It’s a good afternoon as Anne clocks on with a wink
Robinson takes the hotseat
SHE may be the Queen of Mean but Anne Robinson seemed uncharacteristically nervous as she took to the Countdown chair yesterday. In fairness, she had already confessed to feeling anxious as she took over the helm of the Channel 4 game show. It won’t last long. The audience learned that she’d first appeared on the programme back in 1987, alongside host Richard Whiteley, when she was sporting a Bay City Rollers haircut. She worked out that numbers whizz Rachel Riley would have been aged just one when that was filmed 34 years ago. “You have been practising your maths, haven’t you?” Rachel quipped. This was followed by a slightly shaky chat in which Anne, 76, wondered whether the pregnant maths whizz would still be good at sums when she was Anne’s age. (It was agreed she probably would.) Once some letters and numbers had been chosen by the contestants and guest Rory Bremner had done a turn, things were off to a solid start. After years of pointed sarcasm, it was refreshing to see Anne gasp “astonishing” – with genuine admiration – as Rachel performed her speedy arithmetic, and then “brilliant” as Susie Dent showed off her linguistic knowledge with an explanation of ablaut reduplication (us neither).
In today’s show, Dictionary Corner’s Susie tries to further help new girl Anne by revealing she was far shakier when she started on the show back in 1992 – having repeatedly turned down the offer from her boss at the Oxford University Press.
“I was terrified and the evidence is still there on YouTube,” Susie laughs. “I just didn’t move.”
In a funny moment, Anne wonders why she’s got a new chair and is told by Rachel it’s because Nick Hewer stole the old one. “He nicked loads of stuff,” she says, deadpan.
So no acid tongue, no sharp suits, no standing up and even a few laughs.
Only one thing remains from Anne’s Weakest Link days – the farewell wink. And she only started that because some bloke at the BBC once told her not to.
All in all, a nice bit of afternoon girl power. The Spice Girls will be pleased.