QI (G series)
Encyclopedia
This is a list of episodes of QI
, the BBC comedy panel game
television programme hosted by Stephen Fry
. Series G was the first in the show's history to be aired in its entirety on BBC One, beginning its run on 26 November 2009.
Nine new guests appeared in this series; Jack Dee
, John Hodgman
, Barry Humphries
, Lee Mack
, Graham Norton
, Sue Perkins
, Jan Ravens
, David Tennant
and Sandi Toksvig
. Another significant first is that episode 2 featured four guests instead of the usual three (with regular Alan Davies
also present).
Accompanying the recordings was a little game Stephen Fry had set up for his Twitter
followers. The object was to decipher a word the audience had shouted. The response for "glabrous" was so overwhelming that it made Twitter's Trending Topics list on 9 May 2009.
In Australia, this series being currently broadcast on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
flagship network, ABC1, on Tuesday nights, and then placed on iView, the ABC's online viewing site after the airing, expiring after 2 weeks.
Recording date:
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As part of the "Gardens" theme, the set was decorated with trees and the inner part of the QI magnifying glass became a garden with flower
s in it.
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Stephen then explains that there wasn't much point in doing this because the British Psychological Society
says that graphology as a way of interpreting character
has zero validity. It's also not allowed in American court
s either. Although, forensic graphology is allowable. Amazingly, 3,000 British business
es use graphologists for recruitment
.
General Ignorance:
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QI
QI is a British comedy panel game television quiz show created and co-produced by John Lloyd, hosted by Stephen Fry, and featuring permanent panellist Alan Davies. Most of the questions are extremely obscure, making it unlikely that the correct answer will be given...
, the BBC comedy panel game
Panel game
A panel game or panel show is a radio or television game show in which a panel of celebrities participates. Panelists may compete with each other, such as on The News Quiz; facilitate play by guest contestants, such as on Match Game/Blankety Blank; or do both, such as on Wait Wait.....
television programme hosted by Stephen Fry
Stephen Fry
Stephen John Fry is an English actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television presenter and film director, and a director of Norwich City Football Club. He first came to attention in the 1981 Cambridge Footlights Revue presentation "The Cellar Tapes", which also...
. Series G was the first in the show's history to be aired in its entirety on BBC One, beginning its run on 26 November 2009.
Episodes
Series G featured a total of 16 editions, plus an extra two compilation episodes, making it the longest series yet, and was the first to be broadcast in its entirety on BBC One. As with the previous series, extended "XL" editions were also shown on BBC Two soon after the normal broadcast. Because of scheduling issues, this only began with the fourth episode. The first episode eventually had its "XL" edition aired some time after the original, but episodes 2, 3, 15 and 16 did not have their XL editions aired until the series was first shown on the digital channel Dave.Nine new guests appeared in this series; Jack Dee
Jack Dee
James Andrew Innes "Jack" Dee is an English stand-up comedian, actor and writer known for his sardonic, curmudgeonly, and deadpan style.-Early life:...
, John Hodgman
John Hodgman
John Kellogg Hodgman is an American author, actor, and humorist. In addition to his published written works, such as The Areas of My Expertise, More Information Than You Require, and That Is All, he is known for his personification of a PC in contrast to Justin Long's personification of a Mac in...
, Barry Humphries
Barry Humphries
John Barry Humphries, AO, CBE is an Australian comedian, satirist, dadaist, artist, author and character actor, best known for his on-stage and television alter egos Dame Edna Everage, a Melbourne housewife and "gigastar", and Sir Les Patterson, Australia's foul-mouthed cultural attaché to the...
, Lee Mack
Lee Mack
Lee Gordon McKillop is an English stand-up comedian and actor, known by the stage name Lee Mack. He is well known in the United Kingdom for writing and starring in the sitcom Not Going Out, for being a team captain on Would I Lie to You? and for hosting Lee Mack's All Star Cast.-Personal life:Mack...
, Graham Norton
Graham Norton
Graham William Walker, known by his stage name Graham Norton , is an Irish actor, comedian, television presenter and columnist...
, Sue Perkins
Sue Perkins
Sue Perkins is an English comedienne, broadcaster, actress, and writer.-Education:Perkins was educated at Croham Hurst School, an independent school for girls in Croydon in South London, at the same time as the BBC Breakfast News presenter Susanna Reid...
, Jan Ravens
Jan Ravens
Janet "Jan" Ravens is an English actress and impressionist, famous for her voices on Spitting Image and Dead Ringers.-Early life:...
, David Tennant
David Tennant
David Tennant is a Scottish actor. In addition to his work in theatre, including a widely praised Hamlet, Tennant is best known for his role as the tenth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, along with the title role in the 2005 TV serial Casanova and as Barty Crouch, Jr...
and Sandi Toksvig
Sandi Toksvig
Sandra Brigitte “Sandi” Toksvig is a Danish comedian, author and presenter on British radio and television.-Career:...
. Another significant first is that episode 2 featured four guests instead of the usual three (with regular Alan Davies
Alan Davies
Alan Davies is an English comedian, writer and actor best known for starring in the TV mystery series Jonathan Creek and as the permanent panellist on the TV panel show QI.- Early life :...
also present).
Accompanying the recordings was a little game Stephen Fry had set up for his Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
followers. The object was to decipher a word the audience had shouted. The response for "glabrous" was so overwhelming that it made Twitter's Trending Topics list on 9 May 2009.
In Australia, this series being currently broadcast on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
flagship network, ABC1, on Tuesday nights, and then placed on iView, the ABC's online viewing site after the airing, expiring after 2 weeks.
Episode 1 "Gardens"
Broadcast date:- 26 November 2009
- 20 March 2010 (XL edition)
Recording date:
- 11 June 2009
Panellists:
- Alan DaviesAlan DaviesAlan Davies is an English comedian, writer and actor best known for starring in the TV mystery series Jonathan Creek and as the permanent panellist on the TV panel show QI.- Early life :...
(−8 points) - Rob BrydonRob BrydonRob Brydon is a BAFTA-nominated Welsh actor, comedian, radio and television presenter, singer and impressionist...
(−6 points) - David MitchellDavid Mitchell (actor)David James Stuart Mitchell is a British actor, comedian and writer. He is half of the comedy duo Mitchell and Webb, alongside Robert Webb, whom he met at Cambridge University. There they were both part of the Cambridge Footlights, of which Mitchell became President. Together the duo star in the...
(Joint winner with 3 points) - Dara Ó BriainDara Ó BriainDara Ó Briain is an Irish stand-up comedian and television presenter, noted for hosting topical panel shows such as The Panel and Mock the Week....
(Joint winner with 3 points)
Buzzers:
- Rob – A bell tinkling
- Dara – A cash registerCash registerA cash register or till is a mechanical or electronic device for calculating and recording sales transactions, and an attached cash drawer for storing cash...
kerching - David – A shop bell ringing
- Alan – A CockneyCockneyThe term Cockney has both geographical and linguistic associations. Geographically and culturally, it often refers to working class Londoners, particularly those in the East End...
market trader shouting out "Pound a punnet! Go on, I've gotta couple of juicy ones here!"
Theme:
As part of the "Gardens" theme, the set was decorated with trees and the inner part of the QI magnifying glass became a garden with flower
Flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...
s in it.
Topics:
- Animals are used for do nothing gardening. Examples include using duckDuckDuck is the common name for a large number of species in the Anatidae family of birds, which also includes swans and geese. The ducks are divided among several subfamilies in the Anatidae family; they do not represent a monophyletic group but a form taxon, since swans and geese are not considered...
s for paddy fields, and using carpCarpCarp are various species of oily freshwater fish of the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish native to Europe and Asia. The cypriniformes are traditionally grouped with the Characiformes, Siluriformes and Gymnotiformes to create the superorder Ostariophysi, since these groups have certain...
to purify water. - The panellists are given four tools that were used by gentleman gardeners in the 18th & 19th century.
- Alan was given a walking stick which contained a hidden saw blade, which would be used to cut stray tree branches.
- Tangent: Alan begins to use his his saw to cut through things including the set.
-
- David was given a hoeHoe (tool)A hoe is an ancient and versatile agricultural tool used to move small amounts of soil. Common goals include weed control by agitating the surface of the soil around plants, piling soil around the base of plants , creating narrow furrows and shallow trenches for planting seeds and bulbs, to chop...
, which with a leather cap on top could be used as a cane, then with the cap removed could be used for weeding. - Rob was given a glass bottleGlass bottleA glass bottle is a bottle created from glass. Glass bottles can vary in size considerably, but are most commonly found in sizes ranging between about 10ml and 5 liters....
that was used to grow straight, uniformly shaped cucumberCucumberThe cucumber is a widely cultivated plant in the gourd family Cucurbitaceae, which includes squash, and in the same genus as the muskmelon. The plant is a creeping vine which bears cylindrical edible fruit when ripe. There are three main varieties of cucumber: "slicing", "pickling", and...
s. It was invented by George StephensonGeorge StephensonGeorge Stephenson was an English civil engineer and mechanical engineer who built the first public railway line in the world to use steam locomotives...
, the inventor of the locomotiveStephenson's RocketStephenson's Rocket was an early steam locomotive of 0-2-2 wheel arrangement, built in Newcastle Upon Tyne at the Forth Street Works of Robert Stephenson and Company in 1829.- Design innovations :...
. - Dara was given a shaker, out of which seedSeedA seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant...
s would be dispersed through the different sized holes.
- David was given a hoe
- The best place to discover a new life form is in your garden (forfeit: the rainforestRainforestRainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...
). In 1971, biologistBiologistA biologist is a scientist devoted to and producing results in biology through the study of life. Typically biologists study organisms and their relationship to their environment. Biologists involved in basic research attempt to discover underlying mechanisms that govern how organisms work...
Jennifer Owen conducted a study in her house in LeicesterLeicesterLeicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...
and discovered 533 species of ichneumon waspIchneumonidaeIchneumonidae is a family within the insect order Hymenoptera. Insects in this family are commonly called ichneumon wasps. Less exact terms are ichneumon flies , or scorpion wasps due to the extreme lengthening and curving of the abdomen...
in her back garden, of which 15 were new to Britain and 4 were new to scienceScienceScience is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
.
-
- Tangent: A bee makes enough honey in its lifetime to fill one teaspoon. Alan claims that bees can't drown.
- The vegetarian spiritualist Charles IshamCharles IshamSir Charles Edmund Isham, 10th Baronet was a landowner and gardener based at Lamport Hall, Northampton. He is credited with beginning the tradition of garden gnomes in the United Kingdom when he introduced a number of terracotta figures from Germany in the 1840s.Bruce A...
believed that real gnomes would be attracted to Garden gnomeGarden gnomeA garden gnome or lawn gnome is a figurine of a small humanoid creature, usually wearing a pointy hat, produced for the purpose of ornamentation and protection from evil sorcery, typically of gardens or on lawns....
s. (Forfeit: Phwoarr! (said when a bikiniBikiniThe bikini is typically a women's two-piece swimsuit. One part of the attire covers the breasts and the other part covers the crotch and part of or the entire buttocks, leaving an uncovered area between the two. Merriam–Webster describes the bikini as "a woman's scanty two-piece bathing suit" or "a...
-clad gnome was displayed))
- The vegetarian spiritualist Charles Isham
- Tangent: Isham first brought them into Britain in 1847. One of his original 21 still exists today and has been insured for £1 million.
- Tangent: The red cap worn by all garden gnomes derived from German minerMinerA miner is a person whose work or business is to extract ore or minerals from the earth. Mining is one of the most dangerous trades in the world. In some countries miners lack social guarantees and in case of injury may be left to cope without assistance....
s, as they wore red caps. - Tangent: In Wast WaterWast WaterWast Water or Wastwater is a lake located in Wasdale, a valley in the western part of the Lake District National Park, England. The lake is approximately 4.6 kilometres long and 600 metres wide. It is the deepest lake in England at 79 metres , and is owned by the National Trust...
in the Lake District, gnomes put in at a depth of 48 metreMetreThe metre , symbol m, is the base unit of length in the International System of Units . Originally intended to be one ten-millionth of the distance from the Earth's equator to the North Pole , its definition has been periodically refined to reflect growing knowledge of metrology...
s for divers to look at; but 3 divers drowned while looking at them and the gnomes were taken away by the police. But when the gnomes were moved down to 50 metres, the police didn't take them away because of health and safetyOccupational safety and healthOccupational safety and health is a cross-disciplinary area concerned with protecting the safety, health and welfare of people engaged in work or employment. The goal of all occupational safety and health programs is to foster a safe work environment...
rules. - Tangent: In Leicester, there is an old quarryQuarryA quarry is a type of open-pit mine from which rock or minerals are extracted. Quarries are generally used for extracting building materials, such as dimension stone, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, and gravel. They are often collocated with concrete and asphalt plants due to the requirement...
where an aeroplane and a busBusA bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...
have been put in for people to look at. In Scapa FlowScapa Flowright|thumb|Scapa Flow viewed from its eastern endScapa Flow is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray, South Ronaldsay and Hoy. It is about...
, there is a massive German fleetScuttling of the German fleet in Scapa FlowThe scuttling of the German fleet took place at the Royal Navy's base at Scapa Flow, in Scotland, after the end of the First World War. The High Seas Fleet had been interned there under the terms of the Armistice whilst negotiations took place over the fate of the ships...
, dating from World War I.- An American drug manufacturer called Eugene SchieffelinEugene SchieffelinEugene Schieffelin belonged to the and the New York Zoological Society. He was responsible for introducing the starling to North America.-Starling release:...
suggested that every species of bird named in Shakespeare'sWilliam ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
works should be represented in America. The only bird species that wasn't already there was the starlingEuropean StarlingThe Common Starling , also known as the European Starling or just Starling, is a passerine bird in the family Sturnidae.This species of starling is native to most of temperate Europe and western Asia...
, so he released 100 into Central ParkCentral ParkCentral Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...
, and in consequence there are now 200 million in North America and have since become a major pest in the country.
- An American drug manufacturer called Eugene Schieffelin
- Tangent: Starlings come to BrightonBrightonBrighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
in flocks of up to 1 million birds, some even coming from as far away as Germany and Poland.- The Grocers' apostrophe is a term used to describe somewhere where apostrophes shouldn't be, such as "potato's".
- Tangent: The Grocers' apostrophe has been ridiculed since the 18th century, when the Oxford Companion to the English Language said "there was never a golden age in which the rules for the use of the possessive apostrophe were clear-cut and known, understood and followed by most educated people". BirminghamBirminghamBirmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
has now abolished the apostrophe. - Tangent: In Dublin, Dara once saw a sign that was written as Grocer,s. This leads to a debate about whether or not sign printing companies deliberatly let spelling errors go unoticed.
- Tangent: There are only 5 places in America which have an apostrophe in their name: Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts; Ike's Point, New JerseyNew JerseyNew Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
; John E's Pond, Rhode IslandRhode IslandThe state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
; Carlos Elmer's Joshua View, ArizonaArizonaArizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
; and Clark's Mountain, OregonOregonOregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
. (Though not mentioned there is also Carl's Corner, TexasCarl's Corner, TexasCarl's Corner is a town in Hill County in Northern Central Texas. The population was 134 at the 2000 census. The town was founded by, and named after, Carl Cornelius, a local truck stop owner and long-time friend of Willie Nelson...
)- The difference between an AppleAppleThe apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family . It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by humans. Apple grow on small, deciduous trees that blossom in the spring...
and a PearPearThe pear is any of several tree species of genus Pyrus and also the name of the pomaceous fruit of these trees. Several species of pear are valued by humans for their edible fruit, but the fruit of other species is small, hard, and astringent....
is that apples float whereas pears sink because they are denser.
- The difference between an Apple
- Tangent: The oldest variety of apple is called a PearmainPearmainPearmain is a generic name given to pear-shaped apple cultivar like :* Adams Pearmain* Baxters Pearmain* Blue Pearmain* Christmas Pearmain* Claygate Pearmain* Foulden Pearmain* Grange's Pearmain* Hormead Pearmain* Hubbard's Pearmain...
.
General Ignorance:
- The carbonCarbonCarbon is the chemical element with symbol C and atomic number 6. As a member of group 14 on the periodic table, it is nonmetallic and tetravalent—making four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds...
which makes up the wood in a tree comes from the air (forfeit: earth). - Australian spiderSpiderSpiders are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, and chelicerae with fangs that inject venom. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all other groups of organisms...
s remain dangerous although no one there has died from a spider's bite since 1981, when antivenoms were introduced.
- Tangent: A number of fatalities have resulted from accidents caused by redback spiders and Australian funnel-web spiders dropping out of such things as sun visorSun visorA sun visor is a component of an automobile located on the interior just above the windshield .Most cars have two sun visors, one for the driver's side and a second for the passenger's side, with the rear-view mirror often mounted in between the two sun visors. Each visor can be lowered to help...
s during car journeys.
XL Extras:
- Tangent: Rob compares the use of animals in natural farmingNatural farmingNatural farming is an ecological farming approach established by Masanobu Fukuoka , a Japanese farmer and philosopher who described his agricultural philosophy as in Japanese. It is also referred to as "the Fukuoka Method", "the natural way of farming" or "do-nothing farming"...
to owning a goatGoatThe domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep as both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae. There are over three hundred distinct breeds of...
to eat your grass and thus not use a lawn mowerLawn mowerA lawn mower is a machine that uses a revolving blade or blades to cut a lawn at an even length.Lawn mowers employing a blade that rotates about a vertical axis are known as rotary mowers, while those employing a blade assembly that rotates about a horizontal axis are known as cylinder or reel...
. However, goats are now being replaced by wallabiesWallabyA wallaby is any of about thirty species of macropod . It is an informal designation generally used for any macropod that is smaller than a kangaroo or wallaroo that has not been given some other name.-Overview:...
. - Tangent: Masanobu FukuokaMasanobu Fukuokawas a Japanese farmer and philosopher celebrated for his natural farming and re-vegetation of desertified lands. He was a proponent of no-till, no-herbicide grain cultivation farming methods traditional to many indigenous cultures, from which he created a particular method of farming, commonly...
invented natural farming. He also invented seed ballSeed ballSeed balls, also known as "earth balls" or nendo dango and tsuchi dango , consist of a variety of different seeds rolled within a ball of clay, preferably volcanic plastic red clay. Into this medium various additives may be included, such as humus or compost. These are placed around the seeds, at...
s. It is more economical because less seeds are used than normal sowing. - Tangent: Seed guns are little gunGunA gun is a muzzle or breech-loaded projectile-firing weapon. There are various definitions depending on the nation and branch of service. A "gun" may be distinguished from other firearms in being a crew-served weapon such as a howitzer or mortar, as opposed to a small arm like a rifle or pistol,...
s which fire seeds into the ground. The idea is that they encourage people to use guns in a peaceful manner. - Tangent: Guerrilla gardeningGuerrilla gardeningGuerrilla gardening is gardening on another person's land without permission. It encompasses a very diverse range of people and motivations, from the enthusiastic gardener who spills over their legal boundaries to the highly political gardener who seeks to provoke change through direct action. It...
.- Stephen asks the panel to draw what they think the first novelty teapotTeapotA teapot is a vessel used for steeping tea leaves or a herbal mix in near-boiling water. Tea may be either in a tea bag or loose, in which case a tea strainer will be needed, either to hold the leaves as they steep or to catch the leaves inside the teapot when the tea is poured...
looked like. They looked like fruitFruitIn broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
s and vegetableVegetableThe noun vegetable usually means an edible plant or part of a plant other than a sweet fruit or seed. This typically means the leaf, stem, or root of a plant....
s, like cauliflowerCauliflowerCauliflower is one of several vegetables in the species Brassica oleracea, in the family Brassicaceae. It is an annual plant that reproduces by seed...
s and pineapplePineapplePineapple is the common name for a tropical plant and its edible fruit, which is actually a multiple fruit consisting of coalesced berries. It was given the name pineapple due to its resemblance to a pine cone. The pineapple is by far the most economically important plant in the Bromeliaceae...
s. The first date from the reign of Queen Anne in the early 1700s18th centuryThe 18th century lasted from 1701 to 1800 in the Gregorian calendar.During the 18th century, the Enlightenment culminated in the French and American revolutions. Philosophy and science increased in prominence. Philosophers were dreaming about a better age without the Christian fundamentalism of...
.
- Stephen asks the panel to draw what they think the first novelty teapot
- Tangent: Stephen tells a joke, in which he sings the song I'm a Little TeapotI'm a Little Teapot"The Teapot Song" is a song describing the heating and pouring of a teapot or tea kettle. The song was originally written by George Harold Sanders and Clarence Z...
. He has his arms both in a handle position and says I'm a little teapot, short and stout. He looks at one arm and says here is my handle, then looks at the other one and says oh i'm a sugar bowl. - Tangent: You should not clean a teapot unless you have to. You should however, rinse it out if it becomes dirty.
- If you go into a shop to get one or two items and you come out with a load of stuff, then you have been subject to a Gruen transferGruen transferIn shopping mall design, the Gruen transfer is the moment when a consumer enters a shopping mall and, surrounded by an intentionally confusing layout, loses track of their original intentions...
, named after Victor GruenVictor GruenVictor David Gruen, born Viktor David Grünbaum , was an Austrian-born commercial architect best known as a pioneer in the design of shopping malls in the United States.- Biography :...
. Supermarkets are carefully laid out to increase the chance of sales.
- If you go into a shop to get one or two items and you come out with a load of stuff, then you have been subject to a Gruen transfer
- Tangent: Different musicMusicMusic is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
is played at different times of the day in supermarkets because you are more price sensitive at different times.
Episode 2 "Ganimals"
Broadcast date:- 3 December 2009
Recording date:
- 8 May 2009
Panellists:
- Alan DaviesAlan DaviesAlan Davies is an English comedian, writer and actor best known for starring in the TV mystery series Jonathan Creek and as the permanent panellist on the TV panel show QI.- Early life :...
