SUSIE Dent will be taking a break from Dictionary Corner as she brings her new show to the Lichfield Garrick.
The Countdown star is hitting the road with her Word Perfect Tour.
Despite now being a familiar part of the Countdown family Susie turned down the offer to join the team of Oxford University Press lexicographers who took turns in Dictionary Corner three times, but a persistent boss wouldn’t let it lie.
“It wasn’t on my bucket list to be on TV – I’m happiest when I’m below the radar. But now I’m so grateful my audition was successful.
“As for my first appearance, I said as little as possible. There is a clip online of that first show, when I sat next to Rula Lenska and looked utterly frozen.
“I will be forever amazed – and grateful – that they kept me on. After about ten years, Richard and Carol wanted a full-time lexicographer within the team, so happily I ended up alongside them as a permanent fixture.”
But for someone who had no inclination to appear on TV, Susie has a very clear place in her heart for the Channel 4 tea-time words and numbers quiz and its Friday-night naughtier sibling 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown.
She said:
“The real beauty of Countdown is its format. Anybody who watches it can understand the rules of the game within minutes and then join in to play along – no matter what their age or ability.
“Even with the comedy version, people do still love to play the game.
“Many of our contestants watched the show with their parents and grandparents, and so it has that real connection with family, too.
“After 33 years I still feel the adrenaline as the clock starts to tick down. It really is one of the biggest joys of my life.
“My feet will stay under the table in Dictionary Corner for as long as viewers will have me.”
In her new tour Susie is looking forward to taking audiences on a “romp through some of the joys of the English language”, looking at specific words and their stories, as well as many of the quirks which make our mother tongue so brilliantly unpredictable as well as magical.
She said:
“The English language will never stop surprising and delighting me. It is as wayward as it is majestic, while the dictionary is as full of magic, drama and adventure as you will find anywhere.
“I can’t wait to walk down some more of its secret alleyways with the Word Perfect audiences – and to hear their own questions about our curious mother tongue. We’re going to have a lot of fun.
“I’ll be looking at some of the astonishing secret lives many of our words and phrases have held, and the imperfections of language and how people perceive them.
“I’ll also introduce some long-lost gems from the past and tackle some of the big questions about language. Which came first, orange the fruit or the colour? How should we really pronounce scone? And do our names really turn out to be good guides to our career?
“I’m always on a mission to revive lost words and I’m looking forward to sharing some of my favourites.
“In the Victorian era, for example, sausages were known as ‘bags of mystery’ because no one ever knew what was in them. Eggs were cacklefarts and an umbrella was a bumbershoot.”
Susie’s tour will coincide with the launch of her next two books, Words For Life and her children’s book Roots We Share: 100 Words That Bring Us Together.
She said:
“I certainly feel incredibly lucky that I can combine Countdown with writing and talking about language.
“But I don’t think it was inevitable that I would end up writing books. I tend to love words as individuals, the journey each one has made, like mini biographies.
“But my move into fiction [Susie’s debut novel Guilty By Definition was published in 2024] was inspired by my dad.
“He was so very proud of a short story I wrote as a child that appeared in the school magazine. Until he encouraged me to return to fiction, I was perfectly happy with the dictionary, which has adventures in spades.
“My editor then asked if I’d ever considered the parallels between word detection and crime detection. That conversation sparked something and I began to consider the idea of exploring the darker side of words and the people who chart them.”
Susie Dent will be at the Lichfield Garrick on 2nd November. For tickets, call 01543 412121 or visit the Lichfield Garrick website.