A Charismatic Quizmaster

Richard Whiteley 1943-2005

Countdown was afternoon television entertainment for middle England, or at least that is what all the articles about the late Richard Whiteley are making out. Well fair enough, I suppose; quizzes might well be defined as middle-class, and English, or British at any rate, and Countdown was a quiz show, though not a quiz in the way that ours is. However it required, as they all do to be really successful, a central figure who can be urbane, amusing, self-deprecating and yet charismatic. Richard Whiteley was certainly all of these things.

Not living in England, I have not been accustomed to spending part of my weekday afternoons with this amiable show, but I always tried to catch it when visiting, and I find that, in common with all others who liked the show, I feel unaccountably sad at the news of Richard Whiteley's death.

I suspected that he was a good sort, and all the tributes, especially the one from Carol Vorderman, seem to bear this out. I also liked a quote I read on The Guardian page from someone who said that he was much more affected by the loss of Richard Whiteley than he was by the death of Princess Diana. Well I hadn't thought of it in those terms, but now I come to think of it, I derived a lot more enjoyment from watching Richard than I ever did from reading about, and even worse, listening to those people who were adoring fans of, Princess Diana.

My feelings might be intensified by various points Richard Whiteley and I had in common. I was nearly sent to Giggleswick School, where I would have probably known him, though in the end my determination to go with my other classmates to the local grammar-school prevailed. I am from roughly the same area, and, frighteningly, only four years younger. I look well, too, as he always did, so that's one more thing to worry about.

And what of Countdown now? Well, there are two or three charismatic, self-deprecating etc. etc. characters who occasionally ask the questions down at the pub on Mondays. Naming no names...

RIP Richard Whiteley, charisma personified.