(−4 points) - Bill BaileyBill BaileyBill Bailey is an English comedian, musician and actor. As well as his extensive stand-up work, Bailey is well known for his appearances on Black Books, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Have I Got News for You, and QI.Bailey was listed by The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy in...
(−7 points) - John HodgmanJohn HodgmanJohn Kellogg Hodgman is an American author, actor, and humorist. In addition to his published written works, such as The Areas of My Expertise, More Information Than You Require, and That Is All, he is known for his personification of a PC in contrast to Justin Long's personification of a Mac in...
(Winner with unknown score) - Sean LockSean LockSean Lock is an English comedian and actor. He began his comedy career as a stand-up comedian. He won the British Comedy Award in 2000 in the category of Best Live Comic, and was nominated for the Perrier Comedy Award. He is also well known for his appearances on television and radio...
(−7 points) - Sandi ToksvigSandi ToksvigSandra Brigitte “Sandi” Toksvig is a Danish comedian, author and presenter on British radio and television.-Career:...
(−3 points)
Buzzers:
- Bill – An apeApeApes are Old World anthropoid mammals, more specifically a clade of tailless catarrhine primates, belonging to the biological superfamily Hominoidea. The apes are native to Africa and South-east Asia, although in relatively recent times humans have spread all over the world...
screeching - Sean – A chimpanzeeChimpanzeeChimpanzee, sometimes colloquially chimp, is the common name for the two extant species of ape in the genus Pan. The Congo River forms the boundary between the native habitat of the two species:...
screaming - Sandi – A parrotParrotParrots, also known as psittacines , are birds of the roughly 372 species in 86 genera that make up the order Psittaciformes, found in most tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three families: the Psittacidae , the Cacatuidae and the Strigopidae...
screeching - Alan – A dog yapping
- John (who has no buzzer) – Blowing a duck whistleDuck callA Duck call may refer to either the process by which a hunter lures waterfowl, or the actual tool that he uses to do so.-Process:Duck calling is the process in which a hunter uses a tool also known as a "duck call" to emulate the sound of a duck as a means to draw them closer.-Tool:As a tool, a...
Topics:
- In the book GargantuaGargantua and PantagruelThe Life of Gargantua and of Pantagruel is a connected series of five novels written in the 16th century by François Rabelais. It is the story of two giants, a father and his son and their adventures, written in an amusing, extravagant, satirical vein...
by RabelaisFrançois RabelaisFrançois Rabelais was a major French Renaissance writer, doctor, Renaissance humanist, monk and Greek scholar. He has historically been regarded as a writer of fantasy, satire, the grotesque, bawdy jokes and songs...
, it is suggested that a gooseGooseThe word goose is the English name for a group of waterfowl, belonging to the family Anatidae. This family also includes swans, most of which are larger than true geese, and ducks, which are smaller....
would be a good alternative to toilet paperToilet paperToilet paper is a soft paper product used to maintain personal hygiene after human defecation or urination. However, it can also be used for other purposes such as blowing one's nose when one has a cold or absorbing common spills around the house, although paper towels are more used for the latter...
.
- Tangent: Other uses of a goose include the use of goose fatFatFats consist of a wide group of compounds that are generally soluble in organic solvents and generally insoluble in water. Chemically, fats are triglycerides, triesters of glycerol and any of several fatty acids. Fats may be either solid or liquid at room temperature, depending on their structure...
for making roast potatoPotatoThe potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...
es, and for people to cover themselves with in order to swim the English ChannelEnglish ChannelThe English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
, although it's not used much for that any more, because it causes people to slip out of the grasp of the lifeboat crew when being rescued. Geese are also reputed to be better guard dogGuard dogA guard dog, an attack dog or watch dog is a dog used to guard against, and watch for, unwanted or unexpected people or animals. The dog is discriminating so that it does not annoy or attack familiar people.-Barking:...
s than dogs and they were also used as chimney sweepChimney sweepA chimney sweep is a worker who clears ash and soot from chimneys. The chimney uses the pressure difference caused by a hot column of gas to create a draught and draw air over the hot coals or wood enabling continued combustion. Chimneys may be straight or contain many changes of direction. During...
s. - Tangent: It was reputed that at the Nottingham Goose FairNottingham Goose FairThe Nottingham Goose Fair is an annual fun fair held in Nottingham, England, during the first week of October. It is largely provided by travelling fair people...
the legendary Robin HoodRobin HoodRobin Hood was a heroic outlaw in English folklore. A highly skilled archer and swordsman, he is known for "robbing from the rich and giving to the poor", assisted by a group of fellow outlaws known as his "Merry Men". Traditionally, Robin Hood and his men are depicted wearing Lincoln green clothes....
used goose feathers for his arrows. - Tangent: The bar-headed gooseBar-headed GooseThe Bar-headed Goose is a goose which breeds in Central Asia in colonies of thousands near mountain lakes and winters in South Asia, as far south as peninsular India. It lays three to eight eggs at a time in a ground nest....
can increase their flight range by 70% by flying in V formation because it reduces wind shearWind shearWind shear, sometimes referred to as windshear or wind gradient, is a difference in wind speed and direction over a relatively short distance in the atmosphere...
.- The reason why giraffes have long necks is so they can fight other giraffes (forfeit: to reach tree tops), a single swipe with the neck can kill a rival giraffe. They don't use them to reach the tree tops, as they have to bend their necks in order to eatEATEAT or eat may refer to:* Eating, the process of consuming food, for the purpose of providing for the nutritional needs of an animal* To take a loss in a transaction. The one who absorbs the loss is said to eat the cost of that loss...
.
- The reason why giraffes have long necks is so they can fight other giraffes (forfeit: to reach tree tops), a single swipe with the neck can kill a rival giraffe. They don't use them to reach the tree tops, as they have to bend their necks in order to eat
- Tangent: GiraffeGiraffeThe giraffe is an African even-toed ungulate mammal, the tallest of all extant land-living animal species, and the largest ruminant...
s have short necks in comparison to their legs. - Tangent: At birth a baby giraffe comes out head first, and is six-foot tall.
- Tangent: The staple dietStaple foodA staple food is one that is eaten regularly and in such quantities that it constitutes a dominant portion of a diet, and that supplies a high proportion of energy and nutrient needs. Most people live on a diet based on one or more staples...
of the giraffe is the acaciaAcaciaAcacia is a genus of shrubs and trees belonging to the subfamily Mimosoideae of the family Fabaceae, first described in Africa by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus in 1773. Many non-Australian species tend to be thorny, whereas the majority of Australian acacias are not...
plant.- The commonest form of death for mountain goatMountain goatThe Mountain Goat , also known as the Rocky Mountain Goat, is a large-hoofed mammal found only in North America. Despite its vernacular name, it is not a member of Capra, the genus of true goats...
s is falling off mountains. Despite being nimble, secure and sure-footed, they tend to fight with each other a lot.
- The commonest form of death for mountain goat
- Tangent: It is said that female goats get sexually aroused by the sweatSWEATSWEAT is an OLN/TSN show hosted by Julie Zwillich that aired in 2003-2004.Each of the 13 half-hour episodes of SWEAT features a different outdoor sport: kayaking, mountain biking, ice hockey, beach volleyball, soccer, windsurfing, rowing, Ultimate, triathlon, wakeboarding, snowboarding, telemark...
of a human, because it has a similar smell to goats.- In World War I, seagulls were trained to identify the periscopePeriscopeA periscope is an instrument for observation from a concealed position. In its simplest form it consists of a tube with mirrors at each end set parallel to each other at a 45-degree angle....
s of enemy submarineSubmarineA submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
s and crap on them, to blind the lens. This failed because the birds couldn't distinguish between British and enemy submarines.
- In World War I, seagulls were trained to identify the periscope
- Tangent: Seagulls are not seabirdSeabirdSeabirds are birds that have adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same environmental problems and feeding niches have resulted in similar adaptations...
s, but land birds. They live mainly on cliffs and don't go far out to sea. - Tangent: In World War II, parrotParrotParrots, also known as psittacines , are birds of the roughly 372 species in 86 genera that make up the order Psittaciformes, found in most tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three families: the Psittacidae , the Cacatuidae and the Strigopidae...
s were kept in the Eiffel TowerEiffel TowerThe Eiffel Tower is a puddle iron lattice tower located on the Champ de Mars in Paris. Built in 1889, it has become both a global icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world...
to warn when enemy aircraftAircraftAn aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air, or, in general, the atmosphere of a planet. An aircraft counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines.Although...
were approaching.- CamelCamelA camel is an even-toed ungulate within the genus Camelus, bearing distinctive fatty deposits known as humps on its back. There are two species of camels: the dromedary or Arabian camel has a single hump, and the bactrian has two humps. Dromedaries are native to the dry desert areas of West Asia,...
s blow out their soft palateSoft palateThe soft palate is the soft tissue constituting the back of the roof of the mouth. The soft palate is distinguished from the hard palate at the front of the mouth in that it does not contain bone....
, known as the palatinus diverticulus or gula to attract females. The camels with the most testosteroneTestosteroneTestosterone is a steroid hormone from the androgen group and is found in mammals, reptiles, birds, and other vertebrates. In mammals, testosterone is primarily secreted in the testes of males and the ovaries of females, although small amounts are also secreted by the adrenal glands...
have the biggest gulas.
- Camel
- Tangent: In Saudi ArabiaSaudi ArabiaThe Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
, the gulas are cut out to make the camels better at camel racingCamel racingCamel racing is a popular sport in India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Australia, and Mongolia. Professional camel racing, like horse racing, is an event for betting and tourist attraction...
. Saudi Arabia imports its camels from Australia, as well as sandSandSand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles.The composition of sand is highly variable, depending on the local rock sources and conditions, but the most common constituent of sand in inland continental settings and non-tropical coastal...
.- GoldfishGoldfishThe goldfish is a freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae of order Cypriniformes. It was one of the earliest fish to be domesticated, and is one of the most commonly kept aquarium fish....
can tell the water pressure with their pressure sensorPressure sensorA pressure sensor measures pressure, typically of gases or liquids. Pressure is an expression of the force required to stop a fluid from expanding, and is usually stated in terms of force per unit area. A pressure sensor usually acts as a transducer; it generates a signal as a function of the...
s, similar to what humans have in their ears.
- Goldfish
- Tangent: SharkSharkSharks are a type of fish with a full cartilaginous skeleton and a highly streamlined body. The earliest known sharks date from more than 420 million years ago....
s can detect electricityElectricityElectricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...
, because a lot of fish give off electricity as a weapon.
General Ignorance:
- There are no insectInsectInsects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
s in the sea because there are no trees or flowering plantFlowering plantThe flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...
s there. There are insects in rivers despite the saltwaterSaline waterSaline water is a general term for water that contains a significant concentration of dissolved salts . The concentration is usually expressed in parts per million of salt....
. There are also saltwater spiderSpiderSpiders are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, and chelicerae with fangs that inject venom. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all other groups of organisms...
s and sea spiderSea spiderSea spiders, also called Pantopoda or pycnogonids, are marine arthropods of class Pycnogonida. They are cosmopolitan, found especially in the Mediterranean and Caribbean Seas, as well as the Arctic and Antarctic Oceans. There are over 1300 known species, ranging in size from to over in some deep...
s who can survive in the sea because they can hunt. - The Russian ArmyRed ArmyThe Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
(forfeit: geese, the NazisWehrmachtThe Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
) goose-stepped across Europe in the 1940s. The Nazis stopped goose-stepping (known to them as the Stechschritt) in the 1930s: they only used it during the Nuremberg ralliesNuremberg RallyThe Nuremberg Rally was the annual rally of the NSDAP in Germany, held from 1923 to 1938. Especially after Hitler's rise to power in 1933, they were large Nazi propaganda events...
, and it fell out of fashionFashionFashion, a general term for a currently popular style or practice, especially in clothing, foot wear, or accessories. Fashion references to anything that is the current trend in look and dress up of a person...
; no new recruitsArmy recruitRecruit or army recruit is a term often colloquially used to refer to the lowest military rank in various armed services. It usually implies that the soldier so labeled has not yet completed basic training....
were asked to do it.
- Tangent: Along with Russia, the armies of North KoreaNorth KoreaThe Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...
, ChinaChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, CubaCubaThe Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
, VietnamVietnamVietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
, ChileChileChile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
and IranIranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
have all practised the goose-step.
XL Extras:
- Tangent: Goose fat is better for roasting potatoes because it allows the potatoes to be cooked at a higher temperature.
- Tangent: GooseberriesGooseberryThe gooseberry or ; Ribes uva-crispa, syn. R. grossularia) is a species of Ribes, native to Europe, northwestern Africa and southwestern Asia...
get their name because they taste nice when served with goose. The idea of the gooseberry bush being a place of birth is from 19th century19th centuryThe 19th century was a period in history marked by the collapse of the Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Holy Roman and Mughal empires...
slang. - Tangent: Giraffe tongues are so long they can clean their own ears with them.
- Tangent: Sandi knew a couple who imported their MiniMiniThe Mini is a small car that was made by the British Motor Corporation and its successors from 1959 until 2000. The original is considered a British icon of the 1960s, and its space-saving front-wheel-drive layout influenced a generation of car-makers...
into KenyaKenyaKenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
. One day when they were out driving they got humped by a giraffe and could not get out. - Tangent: The American mountain goat is pure white in colour and is not a goat.
- Tangent: In Kenya male goats wear chastity beltChastity beltA chastity belt is a locking item of clothing designed to prevent sexual intercourse. They may be used to protect the wearer from rape or temptation. Some devices have been designed with additional features to prevent masturbation...
s so they can only mate at the right time for Kenyan farmers. - Tangent: In 2007 a Nepalese airline slaughtered two goats to a Hindu GodAkash BhairavAkash Bhairav is a Hindu deity. Considered the "god of the sky", several large temples in Kathmandu are dedicated to him.The head of the Aakash Bhairav was dug up several hundred years ago in Kathmandu...
to save a plane. - Tangent: Sean's goat call is French for goat. His goats were used for cheese.
- Tangent: When the weather is bad all the gulls fly into LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, so Londoners know not to go out to the seaside when the gulls fly in. - Tangent: There was a dramatic increase in the gull population in 1956 because of the creation of landfillLandfillA landfill site , is a site for the disposal of waste materials by burial and is the oldest form of waste treatment...
s. 1956 was the year of the Great Smog which killed thousands of people in London. As a result the Clean Air ActClean Air Act 1956The Clean Air Act 1956 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed in response to London's Great Smog of 1952. It was in effect until 1964, and sponsored by the Ministry of Housing and Local Government in England and the Department of Health for Scotland.The Act introduced a number of...
was bought in which made it illegal for people to burn rubbish, so landfills were created to keep the rubbish in, which attracted the gulls. - Tangent: Sandi was once carrying a pizzaPizzaPizza is an oven-baked, flat, disc-shaped bread typically topped with a tomato sauce, cheese and various toppings.Originating in Italy, from the Neapolitan cuisine, the dish has become popular in many parts of the world. An establishment that makes and sells pizzas is called a "pizzeria"...
outside a pub by the seaside, but a gull stole the whole pizza.- GerbilGerbilA gerbil is a small mammal of the order Rodentia. Once known simply as "desert rats", the gerbil subfamily includes about 110 species of African, Indian, and Asian rodents, including sand rats and jirds, all of which are adapted to arid habitats...
s let us down in the War on TerrorWar on TerrorThe War on Terror is a term commonly applied to an international military campaign led by the United States and the United Kingdom with the support of other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as well as non-NATO countries...
because although they can smell terror they cannot detect terrorists. Gerbils can smell terror in adrenalineEpinephrineEpinephrine is a hormone and a neurotransmitter. It increases heart rate, constricts blood vessels, dilates air passages and participates in the fight-or-flight response of the sympathetic nervous system. In chemical terms, adrenaline is one of a group of monoamines called the catecholamines...
so people thought of having a cubical that people walked through which had a fan that blew your smell towards a gerbil in a cage. The gerbil would then press a button to show that the suspect was frightened. It didn't work.
- Gerbil
- Tangent: The gerbils most used as pets in Britain are Mongolian gerbils. As they are desert animals their poo is dry and not smelly.
General Ignorance:
- The people who stopped flying the Jolly RogerJolly RogerThe Jolly Roger is any of various flags flown to identify a ship's crew as pirates. The flag most commonly identified as the Jolly Roger today is the skull and crossbones, a flag consisting of a human skull above two long bones set in an x-mark arrangement on a black field. This design was used by...
in 2003 were British NavyNavyA navy is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake- or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions...
submariners. When submarineSubmarineA submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
s were first used by the navy generals they thought they were an unfair way of fighting. The crews played up to their roguish roles and flew Jolly Roger flags in a pirate-like way after successful missions. It was stopped because it was feared that the crews were glorifying war. Also the navy wanted to make subs more secret so they stopped flying the flags.
Episode 3 "Games"
Broadcast date:- 10 December 2009
Recording date:
- 15 May 2009
Panellists:
- Alan DaviesAlan DaviesAlan Davies is an English comedian, writer and actor best known for starring in the TV mystery series Jonathan Creek and as the permanent panellist on the TV panel show QI.- Early life :...
(−17 points) - Phill JupitusPhill JupitusPhillip Christopher Jupitus is an English stand-up and improvised comedian, actor, performance poet, musician and podcaster....
(2 points) - Sean LockSean LockSean Lock is an English comedian and actor. He began his comedy career as a stand-up comedian. He won the British Comedy Award in 2000 in the category of Best Live Comic, and was nominated for the Perrier Comedy Award. He is also well known for his appearances on television and radio...
(−7 points) - Liza TarbuckLiza TarbuckLiza Tarbuck is an English actress and television and radio presenter, and daughter of comedian Jimmy Tarbuck.She trained at the National Youth Theatre and RADA graduating in 1986 alongside Clive Owen, Rebecca Pidgeon and Serena Harragin.-Acting:...
(Winner with 5 points)
Buzzers:
- Phill – An impression of John Anderson saying "Gladiators ready!"
- Sean – An American sports-style buzzer
- Liza – Football crowd cheering with commentator shouting "Goal!"
- Alan – An impression of Bruce ForsythBruce ForsythSir Bruce Joseph Forsyth-Johnson, CBE , commonly known as Bruce Forsyth, or Brucie, is an English TV personality...
saying "Good game, good game."
Theme:
- Each panellist is given a Bang! banner gun during the first question.
Topics:
- Game theoryGame theoryGame theory is a mathematical method for analyzing calculated circumstances, such as in games, where a person’s success is based upon the choices of others...
, a concept devised by John von NeumannJohn von NeumannJohn von Neumann was a Hungarian-American mathematician and polymath who made major contributions to a vast number of fields, including set theory, functional analysis, quantum mechanics, ergodic theory, geometry, fluid dynamics, economics and game theory, computer science, numerical analysis,...
and Oskar MorgensternOskar MorgensternOskar Morgenstern was a German-born Austrian-School economist. He, along with John von Neumann, helped found the mathematical field of game theory ....
, but also by Nobel PrizeNobel Memorial Prize in Economic SciencesThe Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, commonly referred to as the Nobel Prize in Economics, but officially the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel , is an award for outstanding contributions to the field of economics, generally regarded as one of the...
winner John Forbes Nash, Jr.. Stephen tries to demonstrate this by asking Alan what his best strategy would be if he were in a truel with Phill and Sean (both better shots than him) over Liza (forfeits: shoot myself; shoot Liza). The theory has been applied to business and economics; for example, in tobacco advertisingTobacco advertisingTobacco advertising is the advertising of tobacco products or use by the tobacco industry through a variety of media including sponsorship, particularly of sporting events. It is now one of the most highly regulated forms of marketing...
was banned in America, it actually ended up saving the manufacturers money.
- Tangent: Nash was portrayed by Russell CroweRussell CroweRussell Ira Crowe is a New Zealander Australian actor , film producer and musician. He came to international attention for his role as Roman General Maximus Decimus Meridius in the 2000 historical epic film Gladiator, directed by Ridley Scott, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Actor, a...
in the film A Beautiful MindA Beautiful Mind (film)A Beautiful Mind is a 2001 American drama film based on the life of John Nash, a Nobel Laureate in Economics. The film was directed by Ron Howard and written by Akiva Goldsman. It was inspired by a bestselling, Pulitzer Prize-nominated 1998 book of the same name by Sylvia Nasar...
. - Tangent: Another example of game theory was used in a final of Big BrotherBig Brother (UK)Big Brother UK is the British version of the Dutch Big Brother television format, which takes its name from the character in George Orwell's 1948 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four...
.- OuijaOuijaThe Ouija board also known as a spirit/fire key board or talking board, is a flat board marked with the letters of the alphabet, the numbers 0-9, the words "yes", "no", "hello" and "goodbye", and other symbols and words are sometimes also added to help personalize the board...
became the most popular board game in America in the early 70s, but went out of fashion in 1972 because of the film The ExorcistThe Exorcist (film)The Exorcist is a 1973 American horror film directed by William Friedkin, adapted from the 1971 novel of the same name by William Peter Blatty and based on the exorcism case of Robbie Mannheim, dealing with the demonic possession of a young girl and her mother’s desperate attempts to win back her...
. Parker BrothersParker BrothersParker Brothers is a toy and game manufacturer and brand. Since 1883, the company has published more than 1,800 games; among their best known products are Monopoly, Cluedo , Sorry, Risk, Trivial Pursuit, Ouija, Aggravation, and Probe...
still own the rights to all ouija boards. Only one-third of people nowadays use the ouija board to contact the dead. During World War I, it was used to give messages to troops abroad.
- Ouija
- Tangent: In 1995 a British court dismissed a jury because it used a ouija board to contact the dead person in the case.
