c4countdown

Martin Bishop

Ben Wilson wrote:First paid-up entry from Martin Bishop, it all seems a bit more 'real' now.

I guess that makes me the early favourite, then?

Martin Bishop

Scott's got two wins now. Just Gillies - James left.

Martin Bishop

Martin Bishop

It's a shame the women's game doesn't have the consistency of the men's game with none of the top 4 getting to the last four, then again, maybe that is a good thing, I dunno, but I prefer seeing the top 4 players in the top 4 of the Grand Slams, it produces the best tennis. I think the women's tour...

Martin Bishop

Bill Turnbull is very good on Breakfast. He's not dissimilar to Jeff stelling in some ways. He would do a good job on Countdown, but he's clearly far too busy. I've come up with three ideas for new hosts: John Inverdale, Colin Murray and Nick Hancock. Colin Murray would probably be too busy and I'm ...

Martin Bishop

Been closely following my slide down the rankings, but it's only just occurred to me that my "prize" for clinging on to the end will be a match up with Innis. Hmm...

Martin Bishop

Really sad news. I think Jeff is probably the best presenter we've had. Whoever is chosen as a replacement is going to have a lot to live up to.

Not much point commenting on a replacement yet. I'm only just coming out of my state of denial over Jeff's departure.

Martin Bishop

What's really interesting about Azerbaijan's win (well, to me) is the prospect of Armenia participating next year in Baku. The two countries have a long-standing border dispute and Armenians aren't normally allowed into the country. Their conflict has overlapped into Eurovision too. In 2009 Azerbaij...

Martin Bishop

Cliff Richard certainly wasn't an amateur in 1968. The only reason UK have been sending amateur acts in recent years is because of a lack of interest both from the BBC and professional acts (although how one defines amateurism in the entertainment industry is a tough one). In many other countries, e...

Martin Bishop

Andy Wilson wrote:It was supposed to be an amateur song contest just like the olympics was supposed to be an amateur sporting event.

Since when?

Martin Bishop

I wonder who United Kingdom are going to have next year...I hope it's someone better than Blue. Well, Blue were very good (I scored them 21.5), it's just that they are not that popular and famous. Blue are more famous in Europe than Jedward. You're just too young to remember them. Surprised to find...

Martin Bishop

I'm heading to a Eurovision party in a minute, so I'll leave you with my prediction for the final top five.

1. France
2. UK
3. Estonia
4. Azerbaijan
5. Germany

Whereas I would like

1. Germany
2. UK
3. Serbia
4. Estonia
5. Bosnia and Herzegovina

Martin Bishop

Charlie Reams wrote:
Martin Bishop wrote:To me, the last time a good song won was 2010 and before that, 2009.
Honestly, I admire your unashamedness.

Out and proud.

Martin Bishop

Yeah, I was going to stick a few squids on a Finland as a cheeky outsider, but them being up first really puts me off. What are the stats on running orders? Is it simply later=better? That's the generally held assumption, although I don't know if there is any solid statistical work to back that up....

Martin Bishop

In Soccer AM's Kammy Do It section, Chris Kamara is going to be trying his hand at Countdown today.

Might have already been shown. I haven't been paying attention.

Martin Bishop

I listened to France's entry for the first time just now - how the hell is it favourite?! I had a look at the odds once I'd made them and was amazed to see Bosnia as joint favourites. Might as well address both of these. I think a lot of people see that France is sending opera and automatically thi...

Martin Bishop

Running order for the final. 01 Finland 02 Bosnia and Herzegovina 03 Denmark 04 Lithuania 05 Hungary 06 Ireland 07 Sweden 08 Estonia 09 Greece 10 Russia 11 France 12 Italy 13 Switzerland 14 United Kingdom 15 Moldova 16 Germany 17 Romania 18 Austria 19 Azerbaijan 20 Slovenia 21 Iceland 22 Spain 23 Uk...

Martin Bishop

It bugs me how many acts are miming instrument playing. Am I taking this too seriously? They're all miming their instruments. Only the singing is live. It's in the rules, presumably because it saves them a whole load of equipment and sound arranging. I find it rather odd that people don't simply st...

Martin Bishop

Got to admit, Jedward were really good. They still won't win, but I think they'll qualify tonight. As I said before, I watched the Estonian pre-selection this year and while I quite liked Rockefeller Street then, that performance was a lot better. I can understand why it's one of the favourites. Als...

Martin Bishop

We are the only honest voters. So Greece won last year, not Germany. Lol. We give big points to Greece or Turkey every year. There are large numbers of Greeks and Turks living here. I don't think that's a coincidence. That said, the unfair voting thing is vastly exaggerated. Germany won last year a...

