Richard Whiteley

Richard Whiteley OBE, DL
Whiteley in the early 2000s
Born	John Richard Whiteley (1943-12-28)28 December 1943 Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
Died	26 June 2005(2005-06-26) (aged 61) Leeds, West Yorkshire, England
Cause of death	Endocarditis
Alma mater	Christ's College, Cambridge
Occupation	Journalist, Game show host
Years active	1964–2005 (His death)
Known for	Countdown (1982-2005; His death)
Spouse(s)	Candy Watson (1973–1975, divorced)
Partner(s)	Kathryn Apanowicz (1994–2005, his death)
Children	1

John Richard Whiteley, OBE, DL (28 December 1943 – 26 June 2005) was an English broadcaster, and journalist, best known for his twenty-three years as host of the game show Countdown. Countdown was the launch programme for Channel 4 at 4:45 pm on 2 November 1982, and Whiteley was the first person to be seen on the channel (not counting a programme montage). Despite his intelligence, Whiteley enjoyed projecting the image of an absent-minded eccentric. His trademarks were his jolly, avuncular manner, his fondness for puns, and his bold, sometimes garish wardrobe.

Thanks to over twenty years' worth of nightly instalments of Countdown as well as his work on the Yorkshire magazine programme Calendar and various other television projects, at the time of his death Whiteley was believed to have clocked more hours on British television screens—and more than 10,000 appearances—than anyone else alive, apart from Carole Hersee, the young girl who appeared on the BBC's Test Card F.

Born John Richard Whiteley in Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire, and spent his childhood in Baildon: his family owned a long-established textile mill, Thomas Whiteley and Co of Eccleshill, which went out of business in the 1960s. At 13, he won a scholarship to Giggleswick School, Yorkshire, where his English teacher was Russell Harty. He later became a governor of the school. Leaving school with seven O-levels and three A-levels, from 1962 he read English at Christ's College, Cambridge, graduating with a third class degree. In 2001, Whiteley stood as rector for Dundee University