Susie Dent’s Life Lessons
As she sets off on a UK tour, Countdown’s dictionary whizz and wordsmith Susie Dent chats about the joy of Countdown and being a word geek
■ Where it began
One of my earliest memories is sitting in the bath – I must have been about five or six – desperately trying to decipher the words on shampoo bottles written in different languages. I was a strange child.
■ Opportunity knocks
I got into television by chance. I was working at Oxford University Press which publishes the dictionary used on Countdown and who ‘lent’ the show a group of lexicographers who would take turns to sit in Dictionary Corner. My boss asked me if I’d be one of them and I gave him a flat no – twice! Eventually, he persuaded me and I’ll always be grateful to him for that.
■ I miss Richard
Richard Whiteley was absolutely what you saw on TV, except more intelligent. He loved to play the hapless buffoon but in fact was an expert interviewer with an astute mind who knew everything there was to know about politics. I loved his occasional grumpiness which would be smoothed over as soon as one of his favourite words came up. I can never hear ‘leotard’ or ‘moonset’ without a silent nod to him. I miss him.
■ My second family
There’s something very special about Countdown. Many of the crew have been with it for ten, 20 years and, though it may sound a little schmaltzy, they’re truly my family away from home. The owners of the format, Marcel and Jeanne Stellman, now in their 90s, are wonderful and still follow the programme every day.
■ Let’s hear it for geeks!
The biggest and best thing that Countdown has taught me is that there’s no shame in being a word geek. I used to hide my swottiness over vocabulary books for fear of being laughed at. Now I know that a passion for language is not only cool, it’s endlessly fulfilling.
■ Change is good
People think I must despair at ‘youth speak’ but not at all. Change is vital if English is to thrive so I delight in new words. That includes slang which is the fastest-moving area of language. That said, I never use the latest slang myself for fear of sounding ridiculous or mortifying my children beyond measure, which I do enough of as it is.
■ Spreading the words
One of my big ambitions has been to create a word-game app that ignites people’s passion for wordplay and sends them (happily!) to the dictionary. That came true with Two Words, which has just launched, and with which I am slightly obsessed.
■ On the road
On my tour, I’m going to share some of the word origins I love best which I hope will surprise as well as delight. For instance, the flower known as the daisy began as ‘day’s eye’, because it closes its petals at night and opens them in the morning. At the end, I’ll hold a ‘word surgery’ in which I’ll try to answer as many audience questions as I can.
■ Susie Dent is on tour from September 17. For more details visit www.susiedentlive.com
■ Countdown is on Channel 4.
■ She was talking to Richard Barber