c4countdown

I thought it would be interesting to see which Countdowners (people who have been on the regular Countdown series) have their own Wikipedia articles. Feel free to add to this.

Several Countdowners have Wikipedia articles simply for being on Countdown or playing Scrabble. These include:

Mark Nyman
Darryl Francis
Graham Nash
Chris Wills
Julian Fell
Stewart Holden
Conor Travers

Given that Countdown/Scrabble is enough to warrant a Wikipedia article, I think the two most obvious omissions are Harvey Freeman (supreme Countdown champion) and Criag Beevers (world Scrabble champion).

But several Countdowners have managed to find fame outside of Countdown and have Wikipedia articles independently of being on Countdown. These include:

Ayoola Erinle (rugby player)
Neil MacKenzie (footballer)
Alex Horne (comedian)
Clarke Carlisle (footballer)
Matt Le Tissier (footballer)
Danny Sapsford (tennis player)
Ariane Sherine (atheist bus campaign)
Daphne Fowler (Egghead)
CJ de Mooi (Egghead)
John Diamond (journalist)

A couple of musicians almost make it by being mentioned on their band page and having redirects from their own name:

Jon Marsh
Nick Saloman

But finally, this page wouldn't be complete without a mention of our very own Jim Bentley. After a great career, Jim has just retired from NASCAR racing narrowly missing out on the title at his final attempt. One of the greatest NASCAR drivers that ever lived, he is even considered by some to be the greatest Formula One driver who ever lived, despite never taking part.

Edit - I added a few more after re-encountering this thread.

Can we include the apterous wiki?

Gavin Chipper wrote:But finally, this page wouldn't be complete without a mention of our very own Jim Bentley. After a great career, Jim has just retired from NASCAR racing narrowly missing out on the title at his final attempt. One of the greatest NASCAR drivers that ever lived, he is even considered by some to be the greatest Formula One driver who ever lived, despite never taking part.

Don't forget that while I was doing all that shit, I was also one of the more active gay male porn stars and I also had a successful (sort of) football career as both player and manager.

Honestly, I don't know how I fit it all in.

Mark Deeks wrote:

JimBentley wrote:I was also one of the more active gay male porn stars

Honestly, I don't know how I fit it all in.

Yes Mark, that was the joke. Well done for getting it, but I don't think you really needed to repost it, everyone got it first time round.

On a related note, Chris Wills has just blocked me on Facebook for daring to suggest that he isn't always right on everything political, despite his being proved wrong on pretty much everything. Apparently if you repeat the discredited Blairite view often enough, it becomes true. What a strange world we live in.

I'm being a real cunt tonight, aren't it? I'm loving it.

JimBentley wrote:I'm being a real cunt tonight, aren't it? I'm loving it.

TBF Jim I've noticed a real change since you started posting again a month or so ago. Has something happened in your life to cause this? Do you want to talk?

JimBentley wrote:

Gavin Chipper wrote:But finally, this page wouldn't be complete without a mention of our very own Jim Bentley. After a great career, Jim has just retired from NASCAR racing narrowly missing out on the title at his final attempt. One of the greatest NASCAR drivers that ever lived, he is even considered by some to be the greatest Formula One driver who ever lived, despite never taking part.

Don't forget that while I was doing all that shit, I was also one of the more active gay male porn stars and I also had a successful (sort of) football career as both player and manager.

Honestly, I don't know how I fit it all in.

Except that those other people just happen to be called "Jim Bentley". They're not actually you. Whereas your recent retirement from NASCAR can explain your recent activity on the forum.

JimBentley wrote:(some bollocks probably)

ANWAY BACK IN THE ROOM.

While looking at all of that malarkey and going (even more) insane, I stumbled across something that I'm genuinely puzzled about. I was going to post it in Ask Graeme, but then it occurred to me that here might actually be more appropriate, given that it happened (whatever it was) at least sixteen years ago and really it's people closer to my age that will probably know more. But then again, my memories of this period are probably unreliable, plus I seem to miss things on the internet that other people find easily, so hopefully someone more clued-in than me can fill in some blanks.

