Where the hell, is Julian Fell?

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Matthew Green
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Where the hell, is Julian Fell?

Post by Matthew Green »

I put that comma in so it would read like a jaunty rhyme.

Not really up to date on the 30th B'day Championship but from the recaps it looks like some amazing games happening.
One problem though- no Julian Fell. For me, he is still the grand daddy of Countdown and it's a damn shame he's not in this. Did he turn it down? Was he untraceable?

And on a similar note, where the hell is Dave Von Geyer?
If I suddenly have a squirming baby on my lap it probably means that I should start paying it some attention and stop wasting my time messing around on a Countdown forum
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Re: Where the hell, is Julian Fell?

Post by Gavin Chipper »

He announced his retirement a few years ago while in the middle of an online tournament. Mid round if legend is to be believed. Mid declaration. Also I doubt he turned down an invitation. People had to actively apply.
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Re: Where the hell, is Julian Fell?

Post by Tom »

Think I've said on here before but I too was really disappointed not to see him in the draw as for a tournament of this nature, thought it would be fitting to have him in the tournament.

Just after I put my enquiry in to appear in the tournament, I was going through my old Hotmail account and stumbled across Julian's e-mail in the address section and subsequently sent him an e-mail as I was hoping he'd at least know about it and was intrigued to know what his thoughts would be but sadly the e-mail bounced back within 10 minutes :(

I have no idea of his whereabouts now. I don't think he's on Facebook and I've never found him on LinkedIn either.
Probably the second tallest ever series finalist.
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Re: Where the hell, is Julian Fell?

Post by Dave Preece »

Shame that, a real legend. How about we start up a Hall of Fame? Strictest criteria of entry, of course!
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Re: Where the hell, is Julian Fell?

Post by Gavin Chipper »

Dave Preece wrote:Shame that, a real legend. How about we start up a Hall of Fame? Strictest criteria of entry, of course!
You could have a "greats" thread where everyone just lists the Countdowners that they consider to have achieved "greatness". No ordering, and no particular size limit. Some might pick 2 and some 102.
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Re: Where the hell, is Julian Fell?

Post by Dave Preece »

I'm on it...
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Re: Where the hell, is Julian Fell?

Post by Gavin Chipper »

By the way - where the He-Man, is Harvey Freeman?
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Re: Where the hell, is Julian Fell?

Post by Jennifer Steadman »

He-Man is over there. ---->

Can't help on Harvey Freeman's whereabouts though.
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Re: Where the hell, is Julian Fell?

Post by Gavin Chipper »

Where the Heavens, is Peter Evans?

Also, where is Mark Nyman by the way?
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Re: Where the hell, is Julian Fell?

Post by Johnny Canuck »

Where the hash is Graham Nash?
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Re: Where the hell, is Julian Fell?

Post by Conor »

Jennifer Steadman wrote:He-Man is over there. ---->

Can't help on Harvey Freeman's whereabouts though.
He-man is doing his part in imitating Harvey's 'special' face, though...
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Jon Corby
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Re: Where the hell, is Julian Fell?

Post by Jon Corby »

Conor wrote:He-man is doing his part in imitating Harvey's 'special' face, though...
Image
Tom
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Re: Where the hell, is Julian Fell?

Post by Tom »

I've actually managed to get hold of him the other day as I am trying to organise a reunion for later on this year for the people in my C of C and others around that time. He was basically miffed I managed to get hold of him and said that whilst he didn't have anything against me, he asked me not to contact him again and didn't want anything to do with Countdown again. Shame really but I respect his wishes.
Probably the second tallest ever series finalist.
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Ian Volante
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Re: Where the hell, is Julian Fell?