Martin Bishop

Michael Wallace wrote:
Martin Bishop wrote:
Michael Wallace wrote:Switzerland? Their worst song in years and they finally get to the final. Madness.
I actually think that's their best song in years, if only because I thought all the others were awful.
Yeah, but you're the guy who voted for Greece.

It was more my mum's vote, really.

Martin Bishop

Switzerland? Their worst song in years and they finally get to the final. Madness. I actually think that's their best song in years, if only because I thought all the others were awful. I think this benefitted hugely from following Russia's hectic dance performance. It's mellower feel provided a ni...

Martin Bishop

Is it bad that when they announced Iceland was through that I jumped out of my chair shouting "Come on! Get In!"?

Martin Bishop

Well, that was disappointing. I hope the standard improves in semi 2. Portugal and Croatia were particularly awful. On the bright side, I love Serbia. Nina has buckets of charisma and I loved the whole retro thing. Iceland was good too and not just because of the sad story of their original singer d...

Martin Bishop

I don't think Blue have got a chance of winning. If, and it's a big IF, if Jedward perform in tune on the night, and they look wacky enough, my money's on them (although I haven't heard any of the others) :oops: Jedward will be lucky to get through the semis. They may be famous here, but they're un...

Martin Bishop

Spoilers: (I think it was a repeat) On today's Pointless, one of the Head to Heads was "Countries who automatically qualify for Eurovision." They said there was four answers, but is Italy not considered one of the big 5? I know they haven't participated in years, but they gain automatic q...

Martin Bishop

I saw it a few weeks ago and couldn't stand to watch more than five minutes. It's the dumbest show I've ever seen. It seems like a CBBC gunge-based game show, but made for adults and somehow dumber and less fun. I think it's trying too hard to be "so bad it's good". I just find it annoying...

Martin Bishop

I know I'm jumping in to this discussion a bit late, but a poll done for The Guardian yesterday (4 May) predicted 68% 'No' and 32% 'Yes'. The poll on this thread (admittedly of 31 people) predicts 84% 'Yes' and 16% 'No'. Quite a discrepancy there. Any thoughts? Countdown-ability correlates to a fla...

Martin Bishop

Rhys Benjamin wrote:--> It is used by only 3 other countries in the world - Fiji, Australia and Papua New Guinea - and Australia want to get rid of it.

On the flip side of that, we are the only country in the EU that still uses FPTP.

Martin Bishop

This is a great ding-dong, bringing out the best and worst in all of us. I am genuinely surprised by some of the vitriol spouting forth from our collective mouths. Politics or religion - can't beat it! Back to my real general election result and the BNP "multi-vote" argument. Remember we ...

Martin Bishop

This is a great ding-dong, bringing out the best and worst in all of us. I am genuinely surprised by some of the vitriol spouting forth from our collective mouths. Politics or religion - can't beat it! Back to my real general election result and the BNP "multi-vote" argument. Remember we ...

Martin Bishop

Surely anyone who votes Tory would not have Labour as their second preference (would they?) and vice versa for Labour. So the LibDem candidate picks up the second preference Conserative vote. I'm not so sure about that. I think there will be some Tories who would feel uncomfortable with Lib Dem ide...

Martin Bishop

Rhys Benjamin wrote:I know, quite possibly, the stupidest person in the world and he understands.

Rhys Benjamin wrote: [sigh] My cousin, who is 22, is (and has been) standing for councillor elections in his Local constituency (well, sort of(the one his uni's in)) and he represents the Conservative party.

Hmm...

Martin Bishop

Johnny Canuck wrote:
Martin Bishop wrote:Or they could put them all up against each other for a week and a half at the end of the series.
CoC XIV?

Calm down, I was referring to the series finals.

Martin Bishop

I believe AV accounts for Ed Miliband having beaten his brother, despite having been nowhere in the initial rounds of voting. David Miliband won the AV vote of Labour members and Labour MPs. The reason Ed won overall was the support of the unions. I can't be bothered to check the numbers, but let's...

Martin Bishop

Nooo!! Lloyd's won again and now just needs 77 points in his next game to overtake me on the leaderboard. Come on Eoin! Smash him!

Martin Bishop

And just to keep this post completely on-topic, I'll be voting 'no', despite often voting for one of the lesser parties. I might be in favour of some kind of electoral reform, but not the one that's on offer here - it just seems too unwieldy, expensive and might (although I'm not sure about these) ...

