All discussion relevant to Countdown that is not too spoilerific. New members: come here first to introduce yourself. We don't bite, or at least rarely.
At the end of the programme she was talking about April Fool jokes that have appeared on television, and said that she liked particularly the spaghetti tree which was on Tomorrow's World in the 70s. In fact the spaghetti tree april fool was broadcast by Richard Dimbleby on Panorama in 1957.
Well, it's obvious that Carol's memory is very poor (how often does she say "that's never happened before" about something that's actually happened quite recently? Or show not the slightest glimmer of recognition at a joke that's been done on the show many times before?), so its not surprising that she would not only have completely misremembered the details of the most famous television april fool ever, but also imagine that it was a part of her own childhood memories rather than something she'd seen on a clips show years later.
Funnily enough, of the two memorable TV april fools that stick in my mind, one actually WAS from Tomorrow's World (one year they announced that one of the items in the programme would be an april fool and then at the end invited people to vote on which one they thought it was by pressing the appropriate "button" on their TV screen) and the other involved Carol Vorderman (the second and last series of "Take Nobody's Word For It" ended with an item explaining that a TV cathode ray tube is a primitive form of particle accelerator and that if you stick a piece of gold to a TV screen, within a few months the atomic bombardment will turn it into lead). I rather doubt Carol remembers that one, despite being in it.
Charlie, is it possible to automate it so that whenever Jennifer posts, one appears shortly after from my ID saying "get over your jealousy of Carol, you bitter, bitter woman" ?
On a serious note, is Carol's ability to do the numbers declining or is it just my perception. It's quite rare for her to get a numbers game that the contestants don't get these days, when I started watching she was unbeatable and although she's still better than the contestants, I'm starting to think it's not by much. According to Wikipedia she's 47 and will be 48 in december, I wonder if she has any thoughts about retiring and if so who would do the numbers in her place? I'm trying to think about a particularly telegenic contestant who was good at the numbers and frankly I can't think of one off hand.
Martin
If you cut a gandiseeg in half, do you get two gandiseegs or two halves of a gandiseeg?
Martin Gardner wrote:On a serious note, is Carol's ability to do the numbers declining or is it just my perception. It's quite rare for her to get a numbers game that the contestants don't get these days, when I started watching she was unbeatable and although she's still better than the contestants, I'm starting to think it's not by much.
I do know what you mean Martin, but I think it's overdoing it a bit to say it's "quite rare for her to get a numbers game that the contestants don't get". I had thought the same thing (I hardly ever used to beat her, but do fairly frequently these days) but I just put it down to my own ability improving (stop laughing everyone) rather than hers declining. After all, you only have to look back at how appallingly bad the contestants were at the numbers in the show's formative days to appreciate how much better us lot have got!
That's my opinion anyway. And I think the idea she should retire is absurd.
Last edited by Jon Corby on Wed Apr 02, 2008 11:39 am, edited 2 times in total.
Corby wrote:
That's my opinion anyway. And I think the idea she should retire is absurd.
I don't think she should retire, and yes "rare" is perhaps a bit much but I wouldn't say she beats contestants "often" either. It's just a matter of fact that she will stop at some time and no I don't think it should be now. I'm just saying, in our lifetime either Carol will retire and do something else or Countdown will stop all together, I'm just wondering what will happen if she *were* to retire.
Martin
If you cut a gandiseeg in half, do you get two gandiseegs or two halves of a gandiseeg?
Corby wrote:Charlie, is it possible to automate it so that whenever Jennifer posts, one appears shortly after from my ID saying "get over your jealousy of Carol, you bitter, bitter woman" ?
Technically no, but I will be mentally inserting that remark at all appropriate junctures from now on.
Corby wrote:
That's my opinion anyway. And I think the idea she should retire is absurd.
I don't think she should retire, and yes "rare" is perhaps a bit much but I wouldn't say she beats contestants "often" either. It's just a matter of fact that she will stop at some time and no I don't think it should be now. I'm just saying, in our lifetime either Carol will retire and do something else or Countdown will stop all together, I'm just wondering what will happen if she *were* to retire.
Also, if you look at one of the comments someone made on the Youtube video of highlights of Countdown's first episode, you will figure out that I agree with it.
Thanks. You've made my day.
