Richard Whiteley

Born and bred in Yorkshire, Richard Whiteley was obsessed with TV from the moment he saw a BBC outside broadcast van. Richard was the first person to appear on Channel 4 on Tuesday 2nd November 1982, with the words "As the countdown to the launch of a new channel ends, a new Countdown begins". No one could have predicted that Countdown would dominate the channel's top ten ratings for over 20 years. Richard made a record 10,000 or more appearances on British television. He died in 2005.