Octochamps & Viscounts
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The term 'octochamp' is reserved for those contestants winning eight preliminary games and retiring undefeated before returning for the quarter-finals. The word was first coined by Richard Whiteley during Series 41, which spawned far more eight-time winners than any series had previously seen. After a few years, Richard started to use the term 'octavian', but this met with some resistance from contestants and, following Richard's passing, has fallen out of use. The term 'viscount' (or VI-count) was coined by Richard for use during the shortened Series 46, during which contestants retired after winning just six games. There follows a definitive list of all the Octochamps and Viscounts from Series 1 to the present day, followed by a list of all the people who could have been Octochamps, had the end of a series or personal commitments not stood in their way - we will never know...
Debut Debut Prelim Series Contestant Series Date Played Wins Draws Points Seed ------------------------ ------ -------- ------ ---- ----- ------ ------ William Bradford 3 17/10/83 8 8 399 Seed 2 Mark Nyman 3 14/11/83 8 8 427 Seed 1 John Wallace 5 28/11/84 8 8 404 Seed 1 Darryl Francis 6 21/01/85 8 8 436 Seed 2 Clive Freedman 6 12/03/85 9 9 473 Seed 1 (Series 7) David Trace 9 09/04/86 8 8 423 Seed 1 Harvey Freeman 10 31/10/86 8 8 523 Seed 1 Jon Marsh 12 28/04/87 9 8 1 478 Seed 1 Nic Brown 14 22/10/87 8 8 456 Seed 1 John Hadfield 14 04/11/87 8 8 429 Seed 3 Stephen Deakin 14 01/12/87 8 8 433 Seed 2 Allan Saldanha 15 11/04/88 8 8 490 Seed 1 Dick Green 15 13/05/88 8 8 463 Seed 2 Steve Williams 16 08/07/88 8 8 412 Seed 1 Tim Morrissey 17 24/01/89 9 8 1 533 Seed 1 Lawrence Pearse 17 22/02/89 8 8 438 Seed 2 Jonathan Anstey 18 03/08/89 9 8 1 540 Seed 1 Richard Evans 18 14/09/89 8 8 433 Seed 2 Lindsay Denyer 19 08/01/90 8 8 386 Seed 1 Derek Coombs 20 16/07/90 8 8 462 Seed 1 Lew Schwarz 21 04/03/91 10 8 2 547 Seed 1 Chris Waddington 22 28/08/91 8 8 463 Seed 1 Phil Jordan 23 07/02/92 8 8 425 Seed 2 Gareth Williams 23 09/03/92 8 8 436 Seed 1 Norman Christian 24 12/08/92 8 8 454 Seed 1 James Sinclair 25 01/02/93 8 8 395 Seed 2 Don Reid 25 18/02/93 8 8 487 Seed 1 Richard Campbell 27 25/02/94 8 8 500 Seed 1 Sharon Bridge 27 21/03/94 8 8 455 Seed 2 (Series 28) Suzanne Miles 28 21/07/94 8 8 465 Seed 1 Anthony Jenkin 31 04/01/96 8 8 459 Seed 2 David Acton 31 27/02/96 8 8 486 Seed 1 Satbir Gupta 32 08/08/96 8 8 462 Seed 1 James Martin 34 10/03/97 8 8 462 Seed 1 Natascha Kearsey 35 14/04/97 8 8 413 Seed 2 Dag Griffiths 35 01/05/97 8 8 453 Seed 1 Maria Boyes 36 16/07/97 8 8 439 Seed 2 Bhavin Manek 36 08/09/97 8 8 448 Seed 1 Ray McPhie 37 21/11/97 8 8 416 Seed 2 Kate Ogilvie 39 11/09/98 8 8 417 Seed 2 Terry Knowles 39 10/11/98 8 8 502 Seed 1 Glynn Leaney 39 09/12/98 8 8 405 Seed 2 (Series 40) Peter Hutchings 40 11/05/99 8 8 422 Seed 1 Scott Mearns 41 28/06/99 8 8 510 Seed 1 Simon Cooper 41 14/09/99 8 8 482 Seed 3 Sanjay Mazumder 41 25/10/99 