Post by Ian Volante »

Tom wrote:I've actually managed to get hold of him the other day as I am trying to organise a reunion for later on this year for the people in my C of C and others around that time. He was basically miffed I managed to get hold of him and said that whilst he didn't have anything against me, he asked me not to contact him again and didn't want anything to do with Countdown again. Shame really but I respect his wishes.
Maybe my 'discovery' of him at my pub quiz a couple of weeks ago means that I won't see him again there either...
meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles
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Re: Where the hell, is Julian Fell?

Post by Gavin Chipper »

Ian Volante wrote:
Tom wrote:I've actually managed to get hold of him the other day as I am trying to organise a reunion for later on this year for the people in my C of C and others around that time. He was basically miffed I managed to get hold of him and said that whilst he didn't have anything against me, he asked me not to contact him again and didn't want anything to do with Countdown again. Shame really but I respect his wishes.
Maybe my 'discovery' of him at my pub quiz a couple of weeks ago means that I won't see him again there either...
Has he joined a religious cult or something?
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Re: Where the hell, is Julian Fell?

Post by Gavin Chipper »

Where the Mansfield, is Joyce Cansfield?
James Laverty
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Re: Where the hell, is Julian Fell?

Post by James Laverty »

Is it bad I just searched the Parkrun website to see if Fell was registered?


SPOILER ALERT: He isn't
Definitely not Jamie McNeill or Schrodinger's Cat....
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Re: Where the hell, is Julian Fell?

Post by Gavin Chipper »

James Laverty wrote:Is it bad I just searched the Parkrun website to see if Fell was registered?


SPOILER ALERT: He isn't
I've probably done the same in the past. I often look random people up.
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Re: Where the hell, is Julian Fell?

Post by Johnny Canuck »

Ooh! I got a good one. Mandy Buck from Series 46 has never been seen at a CO-event since. So...

Where is Mandy Buck, anyway?
I'm not dead yet. In a rut right now because of stress from work. I'll be back later in S89. I also plan to bring back the Mastergram - if I can find a way to run a timer or clock through pure MediaWiki without having to upload to Vimeo every time.
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Re: Where the hell, is Julian Fell?

Post by Gavin Chipper »

I don't think we've seen Christine Hunt since her defeat to Jack Worsley.
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Re: Where the hell, is Julian Fell?

Post by Elliott Mellor »

Jamie Wing messaged me the other day to say that he actually happened upon Julian Fell in a restaurant in Oxford recently. Julian was (unsurprisingly) quite perturbed to have been recognised, saying that it was the first time in 15 years that it had happened to him. Didn't chat much as he quite clearly didn't want to, but for those interested he apparently looks "exactly the same, just with a few more wrinkles in his face".
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Re: Where the hell, is Julian Fell?

Post by Tom »

I can imagine how annoyed he would have got at that.

I don’t know the full reasons he disappeared, but many said they found his parents pushy and the Countdown thing could have burnt him out.

I guess if there’s a special 40th anniversary thing this year, he won’t be appearing...
Probably the second tallest ever series finalist.
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Re: Where the hell, is Julian Fell?

Post by Andres Sanchez »

I think that was just the main reason why he departed from the community, I read his experience some months ago on the old Countdown Page from Mike Brown and thankfully there were still some episodes of him on YouTube for me to check out. I think that he went pretty hard on this stuff, I'm reading back on this and there's one paragraph outlining what he did when he got his recording date.
There followed weeks of watching every edition of Countdown religiously (even watching five in one day on one occasion to try to simulate studio conditions), spending untold amounts on new shirts, organizing practice games with my long-suffering parents, putting the finishing touches to my lists of suffixes and prefixes and useful anagrams (e.g. MOANIEST = AMNIOTES, ROADIEST = ASTEROID), and so on. Always fiercely competitive, by now I was beating myself up mentally pretty much every time the contestants or Dictionary Corner found a longer word than I did, and generally getting rather worked up about the programme, to the extent that my mum threatened not to let me come home if I lost my game (because I would be so impossible to be with).
Here's the rest of that article for anyone that wants to view it: http://www.thecountdownpage.com/exp-julian-fell-1.htm

I may be just spitballing here given this kinda stuff, but I think it's just been a big burnout. Honestly would've loved to see him come back at one point but I don't think he'll be coming back to the community any time soon.
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Re: Where the hell, is Julian Fell?

