Richard Whiteley, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Richard Whiteley

British television personality

Date of Birth: 28-Dec-1943

Place of Birth: Bradford, England, United Kingdom

Date of Death: 26-Jun-2005

Profession: television presenter, journalist

Nationality: United Kingdom

Zodiac Sign: Capricorn

John Richard Whiteley (28 December 1943 – 26 June 2005) was an English presenter, 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.