Lockdown boredom to champion Adams Countdown victory
LOCKDOWN proved to be a Countdown to success for former Bolton School pupil Adam Latchford.
While working from home during the pandemic, 27-year-old Adam had the TV on in the background and it rekindled his childhood obsession with the iconic quiz.
On impulse Adam, who works in the accounts department of a shipping company, decided to enter.
Hoping to reach the semi-finals of the popular Channel 4 quiz, he was amazed when he beat off tough competition to be crowned the series 83 champion, with his name engraved on the coveted Richard Whiteley trophy and a complete set of the Oxford English Dictionary as his prize.
"It was a huge surprise," said Adam.
Brought up in Horwich, Adam credits Countdown, a quiz which tests contestants' knowledge of words and mathematics, with giving his early learning a boost from when he first saw it, aged four.
"I just used to watch the show all the time," he said. "That is how I learnt to read. I used to really enjoy the clock I think."
The former St Catherine's Primary School pupil moved onto Bolton School and as teenage years approached, his passion for the show waned.
After studying politics at Newcastle University he moved to London for work, but says that if it had not been for the first lockdown he would not have considered entering.
"I definitely wouldn't. I was bored and I had free time," he said.
Three days after applying he had passed his audition and was lined up to compete in his first shows of the series, mainly hosted by Nick Hewer.
Adam admits he did not practice for his first rounds.
"But when I qualified for the finals I realised I would have to up my game and have to do some studying," he said.
The work paid off and in the final he beat the favourite, Luke Boynton, to take the title.
"It gave me an experience from the coronavirus pandemic that wasn't negative," he said
Adam, who is single, usually enjoys spending his spare time playing snooker, writing a performing stand-up comedy and playing poker.
But he might just have added a new hobby to his interests.
"I may well go onto other game shows in the future," he said.
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