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John Clarke (Series 11)

From Countdown
Revision as of 16:45, 15 January 2008 by Mglovesfun (talk | contribs) (disambig message)
For the contestant in Series 49, see John Clarke (Series 49

John Clarke was the winner of Series 11 and a defeated semi-finalist in Championship of Champions III and the supreme championship.

Clarke started his run on 26 March 1987, late in the series, and had time for only five victories before the finals started, including four scores over 60. Under the rules of the time, he was offered the opportunity to compete in the finals rather than continue in the next series, and as he was #1 seed anyway, he opted to enter the finals.

A high-scoring 74-56 victory over Maurice Sobell put him through to the semi-finals, and a comfortable 48-19 defeat of James Wilkie set up an "all star" final with #2 seed David Reid. Impressive finds of MARRIAGE and OUTRIDER gave Clarke a 97-61 victory, with only an unsolved final conundrum LOCALTIES denying him the century.

He returned in June for Championship of Champions, where he drew Series 12 octochamp Jon Marsh. Clarke comfortably emerged the winner with a score of 61 to 29. In the semi-final he faced the legendary Harvey Freeman and delivered a creditable performance in defeat, with Freeman scoring one of the narrowest victories of his unbeaten career.

Nine years later, John would return to the studios for the supreme championship. In his group, he beat Derek Coombs, Andy Bodle and (by way of a sudden-death conundrum) the previously unbeaten Don Reid to reach the series quarter-finals. There, he beat the recently-crowned champion of champions Chris Rogers 59-41, but lost once again in the semi-final to Harvey Freeman, 65-48.

John's impressive Countdown record of having played 18 games and won 16, coupled with the fact that his only defeats were at the hands of the imperious Harvey Freeman, mean John's name invariably comes up in discussions concerning the greatest Countdowner of all time.

Preceded by
Harvey Freeman
Series winner
Series 11
Followed by
Stephen Balment

Episodes

# Date Type Contestant 1 Score Contestant 2 Presenters Guest Lex Max
533 26/03/1987 P Bert MacNeill 29 – 45 John Clarke Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Cathy Hytner Russell Harty Freda Thornton
534 27/03/1987 P John Clarke 61 – 53 David Carr Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Cathy Hytner Russell Harty Freda Thornton
535 30/03/1987 P John Clarke 61 – 42 Sue Duncalf Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Cathy Hytner Russell Harty Freda Thornton
536 31/03/1987 P John Clarke 67 – 27 Keith Newby Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Cathy Hytner Russell Harty Freda Thornton
537 1/04/1987 P John Clarke 69 – 31 Alan Benson Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Cathy Hytner Russell Harty Freda Thornton
538 2/04/1987 QF John Clarke 74 – 56 Maurice Sobell Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Cathy Hytner Russell Harty Freda Thornton
542 8/04/1987 SF James Wilkie 19 – 48 John Clarke Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Cathy Hytner Bill Tidy Catherine Clarke
544 10/04/1987 GF David Reid 61 – 97 John Clarke Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Cathy Hytner Bill Tidy, Gyles Brandreth Catherine Clarke
598 25/06/1987 CQF John Clarke 61 – 29 Jon Marsh Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Cathy Hytner Sally James Della Thompson
599 26/06/1987 CSF Harvey Freeman 45 – 38 John Clarke Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Cathy Hytner Sally James Della Thompson
1857 11/10/1996 aQF John Clarke 58 – 52 Derek Coombs Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Nigel Rees Susie Dent
1860 16/10/1996 aSF John Clarke 55 – 39 Andy Bodle Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Philip Franks Susie Dent
1861 17/10/1996 aF John Clarke 63 – 53 Don Reid Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Philip Franks Susie Dent
1901 12/12/1996 SQF John Clarke 56 – 41 Chris Rogers Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Jenny Hanley Susie Dent
1905 18/12/1996 SSF John Clarke 48 – 65 Harvey Freeman Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Nigel Rees Catherine Clarke