c4countdown

Today's challenger is the brother of Series 60 finalist Hamish Williamson.

We seem to have had quite a lot of family connected people on the show in the last year or so.

We've had Eileen & Paul Broadhead. We've had the 2 sisters that James Doohan beat on his octochamp run. There was Vicky Smith, who Andrew Hulme beat, whose parents, I think were on Countdown in the past.

This list seems endless.

James Robinson wrote:We seem to have had quite a lot of family connected people on the show in the last year or so.

We've had Eileen & Paul Broadhead. We've had the 2 sisters that James Doohan beat on his octochamp run. There was Vicky Smith, who Andrew Hulme beat, whose parents, I think were on Countdown in the past.

This list seems endless.

It's not just recently though, James. There have always been related people on the show. Ones I can find include:

• Russell Byers and his sister Esther (1983)
  Allan Simmons (1983) and his sister Val (1984)
  Mark Nyman (1983) and his father Les (1987)
  Armand Gilinsky and his brother Adam (both 1985)
  Sandie Simonis (1986) and her son Daniel (1994)
  Lawrence Pearse and his son Alex (both 1989)
  Len Marshall (1989) and his son, also Len Marshall (2008)
  Liz Barber (1990) and her great nephew Lewis Mackay (1999)
  Martin Summers and his son Wayne (both 1992)
  Edward Martin (1992)/James Martin (1997) (brothers?)
  Damian Eadie (1994) and John Eadie (1997) ???
  Sally Hutchings (1998) and her father Peter (1999)
  Brian Fell (1998) and his nephew Julian (2002)
  Sanjay Mazumder (1999) and his brother Sandeep (2000)
  Margaret Sambrooks (2002) and her son Tony Brooks (2004 - Special only)
  Mark Danks (2004) and his father Peter (2005)

Maybe anagramability is a genetic thing.

John Tickle and his sister Tess.
Samantha Janus and her father Hugh.

Derek Hazell wrote:
Maybe anagramability is a genetic thing.

Or maybe the first person has such a great time and tell their dad "Dad it was great, you gotta go on and experience it" and, since you watch it together, he has got quite good at it and passed an audition.

Kirk Bevins wrote:Or maybe the first person has such a great time and tell their dad "Dad it was great, you gotta go on and experience it" and, since you watch it together, he has got quite good at it and passed an audition.

Wow, has Keith Bevins passed an audition then? I wondered why he had got too busy to post on here! Congratulations to him.

Derek Hazell wrote:Wow, has Keith Bevins passed an audition then? I wondered why he had got too busy to post on here! Congratulations to him.

No, not in my case. My dad is a good player and would probably pass an audition but he said he has no immediate plans to apply which frustrates me. He said he can't compete with the top players on apterous. (He's competitive but won't/can't put in the hours).

Right onto today's game.

Jan remains the champion, although as we know, her run will be shortly paused for one of 3 reasons.

1. She loses today.
2. She wins today, but loses tomorrow.
3. She wins today & tomorrow, but can't continue because of the imminent finals.

As #2 Seed Chris mentioned, Jan's challenger is the brother of Series 60 semi-finallist Hamish Williamson. I wonder how alike he is to his brother. Hamish, as we all remember was certainly someone you didn't forget in a hurry.

Dr. Phil is still in DC today, after his interesting Scrabble marriage story bringing him onto to his new book. He always seems to have a new book out every time he comes onto the show, doesn't he

Enjoy the show.

P.S. Did anyone else notice that Phil has had his "Dr" prefix put back on his name in the credits, because last time he was on the show, he was referred to as just "Phil Hammond", whereas yesterday it was "Dr. Phil Hammond" (If I'm boring you, please complain.)

James Robinson wrote:(If I'm boring you, please complain.)

Never, James. The longer the better.

James Robinson wrote:Right onto today's game.

Jan remains the champion, although as we know, her run will be shortly paused for one of 3 reasons.

1. She loses today.
2. She wins today, but loses tomorrow.
3. She wins today & tomorrow, but can't continue because of the imminent finals.