- Tangent: There is an Elvis PresleyElvis PresleyElvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
séance website.- During World War II, the "Scallywags" were a secret unit of the Home Guard, the word referred to them being assassinsAssassinationTo carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
: they were trained in assassination techniques in case of a German invasion of Britain. Their job was to kill Germans and also make sure that Winston ChurchillWinston ChurchillSir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
wasn't removed, as it was believed that someone like Lord HalifaxE. F. L. Wood, 1st Earl of HalifaxEdward Frederick Lindley Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax, , known as The Lord Irwin from 1925 until 1934 and as The Viscount Halifax from 1934 until 1944, was one of the most senior British Conservative politicians of the 1930s, during which he held several senior ministerial posts, most notably as...
might try to take over.
- During World War II, the "Scallywags" were a secret unit of the Home Guard, the word referred to them being assassins
- Tangent: Amongst the "Scallywags" were Michael FootMichael FootMichael Mackintosh Foot, FRSL, PC was a British Labour Party politician, journalist and author, who was a Member of Parliament from 1945 to 1955 and from 1960 until 1992...
, George OrwellGeorge OrwellEric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...
and J. B. PriestleyJ. B. PriestleyJohn Boynton Priestley, OM , known as J. B. Priestley, was an English novelist, playwright and broadcaster. He published 26 novels, notably The Good Companions , as well as numerous dramas such as An Inspector Calls...
and they were trained to kill anyone who collaborated with the NazisNazi GermanyNazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
. Their motto was "Terror By Night". - Tangent: Boy ScoutBoy ScoutA Scout is a boy or a girl, usually 11 to 18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement. Because of the large age and development span, many Scouting associations have split this age group into a junior and a senior section...
s at ages 12 to 14 were taught at Osterley ParkOsterley ParkOsterley Park is a mansion set in a large park of the same name. It is in the London Borough of Hounslow, part of the western suburbs of London. When the house was built it was surrounded by rural countryside. It was one of a group of large houses close to London which served as country retreats...
(where the Home Guard trained) how to decapitateDecapitationDecapitation is the separation of the head from the body. Beheading typically refers to the act of intentional decapitation, e.g., as a means of murder or execution; it may be accomplished, for example, with an axe, sword, knife, wire, or by other more sophisticated means such as a guillotine...
motorists using a taut wire stretched across a road. British roller skating champion Harry Lee also taught them how to knee someone in the groin while using roller skates.- GladiatorGladiatorA gladiator was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gladiators were volunteers who risked their legal and social standing and their lives by appearing in the...
s were either vegetarians or vegans. A mass grave of gladiators was found in EphesusEphesusEphesus was an ancient Greek city, and later a major Roman city, on the west coast of Asia Minor, near present-day Selçuk, Izmir Province, Turkey. It was one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League during the Classical Greek era...
and gave all indications that they didn't eat meatMeatMeat is animal flesh that is used as food. Most often, this means the skeletal muscle and associated fat and other tissues, but it may also describe other edible tissues such as organs and offal...
, they were known as barleymen: from "horeardii", meaning "eaters of barleyBarleyBarley is a major cereal grain, a member of the grass family. It serves as a major animal fodder, as a base malt for beer and certain distilled beverages, and as a component of various health foods...
".
- Gladiator
- Tangent: BullBullBull usually refers to an uncastrated adult male bovine.Bull may also refer to:-Entertainment:* Bull , an original show on the TNT Network* "Bull" , an episode of television series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation...
s are the strongest animal vegetarians, but almost every animal is a vegetarian. - Tangent: Adolf HitlerAdolf HitlerAdolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
wasn't a vegetarian.- Since 1633 all VeniceVeniceVenice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
gondolas have to be black, any decoration on them is allowed, but the body has to be painted black. - Card countingCard countingCard counting is a casino card game strategy used primarily in the blackjack family of casino games to determine whether the next hand is likely to give a probable advantage to the player or to the dealer. Card counters, also known as advantage players, attempt to decrease the inherent casino house...
is actually not illegal, but a way of playing the game well. It was devised by Ben CampbellJeff MaJeff Ma or was a member of the MIT Blackjack Team in the mid 1990s. He graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy. He attended MIT where he graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering in 1994. He was the basis for the main character of the book Bringing Down the House and the film 21...
, whose MIT Blackjack TeamMIT Blackjack TeamThe MIT Blackjack Team was a group of students and ex-students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard Business School, Harvard University, and other leading colleges who used card-counting techniques and more sophisticated strategies to beat casinos at blackjack worldwide...
who used the skill to win money at BlackjackBlackjackBlackjack, also known as Twenty-one or Vingt-et-un , is the most widely played casino banking game in the world...
.
- Since 1633 all Venice
- Tangent: Casinos have introduced a facial recognition system to identify card counters, so that any time they go into a casino anywhere in the world they're instantly recognised.
- In poker, the easiest way to tell if someone is bluffingBluff (poker)In the card game of poker, a bluff is a bet or raise made with a hand which is not thought to be the best hand. To bluff is to make such a bet. The objective of a bluff is to induce a fold by at least one opponent who holds a better hand. The size and frequency of a bluff determines its...
is to try to spot their tellTell (poker)A tell in poker is a change in a player's behavior or demeanor that is claimed by some to give clues to that player's assessment of their hand. A player gains an advantage if they observe and understand the meaning of another player's tell, particularly if the tell is unconscious and reliable...
, which normally involves blinking. Gamblers usually try double-bluffing to faze an opponent.
- In poker, the easiest way to tell if someone is bluffing
General Ignorance:
- GreyhoundGreyhoundThe Greyhound is a breed of sighthound that has been primarily bred for coursing game and racing, and the breed has also recently seen a resurgence in its popularity as a pedigree show dog and family pet. It is a gentle and intelligent breed...
s are actually blue in colour, not grey. The word "greyhound" is derived from "grighound", which means a "bitch hound".
- Tangent: Greyhound racingGreyhound racingGreyhound racing is the sport of racing greyhounds. The dogs chase a lure on a track until they arrive at the finish line. The one that arrives first is the winner....
is the second most popular spectator sportSpectator sportA spectator sport is a sport that is characterized by the presence of spectators, or watchers, at its matches. For instance, Tennis, Rugby, F-1, baseball, basketball, cricket, football , and ice hockey are spectator sports, while hunting or underwater hockey typically are not...
in the UK, £2.5 billion is wagered on the sport every year. - Tangent: Kenneth Gandar-DowerKenneth Gandar-DowerKenneth Cecil Gandar-Dower was a leading English sportsman, aviator, explorer and author.Born at his parents' home in Regent's Park, London, Gandar-Dower was the fourth and youngest son of independently wealthy Joseph Wilson Gandar-Dower and his wife Amelia Frances Germaine...
once tried to see who would win in a race between a cheetahCheetahThe cheetah is a large-sized feline inhabiting most of Africa and parts of the Middle East. The cheetah is the only extant member of the genus Acinonyx, most notable for modifications in the species' paws...
and a greyhound.- MusselMusselThe common name mussel is used for members of several families of clams or bivalvia mollusca, from saltwater and freshwater habitats. These groups have in common a shell whose outline is elongated and asymmetrical compared with other edible clams, which are often more or less rounded or oval.The...
s which don't open are safe to eat. Food writer Jane GrigsonJane GrigsonJane Grigson was a notable English cookery writer.-Life and writings:...
wrote a book on seafood in which she created the myth that you should throw them away if they don't open. Ones which are open are likely to be dead. - At the beginning of tournaments, Roman gladiators never said anything (forfeit: "We who are about to die salute you"). Only prisoners of the Emperor ClaudiusClaudiusClaudius , was Roman Emperor from 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, he was the son of Drusus and Antonia Minor. He was born at Lugdunum in Gaul and was the first Roman Emperor to be born outside Italy...
were believed to have said "We who are about to die salute you".
- Mussel
XL Extras:
- Tangent: Many people believe that altruismAltruismAltruism is a concern for the welfare of others. It is a traditional virtue in many cultures, and a core aspect of various religious traditions, though the concept of 'others' toward whom concern should be directed can vary among cultures and religions. Altruism is the opposite of...
between humans is genetic proof of game theory. It is better for people to share than keep it to themselves. - Tangent: A rock climberAron RalstonAron Lee Ralston is an American mountain climber and inspirational public speaker. He is widely known for having survived a 2003 canyoneering accident in Utah in which he was forced to amputate his own right arm with a dull pocketknife in order to free himself from a dislodged boulder.The incident...
once had to cut off his arm because it was trapped between 2 rocks and he knew no-one was around to save him. - Tangent: Children who are taught to share at an early age will make new connections in the brainBrainThe brain is the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals—only a few primitive invertebrates such as sponges, jellyfish, sea squirts and starfishes do not have one. It is located in the head, usually close to primary sensory apparatus such as vision, hearing,...
. - Tangent: Phill once died on stage at the Royal Albert HallRoyal Albert HallThe Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
. He was comic support for The WhoThe WhoThe Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
. - Tangent: When blindfolded people still make words on Ouija Boards. However, if you turn the board upside-down without them knowing they write rubbish.
- The contest that can end in either a checkmate or knockout is chess-boxing.
- Tangent: Alan went to see the swimming at the 2004 Summer Olympics2004 Summer OlympicsThe 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...
in AthensAthensAthens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
, but thought it was rubbish because he had no idea what was going on.- The first prize in the Mayan ball game tournament was to be sacrificed to the sun godKinich AhauKinich Ahau is the 16th-century Yucatec name of the Maya sun god, designated as god G in the Schellhas-Zimmermann-Taube classification. In the Classic period, god G is depicted as a middle-aged man with an aquiline nose, large square eyes, cross-eyed, and a filed incisor in the upper row of teeth....
. The captain would have their heartHeartThe heart is a myogenic muscular organ found in all animals with a circulatory system , that is responsible for pumping blood throughout the blood vessels by repeated, rhythmic contractions...
removed and burnt. The game was played for 3000 years, firstly around 1400 BC. In 700 AD King 18 Rabbit changed the rules so the losing team was sacrificed.
- The first prize in the Mayan ball game tournament was to be sacrificed to the sun god
- Tangent: To win at roulette you can use a laser scanner on a mobile phoneMobile phoneA mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
to calculate where the ball will land and bet during the last minute. - Tangent: Poker legend Amarillo SlimAmarillo SlimThomas Austin Preston, Jr. , known as Amarillo Slim, is an American professional gambler known for his poker skills and proposition bets...
once said If you can tell my poker hand just by looking I will let you shit in this hat.
General Ignorance:
- Tangent: Alan did a documentary in Nambia where a baby cheetahCheetahThe cheetah is a large-sized feline inhabiting most of Africa and parts of the Middle East. The cheetah is the only extant member of the genus Acinonyx, most notable for modifications in the species' paws...
had been bought to a reserve. To teach it the skills needed to hunt they had a motor with a cord and pulleys which zigzagged around a field with a rag attached to it. They also drove a pick-up truck containing horsemeat and the cheetah jogged alongside at 30 mph. Cheetahs only eat fresh meat, unlike leopards which will eat rotton meat. - Tangent: Sean was in BarcelonaBarcelonaBarcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
and ate some clams. His wife said that they did not smell right but he ignored her. He ended up with terrible food poisoning. Two weeks later he thought he was O.K and had some razor clams. He was sick again. He is now worried he has an allergy to clams for life.
Episode 4 "Geography"
Broadcast date:- 17 December 2009
- 23 December 2009 (XL edition)
- 14 April 2010 (ABC1 airing/iView upload)
Recording date:
- 14 May 2009
Panellists:
- Alan DaviesAlan DaviesAlan Davies is an English comedian, writer and actor best known for starring in the TV mystery series Jonathan Creek and as the permanent panellist on the TV panel show QI.- Early life :...
(Winner with −7 points) - Jo BrandJo BrandJosephine Grace "Jo" Brand is a BAFTA winning British comedian, writer, and actor.- Early life :Jo Brand was born 23 July 1957 in Wandsworth, London. Her mother was a social worker. Brand is the middle of three children, with two brothers...
(−10 points) - Rob BrydonRob BrydonRob Brydon is a BAFTA-nominated Welsh actor, comedian, radio and television presenter, singer and impressionist...
(−28 points) - Jimmy CarrJimmy CarrJames Anthony Patrick "Jimmy" Carr is an English-Irish comedian and humourist. He is known for his deadpan delivery and dark humour. He is also a writer, actor and presenter of radio and television....
(−21 points)
Buzzers:
- Jimmy – A thunderThunderThunder is the sound made by lightning. Depending on the nature of the lightning and distance of the listener, thunder can range from a sharp, loud crack to a long, low rumble . The sudden increase in pressure and temperature from lightning produces rapid expansion of the air surrounding and within...
clap - Rob – A ship's horn
- Jo – An air raid sirenCivil defense sirenA civil defense siren is a mechanical or electronic device for generating sound to...
- Alan – A mock shipping forecastShipping ForecastThe Shipping Forecast is a four-times-daily BBC Radio broadcast of weather reports and forecasts for the seas around the coasts of the British Isles. It is produced by the Met Office and broadcast by BBC Radio 4 on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. The forecasts sent over the Navtex...
Topics:
- Every year 300,000 insurance claims made are blamed on faulty Sat-navsGlobal Navigation Satellite SystemA satellite navigation or SAT NAV system is a system of satellites that provide autonomous geo-spatial positioning with global coverage. It allows small electronic receivers to determine their location to within a few metres using time signals transmitted along a line-of-sight by radio from...
(forfeit: "Are we nearly there yet?").
- Tangent: A SyriaSyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
n lorry driver was going from TurkeyTurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
to GibraltarGibraltarGibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...
, but his sat-nav directed him to GrimsbyGrimsbyGrimsby is a seaport on the Humber Estuary in Lincolnshire, England. It has been the administrative centre of the unitary authority area of North East Lincolnshire since 1996... - Tangent: Jimmy's girlfriend once said Where would we be without Satnav.
- Tangent: Rob does his impression of a man trapped in a box.
- Tangent: People who have done sat-nav voices include John CleeseJohn CleeseJohn Marwood Cleese is an English actor, comedian, writer, and film producer. He achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and performer on The Frost Report...
, Joanna LumleyJoanna LumleyJoanna Lamond Lumley, OBE, FRGS is a British actress, voice-over artist, former-model and author, best known for her roles in British television series Absolutely Fabulous portraying Edina Monsoon's best friend, Patsy Stone, as well as parts in The New Avengers, Sapphire & Steel, and Sensitive...
, Julian ClaryJulian ClaryJulian Peter McDonald Clary is an English comedian and novelist, known for his deliberately stereotypical camp style, with a heavy reliance on innuendo and double entendre.-Early life and education:...
, Nigella LawsonNigella LawsonNigella Lucy Lawson is an English food writer, journalist and broadcaster. Lawson is the daughter of Nigel Lawson, the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Vanessa Salmon, whose family owned the J. Lyons and Co. empire...
, Billy ConnollyBilly ConnollyWilliam "Billy" Connolly, Jr., CBE is a Scottish comedian, musician, presenter and actor. He is sometimes known, especially in his native Scotland, by the nickname The Big Yin...
, Julie WaltersJulie WaltersJulie Walters, CBE is an English actress and novelist. She came to international prominence in 1983 for Educating Rita, performing in the title role opposite Michael Caine. It was a role she had created on the West End stage and it won her BAFTA and Golden Globe awards for Best Actress...
, Simon CowellSimon CowellSimon Phillip Cowell is an English A&R executive, television producer, entrepreneur, and television personality. He is known in the United Kingdom and United States for his role as a talent judge on TV shows such as Pop Idol, The X Factor, Britain's Got Talent and American Idol...
, Catherine TateCatherine TateCatherine Tate is an English actress, writer, and comedian. She has won numerous awards for her work on the sketch comedy series The Catherine Tate Show as well as being nominated for an International Emmy Award and four BAFTA Awards...
and Margaret ThatcherMargaret ThatcherMargaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
. - Tangent: Some musicians had to be rescued by a helicopter, because their van was directing them through a fordFord (crossing)A ford is a shallow place with good footing where a river or stream may be crossed by wading or in a vehicle. A ford is mostly a natural phenomenon, in contrast to a low water crossing, which is an artificial bridge that allows crossing a river or stream when water is low.The names of many towns...
.- Genghis KhanGenghis KhanGenghis Khan , born Temujin and occasionally known by his temple name Taizu , was the founder and Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his death....
is buried next to a baby camelCamelA camel is an even-toed ungulate within the genus Camelus, bearing distinctive fatty deposits known as humps on its back. There are two species of camels: the dromedary or Arabian camel has a single hump, and the bactrian has two humps. Dromedaries are native to the dry desert areas of West Asia,...
, as the grave had to be anonymous and mother camels know where their babies have died.
- Genghis Khan
- Tangent: According to Marco PoloMarco PoloMarco Polo was a Venetian merchant traveler from the Venetian Republic whose travels are recorded in Il Milione, a book which did much to introduce Europeans to Central Asia and China. He learned about trading whilst his father and uncle, Niccolò and Maffeo, travelled through Asia and apparently...
, 20,000 people were executed to keep the Khan's burial place secret, including all the slaves who excavated the grave and all the soldiers who killed the slaves. - Tangent: Genghis Khan was married 500 times. It is said that 8% of all males in Central AsiaCentral AsiaCentral Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
are related to a common ancestorAncestorAn ancestor is a parent or the parent of an ancestor ....
from around 1,000 years ago who may be Genghis Khan.- The Chinese invented the teacupTeacupA teacup is a small cup, with or without a handle, generally a small one that may be grasped with the thumb and one or two fingers. It is typically made of a ceramic material. It is usually part of a set, composed of a cup and a matching saucer. These in turn may be part of a tea set in...
because they liked drinking tea over other drinks, and as a result never manufactured glass. Europeans invented glassGlassGlass is an amorphous solid material. Glasses are typically brittle and optically transparent.The most familiar type of glass, used for centuries in windows and drinking vessels, is soda-lime glass, composed of about 75% silica plus Na2O, CaO, and several minor additives...
firstly to make wine glassWine glassA wine glass is a type of glass stemware that is used to drink and taste wine. It is generally composed of three parts: the bowl, stem, and foot...
es, which led to the invention of, among others, the lensLens (optics)A lens is an optical device with perfect or approximate axial symmetry which transmits and refracts light, converging or diverging the beam. A simple lens consists of a single optical element...
, spectacles, beakersBeaker (glassware)A beaker is a simple container for stirring, mixing and heating liquids commonly used in many laboratories. Beakers are generally cylindrical in shape, with a flat bottom. Most also have a small spout to aid pouring as shown in the picture...
and flasksLaboratory flaskLaboratory flasks are vessels which fall into the category of laboratory equipment known as glassware. In laboratory and other scientific settings, they are usually referred to simply as flasks...
, which increased intellectualism. - In 1851, James Wyld installed a 60-foot high scale model of the Earth in the middle of London. It included all the land massLand massLand mass refers to the total area of a country or geographical region . The Earth's total land mass is which is about 29.2% of its total surface. Water covers approximately 70.8% of the Earth's surface, mostly in the form of oceans....
es and all the seas and mountains, built to scale and perfectly inverted. It was situated in Leicester SquareLeicester SquareLeicester Square is a pedestrianised square in the West End of London, England. The Square lies within an area bound by Lisle Street, to the north; Charing Cross Road, to the east; Orange Street, to the south; and Whitcomb Street, to the west...
between 1851 and 1862, originally to coincide with The Great ExhibitionThe Great ExhibitionThe Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations or The Great Exhibition, sometimes referred to as the Crystal Palace Exhibition in reference to the temporary structure in which it was held, was an international exhibition that took place in Hyde Park, London, from 1 May to 15 October...
of 1851 in Hyde ParkHyde Park, LondonHyde Park is one of the largest parks in central London, United Kingdom, and one of the Royal Parks of London, famous for its Speakers' Corner.The park is divided in two by the Serpentine...
. - The Arctic Highlanders (otherwise known as the InughuitInughuitThe Inughuit or Polar Eskimos are the northernmost group of Inuit, and the world's northernmost people. They were first contacted by European peoples by the expedition led by Sir John Ross in 1818; Ross dubbed them "Arctic Highlanders"...
or Polar Eskimos) got their cutlery from meteoriteMeteoriteA meteorite is a natural object originating in outer space that survives impact with the Earth's surface. Meteorites can be big or small. Most meteorites derive from small astronomical objects called meteoroids, but they are also sometimes produced by impacts of asteroids...
s (forfeits: SheffieldSheffieldSheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
; IKEAIKEAIKEA is a privately held, international home products company that designs and sells ready-to-assemble furniture such as beds and desks, appliances and home accessories. The company is the world's largest furniture retailer...
).
- The Chinese invented the teacup
- Tangent: An explorer called RossJohn Ross (Arctic explorer)Sir John Ross, CB, was a Scottish rear admiral and Arctic explorer.Ross was the son of the Rev. Andrew Ross, minister of Inch, near Stranraer in Scotland. In 1786, aged only nine, he joined the Royal Navy as an apprentice. He served in the Mediterranean until 1789 and then in the English Channel...
(after whom the Ross SeaRoss SeaThe Ross Sea is a deep bay of the Southern Ocean in Antarctica between Victoria Land and Marie Byrd Land.-Description:The Ross Sea was discovered by James Ross in 1841. In the west of the Ross Sea is Ross Island with the Mt. Erebus volcano, in the east Roosevelt Island. The southern part is covered...
is named) became the first person to encounter them. Up until that point, the Inughuit thought they were the only people on the planet. - Tangent: Admiral PearyRobert PearyRobert Edwin Peary, Sr. was an American explorer who claimed to have been the first person, on April 6, 1909, to reach the geographic North Pole...
, the first person to reach the North PoleNorth PoleThe North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is, subject to the caveats explained below, defined as the point in the northern hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface...
