Comments on: Another knight falls

Another knight falls

mnemosyne — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 02:41:33 -0800

Richard Whiteley has died aged 61, after failing to recover fully from pneumonia and heart surgery. He will be sadly missed.

By: Frasermoo

Frasermoo — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 02:57:29 -0800

yes, a shame. tis a matter of time until the photoshopped pictures of Carol Vorderman and the letter board start seeping out of b3ta.

By: asok

asok — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 03:00:15 -0800

Well I didn't see that one coming. There was something endearing about the old lech. Maybe it was his inability to see himself as others saw him, the gotcha being a case in point. 'A vowel please Carol'

By: tpl1212

tpl1212 — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 03:20:14 -0800

I can only hope my obituary starts with something akin to "...he was once savaged...by a ferret."

By: biffa

biffa — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 03:35:23 -0800

Shame, one of the few people dying I would have considered posting to MeFi over.

By: seanyboy

seanyboy — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 03:41:54 -0800

By: lowlife

lowlife — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 03:44:31 -0800

By: NeonSurge

NeonSurge — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 03:59:54 -0800

The honorary mayor of Wetwang is gone. Seriously, this is sad news for a Monday morning. Countdown will never be the same.

By: tapeguy

tapeguy — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 04:04:50 -0800

Today's conundrum: NUPENIAMO Such a professional, he had to die of a nine letter word. Seriously, this is sad. And to paraphrase the man himself, he 'AORTA' seen this coming.

By: the quidnunc kid

the quidnunc kid — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 04:12:02 -0800

He touched our hearts with his gentle good humour, his marvellous sense of fun and his unblemished gentlemanly conduct - save only for his lecherous ogling of Carol's first-class knockers, of course. Truly a British institution, and I for one am extremely sad at his passing. My sympathies to his family and all those who enjoyed Countdown as much as I did.

By: TheDonF

TheDonF — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 05:05:01 -0800

Such a professional, he had to die of a nine letter word. That's ironically very funny, I'm sure he would have approved. It's a great loss to TV; he was good, inoffensive fun. Sometimes, just sometimes, I could actually do the numbers' game. .

By: devon

devon — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 05:09:59 -0800

By: jiroczech

jiroczech — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 05:12:15 -0800

By: veedubya

veedubya — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 05:31:34 -0800

Very sad. As a child, I used to watch him every day as a newsreader on Calendar, the regional news programme for Yorkshire. I remember cycling home from school to watch him present the Countdown broadcast that was Channel 4's first ever programme. It seems like every Christmas that they drag out the clip of him with the ferret clamped to his finger. He was one of the good guys, and the world's a little worse off for his going.

By: Hartster

Hartster — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 05:34:32 -0800

Genuinely sad news. One of those TV Presenters who was perfectly suited to their job, and yet would probably never be allowed within a mile of a studio if he started today.

By: Rothko

Rothko — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 05:38:59 -0800

By: TheophileEscargot

TheophileEscargot — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 05:42:51 -0800

B3ta has begun. RIP. Student life will never be the same again...

By: Grangousier

Grangousier — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 05:48:25 -0800

By: salmacis

salmacis — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 08:17:51 -0800

Very sad. Countdown just won't be the same without him. Nobody seems to have a bad word for him, despite his faintly ridiculous presentation style. He was like an embarrassing uncle who you know is still a decent sort of chap. He was also the worst star in a reasonably priced car - beaten by Wogan ... and a blind bloke..

By: blag

blag — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 08:21:42 -0800

Of all the threads I wish I'd been able to comment in, I regret most not being part of the John Peel obit. Somehow this seems like a poor replacement. Still, Whiteley seemed a decent old bugger.

By: blag

blag — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 08:36:54 -0800

Of all the threads I wish I'd been able to comment in, I regret most not being part of the John Peel obit. Somehow this seems like a poor replacement. Still, Whiteley seemed a decent old bugger.

By: doozer_ex_machina

doozer_ex_machina — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 08:38:14 -0800

Seen elsewhere: "God takes one from the top".

By: blag

blag — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 08:38:39 -0800

aaah, crap. stupid jrun.

By: john_son

john_son — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 13:53:36 -0800

By: runkelfinker

runkelfinker — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 14:13:08 -0800

By: dodgygeezer

dodgygeezer — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 15:07:29 -0800

I feel strangely sad about his death. I remember watching the opening of Channel 4 with a lot of excitement (Four channels? Wow!) and watching the first edition of Countdown. It was a strangely enjoyable show even for someone like me who was always hopeless at word games - I think I rarely managed to make words longer than five letters. He seemed to make an adavantage of his twitchy geekishness in his presentational style. I loved the fact that every time he dropped one of his hideous puns into his introductions he would pause for the audience to groan. It's sad to think he won't be around anymore.

By: Joeforking

Joeforking — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 15:29:00 -0800

He was the biggest dork to ever appear on his programme, he would be lucky to get a three letter word (thankfully that wasn't his job). A great guy, will be sadly missed.

By: biffa

biffa — Wed, 29 Jun 2005 01:47:29 -0800

Fans may be interested to know that the final Whiteley recordings are broadcast through this week.