Richard Whiteley

MediaGuardian.co.uk Media Whiteley, the cosy quizmaster, dies at 61

Such a shame, Richard Whitely was a very good quizmaster and TV presenter. I don't really remember him on Calender as I preferred Look North on BBC1.

The report, though, has a tone of intellectual snobbery as if being a quiz master was in someway below the dignity of a Cambridge man? Why for heavens sake?

Don't broad middle market entertainments deserve having the best brains available working on them as much as high brow, niche programming? Richard Whiteley greatly entertained many people without talking down to them or taking the route of the lowest common dominator. His jokes were awful but he created an easy bond between the contestants, the guests, Carol Vorderman of course and the audience at home. I often watched Countdown if I was about when it was on. I enjoyed it as much as the next person and I'm useless as word games.