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Susie Dent was born 21 September 1967 in Woking, Surrey. She is an English lexicographer, best known as the resident expert and adjudicator on Channel 4’s long-running game show Countdown.
Dent studied Modern Languages at the University of Oxford and later did an MA in German Studies at Princeton University, USA, after which she worked as a language teacher for several years in the United States and for a German publisher before going to work for the Oxford University Press (OUP), running a language publishing programme, and at the same time become part of the Countdown team. She now works as a writer and contributor to discussions of language issues and words in the news. Since 2003 she has been the author of a series of annual Language Reports for the OUP. The first was entitled simply The Language Report; it was followed by Larpers and Shroomers (2004), Fanboys and Overdogs (2005) and The like, Language Report for real in 2006. The Language Report 5 subtitled English on the Move, 2003-2007 will be published in October 2007.
Dent has appeared on Countdown for over 14 years, having made over 1,000 appearances. In his memoir, Himoff! (2000), Countdown's late presenter, Richard Whiteley testified to Susie's overwhelming popularity with viewers. She is currently consulting on a number of television projects, including a large-scale language venture for the BBC. She is fluent in French and German.
She contributes regularly to radio and television discussions of words in the news and on topical language issues and has made guest appearances on many programmes including This Morning, Richard and Judy, Woman’s Hour, Word of Mouth, Never Mind The Full Stops and Test The Nation.
In 2006 Susie contributed to the BBC’s Voices project and was a judge in the Novel category of the Costa Book Awards. She is currently working on a new book about dialects which will be published in 2008.
In her spare time Susie is a keen runner, likes cookery, dining out, wine, walking and doing crosswords. She lives in Oxford.
She has a daughter, Lucy, born in February 2000, and it is speculated that she is expecting her second child in the Autumn of 2007.
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