Martin Bishop

Maybe what should happen is all these apto people could get put against each other for like, I don't know, say, 3 weeks worth of episodes to clear the pathway. Or they could put them all up against each other for a week and a half at the end of the series. Is there any real basis for this? Have any...

Martin Bishop

This is my favourite dissection so far of it. That is a very good explanation. My only concern is that it puts Simon Cowell on the side of good. I really hate the No argument that you can finish third and still win. If you win you finish first, that's what winning means. The argument basically boil...

Martin Bishop

I only knew about half of them. I was still very disappointed that none of the contestants knew what hypertension was.

Martin Bishop

I was as amazed as you were. I thought, at the very least, people would have heard of Pompeii and not just from a Doctor Who episode. I learnt that in primary school. Some of the scores are even worse. 9 people knowing William Hague was ridiculous. I was told by a friend recently that there was one ...

Martin Bishop

I'm thinking of coming up the day before. Is there a particular hotel everyone stays in?

Martin Bishop

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2011/04/vince-mcmahon-wants-to-take-wrestling-out-of-the-wwe.html This is the natural evolution of what Vince has been doing for years. You're not allowed to use the word "wrestling" on WWE TV. It has to be "sports entertainment&q...

Martin Bishop

But yeah, the crowd was really bad, wasn't a lot of excitement, not sure why. Even The Rock didn't get that much love from the crowd. Often the crowd seems quieter in the big Wrestlemania domes. I think it's partly due to the acoustics of having the crowd spread out so far and wide. It may also be ...

Martin Bishop

Didn't finish watching Wrestlemania til Wednesday. I was a bit disappointed with Undi/HHH. They just went for a bunch of big spots with no story to string them together. However, by the end, the idea that Undertaker was literally superhuman and unbeatable at WM was interesting. It was also one of th...

Martin Bishop

Oxford could have Junaid Mubeen and Thomas Cappleman.

Martin Bishop

Douglas Wilson wrote:Thomas Cappleman

Already been on. His lack of Countdown fame would be my fault.

Martin Bishop

Ian Volante wrote:Edinburgh, then Napier. Six years well spent.

I'll represent Scotland if no-one else turns up.

Isn't Innis there at the moment? You could put together a decent team, even though Edinburgh isn't what it used to be.

Martin Bishop

I think Cambridge would be pretty certain to win any such Countdown University challenge.

I went to Surrey. Not one of the traditional big names, but it's now in the top ten for maths. It wasn't top ten when I started. I'm not trying to take credit, but...

Martin Bishop

Other than Susie, I'd say he was the best lexicographer on the show and it was a shame he disappeared from screens when Susie went full time.

RIP Scissors.

Martin Bishop

I would assume you'd just write to countdown@channel4.com as with any other message to the show.

Martin Bishop

Bishop 99 - 45 French

A lot of nasty letter selections, which may have played a little into my hands.

Martin Bishop

As far as I'm concerned, he was the James Callagher of the 1930's and 1940's. Read that how you will. Are you really comparing James Callaghan to Adolf Hitler? At least, I assume you mean James Callaghan. Unless you were going for James Callagher, a management consultant from Dallas; a maintenance ...

Martin Bishop

Jamie's having problem's with his internet. I think he's gone over his download limit. The current plan is to play the game on Monday evening.

Martin Bishop

Wilson 95 - 99 Bishop

The run of one-win champions continues. Very close game with invalid words playing a big part. Ben was particularly unfortunate not to be allowed HIDALGOES.

Jamie French, you're next.

Martin Bishop

The last time I checked, Tazz (double Z I think) had become one of the main full-time commentators. Yeah sorry Tazz. And I was still watching when he became a commentator but wasn't aware he was still doing it. He was called Taz in ECW and Tazz in WWE, so you're both right. He still commentates, bu...

Martin Bishop

Again I don't see the connection between paying your taxes and being allowed to vote (lots of people in the country don't pay taxes but can still vote). It's an argument that was used back in the day for votes for women. The connection is that taxes pay for the government to do their business. If y...

Martin Bishop

Do prisoners pay taxes? My first instinct was that they wouldn't, since they wouldn't earn much more than pocket money from their jobs behind bars. However, if you owned a business, I guess you could still get taxable earnings from it, when it's being run in your absence. If prisoners can pay tax, t...

Martin Bishop

I have struggled a bit to see the logic behind prisoners having the right to vote. Why should they have a say in the running of the prison they have no choice but to live in or of a society that they've been excluded from? The best argument I can come up with is that when prisoners get out of jail, ...

Martin Bishop

According to the listings, Countdown will be mentioned in Charlie Brooker's How TV Ruined Your Life tonight.

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