, around 70 years after Ross first reached the ArcticArcticThe Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
. Peary took from the Inughuit's: their meteorites (which he sold to a museum for US$40,000), six Inughuit children, four of whom died of TuberculosisTuberculosisTuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
immediately. One of the surviving childrenMinik WallaceMinik Wallace was an Inuit brought as a child in 1897 from Greenland to New York with his father and others by the explorer Robert Peary. The six Inuit were studied by staff of the American Museum of Natural History, which had custody...
eventually saw his parents as skeletons at the American Museum of Natural HistoryAmerican Museum of Natural HistoryThe American Museum of Natural History , located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States, is one of the largest and most celebrated museums in the world...
in New York City.- The "father of geographyGeographyGeography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...
", Alexander von HumboldtAlexander von HumboldtFriedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander Freiherr von Humboldt was a German naturalist and explorer, and the younger brother of the Prussian minister, philosopher and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt...
was taught the languageLanguageLanguage may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
of the AtureAtures MunicipalityThe Atures Municipality is one of the seven municipalities that makes up the southern Venezuelan state of Amazonas and, according to a 2007 population estimate by the National Institute of Statistics of Venezuela, the municipality has a population of 91,386...
by a parrotParrotParrots, also known as psittacines , are birds of the roughly 372 species in 86 genera that make up the order Psittaciformes, found in most tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three families: the Psittacidae , the Cacatuidae and the Strigopidae...
, forty years after the last person who spoke it died. although they were slightly inaccurate, as no-one living could say what they were exactly.
- The "father of geography
- Tangent: The Carib cannibals, who had eaten the last of the Atures.
- Tangent: Von Humboldt was a homosexual.
- Tangent: Parrots can learn up to 200 words, but they only mimic humans.
General Ignorance:
- Mongolians live in gers (forfeit: yurtYurtA yurt is a portable, bent wood-framed dwelling structure traditionally used by Turkic nomads in the steppes of Central Asia. The structure comprises a crown or compression wheel usually steam bent, supported by roof ribs which are bent down at the end where they meet the lattice wall...
s). "Ger" means "home" in MongolianMongolian languageThe Mongolian language is the official language of Mongolia and the best-known member of the Mongolic language family. The number of speakers across all its dialects may be 5.2 million, including the vast majority of the residents of Mongolia and many of the Mongolian residents of the Inner...
. The word "yurt" is of TurkishTurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
origin. - The Dutch city of Groningen is located in the NetherlandsNetherlandsThe Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
. There are two areas called Holland: these are North HollandNorth HollandNorth Holland |West Frisian]]: Noard-Holland) is a province situated on the North Sea in the northwest part of the Netherlands. The provincial capital is Haarlem and its largest city is Amsterdam.-Geography:...
and South HollandSouth HollandSouth Holland is a province situated on the North Sea in the western part of the Netherlands. The provincial capital is The Hague and its largest city is Rotterdam.South Holland is one of the most densely populated and industrialised areas in the world...
, where the major cities including AmsterdamAmsterdamAmsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, RotterdamRotterdamRotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
and The HagueThe HagueThe Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
are located; but both are further south than Groningen.
- Tangent: Groningen claims to have had a pubPublic houseA public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
that opened non-stop for 10 years.- Church Flatts Farm in DerbyshireDerbyshireDerbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...
is the furthest point from the sea in the whole UK (70 Miles). - The national anthem of SpainSpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
(Marcha RealMarcha Realis the national anthem of Spain. It is one of the few national anthems in the world to have no official lyrics ....
) is not sung in any language (forfeits: Spanish; CatalanCatalan languageCatalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...
), it's an instrumentalInstrumentalAn instrumental is a musical composition or recording without lyrics or singing, although it might include some non-articulate vocal input; the music is primarily or exclusively produced by musical instruments....
piece. The old lyrics, inspired by FrancoFrancisco FrancoFrancisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
, were dropped after his death in 1975.
- Church Flatts Farm in Derbyshire
- Tangent: They were inspired to create new lyrics for the anthem after listening to Liverpool F.C.Liverpool F.C.Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Liverpool has won eighteen League titles, second most in English football, seven FA Cups and a record seven League Cups...
fans singing "You'll Never Walk AloneYou'll Never Walk Alone (song)"You'll Never Walk Alone" is a show tune from the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel.In the musical, in the second act, Nettie Fowler, the cousin of the female protagonist Julie Jordan, sings "You'll Never Walk Alone" to comfort and encourage Julie when her husband, Billy Bigelow, the...
". A competition for new words was held but withdrawn after five days for being too nationalisticNationalismNationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
. - Tangent: National anthems with controversial lines include this from La MarseillaiseLa Marseillaise"La Marseillaise" is the national anthem of France. The song, originally titled "Chant de guerre pour l'Armée du Rhin" was written and composed by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle in 1792. The French National Convention adopted it as the Republic's anthem in 1795...
: "Do you hear in the countryside, those ferocious soldiers roaring? They come up to your arms, to slit the throats of your sons and wives!" The 6th verse of God Save the QueenGod Save the Queen"God Save the Queen" is an anthem used in a number of Commonwealth realms and British Crown Dependencies. The words of the song, like its title, are adapted to the gender of the current monarch, with "King" replacing "Queen", "he" replacing "she", and so forth, when a king reigns...
has the line "rebellious Scots to crush!" The current Dutch national anthem has "To the King of Spain, I've granted a lifelong loyalty" as they were part of the Spanish NetherlandsSouthern NetherlandsSouthern Netherlands were a part of the Low Countries controlled by Spain , Austria and annexed by France...
350 years ago.
QI XL Extras:
- It is believed that the Mongol hordes amounted to 2,000,000 people, but they managed to kill 50,000,000 of their enemies. Their main advantage was that they had short bowsMongol bowThe Mongol bow is a recurved composite bow renowned for its military effectiveness. The old Mongolian bows that were used during the times of Genghis Khan were smaller than the modern weapons used at most Naadam festivals today. Modern Mongolian bows are larger and have string bridges...
that could be easily carried around in the saddleSaddleA saddle is a supportive structure for a rider or other load, fastened to an animal's back by a girth. The most common type is the equestrian saddle designed for a horse, but specialized saddles have been created for camels and other creatures...
s of their horseHorseThe horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
s, which they would ride on for days. - The world's driest lake is the Bonneville Salt Flats in UtahUtahUtah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
, famous for being the place where land speed records are set: so flat that you can actually see the curvature of the Earth. The world's smallest mountain range is the Sacramento MountainsSacramento Mountains (California)The Sacramento Mountains of California are southwest of Needles and form part of the towns west and southwest border; the range is east of the Piute Mountains and northwest of the Chemehuevi Mountains. The range lies in a northwest-southeasterly direction south of Interstate 40, and reach an...
of California. The world's wettest desert is the Sonoran DesertSonoran DesertThe Sonoran Desert is a North American desert which straddles part of the United States-Mexico border and covers large parts of the U.S. states of Arizona and California and the northwest Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur. It is one of the largest and hottest...
- Tangent: The official U.S. difference between a hill and a mountain is that mountains are at least 1,000 feet high from base to apex while in the UK it is 600 yards above sea levelSea levelMean sea level is a measure of the average height of the ocean's surface ; used as a standard in reckoning land elevation...
. The definition of a desert is that it's a place where more water is lost than falls. - Tangent: The Mediterranean was once the driest lake in the world, until, in the late MioceneMioceneThe Miocene is a geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about . The Miocene was named by Sir Charles Lyell. Its name comes from the Greek words and and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern sea invertebrates than the Pliocene. The Miocene follows the Oligocene...
era six million years ago, the water from the Atlantic Ocean came over the Rock of GibraltarRock of GibraltarThe Rock of Gibraltar is a monolithic limestone promontory located in Gibraltar, off the southwestern tip of Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. It is high...
, which caused the Mediterranean to flood and the Rock of Gibraltar to crumble. - Tangent: Barbary monkeysBarbary MacaqueThe Barbary Macaque , or Common macaque, is a macaque with no tail. Found in the Atlas Mountains of Algeria and Morocco with a small population, of unknown origin, in Gibraltar, the Barbary Macaque is one of the best-known Old World monkey species. Besides humans, they are the only primates that...
are actually miscalled Barbary apes.- GlacierGlacierA glacier is a large persistent body of ice that forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. At least 0.1 km² in area and 50 m thick, but often much larger, a glacier slowly deforms and flows due to stresses induced by its weight...
s (otherwise known as ice floesSea iceSea ice is largely formed from seawater that freezes. Because the oceans consist of saltwater, this occurs below the freezing point of pure water, at about -1.8 °C ....
); - One has been found that is 250 miles long, 60 miles wide, and one mile deep.
- The bits that break off from glaciers are known as calves.
- They can travel up to 65 feet a day, although one in Pakistan did seven and a half miles in three months.
- One was spotted on a mountain near UgandaUgandaUganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
and the CongoDemocratic Republic of the CongoThe Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...
.
- Glacier
- *The only things that live in glaciers are ice wormIce wormIce worms are species of the worm genus Mesenchytraeus that live in glacial ice. They include Mesenchytraeus solifugus, M. harrimani, M. kuril, M. maculatus and M. obscurus....
s, which live on red algaeWatermelon snowWatermelon snow, also called snow algae, red snow, or blood snow, is snow that is reddish or pink in color, with the slight scent of a fresh watermelon. Watermelon snow is caused by the presence mainly of Chlamydomonas nivalis, a species of green algae containing a secondary red carotenoid pigment ...
. In one glacier they found more worms within than there are people living on the planet. - Tangent: There are no snakeSnakeSnakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales...
s in Ireland because of glaciation, as snakes can't survive in freezing temperatures.- Since 1856, the United States has the legal rightGuano Islands ActThe Guano Islands Act is federal legislation passed by the U.S. Congress, on August 18, 1856. It enables citizens of the U.S. to take possession of islands containing guano deposits. The islands can be located anywhere, so long as they are not occupied and not within the jurisdiction of other...
to seize any territory where there is a supply of guanoGuanoGuano is the excrement of seabirds, cave dwelling bats, and seals. Guano manure is an effective fertilizer due to its high levels of phosphorus and nitrogen and also its lack of odor. It was an important source of nitrates for gunpowder...
(forfeit: oil), which is the droppings of birds who have eaten anchoviesAnchovyAnchovies are a family of small, common salt-water forage fish. There are 144 species in 17 genera, found in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans. Anchovies are usually classified as an oily fish.-Description:...
in PeruPeruPeru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
. In the 19th century guano was as valuable as goldGoldGold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
: it was used as a very rich fertilizerFertilizerFertilizer is any organic or inorganic material of natural or synthetic origin that is added to a soil to supply one or more plant nutrients essential to the growth of plants. A recent assessment found that about 40 to 60% of crop yields are attributable to commercial fertilizer use...
.
- Since 1856, the United States has the legal right
- Tangent: Guano once contributed 75% of the economy of Peru.
- Tangent: Its properties were first discovered by the aforementioned Alexander von Humboldt.
- Tangent: It takes 5lbs of anchovies to make 1lb of farmed salmonSalmonSalmon is the common name for several species of fish in the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the same family are called trout; the difference is often said to be that salmon migrate and trout are resident, but this distinction does not strictly hold true...
. - Tangent: The fourth best-selling book of all-time, Green Eggs and HamGreen Eggs and HamGreen Eggs and Ham is a best-selling and critically acclaimed book by Dr. Seuss, first published on August 12, 1960. As of 2001, according to Publishers Weekly, it was the fourth-best-selling English-language children's book of all time....
, has a vocabulary of only 50 words.- In the James BondJames BondJames Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
novel, Dr. No, Dr. No dies at the end.
- In the James Bond
Episode 5 "Groovy" (Christmas Special)
Broadcast date:- 24 December 2009
- 29 December 2009 (XL edition)
- 21 April 2010 (ABC1 airing/iView upload)
Recording date:
- 28 May 2009
Panellists:
- Alan DaviesAlan DaviesAlan Davies is an English comedian, writer and actor best known for starring in the TV mystery series Jonathan Creek and as the permanent panellist on the TV panel show QI.- Early life :...
(Winner with 5 points) - Bill BaileyBill BaileyBill Bailey is an English comedian, musician and actor. As well as his extensive stand-up work, Bailey is well known for his appearances on Black Books, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Have I Got News for You, and QI.Bailey was listed by The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy in...
(−6 points) - Lee MackLee MackLee Gordon McKillop is an English stand-up comedian and actor, known by the stage name Lee Mack. He is well known in the United Kingdom for writing and starring in the sitcom Not Going Out, for being a team captain on Would I Lie to You? and for hosting Lee Mack's All Star Cast.-Personal life:Mack...
(−29 points) - David TennantDavid TennantDavid Tennant is a Scottish actor. In addition to his work in theatre, including a widely praised Hamlet, Tennant is best known for his role as the tenth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, along with the title role in the 2005 TV serial Casanova and as Barty Crouch, Jr...
(−4 points)
Buzzers:
- Lee – It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like ChristmasIt's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas"It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" is a classic Christmas song written in 1951 by Meredith Willson. The song was originally titled "It's Beginning to Look Like Christmas"...
- Bill – Merry Xmas EverybodyMerry Xmas Everybody"Merry Xmas Everybody" is a 1973 song by the English rock band Slade. Written by lead vocalist and guitarist Noddy Holder and bassist Jim Lea, and produced by Chas Chandler, it was the band's sixth number-one single in the UK...
by SladeSladeSlade are an English rock band from Wolverhampton, who rose to prominence during the glam rock era of the early 1970s. With 17 consecutive Top 20 hits and six number ones, the British Hit Singles & Albums names them as the most successful British group of the 1970s based on sales of singles... - David – Last ChristmasLast Christmas"Last Christmas" is a song by British pop duo Wham!, released on Epic Records in 1984, on a double A-side with "Everything She Wants". It was written by George Michael, one half of the duo...
by Wham!WHAM!Wham! were a short-lived British musical duo formed by George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley in the early 1980s. They were briefly known in the United States as Wham! UK due to a naming conflict with an American band.... - Alan – Hava NagilaHava Nagila"Hava Nagila" is a Hebrew folk song that has become a staple of band performers at Jewish weddings and Bar/Bat Mitzvahs.-History:...
Theme:
- The studio is decorated with silverSilverSilver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
Christmas decorations.
Topics:
- Buttercup the QI cowPantomime horseA pantomime horse is atheatrical representation of a horse or other quadruped by two actors in a single costume who cooperate and synchronize their movements...
demonstrates the way a certain animal walks: with both right feet moving at the same time, then both left feet at the same time. The only animals that walk like this are giraffeGiraffeThe giraffe is an African even-toed ungulate mammal, the tallest of all extant land-living animal species, and the largest ruminant...
s and camelCamelA camel is an even-toed ungulate within the genus Camelus, bearing distinctive fatty deposits known as humps on its back. There are two species of camels: the dromedary or Arabian camel has a single hump, and the bactrian has two humps. Dromedaries are native to the dry desert areas of West Asia,...
s; cows and horseHorseThe horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
s walk with their front legs bending as they move forward. The first person to show how horses walk was Eadweard MuybridgeEadweard MuybridgeEadweard J. Muybridge was an English photographer who spent much of his life in the United States. He is known for his pioneering work on animal locomotion which used multiple cameras to capture motion, and his zoopraxiscope, a device for projecting motion pictures that pre-dated the flexible...
, the British cinematographer, in his book Animal Locomotion.
- Tangent: Muybridge murdered his love rival in cold blood. He became the first person in American legal forensic historyLaw of the United StatesThe law of the United States consists of many levels of codified and uncodified forms of law, of which the most important is the United States Constitution, the foundation of the federal government of the United States...
to claim insanityInsanityInsanity, craziness or madness is a spectrum of behaviors characterized by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity may manifest as violations of societal norms, including becoming a danger to themselves and others, though not all such acts are considered insanity...
as his defence for a murder charge.- People don't seem to mind queueQueue areaQueue areas are places in which people queue for goods or services. Examples include checking out groceries or other goods that have been collected in a self service shop, in a shop without self service, at an ATM, at a ticket desk, a city bus, or in a taxi stand.Queueing is a phenomenon in a...
bargersCutting (in line)Cutting in line, also known as line/queue jumping, butting, barging, budding, budging, skipping, ditching, breaking, shorting, or pushing in is the act of entering a queue or line at any position other than the end...
as much as you think. As proved by the Milgram experimentMilgram experimentThe Milgram experiment on obedience to authority figures was a series of notable social psychology experiments conducted by Yale University psychologist Stanley Milgram, which measured the willingness of study participants to obey an authority figure who instructed them to perform acts that...
as well as the Breaching experimentBreaching experimentIn the field of social psychology, a breaching experiment is an experiment that seeks to examine people's reactions to violations of commonly accepted social rules or norms. Breaching experiments are most commonly associated with ethnomethodology, and in particular the work of Harold Garfinkel...
, observing 129 lines in railway stations and betting shops. The experiments showed that on only 10% of occasions was a queue barger asked to leave or admonished, and that 50% of the time people only did as much as tut.
- People don't seem to mind queue
- Tangent: A discussion about lane mergers and bar-jumpers. In America, they refer to lane-merging as "like a zipZipperA zipper is a commonly used device for temporarily joining two edges of fabric...
!" - Tangent: David's annoyance at people with more than 5 items going in the "5 items or less" queue in supermarketSupermarketA supermarket, a form of grocery store, is a self-service store offering a wide variety of food and household merchandise, organized into departments...
s. - Tangent: During World War I, a tankTankA tank is a tracked, armoured fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat which combines operational mobility, tactical offensive, and defensive capabilities...
toured Britain to help raise money for the war effort.- Many words that were believed to have originated in the jazzJazzJazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
era, such as "cool", "groovy", "hip", "hep"Hip (slang)Hip is a slang term meaning fashionably current and in the know. Hip is the opposite of square or prude.Hip, like cool, does not refer to one specific quality. What is considered hip is continuously changing. The term hip is said to have originated in African American Vernacular English in the...
, "chick", "cat", "dude", "foxy" and "wicked" seem to have originated much earlier: as early as 1895 and as late as 1933. - A MormonMormonThe term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...
can only have one wife (forfeit: many). Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movementLatter Day Saint movementThe Latter Day Saint movement is a group of independent churches tracing their origin to a Christian primitivist movement founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. in the late 1820s. Collectively, these churches have over 14 million members...
, had a divine revelation which said that he could have as many wives as he liked, but this was stopped by the US government.
- Many words that were believed to have originated in the jazz
- Tangent: When a law was passed in America to make polygamy illegal, the head of the LDS Church had another divine revelation saying it should stop.
- Tangent: Discussion about The OsmondsThe OsmondsThe Osmonds are an American family music group with a long and varied career—a career that took them from singing barbershop music as children, to achieving success as teen-music idols, to producing a hit television show, and to continued success as solo and group performers...
(the world's most famous Mormons).
General Ignorance:
- The BeatlesThe BeatlesThe Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
album Help!Help! (album)Help! is the title of the fifth British and ninth American album by The Beatles, and the soundtrack from their film of the same name. Produced by George Martin for EMI's Parlophone Records, it contains fourteen songs in its original British form, of which seven appeared in the film...
features the group spelling out NUJV (forfeit: "Help") in flag semaphoreFlag semaphoreSemaphore Flags is the system for conveying information at a distance by means of visual signals with hand-held flags, rods, disks, paddles, or occasionally bare or gloved hands. Information is encoded by the position of the flags; it is read when the flag is in a fixed position...
on the front cover. The photographer Robert FreemanRobert Freeman (photographer)Robert Freeman is a photographer and designer, most famous for his album cover photos for The Beatles and his design work on the end credit sequences of their first two films and the related film posters and advertising materials....
wanted to spell out HELP, but he didn't like that arrangement visually.
- Tangent: This became one of the Beatles conspiracy theoriesConspiracy theoryA conspiracy theory explains an event as being the result of an alleged plot by a covert group or organization or, more broadly, the idea that important political, social or economic events are the products of secret plots that are largely unknown to the general public.-Usage:The term "conspiracy...
: some believed that NUJV stood for New Unknown JohnJohn LennonJohn Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
Vocalist. - Tangent: Another conspiracy theory is Paul McCartneyPaul McCartneySir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
being barefoot on the Abbey Road cover.- There is no connection (forfeit: drugs) between the songs Puff, the Magic DragonPuff, the Magic Dragon"Puff, the Magic Dragon" is a song written by Leonard Lipton and Peter Yarrow, and made popular by Yarrow's group Peter, Paul and Mary in a 1963 recording. The song achieved great popularity and has entered American and British pop culture.-Lyrics:...
and Lucy in the Sky with DiamondsLucy in the Sky with Diamonds"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" is a song written primarily by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney, for The Beatles' 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band...
.
- There is no connection (forfeit: drugs) between the songs Puff, the Magic Dragon
- Tangent: The origin of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds comes from a picture painted by Julian LennonJulian LennonJohn Charles Julian Lennon is an English musician, songwriter, actor, and photographer. He is the son of John Lennon and Lennon's first wife, Cynthia Powell. Beatles manager Brian Epstein was his godfather. He has a younger half-brother, Sean Lennon. Lennon was named after his paternal...
, at playgroup, of his friend Lucy. It wasn't until much later on that any of the Beatles realised that the initials of the title spelt out LSD.- Robert BurnsRobert BurnsRobert Burns was a Scottish poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide...
did not write Auld Lang Syne, it was a traditional song that he had written down. It was first mentioned in 1724, 35 years before Burns was born.
- Robert Burns
- Tangent: It's popular in the Far EastFar EastThe Far East is an English term mostly describing East Asia and Southeast Asia, with South Asia sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.The term came into use in European geopolitical discourse in the 19th century,...
; in Japan it's used daily to signal the closing of large department stores. - Tangent: Burns was never referred to as Robbie or Rabbie Burns. He preferred to use Robin, Rab or Robert.
