Des Lynam

Des Lynam
Presenter
First appearance	31 October 2005
Last appearance	22 December 2006
Appearances	303
Episodes with Des Lynam
Guest
First appearance	26 March 2010
Last appearance	26 March 2010
Appearances	1
Episodes with Des Lynam

For other people called Des, see Des.

Des Lynam OBE (born 17 September 1942) was the presenter of Countdown from 31 October 2005 to 22 December 2006. Lynam's tenure as presenter spanned from the start of Series 54 to the end of Series 55 with part of it being the legendary Championship of Champions XII.

Lynam previously appeared as a contestant in Series 1 of Celebrity Countdown in 1998, scoring a respectable 32 against Siân Lloyd's 17.

After the sad death of Richard Whiteley, the show took a long summer hiatus and didn't return until 31 October 2005 with Lynam becoming the new presenter. Despite the long commute from his home in West Sussex to The Leeds Studios, Lynam proved to be a popular choice with fans. However, he announced on 30 September 2006 that he would step down as presenter at the end of the year and was eventually succeeded by Des O'Connor.

Before joining Countdown, Lynam started as a radio presenter before becoming the presenter of Match of the Day and Grandstand on the BBC and later defected to ITV when they bought the rights to show the Premiership. He spent just over one year as the presenter of Countdown and most recently appeared on adverts advertising Setanta Sports, a now defunct sport channel which broadcast Premiership matches.

Lynam's autobiography, I Should Have Been at Work, was published shortly after he took over as presenter of Countdown.

Lynam returned to Countdown as a Dictionary Corner guest on 26 March 2010, as part of the commemorations held for Countdown's 5,000th episode: he was honoured further with the conundrum of DESLHINAM.

Lynam can be seen as presenter of the Countdown DVD game, released before his tenure as presenter ended.

Lynam is one of two presenters alongside Anne Robinson to have not presented a special episode.

Lynam with Carol Vorderman and Susie Dent: Would you buy a used teapot from these people?

Des Lynam at the letters board with Vorderman.

Episodes

#	Date	Type	Contestant 1	Score	Contestant 2	Presenters				Guest	Lex	Max
C1	23/04/1998	CC	Des Lynam	32 – 17	Siân Lloyd	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman					Magnus Magnusson	Anna Eaton	59

External Links

• Des Lynam on Wikipedia.
• Des Lynam on the Internet Movie Database.