Countdowners in the news

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Jon Corby
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Countdowners in the news

Post by Jon Corby »

Countdown Champion Richard Brittain Writes 'Chilling' Blog Post About Stalking a Woman

:shock:

Knowing Richard's style, this is just deliberate trolling to get this kind of coverage to promote his book... right? Right? :?
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by Gavin Chipper »

It's quite good trolling if that's what it is. It would mean that the fake kidnap was fake all along, making it a fake fake kidnap, and the real way of making himself famous and getting publicity for his book was the blog post itself.
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by Innis Carson »

Got to hand it to Richard, he's achieved exactly what he's been aiming for.
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by JimBentley »

Innis Carson wrote:Got to hand it to Richard, he's achieved exactly what he's been aiming for.
I can only echo what Innis says really, I'm sure Richard's very pleased with himself.

However, I'll bet that there are plenty of other borderline lunatics and general sociopaths writing far worse every day all over the internet, so I wonder why this got picked up?
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Jon Corby
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by Jon Corby »

Yeah, he's done well thus far - risky strategy though, no? Could pan out a few ways from here...
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by Heather Styles »

I don't think Richard has done well at all. The best that he will have done is get a few cheap laughs and flog more copies of his badly written book*. Cynical, exploitative and cruel.

* I can tell that it's badly written just from the preview.
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Jon Corby
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by Jon Corby »

Heather Styles wrote:I don't think Richard has done well at all.
Yeah, I'm changing my view now. I was basing that just on the fact that it was popping up in a few places (Telegraph.co.uk now!) - dig a little deeper and the (impartial) reviews for the book are pretty scathing, and it seems he's been being his usual dickish self on Wattpad - there's even an allegation that he tracked down and attacked a negative reviewer on goodreads.com.

Bizarre. Fascinating watching it unfold though. Is anybody on here in regular contact with him? Is he coming to COLIN Ben?
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by Ben Wilson »

Jon Corby wrote:Is he coming to COLIN Ben?
No.
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Jon Corby
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by Jon Corby »

Ben Wilson wrote:
Jon Corby wrote:Is he coming to COLIN Ben?
No.
Rats. Could we not honeytrap him into coming?
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by Jon O'Neill »

Sometimes I think the world is trolling me. How the fuck could he be arrested for writing that? What law has he broken? Who's to say if his blog is fact or fiction? Is it illegal to imagine a fake kidnapping?
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by Gavin Chipper »

I think the journalists writing about this are totally missing the point, whether this story has any truth or not. He's just told you that he was trying to get publicity by being a dickhead, and you're giving it to him.
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by Gavin Chipper »

Jon O'Neill wrote:Sometimes I think the world is trolling me. How the fuck could he be arrested for writing that? What law has he broken? Who's to say if his blog is fact or fiction? Is it illegal to imagine a fake kidnapping?
He's not been arrested has he? Or have people suggested it?
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by Matt Morrison »

Can we please have updated links based on:
  • "tracked down and attacked" (almost sounded literal!) someone for a negative review on goodreads.com (Corby)
  • serious suggestions of arrest? (Jono)
  • "he's just told you he was trying to get publicity" (Gevin)
Thanks guys.
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by Matt Morrison »

Just realised Charlie is going to be the first port of call for an exclusive interview! More column inches for Reams!
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by Gavin Chipper »

Matt Morrison wrote:Can we please have updated links based on:
  • "tracked down and attacked" (almost sounded literal!) someone for a negative review on goodreads.com (Corby)
  • serious suggestions of arrest? (Jono)
  • "he's just told you he was trying to get publicity" (Gevin)
Thanks guys.
In Richard's post he says:
I decided to try to make my book known by getting into the national news. I found out that she worked in Glasgow, so I travelled there with a plan. I was going to tell her that if she came with me, and we faked a kidnapping, we would both become famous.
=He was telling the reader that he was trying to get publicity by being a dickhead. The way he actually achieved it was with the post rather than the fake kidnapping, but it's all the same.
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by Jon O'Neill »

Matt Morrison wrote:Can we please have updated links based on:
  • "tracked down and attacked" (almost sounded literal!) someone for a negative review on goodreads.com (Corby)
  • serious suggestions of arrest? (Jono)
  • "he's just told you he was trying to get publicity" (Gevin)
Thanks guys.
I was drunk last night and responding to something in the Telegraph article which I now can't find..