As #2 Seed Chris mentioned, Jan's challenger is the brother of Series 60 semi-finallist Hamish Williamson. I wonder how alike he is to his brother. Hamish, as we all remember was certainly someone you didn't forget in a hurry.

Dr. Phil is still in DC today, after his interesting Scrabble marriage story bringing him onto to his new book. He always seems to have a new book out every time he comes onto the show, doesn't he

Enjoy the show.

P.S. Did anyone else notice that Phil has had his "Dr" prefix put back on his name in the credits, because last time he was on the show, he was referred to as just "Phil Hammond", whereas yesterday it was "Dr. Phil Hammond" (If I'm boring you, please complain.)

TL:DR

Damian Eadie (1994) and John Eadie (1997) ???

No relation.

James Robinson wrote:(If I'm boring you, please complain.)

Will it make any difference?

D Eadie wrote:

James Robinson wrote:(If I'm boring you, please complain.)

Will it make any difference?

Maybe...

STOMPIER in round 1

CORDONED as a beater in round 9.

CORDONED in Round 9 (sorry Kirk beat my by a few sec)

(I spotted the inverted M again for W in Round 7 !)

EUSTASY for a beater in round 11.

Does anyone else think that Jan looks like Lynsey de Paul ?

Argh, running all the selections through a solver it turns out if the W in round 7 was an M (which it should have been) I'd have had a max game. As it was a W I missed the max in that round and only managed 14. Frustrating.

Kirk Bevins wrote:Argh, running all the selections through a solver it turns out if the W in round 7 was an M (which it should have been) I'd have had a max game. As it was a W I missed the max in that round and only managed 14. Frustrating.

On the W v M thing, my question is that if is important and I guess, in the scheme of things, it is, then why do the guys in charge not change the style to have the M with vetical legs like in this font here.

I have seen the 8 upside down, but did not bother to say anything.

John Bosley wrote:

Kirk Bevins wrote:Argh, running all the selections through a solver it turns out if the W in round 7 was an M (which it should have been) I'd have had a max game. As it was a W I missed the max in that round and only managed 14. Frustrating.

On the W v M thing, my question is that if is important and I guess, in the scheme of things, it is, then why do the guys in charge not change the style to have the M with vetical legs like in this font here.

I have seen the 8 upside down, but did not bother to say anything.

It's not really that important to be honest. We're not going to break the flow of the show for an upside down letter, unless of course it's an F or something that renders itself unreadable. The V has now been replaced also, but it was hardly a big loss.

R9 DC Beater

DONORCIDE - I'm surprised Phil Hammond didn't spot it. It would solve the organ transplnt problem.

Malcolm James wrote:DONORCIDE It would solve the organ transplnt problem.

Then it would be the recipients you'd have to finish off, not the donors. Not all transplants are cadaveric.

James Robinson wrote: (If I'm boring you, please complain.)

A little bit. More importantly though, I worry about you.

Are you sure it's his brother, Chris. They only went to the same chess club or something didn't they?

I don't like to make personal comments about people but I'm glad Mr Cheery didn;t win. I'm warming to Jan as the week goes on.

Derek Hazell wrote:

James Robinson wrote:We seem to have had quite a lot of family connected people on the show in the last year or so.

We've had Eileen & Paul Broadhead. We've had the 2 sisters that James Doohan beat on his octochamp run. There was Vicky Smith, who Andrew Hulme beat, whose parents, I think were on Countdown in the past.

This list seems endless.

It's not just recently though, James. There have always been related people on the show. Ones I can find include:

• Russell Byers and his sister Esther (1983)
  Allan Simmons (1983) and his sister Val (1984)
  Mark Nyman (1983) and his father Les (1987)
  Armand Gilinsky and his brother Adam (both 1985)
  Sandie Simonis (1986) and her son Daniel (1994)
  Lawrence Pearse and his son Alex (both 1989)
  Len Marshall (1989) and his son, also Len Marshall (2008)
  Liz Barber (1990) and her great nephew Lewis Mackay (1999)
  Martin Summers and his son Wayne (both 1992)
  Edward Martin (1992)/James Martin (1997) (brothers?)
  Damian Eadie (1994) and John Eadie (1997) ???
  Sally Hutchings (1998) and her father Peter (1999)
  Brian Fell (1998) and his nephew Julian (2002)
  Sanjay Mazumder (1999) and his brother Sandeep (2000)
  Margaret Sambrooks (2002) and her son Tony Brooks (2004 - Special only)
  Mark Danks (2004) and his father Peter (2005)

Maybe anagramability is a genetic thing.

