The Countdown reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Countdown

For the game show, see: Countdown (game show).

A countdown is the backward counting to indicate the seconds remaining before an event, such as a launch, the start of a race, and New Years. The last ten seconds are usually counted down aloud "10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-Liftoff."

The first known use with respect to launching a rocket occurred in Fritz Lang's 1929 film Frau Im Mond. In the film, after each number the words "seconds to go" was repeated.

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Countdown was also the name of a long-running popular Australian music television show broadcast by the ABC, in the 1970s and 1980s hosted by Ian "Molly" Meldrum.

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