Edit: just realised I posted that today. I was drunk today as well.
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by JimBentley »

Matt Morrison wrote:Can we please have updated links based on:
  • "tracked down and attacked" (almost sounded literal!) someone for a negative review on goodreads.com (Corby)
  • serious suggestions of arrest? (Jono)
  • "he's just told you he was trying to get publicity" (Gevin)
He's not actually physically attacked anyone and he's not been arrested. I don't think there's any possibility that he could be arrested based on what he's posted so far, however creepy it may be. As far as we know, it's all fiction and until someone actually complains to the police (complaining to the internet is not the same thing), it might as well remain so.
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by Matt Morrison »

Thanks for good update Jim and shit update Jono. And oh yes Gevin, durrrr. See what you mean, for some reason I thought you meant a more recent statement on the blog post itself and not that bit.
I'm pretty sure his life must be crazy right now. I am fairly sure more than none people will have complained to the Real Police, and I think plenty of journalists will have been trying to get hold of him by phone for a statement.
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by Matt Morrison »

Quick scout on current Twitterness reveals several connections between RB and The Apprentice, and someone thinking he was the Countdown host.
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by Matt Morrison »

Countdowners not in the news interesting 404: http://www.cosmopolitan.co.uk/reports/n ... t-stalker/
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by Gavin Chipper »

He's taken it down and issued an apology.
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by Jon Corby »

Gavin Chipper wrote:He's taken it down and issued an apology.
LOL
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by Mark James »

I now wish to live as a normal and respectable person again
Again?
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by Jon Corby »

Mark James wrote:
I now wish to live as a normal and respectable person again
Again?
Hahaha!
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by Gavin Chipper »

They're calling it "Brittains Law".
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Jon Corby
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by Jon Corby »

Okay, so it seems like this almost certainly wasn't just an internet-trollery-viral campaign type thing, given that RB has actually tracked down a negative reviewer of his book, a teenage girl, and smashed her over the head with a wine bottle.

http://groupthink.jezebel.com/richard-b ... 1649170122

:|
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by Jennifer Steadman »

Looking forward to seeing how people find more ways to excuse or justify this as "only" trolling or a hilarious joke. LOL, stalking and attacking women!!!
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by Mark Murray »

This is shocking stuff.. had not been the guy's biggest fan before all this and don't know what part of this story is genuine, but if this is true, this guy needs specialist help!
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by JimBentley »

If this happened as reported then I'd be surprised if he doesn't get a custodial sentence.
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by David O'Donnell »

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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by Ian Volante »

Flippin eck, what a knob.
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by Ian Volante »

Also, RB, don't hunt me down please, I'd be a waste of railway fare.
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by Mark Murray »

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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by James Robinson »

Well, it seems Mr Brittain has made it into the newspapers...., well, the Daily Star.

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest- ... d-Brittain
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by Ian Volante »

James Robinson wrote:Well, it seems Mr Brittain has made it into the newspapers...., well, the Daily Star.

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest- ... d-Brittain
Eep. Suspect he won't be on Apterous for a wee while then. :shock:
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by Jon Corby »

James Robinson wrote:Well, it seems Mr Brittain has made it into the newspapers...., well, the Daily Star.

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest- ... d-Brittain
As I scrolled down and the top line of the headline just read "Countdown champ battered" I just assumed it was going to be the write-up of our CoC match 8-)
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by Gavin Chipper »

What a cheeseball.
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by Keith Bennett »

"Kind-of embarrassed that this guy's name appears on the Richard Whiteley trophy along with mine, to be honest."

"To be honest, the more I research this case, the more outraged and amazed I become."

Just two of his insightful posts on a discussion of Callum's Glory Roll when the latter was revealed as a cheat.
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by Tracey Anne Mills »

What a lunatic.
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by Thomas Carey »

Keith Bennett wrote:"Kind-of embarrassed that this guy's name appears on the Richard Whiteley trophy along with mine, to be honest."

"To be honest, the more I research this case, the more outraged and amazed I become."

Just two of his insightful posts on a discussion of Callum's Glory Roll when the latter was revealed as a cheat.
Hah, great find. Wonder what someone would have to do to get their name taken off the trophy?
cheers maus
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Jon Corby
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by Jon Corby »

Thomas Carey wrote:
Keith Bennett wrote:"Kind-of embarrassed that this guy's name appears on the Richard Whiteley trophy along with mine, to be honest."

"To be honest, the more I research this case, the more outraged and amazed I become."

Just two of his insightful posts on a discussion of Callum's Glory Roll when the latter was revealed as a cheat.
Hah, great find. Wonder what someone would have to do to get their name taken off the trophy?
Callum's set the bar pretty high tbf, so who knows.
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by Keith Bennett »

"Callum's set the bar pretty high tbf, so who knows"

But at least nobody was hurt in the making of the Immoral Octochamp's records. There's misguided, and then there's pure evil.

