Desmond Bernard "Des" O'Connor, CBE (born 12 January 1932) is an English comedian, broadcaster and singer. A former chat show host, he was the presenter of the long-running Channel 4 gameshow Countdown for two years. He has also recorded 36 albums and has had four top-ten singles, including a number-one hit with "I Pretend", with global sales of more than ten million records.