Richard Stilgoe

Shows

Biography

A comedy songwriter, Richard rose to fame by composing topical ditties for the nightly news programme Nationwide, and for Esther Rantzen's That's Life. He also hosted a kids' series entitled 'Stilgoe's On', in addition to doing 'Finders Keepers'. He went on to write successful musicals including Cats and Starlight Express. He was knighted in 2012 for his charity work.

Richard has made over 200 appearances on Channel 4's Countdown, where his anagrams of contestants' names are almost as sought-after as the champions' teapots. His anagrams were also much-used on Finders Keepers, especially when it came to the names of the mystery celebrity guests. He also once came up with an anagram of his own name: Giscard O'Hitler, which hopefully did not prove too controversial at the time.