No conundrum too hard for Countdown king

8:10am Wednesday 3rd October 2007

Comments (2)   Have your say »

A man from Putney has stormed into the quarter-finals of TV quiz Countdown by winning eight shows in a row.

However, Jeffrey Hansford, 42, is not your average contestant because he suffers from Asperger syndrome, a type of autism that makes communication and interaction with others more difficult.

“My specialist subject would be London bus routes because I know them all."

Jeffrey Hansford

Despite his disability, Jeffrey is able to complete complex maths puzzles and word problems with ease, and these incredible skills have enabled him to remain unbeaten on the Channel 4 show.

He lives with seven others with learning difficulties in a care home on Woodthorpe Road, and watching Countdown is part of his daily routine.

Jeffrey was able to solve basic maths puzzles when he was just 26 months old, could write and tell the time at 32 months and started reading the dictionary when he was under five.

He said: "I'm not nervous about the quarter-finals, I'm very confident of a win. I think I'll get to the final.

"I won five in a row on my first day so I stayed the night and won three more the next day - I am an Octochamp.

"The prize is a leather-bound set of the complete Oxford dictionary. I've only read the concise version."

He can also tell anybody the day of the week they were born just by hearing their full birth date, as he proved during his interview.

On the show, producers reported that Jeffrey was deciphering conundrums before the Countdown music had even started - in tenths of second.

He solved a nine-letter conundrum in one second, telling presenters Des O'Connor and Carol Vorderman: "I have one in my bedroom - the answer is dartboard."

Jeffrey's incredible mental prowess was in evidence on meeting him as, in 20 seconds, he swiftly solved a conundrum that had baffled the Borough News reporters.

He said: "Actually, I don't think it's that difficult - it's maladroit - M-A-L-A-D-R-O-I-T.

"To train myself, I read, visit websites, play scrabble, do crosswords and watch Countdown.

"The longest word I've got at scrabble was slaughterhouses which got a lot of points."

If he wins Countdown he plans to try his hand at Mastermind and has already decided on his specialist subject "My specialist subject would be London bus routes because I know them all.

"My favourite bus route is the number 57 because it passes my two favourite bookshops in Streatham - WH Smiths and the British Heart Foundation bookshop."

And true to his word Jeffrey proceeded to correctly name the five random London bus routes that were described to him.

The quarter-finals of Countdown are in October but will not be shown on Channel 4 until December 13 and 14.