QI XL Extras:
- Giraffe bicycles were used to light gas lampsGas lightingGas lighting is production of artificial light from combustion of a gaseous fuel, including hydrogen, methane, carbon monoxide, propane, butane, acetylene, ethylene, or natural gas. Before electricity became sufficiently widespread and economical to allow for general public use, gas was the most...
.
- Tangent: The penny-farthingPenny-farthingPenny-farthing, high wheel, high wheeler, and ordinary are all terms used to describe a type of bicycle with a large front wheel and a much smaller rear wheel that was popular after the boneshaker, until the development of the safety bicycle, in the 1880s...
was known as an ordinary bicycleBicycleA bicycle, also known as a bike, pushbike or cycle, is a human-powered, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A person who rides a bicycle is called a cyclist, or bicyclist....
in its day. Most bikes in the old days were considerably taller than the bikes of today. The first regular-sized bikes with chain driveChain driveChain drive is a way of transmitting mechanical power from one place to another. It is often used to convey power to the wheels of a vehicle, particularly bicycles and motorcycles...
mechanisms were known as dwarf safeties. The Clark brothers built a tall bike, known as a "flood bike", that could ride through floodwater. - Tangent: Nowadays, many tall bikes are used in joustingJoustingJousting is a martial game or hastilude between two knights mounted on horses and using lances, often as part of a tournament.Jousting emerged in the High Middle Ages based on the military use of the lance by heavy cavalry. The first camels tournament was staged in 1066, but jousting itself did not...
, whereby lanceLanceA Lance is a pole weapon or spear designed to be used by a mounted warrior. The lance is longer, stout and heavier than an infantry spear, and unsuited for throwing, or for rapid thrusting. Lances did not have tips designed to intentionally break off or bend, unlike many throwing weapons of the...
s would be attached to the bikes.- Up until July 2008, it was legal to smoke tobaccoTobaccoTobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
in Dutch coffee shops or libraries. Mixing tobacco with cannabisCannabisCannabis is a genus of flowering plants that includes three putative species, Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica, and Cannabis ruderalis. These three taxa are indigenous to Central Asia, and South Asia. Cannabis has long been used for fibre , for seed and seed oils, for medicinal purposes, and as a...
would have resulted in a fine.
- Up until July 2008, it was legal to smoke tobacco
- Tangent: The first smoking banSmoking banSmoking bans are public policies, including criminal laws and occupational safety and health regulations, which prohibit tobacco smoking in workplaces and/or other public spaces...
took place in Nazi GermanyNazi GermanyNazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
in 1933. Adolf HitlerAdolf HitlerAdolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
referred to smoking as "the wrath of the Red Indian ManNative Americans in the United StatesNative Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
against the White Man, for having been given hard liquor." He even suggested that NazismNazismNazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
might not have worked had he not given up smoking. - Tangent: The earliest known smoking ban was in 1640 when Czar Michael of RussiaMichael of RussiaMikhail I Fyodorovich Romanov Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov was the first Russian Tsar of the house of Romanov. He was the son of Feodor Nikitich Romanov and Xenia...
declared it a "deadly sin". People who did it were flogged and had their lips slit. James I of EnglandJames I of EnglandJames VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
wrote a pamphletPamphletA pamphlet is an unbound booklet . It may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths , or it may consist of a few pages that are folded in half and saddle stapled at the crease to make a simple book...
about smoking called "A Counterblaste to TobaccoA Counterblaste to TobaccoA Counterblaste to Tobacco is a treatise written by King James VI of Scotland and I of England in 1604, in which he expresses his distaste for tobacco, particularly tobacco smoking. As such, it is one of the earliest anti-tobacco publications....
", in which he damned tobacco, mainly citing it as being bad for the eyes, lungs and nose. - Tangent: Lee accidentally ate a hash brownie in AmsterdamAmsterdamAmsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
. - Tangent: Fly agaricAmanita muscariaAmanita muscaria, commonly known as the fly agaric or fly amanita , is a poisonous and psychoactive basidiomycete fungus, one of many in the genus Amanita...
mushrooms in SiberiaSiberiaSiberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
are eaten by reindeerReindeerThe reindeer , also known as the caribou in North America, is a deer from the Arctic and Subarctic, including both resident and migratory populations. While overall widespread and numerous, some of its subspecies are rare and one has already gone extinct.Reindeer vary considerably in color and size...
, and it makes them bounce around. It's believed that's where the idea of the flying reindeer came from. It's highly toxic to humans, so they would drinkDrinkingDrinking is the act of consuming water or a beverage through the mouth. Water is required for many of life’s physiological processes. Both excessive and inadequate water intake are associated with health problems.-Physiology:...
the urineUrineUrine is a typically sterile liquid by-product of the body that is secreted by the kidneys through a process called urination and excreted through the urethra. Cellular metabolism generates numerous by-products, many rich in nitrogen, that require elimination from the bloodstream...
of the reindeer to avoid the poison.- BookBookA book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of hot lava, paper, parchment, or other materials, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf or leaflet, and each side of a leaf is called a page...
sniffing is when you sniff an ageing book that grows mildewMildewMildew refers to certain kinds of molds or fungi.In Old English, it meant honeydew , and later came to mean mildew in the modern sense of mold or fungus....
, mould and fungi on it. One of these fungi is hallucinogenicPsychedelics, dissociatives and deliriantsThis general group of pharmacological agents can be divided into three broad categories: psychedelics, dissociatives, and deliriants. These classes of psychoactive drugs have in common that they can cause subjective changes in perception, thought, emotion and consciousness...
, which is claimed to have affected many scholars and antiquarianAntiquarianAn antiquarian or antiquary is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient objects of art or science, archaeological and historic sites, or historic archives and manuscripts...
s. Books rot faster because the paper rots into an acidAcidAn acid is a substance which reacts with a base. Commonly, acids can be identified as tasting sour, reacting with metals such as calcium, and bases like sodium carbonate. Aqueous acids have a pH of less than 7, where an acid of lower pH is typically stronger, and turn blue litmus paper red...
that makes them rot even faster.
- Book
- Tangent: The correct term for the magic mushroom is psilocybinPsilocybinPsilocybin is a naturally occurring psychedelic prodrug, with mind-altering effects similar to those of LSD and mescaline, after it is converted to psilocin. The effects can include altered thinking processes, perceptual distortions, an altered sense of time, and spiritual experiences, as well as...
. Experiments involving magic mushrooms seem to try and prove that some religious experiencesReligionReligion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
are based on hallucinationHallucinationA hallucination, in the broadest sense of the word, is a perception in the absence of a stimulus. In a stricter sense, hallucinations are defined as perceptions in a conscious and awake state in the absence of external stimuli which have qualities of real perception, in that they are vivid,...
s. - Tangent: Magic mushrooms were re-discovered by Albert HofmannAlbert HofmannAlbert Hofmann was a Swiss scientist known best for being the first person to synthesize, ingest and learn of the psychedelic effects of lysergic acid diethylamide . He authored more than 100 scientific articles and a number of books, including LSD: My Problem Child...
. He more famously discovered LSD. To test it, he took what he thought was a small dose, but it turned out to be a thousand times more potent than he expected. He described his experience as if he were demonically possessed. It was also believed that Hofmann was involved in a CIACentral Intelligence AgencyThe Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
operation known as Project MKULTRAProject MKULTRAProject MKULTRA, or MK-ULTRA, was the code name for a covert, illegal CIA human experimentation program, run by the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence. This official U.S. government program began in the early 1950s, continued at least through the late 1960s, and used U.S...
, which tried to see if LSD could be used as a truth drug.
Episode 6 "Genius"
Broadcast date:- 1 January 2010
- 2 January 2010 (XL edition)
- 28 April 2010 (ABC1 airing/iView upload)
Recording date:
- 21 May 2009
Panellists:
- Alan DaviesAlan DaviesAlan Davies is an English comedian, writer and actor best known for starring in the TV mystery series Jonathan Creek and as the permanent panellist on the TV panel show QI.- Early life :...
(winner with 4 points) - David MitchellDavid Mitchell (actor)David James Stuart Mitchell is a British actor, comedian and writer. He is half of the comedy duo Mitchell and Webb, alongside Robert Webb, whom he met at Cambridge University. There they were both part of the Cambridge Footlights, of which Mitchell became President. Together the duo star in the...
(−8 points) - Graham NortonGraham NortonGraham William Walker, known by his stage name Graham Norton , is an Irish actor, comedian, television presenter and columnist...
(−19 points) - Dara Ó BriainDara Ó BriainDara Ó Briain is an Irish stand-up comedian and television presenter, noted for hosting topical panel shows such as The Panel and Mock the Week....
(−7 points)
Buzzers:
- Dara – University ChallengeUniversity ChallengeUniversity Challenge is a British quiz programme that has aired since 1962. The format is based on the American show College Bowl, which ran on NBC radio from 1953 to 1957, and on NBC television from 1959 to 1970....
style intro: "University College DublinUniversity College DublinUniversity College Dublin ) - formally known as University College Dublin - National University of Ireland, Dublin is the Republic of Ireland's largest, and Ireland's second largest, university, with over 1,300 faculty and 17,000 students...
, Ó Briain" - David – University Challenge style intro: "Peterhouse, CambridgePeterhouse, CambridgePeterhouse is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. It is the oldest college of the University, having been founded in 1284 by Hugo de Balsham, Bishop of Ely...
, Mitchell" - Graham – University Challenge style intro: "University College Cork, Norton"
- Alan – "Can I have a P please, Bob?" (Later changes to "The doctor'll see you NOW!")
Theme:
- Each of the panellists are seen wearing stereotypical 'nerdNerdNerd is a derogatory slang term for an intelligent but socially awkward and obsessive person who spends time on unpopular or obscure pursuits, to the exclusion of more mainstream activities. Nerds are considered to be awkward, shy, and unattractive...
y glassesGlassesGlasses, also known as eyeglasses , spectacles or simply specs , are frames bearing lenses worn in front of the eyes. They are normally used for vision correction or eye protection. Safety glasses are a kind of eye protection against flying debris or against visible and near visible light or...
' at the start of the show, whereas Alan has some coke-bottle ones.
Topics:
- The nostrils control your ability to do certain tasks. By blocking the left nostril you should be better at being able to do visual and spatial things, whereas, if the right nostril is blocked, you should be better at being able to do verbalLanguageLanguage may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
things. According to the Spielberger State Anxiety Inventory, the right nostril makes you more emotionally negative as well.
- Tangent: Athletes usually wear a nasal strip while playing sports, which means they are at their most verbally dextrous
- Graham's numberGraham's numberGraham's number, named after Ronald Graham, is a large number that is an upper bound on the solution to a certain problem in Ramsey theory.The number gained a degree of popular attention when Martin Gardner described it in the "Mathematical Games" section of Scientific American in November 1977,...
, a number devised by Ronald GrahamRonald GrahamRonald Lewis Graham is a mathematician credited by the American Mathematical Society as being "one of the principal architects of the rapid development worldwide of discrete mathematics in recent years"...
, which is so big that all the material in the universe couldn't make enough inkInkInk is a liquid or paste that contains pigments and/or dyes and is used to color a surface to produce an image, text, or design. Ink is used for drawing and/or writing with a pen, brush, or quill...
to write it out, but scientists know that it ends in a "7" - Children find IQ test easier is because they do more problem solvingProblem solvingProblem solving is a mental process and is part of the larger problem process that includes problem finding and problem shaping. Consideredthe most complex of all intellectual functions, problem solving has been defined as higher-order cognitive process that requires the modulation and control of...
in life than their parents did
- Graham's number
- Tangent: The Flynn effectFlynn effectThe Flynn effect is the name given to a substantial and long-sustained increase in intelligence test scores measured in many parts of the world. When intelligence quotient tests are initially standardized using a sample of test-takers, by convention the average of the test results is set to 100...
was designed to try and bring the scores up above the IQ of 70, because in America you cannot be executed for a capital crimeCapital punishmentCapital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
if your IQ was below normal- GeniusGeniusGenius is something or someone embodying exceptional intellectual ability, creativity, or originality, typically to a degree that is associated with the achievement of unprecedented insight....
es might be bred through eugenicsEugenicsEugenics is the "applied science or the bio-social movement which advocates the use of practices aimed at improving the genetic composition of a population", usually referring to human populations. The origins of the concept of eugenics began with certain interpretations of Mendelian inheritance,...
, a form of selective human breeding, which was also used by the Nazis.
- Genius
- Tangent: Someone who sort of bred a genius was Leonardo da VinciLeonardo da VinciLeonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
's brother Bartolomeo - Tangent: Graham talks about the time that he hosted an American game show and a female contestant said that her father was a serial killerSerial killerA serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
.- The first animal to be cloned was a sea urchinSea urchinSea urchins or urchins are small, spiny, globular animals which, with their close kin, such as sand dollars, constitute the class Echinoidea of the echinoderm phylum. They inhabit all oceans. Their shell, or "test", is round and spiny, typically from across. Common colors include black and dull...
, which was cloned in 1885 by the German DrieschHans Adolf Eduard DrieschHans Adolf Eduard Driesch was a German biologist and philosopher from Bad Kreuznach. He is most noted for his early experimental work in embryology and for his neo-vitalist philosophy of entelechy. He is also credited with performing the first cloning of an animal in the 1880s.-Early years:Driesch...
.
- The first animal to be cloned was a sea urchin
- Tangent: In 1902 Hans SpemannHans SpemannHans Spemann was a German embryologist who was awarded a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1935 for his discovery of the effect now known as embryonic induction, an influence, exercised by various parts of the embryo, that directs the development of groups of cells into particular tissues...
cloned a salamanderSalamanderSalamander is a common name of approximately 500 species of amphibians. They are typically characterized by a superficially lizard-like appearance, with their slender bodies, short noses, and long tails. All known fossils and extinct species fall under the order Caudata, while sometimes the extant...
. Dolly the sheep was cloned in 1996, she was named after Dolly PartonDolly PartonDolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk...
, because the cells came from a mammary glandMammary glandA mammary gland is an organ in mammals that produces milk to feed young offspring. Mammals get their name from the word "mammary". In ruminants such as cows, goats, and deer, the mammary glands are contained in their udders...
. - Tangent: The first cloned cat came from the cat, RainbowRainbowA rainbow is an optical and meteorological phenomenon that causes a spectrum of light to appear in the sky when the Sun shines on to droplets of moisture in the Earth's atmosphere. It takes the form of a multicoloured arc...
, but its clone looked nothing like the original. It was called CCCC (cat)CC, for "CopyCat" or "Carbon Copy" , is a brown tabby and white domestic shorthair and the first cloned pet. CC's surrogate mother was a tabby, but her genetic donor, Rainbow, was a calico domestic shorthair...
, which was short for "CopyCat". The first clone dog was the South Korean dog, SnuppySnuppySnuppy is an Afghan hound, credited with being the world's first cloned dog. The puppy was created using the cell of an ear from an adult Afghan hound and involved 123 surrogate mothers, of which only three produced pups...
.
General Ignorance:
- Red blood cellRed blood cellRed blood cells are the most common type of blood cell and the vertebrate organism's principal means of delivering oxygen to the body tissues via the blood flow through the circulatory system...
s regenerate every 120 days, your liverLiverThe liver is a vital organ present in vertebrates and some other animals. It has a wide range of functions, including detoxification, protein synthesis, and production of biochemicals necessary for digestion...
regenerates every 300–500 days, the entire human skeletonHuman skeletonThe human skeleton consists of both fused and individual bones supported and supplemented by ligaments, tendons, muscles and cartilage. It serves as a scaffold which supports organs, anchors muscles, and protects organs such as the brain, lungs and heart....
is replaced every 10 years (Forfeits: Dara – 37; David – 34; Graham – 46) - The Church of EnglandChurch of EnglandThe Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
thought nothing much of Charles DarwinCharles DarwinCharles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
's theory of evolution. By the time it was publishedPublishingPublishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information—the activity of making information available to the general public...
, it was the biggest selling book of all time.
- Tangent: Darwin was one of 5 non-royal people to have be buried at Westminster AbbeyWestminster AbbeyThe Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
.- Dr Michael Gershon discovered that the gut has an enteric nervous systemEnteric nervous systemThe enteric nervous system is a subdivision of the autonomic nervous system that directly controls the gastrointestinal system in vertebrates.It is derived from neural crest.-Function:...
, which can work perfectly if all connections to the brain in your head are severed.
- Dr Michael Gershon discovered that the gut has an enteric nervous system
QI XL Extras:
- There is no proof that making babies listen to music like MozartWolfgang Amadeus MozartWolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
makes them brainier.
- Tangent: Mozart was so talented at a young age that he regularly entertained for people in the House of BourbonHouse of BourbonThe House of Bourbon is a European royal house, a branch of the Capetian dynasty . Bourbon kings first ruled Navarre and France in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Bourbon dynasty also held thrones in Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Parma...
and the House of HohenzollernHouse of HohenzollernThe House of Hohenzollern is a noble family and royal dynasty of electors, kings and emperors of Prussia, Germany and Romania. It originated in the area around the town of Hechingen in Swabia during the 11th century. They took their name from their ancestral home, the Burg Hohenzollern castle near...
. - Tangent: "Thomas LinleyThomas Linley the youngerThomas Linley the younger was the eldest son of the composer Thomas Linley the elder and his wife Mary Johnson. He was one of the most precocious composers and performers that have been known in England, and became known as the "English Mozart".-Early life:Linley's abilities were apparent from a...
played a concertoConcertoA concerto is a musical work usually composed in three parts or movements, in which one solo instrument is accompanied by an orchestra.The etymology is uncertain, but the word seems to have originated from the conjunction of the two Latin words...
at a younger age than Mozart did, died aged 22 when he drownedDrowningDrowning is death from asphyxia due to suffocation caused by water entering the lungs and preventing the absorption of oxygen leading to cerebral hypoxia....
. - Tangent: MensaMensa InternationalMensa is the largest and oldest high-IQ society in the world. It is a non-profit organization open to people who score at the 98th percentile or higher on a standardised, supervised IQ or other approved intelligence test...
is LatinLatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
for "table"- The Last Supper is decaying badly because Leonardo paintPaintPaint is any liquid, liquefiable, or mastic composition which after application to a substrate in a thin layer is converted to an opaque solid film. One may also consider the digital mimicry thereof...
ed it on dry plasterPlasterPlaster is a building material used for coating walls and ceilings. Plaster starts as a dry powder similar to mortar or cement and like those materials it is mixed with water to form a paste which liberates heat and then hardens. Unlike mortar and cement, plaster remains quite soft after setting,...
. The bottom of it was destroyed, so a door was put in at the point where Jesus' legs would've been.
- The Last Supper is decaying badly because Leonardo paint
- Tangent: If da Vinci's helicopter had been built, it wouldn't have worked.
- Tongue rolling has nothing to do with geneticsGeneticsGenetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of genes, heredity, and variation in living organisms....
. There is a similar connection with the connection between the smell of your urine after eating asparagusAsparagusAsparagus officinalis is a spring vegetable, a flowering perennialplant species in the genus Asparagus. It was once classified in the lily family, like its Allium cousins, onions and garlic, but the Liliaceae have been split and the onion-like plants are now in the family Amaryllidaceae and...
. It used to be known as "housemaid's despair".
- Tongue rolling has nothing to do with genetics
General Ignorance:
- Charles CruftCharles CruftCharles Alfred Cruft was a British showman who founded Crufts dog show.He was educated at Ardingly College, and upon leaving became the general manager of James Spratt, dog biscuit manufacturer...
owned a petPetA pet is a household animal kept for companionship and a person's enjoyment, as opposed to wild animals or to livestock, laboratory animals, working animals or sport animals, which are kept for economic or productive reasons. The most popular pets are noted for their loyal or playful...
cat and never really cared for dogs.
- Tangent: "Dog cakes", cat showCat showA cat show is a judged event where the owners of cats compete to win titles in various cat registering organizations by entering their cats to be judged after a breed standard. Both pedigreed and companion cats are admissible, although the rules differ from organization to organization...
s, CruftsCruftsCrufts is an annual international Championship conformation show for dogs organised and hosted by the Kennel Club, currently held every March at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, England. It is the largest annual dog show in the world, as declared by Guinness World Records, and lasts...
and TV coverage of golfGolfGolf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
.
Episode 7 "Girls and Boys"
Broadcast date:- 8 January 2010
- 9 January 2010 (XL edition)
- 5 May 2010 (ABC1 airing/iView upload)
Recording date:
- 29 May 2009
Panellists:
- Boys total: -5 points
- Alan DaviesAlan DaviesAlan Davies is an English comedian, writer and actor best known for starring in the TV mystery series Jonathan Creek and as the permanent panellist on the TV panel show QI.- Early life :...
(Unknown score) - Jack DeeJack DeeJames Andrew Innes "Jack" Dee is an English stand-up comedian, actor and writer known for his sardonic, curmudgeonly, and deadpan style.-Early life:...
(Unknown score)
- Alan Davies
- Girls total: 8 points
- Ronni AnconaRonni AnconaRonni Ancona is a Scottish actress, impressionist and author. Ancona won the Best TV Comedy Actress award at the 2003 British Comedy Awards for her work in Big Impression.- Career :...
(3 points) - Sandi ToksvigSandi ToksvigSandra Brigitte “Sandi” Toksvig is a Danish comedian, author and presenter on British radio and television.-Career:...
(5 points)
- Ronni Ancona
Buzzers:
- Sandi – A woman singing a rising and falling scale
- Ronni – A harpHarpThe harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
glissandoGlissandoIn music, a glissando is a glide from one pitch to another. It is an Italianized musical term derived from the French glisser, to glide. In some contexts it is distinguished from the continuous portamento... - Jack – A wolf-whistleWolf-whistlingWolf-whistling or finger whistling is a type of whistling in which fingers are inserted in the mouth to produce a louder and more penetrating tone....
- Alan – A man shouting, "'Ello darlin'!"
