, in 1987.
Nyman married in 2004 and has two children, Max and Kizzy. However in 2017, he has since divorced and his quote about it infamously appeared in an episode in "Have I Got News For You" hosted by Victoria Coren Mitchell on 13 November 2017, saying "I got married and my game fell apart, then divorced and I was back on it."[1]
Preceded by Russell Byers |
Series runner-up Series 3 |
Followed by Christine Hunt |
Champion of Champions Championship of Champions I |
Followed by Clive Freedman |
Scrabble
Leeds-based Nyman also excels as a Scrabble player. He is most widely known as the first British player to win the World Scrabble Championship, which he accomplished in 1993. He was the only Briton to achieve this feat, until Series 57 champion Craig Beevers matched it in 2014. Nyman played Canadian Joel Wapnick in the 1993 WSC final, in which he came back from 2 – 1 behind to win 3 – 2, including winning one game having been 174 behind. The two met again in the 1999 WSC final, and this time Wapnick was victorious, winning a nail-biting decider by just a single point; 403 to 402. He finished runner up in the 2016 MSI WSC after losing 3 – 0 to Brett Smitheram. He has won 21 British 'major' championships, considerably more than any other player.
Episodes
Championship of Champions Winners | |
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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
- Mark Nyman on Wikipedia.
Knutsford Guardian, 11th September 2009: Mark Nyman wins Scrabble championship