Clive Spate

Clive Spate

Spate several years later.

Clive Spate was the champion of Series 8, and a participant in Championship of Champions II and the Supreme Championship. He was married to Series 1 contestant Sheila Arnold and is a former Maths teacher from Nottingham.

Appearances on the programme

From Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, he first appeared on 30 January 1986, defeating Malcolm Edwards 66 – 28 and went on to win five more games, all with scores over 50 points, including 70 (the highest of the series) against Michael Purdie. He was defeated in his seventh game, though, by David Learner 54 – 46. Spate's six wins and impressive points haul were enough to earn him an invitation back for the finals as No. 1 seed, where he made short work of Tony Clarke and YT in the quarter- and semi-finals respectively. In the final against Anthony Butcher, it seemed to be slipping away from Spate as he had earholes ☓ disallowed and slipped behind by 18 points. By the first commercial break, however, he had recovered to a two point lead, and after successfully risking the now-invalid word DOMINATER for 18 points, Spate eventually ran out the winner of the match and the series by 107 points to 53 – the first century score ever achieved on Countdown. Spate was the first player to win a series of Countdown after being seeded No. 1.

Spate returned for Championship of Champions II, narrowly losing to Peter Evans in his first game.

Spate also played in the Supreme Championship, soundly beating David Reid in his first game before losing by three points to Jackie McLeod in his second and final game.

Outside of Countdown

Away from Countdown, Spate has proven to be one of the most successful British game show contestants of all-time. In 1987, he became the first unbeaten player of BBC Two's word game-based series, Catchword. He reached the Grand Finals of the first two series of Fifteen to One in 1988, before winning an episode of The Weakest Link in 2001 and £125,000 on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? in 2004. In 2003, Spate won a top prize of £50,000 by winning the only-ever series of the Carol Vorderman-fronted quiz show Grand Slam, which determined the greatest-ever quiz show contestant and featured players such as Olav Bjortomt, David Stainer, Graham Nash, Mark Labbett and Melanie Beaumont among others.

Spate was also a big name on the Scrabble scene, having been a recognised UK Grand Master as well as the organiser of the former, then-popular twice-yearly Nottingham Nomads tournament.

Preceded by Ian Bebbington

Series winner Series 8

Followed by David Trace

Episodes

#	Date	Type	Contestant 1	Score	Contestant 2	Presenters				Guest	Lex	Max
357	30/01/1986	P	Malcolm Edwards	28 – 66	Clive Spate	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman			Cathy Hytner	Richard Stilgoe	Della Thompson	70
358	31/01/1986	P	Sue Phillips	23 – 61	Clive Spate	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman			Cathy Hytner	Steve Jones	Julia Swannell	74
359	3/02/1986	P	David Wood	20 – 52	Clive Spate	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman			Cathy Hytner	Steve Jones	Julia Swannell	73
360	4/02/1986	P	Jeff Yates	26 – 60	Clive Spate	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman			Cathy Hytner	Steve Jones	Julia Swannell	67
361	5/02/1986	P	Richard Sinnott	39 – 57	Clive Spate	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman			Cathy Hytner	Steve Jones	Julia Swannell	72
362	6/02/1986	P	Michael Purdie	28 – 70	Clive Spate	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman			Cathy Hytner	Steve Jones	Julia Swannell	76
363	7/02/1986	P	David Learner	54 – 46	Clive Spate	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman			Cathy Hytner	Steve Jones	Julia Swannell	70
391	19/03/1986	QF	Clive Spate	66 – 19	Tony Clarke	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman			Cathy Hytner	Gyles Brandreth	Julia Swannell	74
395	25/03/1986	SF	Clive Spate	56 – 26	Y.T. (Paul White)	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman			Cathy Hytner	Gyles Brandreth	Julia Swannell	85
397	27/03/1986	GF	Clive Spate	107 – 53	Anthony Butcher	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman			Cathy Hytner	Bill Tidy, Gyles Brandreth	Julia Swannell	149
398	31/03/1986	CQF	Clive Spate	45 – 47	Peter Evans	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman			Cathy Hytner	Gyles Brandreth	Catherine Clarke	81
M47	19/02/1990-23/02/1990	M	Sheila Mann	36 – 106	Clive Spate	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman					none	Catherine Clarke	134
M89	10/12/1990-14/12/1990	M	Clive Spate	110 – 80	Julian Hough	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman					none	Freda Thornton	135
1877	8/11/1996	dQF	Clive Spate	63 – 23	David Reid	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Geoffrey Durham	Susie Dent	73
1879	12/11/1996	dSF	Jackie McLeod	49 – 46	Clive Spate	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Barry Cryer	Susie Dent	74

External Links

• Clive Spate's Wikipedia page