Topics:
- Up until the 20th century, baby boys wore pink and baby girls wore blue. Boys at that time were also referred to as girls. In 1900, Dressmaker Magazine said "The preferred colourColorColor or colour is the visual perceptual property corresponding in humans to the categories called red, green, blue and others. Color derives from the spectrum of light interacting in the eye with the spectral sensitivities of the light receptors...
to dress young boys in is pink. Blue is reserved for girls as it is presumed paler and the more dainty of the two colours, and pink is thought to be stronger". In 1927, Princess Astrid of BelgiumAstrid of SwedenAstrid of Sweden was Queen of the Belgians as the wife of King Leopold III.-Early life:Princess Astrid of Sweden was born in Stockholm on 17 November 1905...
caused controversy when she gave birth to a girl, as "the cradle had been optimistically outfitted in pink, the colour for boys". It was believed that blue was more serene and paler, hence it was used for girls. Up until the mid-15th century, all children were referred to as girls. Boys were known as "knave girls" and girls were known as "gay girls". Only in recent times, has calling a boy been referred to a male child, before that it meant a servant.
- Tangent: Female monkeyMonkeyA monkey is a primate, either an Old World monkey or a New World monkey. There are about 260 known living species of monkey. Many are arboreal, although there are species that live primarily on the ground, such as baboons. Monkeys are generally considered to be intelligent. Unlike apes, monkeys...
s are attracted to pink because of the pink faces of the young primates. - Tangent: It's believed that if someone is picking up a child, that's not theirs, if the child is dressed in pink, they'd be hugged inwards, and if the child is dressed in blue, they'd be hugged outwards.
- Tangent: An experimentExperimentAn experiment is a methodical procedure carried out with the goal of verifying, falsifying, or establishing the validity of a hypothesis. Experiments vary greatly in their goal and scale, but always rely on repeatable procedure and logical analysis of the results...
with baby chimpanzeeChimpanzeeChimpanzee, sometimes colloquially chimp, is the common name for the two extant species of ape in the genus Pan. The Congo River forms the boundary between the native habitat of the two species:...
s showed that when given the choice of which toy to play with, either a toy truck or a doll, the baby boys all chose the truck and the baby girls all chose the doll. - Tangent: The traje de luces, the suit worn by a torero (a matador) in a bullfightBullfightingBullfighting is a traditional spectacle of Spain, Portugal, southern France and some Latin American countries , in which one or more bulls are baited in a bullring for sport and entertainment...
, is often pink. It means "suit of light". - Tangent: Pink doesn't appear on the spectrumSpectrumA spectrum is a condition that is not limited to a specific set of values but can vary infinitely within a continuum. The word saw its first scientific use within the field of optics to describe the rainbow of colors in visible light when separated using a prism; it has since been applied by...
, it's an extra-spectral colour. It's said that girls head towards the red side of a rainbowRainbowA rainbow is an optical and meteorological phenomenon that causes a spectrum of light to appear in the sky when the Sun shines on to droplets of moisture in the Earth's atmosphere. It takes the form of a multicoloured arc...
, whereas boys head towards the blue sky. - Tangent: It's also believed that nine-tenths of the food collected by hunter-gathererHunter-gathererA hunter-gatherer or forage society is one in which most or all food is obtained from wild plants and animals, in contrast to agricultural societies which rely mainly on domesticated species. Hunting and gathering was the ancestral subsistence mode of Homo, and all modern humans were...
s were provided by women.- At the moment, it's believed that the best way to get a baby girl is to have a low-calorie dietCalorie restrictionCaloric restriction , or calorie restriction, is a dietary regimen that restricts calorie intake, where the baseline for the restriction varies, usually being the previous, unrestricted, intake of the subjects...
. A study was done and out of 100 people who had had a high-calorie diet, 56 gave birth to a boy. Women who had at least one bowlBowl (vessel)A bowl is a common open-top container used in many cultures to serve food, and is also used for drinking and storing other items. They are typically small and shallow, although some, such as punch bowls and salad bowls, are larger and often intended to serve many people.Bowls have existed for...
of breakfast cereal a day were 87% more likely to have a boy than women who ate no more than one bowl a week. On average, women who had boys had roughly 400 more calories daily than those who had girls. Women who were infectedInfectionAn infection is the colonization of a host organism by parasite species. Infecting parasites seek to use the host's resources to reproduce, often resulting in disease...
with Hepatitis B were 1½ times more likely to have a boy. The only known certain way is by embryo selectionPreimplantation genetic diagnosisIn medicine and genetics pre-implantation genetic diagnosis refers to procedures that are performed on embryos prior to implantation, sometimes even on oocytes prior to fertilization. PGD is considered another way to prenatal diagnosis...
, which is popular in America and ThailandThailandThailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
. It costs around US$18,000. AristotleAristotleAristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
believed that the diet of the mother and the sex position at conception made the difference. AnaxagorasAnaxagorasAnaxagoras was a Pre-Socratic Greek philosopher. Born in Clazomenae in Asia Minor, Anaxagoras was the first philosopher to bring philosophy from Ionia to Athens. He attempted to give a scientific account of eclipses, meteors, rainbows, and the sun, which he described as a fiery mass larger than...
thought that boys and girls came from different testicleTesticleThe testicle is the male gonad in animals. Like the ovaries to which they are homologous, testes are components of both the reproductive system and the endocrine system...
s, so if you tied up one testicle, it would guarantee you the other one. The TalmudTalmudThe Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
suggest lining up the bed north-south before sex, if you want a boy. The French suggest wearing boots to bed would get you a boy.
- At the moment, it's believed that the best way to get a baby girl is to have a low-calorie diet
- Tangent: Alan tells the story of an English couple who went to Thailand to have their baby. A Thai woman told them, "if you look lovely when you're pregnantPregnancyPregnancy refers to the fertilization and development of one or more offspring, known as a fetus or embryo, in a woman's uterus. In a pregnancy, there can be multiple gestations, as in the case of twins or triplets...
, you have girl, if you look tired and ugly, dress badly, you have baby boy." She then asked what she thought she'd have and the Thai woman replied, "Boy", and she had a baby boy. - Tangent: Sandi tells of the time when her son brought a friend round and he asked "What's it like having two mummies?", he replied, "It's marvellous, if one of them's poorly, you've still got one to do for you".
- The reason that there are fewer female guests on QIQIQI is a British comedy panel game television quiz show created and co-produced by John Lloyd, hosted by Stephen Fry, and featuring permanent panellist Alan Davies. Most of the questions are extremely obscure, making it unlikely that the correct answer will be given...
is because women laugh less at other women, despite the fact that they laugh more than men, although audiences in general laugh more at men. It is believed that men make prats of themselves more often than women, although Lucille BallLucille BallLucille Désirée Ball was an American comedian, film, television, stage and radio actress, model, film and television executive, and star of the sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life With Lucy...
and Goldie HawnGoldie HawnGoldie Jeanne Hawn is an American actress, film director, producer, and occasional singer. Hawn is known for her roles in Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, Private Benjamin, Foul Play, Overboard, Bird on a Wire, Death Becomes Her, The First Wives Club, and Cactus Flower, for which she won the 1969...
are two examples of women who can do that. As stand-up comedyStand-up comedyStand-up comedy is a comedic art form. Usually, a comedian performs in front of a live audience, speaking directly to them. Their performances are sometimes filmed for later release via DVD, the internet, and television...
was getting more popular during the 1980s, women portray women, but men didn't portray men, so women treated themselves as a minority, even though they are 51% of the population. Germaine GreerGermaine GreerGermaine Greer is an Australian writer, academic, journalist and scholar of early modern English literature, widely regarded as one of the most significant feminist voices of the later 20th century....
famously said, "there are only two things that women don't do as well as men, and that's design dresses and cook" considering that nearly all the great chefs and couturierCouturierA couturier is an establishment or person involved in the clothing fashion industry who makes original garments to order for private clients. A couturier may make what is known as haute couture. Such a person usually hires patternmakers and machinists for garment production, and is either employed...
s are men, whereas it was the traditional role of women to cooks and sew. - In China, Nü ShuNü ShuNüshu , is a syllabic script, a simplification of Chinese characters that was used exclusively among women in Jiangyong County in Hunan province of southern China.-Language:...
is a form of writingWritingWriting is the representation of language in a textual medium through the use of a set of signs or symbols . It is distinguished from illustration, such as cave drawing and painting, and non-symbolic preservation of language via non-textual media, such as magnetic tape audio.Writing most likely...
devised in Jiangyong CountyJiangyong CountyJiangyong County is a county located in the southwestern part of the prefecture of Yongzhou in Hunan province, China. Nüshu is a local script understood only by women in Jiangyong County....
, HunanHunan' is a province of South-Central China, located to the south of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and south of Lake Dongting...
Province. It was a writing form that only women could understand. Since, women in China were not taught properly at all, they needed a secret code of writing. Nü Shu is a phoneticPhoneticsPhonetics is a branch of linguistics that comprises the study of the sounds of human speech, or—in the case of sign languages—the equivalent aspects of sign. It is concerned with the physical properties of speech sounds or signs : their physiological production, acoustic properties, auditory...
type of writing. When a woman in one of these secret friendshipFriendshipFriendship is a form of interpersonal relationship generally considered to be closer than association, although there is a range of degrees of intimacy in both friendships and associations. Friendship and association are often thought of as spanning across the same continuum...
groups got married, they were given a book in which they would leave some blank pages, so they could write their secret thoughts down, which only women could read. They would send them, because they could never meet in their groups often, because they had bound feetFoot bindingFoot binding was the custom of binding the feet of young girls painfully tight to prevent further growth. The practice probably originated among court dancers in the early Song dynasty, but spread to upper class families and eventually became common among all classes. The tiny narrow feet were...
. Foot binding involved 5 year olds breaking all the bones in their feet, so they could wrap their feet round themselves and then be wrapped up to be around 3 inches. Many of them would rot and many died of gangreneGangreneGangrene is a serious and potentially life-threatening condition that arises when a considerable mass of body tissue dies . This may occur after an injury or infection, or in people suffering from any chronic health problem affecting blood circulation. The primary cause of gangrene is reduced blood...
. This went on for around 1,000 years. They would also write using tapestriesTapestryTapestry is a form of textile art, traditionally woven on a vertical loom, however it can also be woven on a floor loom as well. It is composed of two sets of interlaced threads, those running parallel to the length and those parallel to the width ; the warp threads are set up under tension on a...
.
- The reason that there are fewer female guests on QI
- Tangent: In the Bantu languageBantu languagesThe Bantu languages constitute a traditional sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages. There are about 250 Bantu languages by the criterion of mutual intelligibility, though the distinction between language and dialect is often unclear, and Ethnologue counts 535 languages...
, there is a rule that states that is someone got married, the female would no longer be allowed to use any syllableSyllableA syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds. For example, the word water is composed of two syllables: wa and ter. A syllable is typically made up of a syllable nucleus with optional initial and final margins .Syllables are often considered the phonological "building...
that was in the male's name, because it is a language of respect that women have to use. Another secret languageLanguage gameA language game is a system of manipulating spoken words to render them incomprehensible to the untrained ear. Language games are used primarily by groups attempting to conceal their conversations from others...
is Pig LatinPig LatinPig Latin is a language game of alterations played in English. To form the Pig Latin form of an English word the first consonant is moved to the end of the word and an ay is affixed . The object is to conceal the meaning of the words from others not familiar with the rules...
, where the first syllable is put to the end of the word with the sound ay', so "Quite Interesting" becomes "Itequay Interestingay". In Germany, they have "Löffelsprache", which means "spoonSpoonA spoon is a utensil consisting of a small shallow bowl, oval or round, at the end of a handle. A type of cutlery , especially as part of a place setting, it is used primarily for serving. Spoons are also used in food preparation to measure, mix, stir and toss ingredients...
speak", the French have "LouchébemLouchébemLouchébem or loucherbem is Parisian and Lyonnaise butchers' slang, similar to Pig Latin and Verlan. It originated in the mid-19th century. Each word is transformed by moving the first consonant to the end; and suffixes such as -ème, -ji, -oc, -muche are added at the end; the letter "L" is placed...
", the BulgariaBulgariaBulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
ns have "Pileshki" and the Japanese is "Ba-bi-bu-be-bo". There's also a camp High church nonsense language where the Holy CommunionEucharistThe Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance...
are referred to as "haggers commagers" and also say "Oooh, Jessica Christ". - Tangent: A discussion about teenagers sounding the same in just about every language. Also, the fact that teenagers never look at you, when you ask them to look at you.
- The panellists are shown a picture of an animal. The animal is half henChickenThe chicken is a domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the Red Junglefowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird...
, half cockerel. It was a result of a freak accident known as bilateralBilateralismBilateralism consists of the political, economic, or cultural relations between two sovereign states. For example, free trade agreements signed by two states are examples of bilateral treaties. It is in contrast to unilateralism or multilateralism, which refers to the conduct of diplomacy by a...
gynandromorphGynandromorphA gynandromorph is an organism that contains both male and female characteristics. The term gynandromorph, from Greek "gyne" female and "andro" male, is mainly used in the field of Lepidopterology or entomology...
ic hermaphroditismHermaphroditeIn biology, a hermaphrodite is an organism that has reproductive organs normally associated with both male and female sexes.Many taxonomic groups of animals do not have separate sexes. In these groups, hermaphroditism is a normal condition, enabling a form of sexual reproduction in which both...
. All the cellCell (biology)The cell is the basic structural and functional unit of all known living organisms. It is the smallest unit of life that is classified as a living thing, and is often called the building block of life. The Alberts text discusses how the "cellular building blocks" move to shape developing embryos....
s on one side are male, the other side are female, which has never happened in humans.
- The panellists are shown a picture of an animal. The animal is half hen
- Tangent: ClownfishClownfishClownfish or anemonefish are fishes from the subfamily Amphiprioninae in the family Pomacentridae. Twenty-eight species are recognized, one in the genus Premnas, while the remaining are in the genus Amphiprion. In the wild they all form symbiotic mutualisms with sea anemones...
(made popular in the film, Finding NemoFinding NemoFinding Nemo is a 2003 American comi-drama animated film written by Andrew Stanton, directed by Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich and produced by Pixar. It tells the story of the overly protective clownfish Marlin who, along with a regal tang called Dory , searches for his abducted son Nemo...
) are known to be very fierce, but they're also immuneImmunity (medical)Immunity is a biological term that describes a state of having sufficient biological defenses to avoid infection, disease, or other unwanted biological invasion. Immunity involves both specific and non-specific components. The non-specific components act either as barriers or as eliminators of wide...
to sea anemoneSea anemoneSea anemones are a group of water-dwelling, predatory animals of the order Actiniaria; they are named after the anemone, a terrestrial flower. Sea anemones are classified in the phylum Cnidaria, class Anthozoa, subclass Zoantharia. Anthozoa often have large polyps that allow for digestion of larger...
s. They actually form a bond with the sea anemones and have their babies there. They also have gender assignation, which means they can change their gender in later life. If there's a group of fish consisting of a strong female and male, along with several weak males, when the female dies, the strong male becomes female and one of the weaklings becomes the "alpha male".
General Ignorance:
- It's impossible to tell a woman from a man just by looking at them. It was believed that the easiest way to tell them apart was by the fact that women don't have Adam's apples, but they do. Even so, a good ladyboyKathoeyKathoey or katoey is a male-to-female transgender person or an effeminate gay male in Thailand. Related phrases include sao praphet song , or phet thi sam . The word kathoey is thought to be of Khmer origin...
can just about imitate anything female. - Men are better at map reading than women because of grey matterGrey matterGrey matter is a major component of the central nervous system, consisting of neuronal cell bodies, neuropil , glial cells and capillaries. Grey matter contains neural cell bodies, in contrast to white matter, which does not and mostly contains myelinated axon tracts...
and white matterWhite matterWhite matter is one of the two components of the central nervous system and consists mostly of myelinated axons. White matter tissue of the freshly cut brain appears pinkish white to the naked eye because myelin is composed largely of lipid tissue veined with capillaries. Its white color is due to...
(forfeit: they're not). Using MRI scans on men and women with equal IQIntelligence quotientAn intelligence quotient, or IQ, is a score derived from one of several different standardized tests designed to assess intelligence. When modern IQ tests are constructed, the mean score within an age group is set to 100 and the standard deviation to 15...
, they found that men use 6½ more grey matter than women, whereas women used 9 times more white matter than men. Grey matter is central to processing information for intellectual thought, such as map reading and mathematics. White matter connects the processing information to emotional thought such as language speaking and multitasking.
- Tangent: People being annoying when asking for directions.
- The prize moneyPrize moneyPrize money has a distinct meaning in warfare, especially naval warfare, where it was a monetary reward paid out to the crew of a ship for capturing an enemy vessel...
given out at Wimbledon is unfair to male competitors (forfeit: nothing (is unfair about it)). When it began in 1884, the ladies' winner got a 20 guineaGuinea (British coin)The guinea is a coin that was minted in the Kingdom of England and later in the Kingdom of Great Britain and the United Kingdom between 1663 and 1813...
silver flower basket and the men's champion got a 30 guinea gold trophy. In 2006, Amélie MauresmoAmélie MauresmoAmélie Simone Mauresmo ; is a French former professional tennis player, and a former World No. 1. Mauresmo won two Grand Slam singles titles at the Australian Open and at Wimbledon....
won £Pound sterlingThe pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
625,000 for playing 142 games, whereas Roger FedererRoger FedererRoger Federer is a Swiss professional tennis player who held the ATP no. 1 position for a record 237 consecutive weeks, and 285 weeks overall. As of 28 November 2011, he is ranked World No. 3 by the Association of Tennis Professionals . Federer has won a men's record 16 Grand Slam singles titles...
got £655,000 for playing 202 games. The women therefore got more money, because the short matches allowed them to play in doubles tournaments as well. The rate per game in 2005 was £1,432 per game for the top 8 women, whereas the top 8 men got £993 per game. The prize money is equal in terms of money, but not equal as the men have to play more tennis.
- The prize money
QI XL Extras:
- Tangent: Sandi tells of her love for the colour pink.
- Tangent: Sandi's theory about staminaEnduranceEndurance is the ability for a human or animal to exert itself and remain active for a long period of time, as well as its ability to resist, withstand, recover from, and have immunity to trauma, wounds, or fatigue. In humans, it is usually used in aerobic or anaerobic exercise...
and the speed of spermSpermThe term sperm is derived from the Greek word sperma and refers to the male reproductive cells. In the types of sexual reproduction known as anisogamy and oogamy, there is a marked difference in the size of the gametes with the smaller one being termed the "male" or sperm cell...
, followed by a discussion about the fact that girls have no sperm at all. - Tangent: Alan's suggestion that if you're watching football on television, you'll more likely have a boy. This also leads to a discussion about using remote controlRemote controlA remote control is a component of an electronics device, most commonly a television set, used for operating the television device wirelessly from a short line-of-sight distance.The remote control is usually contracted to remote...
s and reading magazineMagazineMagazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
s during sex.- The most violentViolenceViolence is the use of physical force to apply a state to others contrary to their wishes. violence, while often a stand-alone issue, is often the culmination of other kinds of conflict, e.g...
women in history are the AmazonsDahomey AmazonsThe Dahomey Amazons or Mino were a Fon all-female military regiment of the Kingdom of Dahomey which lasted until the end of the 19th century...
of DahomeyDahomeyDahomey was a country in west Africa in what is now the Republic of Benin. The Kingdom of Dahomey was a powerful west African state that was founded in the seventeenth century and survived until 1894. From 1894 until 1960 Dahomey was a part of French West Africa. The independent Republic of Dahomey...
, now known as BeninBeninBenin , officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It borders Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east and Burkina Faso and Niger to the north. Its small southern coastline on the Bight of Benin is where a majority of the population is located...
. They were a group of female warriors whose job was to protect the kingKing- Centers of population :* King, Ontario, CanadaIn USA:* King, Indiana* King, North Carolina* King, Lincoln County, Wisconsin* King, Waupaca County, Wisconsin* King County, Washington- Moving-image works :Television:...
. They were nominal wives of the king, but they were celibateCelibacyCelibacy is a personal commitment to avoiding sexual relations, in particular a vow from marriage. Typically celibacy involves avoiding all romantic relationships of any kind. An individual may choose celibacy for religious reasons, such as is the case for priests in some religions, for reasons of...
. They were chosen for being aggressiveAggressionIn psychology, as well as other social and behavioral sciences, aggression refers to behavior between members of the same species that is intended to cause humiliation, pain, or harm. Ferguson and Beaver defined aggressive behavior as "Behavior which is intended to increase the social dominance of...
, but their husbands could nominate their wifeConscriptionConscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
, if he thought she was a nag. They carried a switchbladeSwitchbladeA switchblade is a type of knife with a folding or sliding blade contained in the handle which is opened automatically by a spring when a button, lever, or switch on the handle or bolster is activated A switchblade (also known as an automatic knife, pushbutton knife, switch, Sprenger, Springer,...
that was capable of cutting a man in two. Some sources say that they were turned into men and made to despise women, whereas others say that veneratedVenerationVeneration , or veneration of saints, is a special act of honoring a saint: an angel, or a dead person who has been identified by a church committee as singular in the traditions of the religion. It is practiced by the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic, and Eastern Catholic Churches...
, they had slave girls with them carrying a bell, while men had to avert their eyes.
- The most violent
- Tangent: Marco PoloMarco PoloMarco Polo was a Venetian merchant traveler from the Venetian Republic whose travels are recorded in Il Milione, a book which did much to introduce Europeans to Central Asia and China. He learned about trading whilst his father and uncle, Niccolò and Maffeo, travelled through Asia and apparently...
suggested that KhutulunKhutulunKhutulun , also known as Aiyurug or Khotol Tsagaan, was the most famous daughter of Kaidu and the niece of Kublai Khan. Her father was most pleased by her abilities, and she accompanied him on military campaigns. Marco Polo and Rashid al-Din both wrote of her.Khutulun was born about 1260...