8 8 479 Seed 4 Lucy Roberts 41 05/11/99 8 8 504 Seed 2 Margaret Foster 41 17/11/99 8 8 448 Seed 6 Melvin Hetherington 41 30/11/99 8 8 478 Seed 5 Michael Calder 42 31/01/00 8 8 442 Seed 2 David Ballheimer 42 14/02/00 8 8 474 Seed 1 Terence O'Farrell 42 17/03/00 8 8 435 Seed 3 Graham Nash 43 20/07/00 8 8 465 Seed 2 David Williams 43 23/08/00 8 8 535 Seed 1 Kevin McMahon 44 07/03/01 8 8 498 Seed 1 Ian McMenzie 46 24/09/01 6 6 511 Seed 5 Phil Wass 46 25/10/01 6 6 570 Seed 2 Ben Wilson 46 06/11/01 6 6 570 Seed 1 Loz Sands 46 19/11/01 6 6 569 Seed 3 Paul Ryan 46 28/11/01 6 6 549 Seed 4 Tom Hargreaves 47 26/12/01 8 8 850 Seed 2 Chris Wills 47 14/01/02 8 8 875 Seed 1 Kevin Thurlow 47 28/01/02 8 8 769 Seed 6 Lee Hartley 47 18/02/02 8 8 811 Seed 3 Brenda Jolley 47 01/03/02 8 8 718 Seed 8 Rupert Stokoe 47 25/03/02 8 8 776 Seed 5 Wendy Roe 47 23/04/02 8 8 781 Seed 4 Mike Pullin 47 10/05/02 8 8 756 Seed 7 Julia Wilkinson 47 06/06/02 8 8 744 Seed 5 (Series 48) Grace Page 48 02/07/02 8 8 829 Seed 2 Danny Hamilton 48 24/07/02 8 8 761 Seed 4 Julian Fell 48 16/10/02 8 8 924 Seed 1 George Greenhough 48 01/11/02 8 8 817 Seed 3 Joe Zubaidi 48 21/11/02 8 8 665 Seed 6 John Davies 49 02/05/03 8 8 766 Seed 1 Martin Gardner 49 14/05/03 8 8 746 Seed 2 Chris Cummins 50 21/07/03 8 8 858 Seed 1 Jim Bentley 50 28/08/03 8 8 756 Seed 4 Stuart Solomons 50 28/10/03 8 8 796 Seed 3 Stuart Earl 50 14/11/03 8 8 807 Seed 2 Richard Pay 51 06/02/04 8 8 732 Seed 5 Stewart Holden 51 23/02/04 8 8 870 Seed 1 Gary Male 51 23/03/04 8 8 750 Seed 3 Nik Von Uexkull 51 21/04/04 8 8 749 Seed 4 Sweyn Kirkness 51 05/05/04 8 8 765 Seed 2 David Thirlwall 51 08/06/04 8 8 704 Seed 7 Jack Welsby 52 21/07/04 8 8 831 Seed 2 Paul Gallen 52 31/08/04 8 8 846 Seed 1 John Gray 52 27/09/04 8 8 757 Seed 6 John Hunt 52 14/10/04 8 8 778 Seed 4 Steven Moir 52 03/11/04 8 8 763 Seed 5 Mark Tournoff 52 15/11/04 8 8 809 Seed 3 Judith Young 53 21/01/05 8 8 707 Seed 6 John Mayhew 53 17/02/05 8 8 811 Seed 2 Jon O'Neill 53 01/04/05 8 8 804 Seed 3 Ross Allatt 53 14/04/05 8 8 741 Seed 5 John Brackstone 53 12/05/05 8 8 822 Seed 1 Richard Heald 53 02/06/05 8 8 795 Seed 4 Conor Travers 54 23/11/05 8 8 890 Seed 1 Keith Maynard 54 16/01/06 8 8 785 Seed 5 Michael Bowden 54 25/01/06 8 8 739 Seed 6 Paul Howe 54 04/02/06 8 8 815 Seed 4 Matthew Shore 54 17/02/06 8 8 850 Seed 3 Jon Corby 54 28/04/06 8 8 856 Seed 2 Tony Warren 54 10/05/06 8 8 712 Seed 4 (Series 55) Richard Brittain 55 11/09/06 8 8 820 Seed 2 Stu Horsey 55 05/10/06 8 8 732 Seed 3 Steven Briers 55 03/11/06 8 8 843 Seed 1 Chris McHenry 55 22/11/06 8 8 643 Seed 5 Amey Deshpande 56 16/01/07 8 8 718 Seed 4 Jean Webby 56 26/02/07 8 8 738 Seed 2 Aaron Webber 56 23/04/07 8 8 773 Seed 1 Nick Wainwright 56 07/05/07 8 8 726 Seed 3 James Hurrell 56 07/06/07 8 8 838 Seed 2 David Edwards 57 13/07/07 8 8 737 Seed 4 Jeffrey Hansford 57 27/08/07 8 8 818 Seed 3 David Von Geyer 57 17/09/07 8 8 724 Seed 6 Craig Beevers 57 23/10/07 8 8 907 Seed 1 James Roberts 57 21/11/07 8 8 736 Seed 5 Michael Macdonald-Cooper 