Susie Dent still gets a 'buzz' when she hears the Countdown theme tune

Susie Dent still gets a "buzz" when she hears the 'Countdown' theme tune.

The 59-year-old linguist has appeared in the Dictionary Corner of the Channel 4 game show for more than 30 years and admitted that whenever the music starts in the studio, she still gets a "rush of adrenaline" all these decades later.

Asked which piece of music changed her life, she told The Guardian: "The 'Countdown' theme tune, by composer Alan Hawkshaw, no question. Thirty-plus years since I first heard it for real, it still gives me a buzz and a rush of adrenaline."

Meanwhile, the TV star joked that her go-to karaoke song would probably be the classic disco track 'I Will Survive' by Gloria Gaynor even though she would need to have had a sufficient amount of alcohol first.

She said: "Given enough wine I reckon I could belt out I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor. I’d also love to have a go at Perfect Skin by Lloyd Cole and the Commotions, the first band I saw live. I secretly wanted to be the girl in the song: 'cheekbones like geometry and eyes like sin'."

Despite having appeared on the Channel 4 teatime game show since 1992, Susie recently admitted that she still gets nervous whenever the clock starts ticking in her letters round and revealed that former presenter Richard Whiteley - who died in 2005 at the age of 61 - liked the famous tune so much that he carried it around as his ringtone.

Speaking on ITV's 'Lorraine', she said: "I still get nervous. When the clock starts ticking, my heart starts racing sometimes! Richard Whiteley, I remember, had it has his ringtone!"

Susie - who has just released her debut novel 'Guilty By Definition' - also features on the late night edition of the programme, '8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown' but admitted she was also "pretty nervous" for that version of the show until she got on set.

She added: "The format really works, it's so brilliant. I was pretty nervous because I wondered what I was actually going to do, but actually we're just there to have the mickey taken out of us!"