Shortly after the turn of the last century. one of Channel 4's most successful shows was called "Faking It". I remember it very clearly, I rarely missed an episode, mainly because most of them were really good fun for one reason or another. It was high-profile and often controversial - here is its (oddly vague for a successful show with fairly obsessive fans) Wikipedia page. Anyway, point being, it definitely existed. That's when things get a bit weird.

On the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) - the world's premier source of impossibly anal statistics about films that look that they cost about a fiver to make in someone's backyard and TV programmes that are literally shot on the hoof, and Shia LaBeouf - there is, within both the "Faking It" and "Countdown" (UK TV show) strands, this:



The "Full Cast And Crew" listing would suggest that this was something to do with the Richard Whiteley "Gotcha!" thing, but that had happened the previous year and was well-known to anyone watching Countdown at the time. All the names listed check out - yes, it is THAT Claire Rayner, yes it is THAT Mark Lawson (bizarre enough in itself), etc.

And according to IMDb, it was broadcast on 2nd February 1999:



But I can't find any historical TV listings from that period from Channel 4. The Wayback Machine is curiously missing any data from anywhere near that day for all the major listings magazines, and I can't seem to find a workaround.

The obvious thought is that this must have been a student film, possibly made by the actress "India Dupre", possibly as a pilot for "Faking It". After all, India Dupre does exist, apparently having made an album with Nick Heywood (of Haircut 100 fame) in 2006:





And truly, it is said that no greater album exists in the world (OK, that's a lie, I don't actually know anyone who's ever heard it).

But it just doesn't make any sense. Why is Richard Whiteley credited but not Carol Vordermann or Susie Dent? Why is Damian not credited? Why Noel Edmonds when it's obviously nothing to do with the "Gotcha!" episode, which is well-documented elsewhere on IMDb and Youtube?

If it was a pilot for "Faking It" - which would make sense, as it was supposedly shown the year prior to the first series being commissioned - why do I have absolutely no recollection of this being shown on TV? At the time this was supposedly broadcast, I still recorded Countdown every day and watched it after work. There is no way I would have missed a show like this at that time.

Why can't I find any other trace of it anywhere on the internet except for the pages on IMDb?

Why doesn't "India Dupre" have her own Wikipedia page?

Why is Noel Edmonds mixed up in it all? And Mark Thomas of all people (yes, that one)?

And this Deborah Ridpath? She definitely exists - she's worked on (very poor) shows that definitely HAVE been shown on TV.

Any help appreciated!

Now I need to know, but completely lack the motivation to do anything about it. Contacting the individuals involved is probably the best bet, but that involves communication, which I loathe in all its forms.. particularly Internet forums. Yeugh.

Maybe someone faked it. It was in the unbroadcast episode "Mountain Troll to Internet Troll".

Gavin Chipper wrote:Maybe someone faked it. It was in the unbroadcast episode "Mountain Troll to Internet Troll".

Very good. But seriously, what is all this stuff?

It'll probably turn out that all the major players were actually Grant Shapps (or Michael Green or Sebastian Fox) during one of his early get rich quick schemes. But that's just a pipe dream; Corinne Stockheath from Surrey would surely have been one of the contestoids if so.

I tweeted to Mark Thomas. He has no recollection of this. Richard Whiteley also has no recollection of it.

Gavin Chipper wrote:I tweeted to Mark Thomas. He has no recollection of this. Richard Whiteley also has no recollection of it.

I'm waiting to read what the Countdown Team have to say about it. I am just genuinely intrigued about the whole thing, especially given that just about everything ever recorded seems to be on the internet somewhere, but this isn't, despite it apparently happening. And there's so many weird gaps and bizarre people involved in it, it just doesn't make sense on any level.