58 08/01/08 8 8 780 Seed 2 David O'Donnell 58 24/01/08 8 8 880 Seed 1 Tim Reypert 58 08/02/08 8 8 773 Seed 3 Jonathan Coles 58 27/05/08 8 8 746 Seed 4 Junaid Mubeen 59 22/09/08 8 8 790 Seed 3 Kai Laddiman 59 02/10/08 8 8 756 Seed 4 Charlie Reams 59 15/10/08 8 8 820 Seed 1 Martin Bishop 59 04/11/08 8 8 809 Seed 2 Neil Zussman 60 16/02/98 8 8 758 Seed 5 Kirk Bevins 60 02/03/09 8 8 925 Seed 1 Cate Henderson 60 23/03/09 8 8 782 Seed 2 Shane Roberts 60 09/04/09 8 8 766 Seed 4 Jimmy Gough 60 11/05/09 8 8 782 Seed 3 James Doohan 60 22/05/09 8 8 692 Seed 6 Innis Carson 61 25/06/09 8 8 861 Seed 3 Andrew Hulme 61 09/07/09 8 8 930 Seed 1 Chris Davies 61 28/08/09 8 8 892 Seed 2 Jeffrey Burgin 61 16/09/09 8 8 695 Seed 6 Steve Wood 61 06/10/09 8 8 675 Seed 7 Brian Selway 61 19/10/09 8 8 746 Seed 5 Ryan Taylor 61 05/11/09 8 8 792 Seed 4 Oliver Garner 62 12/01/10 8 8 802 Seed 1 Danny Pledger 62 14/05/10 8 8 635 Seed 2 Scott Gillies 62 03/06/10 8 8 810 Seed 5 (Series 63) Tom Rowell 63 22/07/10 8 8 774 Seed 6 Daniel Pati 63 03/09/10 8 8 840 Seed 3 Eoin Monaghan 63 15/09/10 8 8 898 Seed 2 Jack Hurst 63 13/10/10 8 8 946 Seed 1 Marcus Hares 63 01/11/10 8 8 834 Seed 4 Adam Gillard 64 12/01/11 8 8 903 Seed 1 Edward McCullagh 64 02/02/11 8 8 896 Seed 2 Ned Pendleton 64 17/02/11 8 8 664 Seed 5 Andy McGurn 64 08/03/11 8 8 702 Seed 4 Tom Barnes 64 10/05/11 8 8 822 Seed 3 Graeme Cole 65 07/06/11 8 8 813 Seed 2 Mark Deeks 65 12/07/11 8 8 824 Seed 1 Dave Taylor 65 23/08/11 8 8 691 Seed 6 Carl Williams 65 06/09/11 8 8 708 Seed 4 Jayne Wisniewski 65 23/09/11 8 8 705 Seed 5 Paul Keane 65 10/11/11 8 8 744 Seed 3 Darryl Francis, Amey Deshpande, Junaid Mubeen, Kirk Bevins, Andrew Hulme and Marcus Hares had all appeared previously as contestants on the show, but were allowed to return at the discretion of the Production Team.
Debut Debut Prelim Series Contestant Series Date Played Wins Draws Points Seed ------------------------ ------ -------- ------ ---- ----- ------ ------ Philip Nelkon 2 07/06/83 3 2 1 150 Seed 2 Esther Byers 3 29/11/83 4 4 216 Seed 5 Elizabeth Thomson 5 10/12/84 3 3 131 Seed 5 Helen Grayson 6 20/02/85 7 7 437 Seed 1 * Julian Hough 7 04/12/85 6 6 329 Seed 2 Anthony Butcher 8 14/03/86 3 3 175 Seed 3 Michael Stephenson 10 03/12/86 6 6 324 Seed 2 John Clarke 11 26/03/87 5 5 303 Seed 1 Cathy Morgan 12 02/06/87 7 7 398 Seed 2 Mark Preston 13 17/08/87 3 3 201 Seed 6 Eleanor Crosby 14 12/12/87 5 5 245 Seed 5 Kathleen Vickers 15 03/06/88 4 4 187 Seed 4 Andrew Loheide 16 19/08/88 4 4 207 Seed 4 Vicki McCarthy 17 06/03/89 3 3 152 Seed 6 Derek Stuart-Clark 18 25/07/89 6 6 325 Seed 4 * Alan Payne 24 08/09/92 6 6 314 Seed 2 Pat Hynes 25 19/03/93 4 4 228 Seed 5 Wayne Kelly 28 10/08/94 6 6 351 Seed 5 * Dennis Fearon 32 13/09/96 4 4 225 Seed 5 Jim Ainsworth 42 05/06/00 5 5 261 Seed 8 Geraldine Hylands 45 10/09/01 7 7 355 Seed 2 Frank Mulvey 53 07/02/05 5 5 468 * * retired early for personal reasons (Helen Grayson also won 3 games and drew one in Series 1, starting on 15/11/82, before retiring early)