, the niece of Kublai KhanKublai KhanKublai Khan , born Kublai and also known by the temple name Shizu , was the fifth Great Khan of the Mongol Empire from 1260 to 1294 and the founder of the Yuan Dynasty in China...
, was the most fiercest of all warriors, and she suggested that anyone who wanted to marry her had to wrestle her. If he won, he'd marry her, but if he lost, he'd have to give 100 horses to her. She eventually gained 10,000 horses this way and never married. - Tangent: In the United Kingdom, crime committed by women has gone up 25% over the last 3 years, whereas there was a 2% drop for men. It's believed that alcohol is a main component of this, because 50% of their testosteroneTestosteroneTestosterone is a steroid hormone from the androgen group and is found in mammals, reptiles, birds, and other vertebrates. In mammals, testosterone is primarily secreted in the testes of males and the ovaries of females, although small amounts are also secreted by the adrenal glands...
get sourced through their blood while they're drunk. - Tangent: Discussion about girl bullying by text messagingText messagingText messaging, or texting, refers to the exchange of brief written text messages between fixed-line phone or mobile phone and fixed or portable devices over a network...
. Sandi then tells of the first time she came to the UK, after being thrown out of an American school at age 14. She went to boarding schoolBoarding schoolA boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
for 6 weeks, and no-one talked to her because of her New York accent. She managed to make it more British by watching the film, Brief EncounterBrief EncounterBrief Encounter is a 1945 British film directed by David Lean about the conventions of British suburban life, centring on a housewife for whom real love brings unexpectedly violent emotions. The film stars Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, Stanley Holloway and Joyce Carey...
. This leads to Stephen saying that if he was getting bullied at school, he'd tell them not to, because it would give him an erectionErectionPenile erection is a physiological phenomenon where the penis becomes enlarged and firm. Penile erection is the result of a complex interaction of psychological, neural, vascular and endocrine factors, and is usually, though not exclusively, associated with sexual arousal...
.- The connection between grannies and Killer Whales is the menopauseMenopauseMenopause is a term used to describe the permanent cessation of the primary functions of the human ovaries: the ripening and release of ova and the release of hormones that cause both the creation of the uterine lining and the subsequent shedding of the uterine lining...
. Killer Whales are the only other animals apart from human that have a massive gap between menopause and death, hence the happy and active lives they live. Killer Whales are also matrilinealMatrilinealityMatrilineality is a system in which descent is traced through the mother and maternal ancestors. Matrilineality is also a societal system in which one belongs to one's matriline or mother's lineage, which can involve the inheritance of property and/or titles.A matriline is a line of descent from a...
, so the females keep the life cycleBiological life cycleA life cycle is a period involving all different generations of a species succeeding each other through means of reproduction, whether through asexual reproduction or sexual reproduction...
going, as they provide most of the nutritionNutritionNutrition is the provision, to cells and organisms, of the materials necessary to support life. Many common health problems can be prevented or alleviated with a healthy diet....
.
- The connection between grannies and Killer Whales is the menopause
- Tangent: Killer Whales can kill their own handlers. Sandi's granny got taken out of three care homesNursing homeA nursing home, convalescent home, skilled nursing unit , care home, rest home, or old people's home provides a type of care of residents: it is a place of residence for people who require constant nursing care and have significant deficiencies with activities of daily living...
for bad behaviour. - Tangent: Sandi's mum grew up in MaidstoneMaidstoneMaidstone is the county town of Kent, England, south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town linking Maidstone to Rochester and the Thames Estuary. Historically, the river was a source and route for much of the town's trade. Maidstone was the centre of the agricultural...
, KentKentKent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
during the Battle of BritainBattle of BritainThe Battle of Britain is the name given to the World War II air campaign waged by the German Air Force against the United Kingdom during the summer and autumn of 1940...
, and all the terraced houseTerraced houseIn architecture and city planning, a terrace house, terrace, row house, linked house or townhouse is a style of medium-density housing that originated in Great Britain in the late 17th century, where a row of identical or mirror-image houses share side walls...
s on her street were bombed apart from hers, she asked her mother why it wasn't and she replied "Granny wouldn't have allowed it". This leads to Sandi's suggestion that the armyBritish ArmyThe British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
should be just grannies.- There was an urban mythUrban legendAn urban legend, urban myth, urban tale, or contemporary legend, is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories that may or may not have been believed by their tellers to be true...
during the 1940s that the Nazis disguised themselves as nunNunA nun is a woman who has taken vows committing her to live a spiritual life. She may be an ascetic who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent...
s with hairy hands during World War II. It was believed that they would parachuteParachuteA parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag, or in the case of ram-air parachutes, aerodynamic lift. Parachutes are usually made out of light, strong cloth, originally silk, now most commonly nylon...
in and people in Britain were told to watch out for nuns from the South coastSouthern EnglandSouthern England, the South and the South of England are imprecise terms used to refer to the southern counties of England bordering the English Midlands. It has a number of different interpretations of its geographic extents. The South is considered by many to be a cultural region with a distinct...
coming up on buses, trains or the London UndergroundLondon UndergroundThe London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...
on their way up to the Scottish HighlandsScottish HighlandsThe Highlands is an historic region of Scotland. The area is sometimes referred to as the "Scottish Highlands". It was culturally distinguishable from the Lowlands from the later Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands...
. Their cover would be blown when paying fares, because it revealed the hairiness of their hands and forearms and in some cases, a tattooTattooA tattoo is made by inserting indelible ink into the dermis layer of the skin to change the pigment. Tattoos on humans are a type of body modification, and tattoos on other animals are most commonly used for identification purposes...
of Adolf HitlerAdolf HitlerAdolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
on their arm. Other ways to test if soldiers were German was to make them speak English, especially some very odd surnameSurnameA surname is a name added to a given name and is part of a personal name. In many cases, a surname is a family name. Many dictionaries define "surname" as a synonym of "family name"...
s, such as Featherstonehaugh , Cholmondeley , Berekely , Mainwaring and Belvoir .
- There was an urban myth
- Tangent: Female moustacheMoustacheA moustache is facial hair grown on the outer surface of the upper lip. It may or may not be accompanied by a type of beard, a facial hair style grown and cropped to cover most of the lower half of the face.-Etymology:...
s and Alan's grey pubic hairPubic hairPubic hair is hair in the frontal genital area, the crotch, and sometimes at the top of the inside of the legs; these areas form the pubic region....
. - Tangent: The Tollemache family. They were a double-barrelled family, so they were the Tollemache-Tollemaches, but it was pronounced "Toolmake-Tollmash". One of their family had the longest name of any person in the British Army, Leone Sextus Denys Oswolf Fraudatifilius Tollemache-Tollemache de Orellana Plantagenet Tollemache-Tollemache. His elder brither was Lyulph Ydwallo Odin Nestor Egbert Lyonel Toedmag Hugh Erchenwyne Saxon Esa Cromwell Orma Neville Dysart Plantagenet Tollemache-Tollemache. His initials spelt out LYONEL THE SECOND.
Episode 8 "Germany"
Broadcast date:- 15 January 2010
- 16 January 2010 (XL edition)
- 12 May 2010 (ABC1 airing/iView upload)
Recording date:
- 5 June 2009
Panellists:
- Alan DaviesAlan DaviesAlan Davies is an English comedian, writer and actor best known for starring in the TV mystery series Jonathan Creek and as the permanent panellist on the TV panel show QI.- Early life :...
(−36 points) - Jo BrandJo BrandJosephine Grace "Jo" Brand is a BAFTA winning British comedian, writer, and actor.- Early life :Jo Brand was born 23 July 1957 in Wandsworth, London. Her mother was a social worker. Brand is the middle of three children, with two brothers...
(winner with −6 points) - Rob BrydonRob BrydonRob Brydon is a BAFTA-nominated Welsh actor, comedian, radio and television presenter, singer and impressionist...
(−7 points) - Sean LockSean LockSean Lock is an English comedian and actor. He began his comedy career as a stand-up comedian. He won the British Comedy Award in 2000 in the category of Best Live Comic, and was nominated for the Perrier Comedy Award. He is also well known for his appearances on television and radio...
(−76 points)
Buzzers:
- Rob – Deutschlandlied
- Sean – Oom-pahOom-pahOom-pah, Oompah or Umpapa is the rhythmical sound of a deep brass instrument in a band, a form of background ostinato.The oom-pah sound is usually made by the tuba alternating between the root of the chord and the 5th — this sound is said to be the oom...
music - Jo – Richard WagnerRichard WagnerWilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
's Ride of the ValkyriesRide of the ValkyriesThe Ride of the Valkyries is the popular term for the beginning of Act III of Die Walküre, the second of the four operas by Richard Wagner that comprise Der Ring des Nibelungen. The main theme of the Ride, the leitmotif labelled Walkürenritt, was first written down by the composer on 23 July 1851... - Alan – Don't Let's Be Beastly to the GermansDon't Let's Be Beastly to the Germans"Don't Let's Be Beastly To The Germans" was a satiric, patriotic song popular in Britain in World War II. It was composed by Noël Coward. Although popular when performed live the humour did not translate well over the wireless and caused some fuss, leading the BBC to ban the song.The refrain...
Theme:
- A general forfeit existed to penalise anyone who "mentioned the WarThe Germans"The Germans" is the sixth episode of the BBC sitcom Fawlty Towers. It is remembered for its line "Don't mention the war" and Cleese's silly walk when he is impersonating Adolf Hitler.-Plot:...
". - The QI symbol behind Stephen was replaced with the Coat of arms of GermanyCoat of arms of GermanyThe coat of arms of Germany displays a black eagle on a yellow shield ....
.
Topics:
- The German people don't care about the 1966 FIFA World Cup1966 FIFA World CupThe 1966 FIFA World Cup, the eighth staging of the World Cup, was held in England from 11 July to 30 July. England beat West Germany 4–2 in the final, winning the World Cup for the first time, so becoming the first host to win the tournament since Italy in 1934.-Host selection:England was chosen as...
loss to EnglandEngland national football teamThe England national football team represents England in association football and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England. England is the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside Scotland, whom they played in the world's first...
. If you ask an average German, they don't even know who won it that year. They care more about their matchesGermany and Netherlands football rivalryThe football rivalry between Germany and the Netherlands is one of the few longstanding football rivalries at a national level. Beginning in 1974 when the Dutch lost the 1974 FIFA World Cup to West Germany in the final the rivalry between the two nations...
against the DutchNetherlands national football teamThe Netherlands National Football Team represents the Netherlands in association football and is controlled by the Royal Dutch Football Association , the governing body for football in the Netherlands...
, such as the 1974 FIFA World Cup1974 FIFA World CupThe 1974 FIFA World Cup, the tenth staging of the World Cup, was held in West Germany from 13 June to 7 July. The tournament marked the first time that the current trophy, the FIFA World Cup Trophy, created by the Italian sculptor Silvio Gazzaniga, was awarded...
final, rather than the rivalry against EnglandEngland and Germany football rivalryThe English and German national football teams have been sporting rivals since the end of the 19th century. The teams officially met for the first time in November 1899, when England beat Germany in four straight matches...
. (Forfeit: (The Germans are) very (unhappy about the result of the 1966 FIFA World Cup); don't mention the war (Sean))
- Tangent: The whole notion about Germans "hogging the sunloungerSunloungerA sunlounger, also called a chaise longue in the U.S., is an article of patio, garden, swimming pool deck, or beach-side outdoor furniture....
s" is supposedly a myth according to a the German writer Ralf Höcker who did a study, which said that the Germans weren't even aware that this thing was associated with them, but a surveyStatistical surveySurvey methodology is the field that studies surveys, that is, the sample of individuals from a population with a view towards making statistical inferences about the population using the sample. Polls about public opinion, such as political beliefs, are reported in the news media in democracies....
done by Halifax Travel Insurance in 2009 showed that the Germans followed by the British were the most likely to reserve sunloungers. This leads to Jo telling a story about crashing into a sunlounger after a confrontation with some fat Germans. - Tangent: The other German stereotypeStereotypeA stereotype is a popular belief about specific social groups or types of individuals. The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings...
is the fact that they are so efficient, which they themselves believe, but they think that the British think they are lederhosenLederhosenLederhosen are breeches made of leather; they may be either short or knee-length. The longer ones are generally called Bundhosen....
wearing beerBeerBeer is the world's most widely consumed andprobably oldest alcoholic beverage; it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of sugars, mainly derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat...
drinkers. The 6 major thoughts that the Germans think that the British are untidy, split into mobsCrowdA crowd is a large and definable group of people, while "the crowd" is referred to as the so-called lower orders of people in general...
, obsessed with royaltyRoyal familyA royal family is the extended family of a king or queen regnant. The term imperial family appropriately describes the extended family of an emperor or empress, while the terms "ducal family", "grand ducal family" or "princely family" are more appropriate to describe the relatives of a reigning...
, drink teaTeaTea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...
all the time, are rather reserved and can't cookCookingCooking is the process of preparing food by use of heat. Cooking techniques and ingredients vary widely across the world, reflecting unique environmental, economic, and cultural traditions. Cooks themselves also vary widely in skill and training...
.- During the 2006 FIFA World Cup2006 FIFA World CupThe 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams representing 198 national football associations from all six...
in Germany, the German authorities confiscated all the Dutch fans' orange LeeuwenhosenLeeuwenhosenLeeuwenhosen are orange-colored, lion-tailed overalls distributed by the Bavaria Brewery, a popular Dutch beer brewery, during the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The concept was realized by Peer Swinkels, the chairman of Bavaria . The leeuwenhosen may have been inspired by the coincidence that the Dutch...
because they were sponsored by Bavaria Brewery, which wasn't the official beer sponsor of the World Cup, that was BudweiserBudweiser (Anheuser-Busch)Budweiser is a 5.0% abv American-style lager introduced in 1876 by Adolphus Busch and one of the highest selling beers in the United States. It is made with up to 30% rice in addition to hops and barley malt. Budweiser is produced in various breweries located around the world...
. These Leeuwenhosen had big pockets for beer, and had a lionLionThe lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...
's tail, "Leeuwenhosen" means "lion-pants", just as "Lederhosen" means "leatherLeatherLeather is a durable and flexible material created via the tanning of putrescible animal rawhide and skin, primarily cattlehide. It can be produced through different manufacturing processes, ranging from cottage industry to heavy industry.-Forms:...
trousersTrousersTrousers are an item of clothing worn on the lower part of the body from the waist to the ankles, covering both legs separately...
". They were coloured orange, because of their official royal houseRoyal HouseA royal house or royal dynasty consists of at least one, but usually more monarchs who are related to one another, as well as their non-reigning descendants and spouses. Monarchs of the same realm who are not related to one another are usually deemed to belong to different houses, and each house is...
, the House of NassauHouse of Orange-NassauThe House of Orange-Nassau , a branch of the European House of Nassau, has played a central role in the political life of the Netherlands — and at times in Europe — since William I of Orange organized the Dutch revolt against Spanish rule, which after the Eighty Years' War...
. So, since they were confiscated before their first match against the Ivory CoastCôte d'Ivoire national football teamThe Côte d'Ivoire National Football Team or Ivory Coast National Football Team, nicknamed Les Éléphants , represents Côte d'Ivoire in international football and is controlled by the Fédération Ivoirienne de Football...
many fans watched the game in their underpantsUndergarmentUndergarments or underwear are clothes worn under other clothes, often next to the skin. They keep outer garments from being soiled by bodily secretions and discharges, shape the body, and provide support for parts of it. In cold weather, long underwear is sometimes worn to provide additional...
. Other examples of this include at Wimbledon, when a woman had her yoghurtYoghurtYoghurt, yogurt or yogourt is a dairy product produced by bacterial fermentation of milk. The bacteria used to make yoghurt are known as "yoghurt cultures"...
confiscated because it wasn't the official yoghurt of Wimbledon.
- During the 2006 FIFA World Cup
- Tangent: Sean claims that the reason why Premier League footballers get booked for taking their shirtShirtA shirt is a cloth garment for the upper body. Originally an undergarment worn exclusively by men, it has become, in American English, a catch-all term for almost any garment other than outerwear such as sweaters, coats, jackets, or undergarments such as bras, vests or base layers...
off is because that's when the sponsors are in full view, so by taking them off the sponsors get less coverage. - Tangent: Lederhosen originated in the 18th century when it was decided that the upper classes would ape the peasantry and have expensive wedding and country feasts where they pretended to be extravagant, like Marie AntoinetteMarie AntoinetteMarie Antoinette ; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and of Navarre. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I....
pretended to be a milkmaidMilkmaidA milkmaid is a girl or woman employed to milk dairy cows. She also used the milk to prepare dairy products such as cream, butter, and cheese...
with her silverSilverSilver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
curls. - Tangent: Rob shows off his "half-hoseHose (clothing)Hose are any of various styles of men's clothing for the legs and lower body, worn from the Middle Ages through the 17th century, when the term fell out of use in favor of breeches and stockings. The old plural form of "hose" was hosen...
" sockSockA sock is an item of clothing worn on the feet. The foot is among the heaviest producers of sweat in the body, as it is able to produce over of perspiration per day. Socks help to absorb this sweat and draw it to areas where air can evaporate the perspiration. In cold environments, socks decrease...
s, which Jo says make him look like a "knobhead". Rob then asks the audienceAudienceAn audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature , theatre, music or academics in any medium...
if they think it's cool, with the majority disagreeing. - Tangent: In America, there are a group of people known as the Pennsylvania DutchPennsylvania DutchPennsylvania Dutch refers to immigrants and their descendants from southwestern Germany and Switzerland who settled in Pennsylvania in the 17th and 18th centuries...
, who are descended from the RhinelandRhinelandHistorically, the Rhinelands refers to a loosely-defined region embracing the land on either bank of the River Rhine in central Europe....
and Switzerland. The reason they are referred to as "Dutch", is because the word "Deutsch" which is German for "German" is correctly used as the word "Dutch", so "Dutch" is "Deutsch". The other reason is the "Dutch Dutch" (or the Hollanders) fought Britain many times and eventually invadedInvasionAn invasion is a military offensive consisting of all, or large parts of the armed forces of one geopolitical entity aggressively entering territory controlled by another such entity, generally with the objective of either conquering, liberating or re-establishing control or authority over a...
England. (Forfeit: don't mention the war (Jo - although she tried to pass the buck on to Stephen!))- The most repeated television show of all time is the British film, Dinner for OneDinner for OneDinner for One, also known as The 90th Birthday, or by its corresponding German title, Der 90. Geburtstag, is a comedy sketch written by British author Lauri Wylie for the theatre in the 1920s....
. The show is shown on every German television channelTelevision channelA television channel is a physical or virtual channel over which a television station or television network is distributed. For example, in North America, "channel 2" refers to the broadcast or cable band of 54 to 60 MHz, with carrier frequencies of 55.25 MHz for NTSC analog video and...
on 31 December, since 1972. It stars Freddie FrintonFreddie FrintonFreddie Frinton, born Frederick Bittiner Coo was an English comedian who remains a household name in Germany and Scandinavia because of his performance in Dinner for One....
as a butlerButlerA butler is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantry. Some also have charge of the entire parlour floor, and housekeepers caring for the entire house and its...
who has to serve a Christmas dinnerChristmas dinnerChristmas dinner is the primary meal traditionally eaten on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. In many ways the meal is similar to a standard Sunday dinner. Christmas feasts have traditionally been luxurious and abundant...
for his mistressMistress (form of address)Mistress is an old form of address for a woman. It implies "lady of the house", especially a woman who is head of a household.An example is Mistress Quickly in Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor. The title did not necessarily distinguish between married and unmarried women.The title Mrs. is...
, played by May WardenMay WardenMay Warden was an English actress and comedienne.Although she played in other films and TV shows, in Germany and Scandinavia she is best known for her role as Miss Sophie in the comedy sketch Dinner for One along with Freddie Frinton in a 1963 recording.She married comedian Silvester Stewart May...
. He pretends there are others there and actually gets drunk while pouring out drinkDrinkA drink, or beverage, is a liquid which is specifically prepared for human consumption. In addition to fulfilling a basic human need, beverages form part of the culture of human society.-Water:...
s for these "guests". It's a massive traditionTraditionA tradition is a ritual, belief or object passed down within a society, still maintained in the present, with origins in the past. Common examples include holidays or impractical but socially meaningful clothes , but the idea has also been applied to social norms such as greetings...
in Germany. It was originally done as a sketchSketch comedyA sketch comedy consists of a series of short comedy scenes or vignettes, called "sketches," commonly between one and ten minutes long. Such sketches are performed by a group of comic actors or comedians, either on stage or through an audio and/or visual medium such as broadcasting...
in 1920, which toured round the hallsMusic hallMusic Hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment which was popular between 1850 and 1960. The term can refer to:# A particular form of variety entertainment involving a mixture of popular song, comedy and speciality acts...
. A German television presenter saw it in 1963, and asked if it could be done in Germany, which it was. The next year it was recorded, and since 1972, it's been shown all time on 31 December. It also spread to Austria and Denmark and other surrounding areas. It's dialogueDialogueDialogue is a literary and theatrical form consisting of a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people....
included the now-popular catchphrase, "Same procedure as every year". - According to Godwin's RuleGodwin's LawGodwin's law is a humorous observation made by Mike Godwin in 1990 that has become an Internet adage...
of Nazi analogies (named after Mike GodwinMike GodwinMichael Wayne Godwin is an American attorney and author. He was the first staff counsel of the Electronic Frontier Foundation , and the creator of the Internet adage Godwin's Law of Nazi Analogies. From July 2007 to October 2010, he was general counsel for the Wikimedia Foundation...
, the general counselGeneral CounselA general counsel is the chief lawyer of a legal department, usually in a corporation or government department. The term is most used in the United States...
of the Wikimedia FoundationWikimedia FoundationWikimedia Foundation, Inc. is an American non-profit charitable organization headquartered in San Francisco, California, United States, and organized under the laws of the state of Florida, where it was initially based...