Still, better hadn't say too much given the type of character RB might spend the next few years making friends with....
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Jon Corby
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by Jon Corby »

I'd hardly call travelling to Scotland to bottle a teenage girl "misguided".
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by Gavin Chipper »

Have you seen his latest blog post? It's called "The Benevolent Head-Breaker". I think he's just misunderstood.
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by James Laverty »

Definitely not Jamie McNeill or Schrodinger's Cat....
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Jon Corby
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by Jon Corby »

James Laverty wrote:This story just keeps on giving

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scott ... ts-6808448
I've seen that video dragged up on another forum and used to try and show something about RB. I mean, ffs, isn't it obvious that it's just a joke? Fancy getting a denial from her agent. Makes you wonder how posts here (for example) could get dredged up and used against you if people decided they wanted to paint you a certain way.
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by JimBentley »

Jon Corby wrote:
James Laverty wrote:This story just keeps on giving

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scott ... ts-6808448
I've seen that video dragged up on another forum and used to try and show something about RB. I mean, ffs, isn't it obvious that it's just a joke? Fancy getting a denial from her agent. Makes you wonder how posts here (for example) could get dredged up and used against you if people decided they wanted to paint you a certain way.
The editing on that Daily Record video was farcical, the cutting bits and pieces of video together in an attempt to portray him as "mad". They might as well have had a clock in the background randomly changing time, like in the Simpsons episode when Homer was accused of being a sexual predator because of a gummy bear mixup. I bet I could re-cut that video in a way to make him look even more unhinged without resorting to obvious jumps, but that's not the point. That's all playground stuff, the media stretching and distorting a story to get attention.

I don't deny it's a good story, it's got some great ingredients, but we still don't really know what went on. If RB gets a custodial sentence, then it's pretty much a guarantee that we'll only ever get distorted versions from one side or the other. However, if the authorities do the right thing and realise that RB is fucking completely off his trolley and needs help, we might get something reasonably close to the events as he perceived them at the time, which could help with future cases.
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Jon Corby
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by Jon Corby »

I don't think it's edited (much) is it? The original video was jumpy like that. (Intentionally so). Fuck, I hadn't even watched it until now, I'm at the end of it as well.
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by Mark Deeks »

We haven't mentioned it anywhere above so probably time to give well wishes to the victim, cos this shit is ridiculous.
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Jon Corby
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by Jon Corby »

Well that should go without saying, obviously. I'm not in anyway defending RB, it's just er... interesting... watching the tabloids do their thing when you have a bit more knowledge about the reality of some of it.
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by Mark Deeks »

The video on that Record article is nothing like the one I remember him first uploading, but if anything they've streamlined it. That vid is basically two long clips put together, when RB's actual one was about a million cuts. Wonder if it's still out there somewhere...
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by Mark Deeks »

Eoin Monaghan wrote:
He may not be liked on here, but you have to give some credit to Mark
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by JimBentley »

Mark Deeks wrote:Yep, here it is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKsqz7fFrqM
Cheers Mark, not seen that before. It is a goldmine.
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by Gavin Chipper »

JimBentley wrote:
Mark Deeks wrote:Yep, here it is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKsqz7fFrqM
Cheers Mark, not seen that before. It is a goldmine.
How have you not seen it? I've just been reading the comments. There's a typical YouTube comments "discussion" on there as you might expect.
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by Thomas Carey »

Pisses me off that they have to mention he's a countdown champ every few paragraphs, but otherwise I'm glad.
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by Jon O'Neill »

Let's hope he continues to get the psychiatric help he needs while he's in prison. I wouldn't bet on it though..
Last edited by Jon O'Neill on Fri Dec 18, 2015 11:03 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by Dan McColm »

They've used the photoshopped GANDISEEG photo again, brilliant.
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by James Laverty »

Thomas Carey wrote:Pisses me off that they have to mention he's a countdown champ every few paragraphs, but otherwise I'm glad.
It's the Daily Mail, what did you expect?
Definitely not Jamie McNeill or Schrodinger's Cat....
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Re: Countdowners in the news

Post by Graeme Cole »

Thomas Carey wrote:Pisses me off that they have to mention he's a countdown champ every few paragraphs, but otherwise I'm glad.
The BBC story does better, referring to him as an "author" in the headline, and mentioning Countdown once.

However, newspapers have this thing where stories have to have an "angle". You'd think "creepy stalking author tracks down and violently assaults someone who gave his book a bad review" would be enough of a story, but not for the Daily Wail, who refer to Countdown eight times in the one article. Countdown is completely irrelevant to the story, but hey, at least they've got their angle.

Perhaps they're trying to beat the number of times he called himself a Countdown champion in that video of his?
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