Allan Simmons is also the brother-in-law of 1983's Philip Appleby, which was noted on the website of this year's World Scrabble Championship when they wound uo playing each other halfway through. There were also three brothers with the surname Murray from series 45 and 46.

And seriously, you missed Allan and Richard Saldanha?

Ben Wilson wrote:Allan Simmons is also the brother-in-law of 1983's Philip Appleby, which was noted on the website of this year's World Scrabble Championship when they wound up playing each other halfway through. There were also three brothers with the surname Murray from series 45 and 46.

Thanks, Ben. I was hoping you would come along with some more of these.

And seriously, you missed Allan and Richard Saldanha?

Oh yeah, weird how I always seem to miss the most obvious!

D Eadie wrote:It's not really that important to be honest. We're not going to break the flow of the show for an upside down letter, unless of course it's an F or something that renders itself unreadable. The V has now been replaced also, but it was hardly a big loss.

But I suppose the point is that there wouldn't even be any question of breaking the flow of the game if the M had vertical lines. What was up with the V? Did that have vertical lines?

Gavin Chipper wrote:What was up with the V? Did that have vertical lines?

Aye.

As James mentioned, Vicky Smith's parents appeared on the show - Pam Smith (2007) and Barry Smith (2008). As well as the relatives, there have also been several other married couples on the show:

• Mike Willis (1984) and Karen Willis (1991)
  Anilkumar Shah (1986) and Anju Shah (1987)
  Nuala Clenaghan (1991) and Mike O'Rourke (2001)
  Stuart Barker (1997) and Daphne Barker (2000)
  Tony Warren (2006) and Carol Warren (2009)
  Eileen Broadhead and Paul Broadhead (both 2009)

Kirk Bevins wrote:Argh, running all the selections through a solver it turns out if the W in round 7 was an M (which it should have been) I'd have had a max game. As it was a W I missed the max in that round and only managed 14. Frustrating.

Most of us could probably only dream of a 14 max game, Kirk.

Derek Hazell wrote:As James mentioned, Vicky Smith's parents appeared on the show - Pam Smith (2007) and Barry Smith (2008). As well as the relatives, there have also been several other married couples on the show:

• Mike Willis (1984) and Karen Willis (1991)
  Anilkumar Shah (1986) and Anju Shah (1987)
  Nuala Clenaghan (1991) and Mike O'Rourke (2001)
  Stuart Barker (1997) and Daphne Barker (2000)
  Tony Warren (2006) and Carol Warren (2009)
  Eileen Broadhead and Paul Broadhead (both 2009)

Clive Spate (1985) and Sheila Arnold (1982)

Gavin Chipper wrote:

D Eadie wrote:It's not really that important to be honest. We're not going to break the flow of the show for an upside down letter, unless of course it's an F or something that renders itself unreadable. The V has now been replaced also, but it was hardly a big loss.

But I suppose the point is that there wouldn't even be any question of breaking the flow of the game if the M had vertical lines. What was up with the V? Did that have vertical lines?

I can't believe it, but i suppose i'll have to.

Chris Davies wrote:Today's challenger is the brother of Series 60 finalist Hamish Williamson.

that character was at my audition in glasgow a while back, cant believe he got on he was distinctly average. anyway thanks fk i didnt cause then i found apterous! bring on next one, surely cant fail this time!

Gavin Chipper wrote:

D Eadie wrote:It's not really that important to be honest. We're not going to break the flow of the show for an upside down letter, unless of course it's an F or something that renders itself unreadable. The V has now been replaced also, but it was hardly a big loss.

But I suppose the point is that there wouldn't even be any question of breaking the flow of the game if the M had vertical lines. What was up with the V? Did that have vertical lines?

I think this'll help