Stop the Clock

I've clearly been in my own little world for too long and have neglected to read the news. RIP Mr. Countdown, a veritable British Institution.

Ah, Countdown. It was always there, whether as the only mental stimulation in a sea of daytime televisual stodge over enforced sickleave; bonding time with my grandma before she'd retire to the kitchen, leaving me to eat licorice to the substantially less cerebral Dungeons and Dragons, Thundercats or Ulysses; terrible puns and a petri dish of fondness for the braying wit of Giles Brandreth (pre-MP), and most recently, the source of cinematic smugness while watching "About A Boy" in a cinema full of clueless Jerusalemites.

Would conclude with a fitting conundrum- but was never that good at writing them alas. Ah well: bad puns I can do! And will do, that is a promise.