Due to persistent vandalism, account creation has been suspended. If you would like an account, please contact Charlie Reams on Apterous.
Template:Featuredarticle
Harvey Freeman was the champion of Series 10, Championship of Champions III and the Supreme Championship, and is widely regarded as one of the greatest Countdowners of all time. Freeman made his debut on 31 October 1986 against David Whiting as a 21-year-old Cambridge University undergraduate from Enfield, Middlesex. He won that game and the seven which followed to achieve octochampdom with an aggregate score of 523 points. This was a record at the time, and stood for almost 14 years before being beaten by David Williams in Series 43. In his second heat game, Freeman amassed 82 points which was also a record at the time. He returned for the series finals as #1 seed, and dominated his opponents Elisabeth Jardine and Les Martin in the quarter-finals and semi-finals respectively, before going on to face Mike Percik in the grand final. Despite having OUTTAKES ☓ disallowed in the second round, Harvey produced a commanding performance running out the winner by 96 points to 52.
Freeman returned for Championship of Champions III, beating Michael Stephenson and John Clarke to set up a grand final against David Trace. Freeman lost out in the first conundrum to Trace, putting him ten points behind, but he scored in every other round before solving the crucial conundrum PURSUEPAT to win 115–107 — the highest ever score in a 14-round grand final, and the only time anyone has ever scored over 110 under that format. In 1996, Freeman participated in the Supreme Championship. Given a bye in the first round, Harvey defeated Ian Bebbington in the second round and Barry Grossman in a closely-fought group final to put himself into the series quarter-finals. Therein, he beat Andrew Perry before once again beating John Clarke in the semi-final. In the final, he faced former prodigy Allan Saldanha. Freeman spotted a nine-letter word in the first round and was able to hold on to his lead to win 82–79, winning the title of all-time supreme champion, and maintaining his winning streak at an unprecedented 19 games. (more...)
