Richard Whiteley is dead.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1515521,00.html

I am very saddened by this news; he was an adornment to national life.

and will be missed a lot - he was a very popular figure locally, and fiercely loyal to his Yorkshire roots.

Uncomfortable story here: my 13-year old son was watching TV last night when an advert came on for that new puzzle craze, sudoko, featuring Carol Vorderman. Son is not crazy about Vorderman because whatever the latest bandwagon is, she's always aboard touting herself as some kind of expert ("Carol Vorderman on Computing", "Carol Vorderman and the Zone Diet", "Carol Vorderman's Exercise Video" and so on and on and on - we make jokes about potential new Vorderman enterprises: "Carol Vorderman's Guide to Auto Repair", "Carol Vorderman on Fly Fishing", and whatever else absurd comes to mind). Anyway, last night after seeing that ad, my boy said (in the melodramatic way kids of that age do) "God, I wish everybody involved with Countdown would just die".

He's going to feel pretty bad about it when he finds out.

My favourite ever moment in the history of Countdown.....Any man who can say "A pair of wankers" absolutely deadpan is a star.....

The man must have been doing something right to keep that show going from Day 1 of Channel 4's existence until today......

Rest in Peace, Richard, you truly were "One from the top"....