Post by Paul Anderson »

Surely that level of dedication just takes all the fun out of it. You're on telly, prob better than most anyway, so just enjoy it. It ain't worth all that fretting
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Re: Where the hell, is Julian Fell?

Post by Gavin Chipper »

Paul Anderson wrote: Mon May 02, 2022 4:36 pm Surely that level of dedication just takes all the fun out of it.
That's half the people on Apterous!
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Re: Where the hell, is Julian Fell?

Post by Paul Anderson »

I know
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Re: Where the hell, is Julian Fell?

Post by Tom »

Julian probably went at minimum close on Apterous hard I believe. Spotting such obscure words and knowing the meanings would take time. I also know that he had an old handheld Countdown game which you used to get in the goody bags in the early 00s and practised on that which I think too yielded obscure words.

He was competitive and I think his parents encouraged him. He was on here for a here while and from what I remember his departure was pretty sudden. I wouldn’t be surprised if his folks told him to call quits on Countdown immediately and thought it had its time and place.

Coming to the 30th, I don’t believe he was contacted but if C4 had contact details for him, I’d be surprised if they didn’t try contact him. Had he known about it, I can imagine it would have stressed him out and he would have probably declined anyway. But if he’d wanted to compete, he’d have felt obliged to try and emulate what he once did.
Probably the second tallest ever series finalist.
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Re: Where the hell, is Julian Fell?

Post by Gavin Chipper »

Tom wrote: Mon May 02, 2022 6:20 pm Coming to the 30th, I don’t believe he was contacted but if C4 had contact details for him, I’d be surprised if they didn’t try contact him. Had he known about it, I can imagine it would have stressed him out and he would have probably declined anyway. But if he’d wanted to compete, he’d have felt obliged to try and emulate what he once did.
I don't think they contacted anybody individually. It just got mentioned here and in the Scrabble community I think and people were left to apply.
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Re: Where the hell, is Julian Fell?

Post by Gavin Chipper »

I'm surprised no-one did - Where the heck, is Julian Feck?
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Re: Where the hell, is Julian Fell?

Post by Johnny Canuck »

[Redacted - RIP Drawoh]
Last edited by Johnny Canuck on Tue Jan 24, 2023 3:33 am, edited 1 time in total.
I'm not dead yet. In a rut right now because of stress from work. I'll be back later in S89. I also plan to bring back the Mastergram - if I can find a way to run a timer or clock through pure MediaWiki without having to upload to Vimeo every time.
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Mark Deeks
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Re: Where the hell, is Julian Fell?

Post by Mark Deeks »

Howard died a couple of years ago.
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Re: Where the hell, is Julian Fell?

Post by Johnny Canuck »

Mark Deeks wrote: Tue Jan 24, 2023 2:40 am Howard died a couple of years ago.
Oh no - must have missed the update, not another one of the good old boys :cry:
I'm not dead yet. In a rut right now because of stress from work. I'll be back later in S89. I also plan to bring back the Mastergram - if I can find a way to run a timer or clock through pure MediaWiki without having to upload to Vimeo every time.
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Re: Where the hell, is Julian Fell?

Post by Rhys Benjamin »

Any reasons for a lack of Scott Mearns?
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Re: Where the hell, is Julian Fell?

Post by Tracey Anne Mills »

Tom wrote: Mon May 02, 2022 11:25 am I can imagine how annoyed he would have got at that.

I don’t know the full reasons he disappeared, but many said they found his parents pushy and the Countdown thing could have burnt him out.

I guess if there’s a special 40th anniversary thing this year, he won’t be appearing...
Chris Wills told me a similar story that his parents were very pushy
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