), "As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or HitlerAdolf HitlerAdolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
approaches 1." In other words, if Hitler is involved in an argumentArgumentIn philosophy and logic, an argument is an attempt to persuade someone of something, or give evidence or reasons for accepting a particular conclusion.Argument may also refer to:-Mathematics and computer science:...
on a message thread, then that thread is at an end, and the person who uses the analogy has lost the argument. An example of this is that Hitler hated fox huntingFox huntingFox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase, and sometimes killing of a fox, traditionally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds, and a group of followers led by a master of foxhounds, who follow the hounds on foot or on horseback.Fox hunting originated in its current...
, so he banned it, which means it must be good, etc.
- The most repeated television show of all time is the British film, Dinner for One
- Tangent: During the discussion, a picture is shown of Hitler wearing socks similar to what Rob is wearing.
- MonopolyMonopoly (game)Marvin Gardens, the leading yellow property on the board shown, is actually a misspelling of the original location name, Marven Gardens. The misspelling was said to be introduced by Charles Todd and passed on when his home-made Monopoly board was copied by Charles Darrow and thence to Parker...
board gameBoard gameA board game is a game which involves counters or pieces being moved on a pre-marked surface or "board", according to a set of rules. Games may be based on pure strategy, chance or a mixture of the two, and usually have a goal which a player aims to achieve...
s were used to escape from prisonPrisonA prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
. A man called "Clutty" HuttonChristopher HuttonChristopher William Clayton Hutton , called 'Clutty' and also known as Christopher Clayton-Hutton, was an intelligence officer who worked for MI9, a subsection of British Military Intelligence...
bought some Monopoly boards and through the help of MI9MI9MI9, the British Military Intelligence Section 9, was a department of the British Directorate of Military Intelligence, part of the War Office...
had help turn them into escape kits, which were sold through bogus charities. Amongst the items were real money mixed with the fake Monopoly money, mapMapA map is a visual representation of an area—a symbolic depiction highlighting relationships between elements of that space such as objects, regions, and themes....
s on silkSilkSilk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity...
, because paper was too bulky and rustly, whereas you could get much more detail on silk. His earlier work involved putting compassCompassA compass is a navigational instrument that shows directions in a frame of reference that is stationary relative to the surface of the earth. The frame of reference defines the four cardinal directions – north, south, east, and west. Intermediate directions are also defined...
es into militaryMilitaryA military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...
tunicTunicA tunic is any of several types of clothing for the body, of various lengths reaching from the shoulders to somewhere between the hips and the ankles...
buttonButtonIn modern clothing and fashion design, a button is a small fastener, most commonly made of plastic, but also frequently of seashell, which secures two pieces of fabric together. In archaeology, a button can be a significant artifact. In the applied arts and in craft, a button can be an example of...
s. The Germans got wind of it, and worked out that the button could be unscrewed, so then the thread was reversed, so it became tighter as they tried to unscrew it, but then they got wind of that, so razorRazorA razor is a bladed tool primarily used in the removal of unwanted body hair through the act of shaving. Kinds of razors include straight razors, disposable razors and electric razors....
blades were put in that were magnetized at one end, so when they were attached to something metal, the "G" of Gillette would always point north. They were also given wettened blanketBlanketA blanket is a type of bedding, generally speaking, a large piece of cloth, intended to keep the user warm, especially while sleeping. Blankets are distinguished from sheets by their thickness and purpose; the thickest sheet is still thinner than the lightest blanket. Blankets are generally used...
s that could be made into greatcoatGreatcoatA greatcoat, also known as a watchcoat, is a large overcoat typically made of wool designed for warmth and protection against the weather. Its collar and cuffs can be turned out to protect the face and hands from cold and rain, and the short cape around the shoulders provides extra warmth and...
s using it like a tailorTailorA tailor is a person who makes, repairs, or alters clothing professionally, especially suits and men's clothing.Although the term dates to the thirteenth century, tailor took on its modern sense in the late eighteenth century, and now refers to makers of men's and women's suits, coats, trousers,...
's template, as well as penPenA pen is a device used to apply ink to a surface, usually paper, for writing or drawing. Historically, reed pens, quill pens, and dip pens were used, with a nib of some sort to be dipped in the ink. Ruling pens allow precise adjustment of line width, and still find a few specialized uses, but...
s with sacks of dyeDyeA dye is a colored substance that has an affinity to the substrate to which it is being applied. The dye is generally applied in an aqueous solution, and requires a mordant to improve the fastness of the dye on the fiber....
in them to make many different colours and playing cardPlaying cardA playing card is a piece of specially prepared heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic, marked with distinguishing motifs and used as one of a set for playing card games...
s that when dipped in water, could be peeled to reveal money. (Forfeit: Get out of jail free)
- Monopoly
- Tangent: Rob's idea to use giant JengaJengaJenga is a game of physical and mental skill created by Leslie Scott, and currently marketed by Parker Brothers, a division of Hasbro. During the game, players take turns to remove a block from a tower and balance it on top, creating a taller and increasingly unstable structure as the game...
s to get prisoners out of prison, followed by Alan's idea of using snakes and laddersSnakes and laddersSnakes and Ladders is an ancient Indian board game regarded today as a worldwide classic. It is played between two or more players on a game board having numbered, gridded squares. A number of "ladders" and "snakes" are pictured on the board, each connecting two specific board squares...
.
General Ignorance:
- Trick question: Who wrote Brideshead RevisitedBrideshead RevisitedBrideshead Revisited, The Sacred & Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder is a novel by English writer Evelyn Waugh, first published in 1945. Waugh wrote that the novel "deals with what is theologically termed 'the operation of Grace', that is to say, the unmerited and unilateral act of love by...
? (Forfeit: Evelyn WarEvelyn WaughArthur Evelyn St. John Waugh , known as Evelyn Waugh, was an English writer of novels, travel books and biographies. He was also a prolific journalist and reviewer...
, taken as mentioning the war (Sean)) - The panellists are shown a picture of a German Shepherd DogGerman Shepherd DogThe German Shepherd Dog , also known as an Alsatian or just the German Shepherd, is a breed of large-sized dog that originated in Germany. The German Shepherd is a relatively new breed of dog, with its origin dating to 1899. As part of the Herding Group, the German Shepherd is a working dog...
. They were known as Alsatians up until 1977, mainly because at the time people resented anything with the word "German" in it, so they were called Schäferhund or Alsatian Wolfhounds, then just Alsatians, which was coined in 1918. Alan then reveals that he had a German Shepherd, which killed his next door neighbour's dog. - The MunichMunichMunich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
OktoberfestOktoberfestOktoberfest, or Wiesn, is a 16–18 day beer festival held annually in Munich, Bavaria, Germany, running from late September to the first weekend in October. It is one of the most famous events in Germany and is the world's largest fair, with more than 5 million people attending every year. The...
is held mainly in September, although it is occasionally partly in October, depending on how the months are arranged. It's believed the world's biggest continuous festivalFestivalA festival or gala is an event, usually and ordinarily staged by a local community, which centers on and celebrates some unique aspect of that community and the Festival....
. Over 6 million people cram into it every year. They drink 6,940,600 litreLitrepic|200px|right|thumb|One litre is equivalent to this cubeEach side is 10 cm1 litre water = 1 kilogram water The litre is a metric system unit of volume equal to 1 cubic decimetre , to 1,000 cubic centimetres , and to 1/1,000 cubic metre...
s of beer during the festival.
- Tangent: Alan tells of the time that he went to the 1998 FIFA World Cup1998 FIFA World CupThe 1998 FIFA World Cup, the 16th FIFA World Cup, was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. France was chosen as host nation by FIFA on 2 July 1992. The tournament was won by France, who beat Brazil 3-0 in the final...
in BordeauxBordeauxBordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
, France, where some temporary barsBar (establishment)A bar is a business establishment that serves alcoholic drinks — beer, wine, liquor, and cocktails — for consumption on the premises.Bars provide stools or chairs that are placed at tables or counters for their patrons. Some bars have entertainment on a stage, such as a live band, comedians, go-go...
were built up in the city, and when ScotlandScotland national football teamThe Scotland national football team represents Scotland in international football and is controlled by the Scottish Football Association. Scotland are the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside England, whom they played in the world's first international football match in 1872...
played NorwayNorway national football teamThe Norway national football team represents Norway in association football and is controlled by the Football Association of Norway, the governing body for football in Norway. Norway's home ground is Ullevaal Stadion in Oslo and their head coach is Egil Olsen...
, the ScotsScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
drank more beer that weekend then the entire population of Bordeaux drink in a year. Each of the bars only sold lagerLagerLager is a type of beer made from malted barley that is brewed and stored at low temperatures. There are many types of lager; pale lager is the most widely-consumed and commercially available style of beer in the world; Pilsner, Bock, Dortmunder Export and Märzen are all styles of lager...
, and there were no food stallsStreet foodStreet food is ready-to-eat food or drink sold in a street or other public place, such as a market or fair, by a hawker or vendor, often from a portable stall. While some street foods are regional, many are not, having spread beyond their region of origin. Most street food are both finger and fast...
and no toilets. One of the drunk Scots then mistook Alan for Alan PartridgeAlan PartridgeAlan Gordon Partridge is a fictional radio and television presenter portrayed by English comedian Steve Coogan and invented by Coogan, Armando Iannucci, Stewart Lee and Richard Herring for the BBC Radio 4 programme On The Hour...
.- The panellists are asked to name what's wrong with this extract from the song My Favourite ThingsMy Favorite Things (song)"My Favorite Things" is a show tune from the 1959 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The Sound of Music.-The Sound of Music version:The song was first introduced by Mary Martin in the original Broadway production, and sung by Julie Andrews in the 1965 film.In the musical, the lyrics to the song are a...
:
- The panellists are asked to name what's wrong with this extract from the song My Favourite Things
- Cream-coloured poniesPonyA pony is a small horse . Depending on context, a pony may be a horse that is under an approximate or exact height at the withers, or a small horse with a specific conformation and temperament. There are many different breeds...
and crisp appleAppleThe apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family . It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by humans. Apple grow on small, deciduous trees that blossom in the spring...
strudelStrudelA strudel is a type of layered pastry with a — most often sweet — filling inside, often served with cream. It became well known and gained popularity in the 18th century through the Habsburg Empire....
s, doorbellDoorbellA doorbell is a signaling device typically placed near a door. Most doorbells emit a ringing sound to alert the occupant of the building to a visitor's presence, when the visitor presses a button. Many modern doorbells are electric — they are actuated by an electric switch...
s and sleigh bellsJingle bellA jingle bell is a type of bell which produces a distinctive 'jingle' sound, especially in large numbers. They find use in many areas as a percussion instrument, including the classic sleigh bell sound and morris dancing...
and schnitzelWiener schnitzelSchnitzel is a traditional Austrian dish made with boneless meat thinned with a mallet , coated in bread crumbs and fried. It is a popular part of Viennese, Austrian cuisine and German Cuisine...
with noodleNoodleThe noodle is a type of food, made from any of a variety of doughs, formed into long thin ribbons, strips, curly-cues, waves, helices, pipes, tubes, strings, or other various shapes, sometimes folded. They are usually cooked in a mixture of boiling water and/or oil. Depending upon the type, noodles...
s.- The answer is "schnitzel with noodles", as they are never eaten together. There is a possibility that the popularity of the song has meant that some people eat it, but it's just because of the song. The lyricsLyricsLyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
of the song were done by Rodgers and HammersteinRodgers and HammersteinRichard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II were a well-known American songwriting duo, usually referred to as Rodgers and Hammerstein. They created a string of popular Broadway musicals in the 1940s and 1950s during what is considered the golden age of the medium...
. The filmThe Sound of Music (film)Rodgers and Hammerstein's The Sound of Music is a 1965 American musical film directed by Robert Wise and starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. The film is based on the Broadway musical The Sound of Music, with songs written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, and with the musical...
ends with the family crossing the borderBorderBorders define geographic boundaries of political entities or legal jurisdictions, such as governments, sovereign states, federated states and other subnational entities. Some borders—such as a state's internal administrative borders, or inter-state borders within the Schengen Area—are open and...
, not into Switzerland, but into Bavaria, near Hitler's private houseKehlsteinhausThe Kehlsteinhaus is a chalet-style structure erected on a subpeak of the Hoher Göll known as the Kehlstein. It was built as an extension of the Obersalzberg complex erected in the mountains above Berchtesgaden...
, but then they walked the 100 kilometreKilometreThe kilometre is a unit of length in the metric system, equal to one thousand metres and is therefore exactly equal to the distance travelled by light in free space in of a second...
s down to InnsbruckInnsbruck- Main sights :- Buildings :*Golden Roof*Kaiserliche Hofburg *Hofkirche with the cenotaph of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor*Altes Landhaus...
and got to the border with Italy the day before it was shut.
- The answer is "schnitzel with noodles", as they are never eaten together. There is a possibility that the popularity of the song has meant that some people eat it, but it's just because of the song. The lyrics
QI XL Extras:
- There are some words for which there is no literal translation in the English language, so words are borrowedLoanwordA loanword is a word borrowed from a donor language and incorporated into a recipient language. By contrast, a calque or loan translation is a related concept where the meaning or idiom is borrowed rather than the lexical item itself. The word loanword is itself a calque of the German Lehnwort,...
from other languageLanguageLanguage may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
s.- SchadenfreudeSchadenfreudeSchadenfreude is pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others. This German word is used as a loanword in English and some other languages, and has been calqued in Danish and Norwegian as skadefryd and Swedish as skadeglädje....
means "pleasure in the misfortune of others". - GemütlichkeitGemütlichkeitGemütlichkeit is a German abstract noun that has been adopted into English. Its closest equivalent is the word "coziness"; however, rather than merely describing a place that is compact, well-heated and nicely furnished , Gemütlichkeit connotes the notion of belonging, social acceptance,...
means "cosiness". It's mainly used in Austria and BavariaBavariaBavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
. "Gemütlich" people are also said to be very kind to their neighbours. In 1973, a British man sued a holiday firmJarvis v Swans Tours LtdJarvis v Swans Tours Ltd [1972] is an English contract law case on the measure of damages for disappointing breaches of contract.-Facts:Mr. Jarvis was a solicitor for Barking Council. He chose to go for Christmas holiday in Switzerland. He got a brochure from Swan Tours Ltd, which for Mörlialp,...
because he didn't receive any "gemülichkeit", as promised and he won. It actually set a precedent in English contract lawEnglish contract lawEnglish contract law is a body of law regulating contracts in England and Wales. With its roots in the lex mercatoria and the activism of the judiciary during the industrial revolution, it shares a heritage with countries across the Commonwealth , and the United States...
. - ZugzwangZugzwangZugzwang is a term usually used in chess which also applies to various other games. The term finds its formal definition in combinatorial game theory, and it describes a situation where one player is put at a disadvantage because he has to make a move when he would prefer to pass and make no move...
is a chessChessChess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
term, which means that you are forced to move, even though it might weaken your position, because in chess, you can't skip your turn after your opponent makes one, you have to move, even though your position might be worse than when you started. - ZeitgeistZeitgeistZeitgeist is "the spirit of the times" or "the spirit of the age."Zeitgeist is the general cultural, intellectual, ethical, spiritual or political climate within a nation or even specific groups, along with the general ambiance, morals, sociocultural direction, and mood associated with an era.The...
means "spirit of the age", or "time spirit/ghost".
- Schadenfreude
- Tangent: Another of these loanwords id Gesundheit, which means "soundness" or "health".
- The panellists are shown a ghostGhostIn traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to...
-like object, a SPUK, which is a device that is put on the underside of the toilet seatToilet seatA toilet seat is a hinged unit consisting of seat and lid which is bolted onto a toilet bowl for a flush toilet. A toilet seat consists of the seat itself, which may be contoured for the user to sit on, and the lid, which covers the toilet when it is not in use.If the toilet is located in a home...
, and when it's raised it give off a voice messageVoice messageVoice message refers to a message that could be sent to a destination using voice media. Voice itself could be 'packaged' and sent through the IP backbone so that it reaches its marked 'address'. In a technical sense, the process of sending 'voice packets' is a semi passive way of communication...
which tries to force German people to sit down on the toilet seat to urinate, rather than stand up. SPUK is an acronym for StehPinkler Unter Kontrolle. "Stehpinkeln" in German means to stand urinating, whereas "Sitzpinkeln" means to "sit urinating".
- The panellists are shown a ghost
- Tangent: Rob tells of how when he sits down on the toiletToiletA toilet is a sanitation fixture used primarily for the disposal of human excrement, often found in a small room referred to as a toilet/bathroom/lavatory...
, his half-hose falls down to his ankleAnkleThe ankle joint is formed where the foot and the leg meet. The ankle, or talocrural joint, is a synovial hinge joint that connects the distal ends of the tibia and fibula in the lower limb with the proximal end of the talus bone in the foot...
s, if he's wearing something like a jumbo cord. Sean then says that when he's on the toilet, he takes his glassesGlassesGlasses, also known as eyeglasses , spectacles or simply specs , are frames bearing lenses worn in front of the eyes. They are normally used for vision correction or eye protection. Safety glasses are a kind of eye protection against flying debris or against visible and near visible light or...
off and puts them on his pants as a sort of hammockHammockA hammock is a sling made of fabric, rope, or netting, suspended between two points, used for swinging, sleeping, or resting. It normally consists of one or more cloth panels, or a woven network of twine or thin rope stretched with ropes between two firm anchor points such as trees or posts....
, but then he sometimes forgets they're there and they get "rammed into his under-regions".- In Germany, they have a thing called the "Nacktputzservice", in which nakedPublic nudityPublic nudity or nude in public refers to nudity not in an entirely private context. It refers to a person appearing nude in a public place or to be seen from a public place. It also includes nudity in a semi-public place, where the general public is free to enter, such as a shopping mall...
German studentStudentA student is a learner, or someone who attends an educational institution. In some nations, the English term is reserved for those who attend university, while a schoolchild under the age of eighteen is called a pupil in English...
s are hired to do hoovering and housework. It originated from the FreikörperkulturFreikörperkulturFreikörperkultur is a German movement whose name translates to Free Body Culture. It endorses a naturistic approach to sports and community living. Behind that is the joy of the experience of nature or also of being nude itself, without direct relationship to sexuality. The followers of this...
(or FKK), which meant "free body culture". It was widespread in Germany until Hermann GöringHermann GöringHermann Wilhelm Göring, was a German politician, military leader, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. He was a veteran of World War I as an ace fighter pilot, and a recipient of the coveted Pour le Mérite, also known as "The Blue Max"...
put a stop to it during the 1930s, when he trained the police to stop people from going round naked. But, since then German hikers near open areas in Switzerland and Poland just like to go round naked. The Swiss and Poles both find it disgusting. There are designated nude beachNude beachA nude beach is a beach where users are legally at liberty to be nude. Sometimes the terms clothing-optional beach or free beach are used. Nude bathing is one of the most common forms of nudity in public. As beaches are usually on public lands, any member of the public is entitled to use the...
es in Germany, and the Englischer Garten in MunichMunichMunich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
has a designated nudist area, as well as Berlin's biggest parkParkA park is a protected area, in its natural or semi-natural state, or planted, and set aside for human recreation and enjoyment, or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. It may consist of rocks, soil, water, flora and fauna and grass areas. Many parks are legally protected by...
, the TiergartenGroßer TiergartenThe Großer Tiergarten, simply known as Tiergarten, is an urban public park of Germany located in the middle of Berlin, completely in the homonymous locality...
. (Forfeit: don't mention the war (Sean))
- In Germany, they have a thing called the "Nacktputzservice", in which naked
- Tangent: Sean says that is he were a nudist, he'd put a bit of toilet paperToilet paperToilet paper is a soft paper product used to maintain personal hygiene after human defecation or urination. However, it can also be used for other purposes such as blowing one's nose when one has a cold or absorbing common spills around the house, although paper towels are more used for the latter...
up his bottom and see if anyone noticed.- Uncle Wiggly WingsGail HalvorsenColonel Gail Halvorsen is a retired career officer and command pilot in the United States Air Force known as the original Candy Bomber or the "Rosinenbomber" in Germany. He was born in Salt Lake City, Utah...
was a pilot who helped children during the Berlin AirliftBerlin BlockadeThe Berlin Blockade was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War and the first resulting in casualties. During the multinational occupation of post-World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway and road access to the sectors of Berlin under Allied...
in the Cold WarCold WarThe Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
. The RussiansSoviet UnionThe Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
had sealed off all transport routes to West BerlinWest BerlinWest Berlin was a political exclave that existed between 1949 and 1990. It comprised the western regions of Berlin, which were bordered by East Berlin and parts of East Germany. West Berlin consisted of the American, British, and French occupation sectors, which had been established in 1945...
in 1948, when it was under Allied control in the centre of the Russian Sector. The whole city was cut off from the rest of the world for a year, so the British & Americans dropped food from planesFixed-wing aircraftA fixed-wing aircraft is an aircraft capable of flight using wings that generate lift due to the vehicle's forward airspeed. Fixed-wing aircraft are distinct from rotary-wing aircraft in which wings rotate about a fixed mast and ornithopters in which lift is generated by flapping wings.A powered...
to help the people below. One pilot gave 2 kids some chewing gumChewing gumChewing gum is a type of gum traditionally made of chicle, a natural latex product, or synthetic rubber known as polyisobutylene. For economical and quality reasons, many modern chewing gums use rubber instead of chicle...
and promised he'd return and give them some more candy. The next day he wiggled his wings and dropped chocolateChocolateChocolate is a raw or processed food produced from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico, Central and South America. Its earliest documented use is around 1100 BC...
and more and more children kept coming, and it became a mass propagandaPropagandaPropaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
coup, which became known as "Operation Little Vittles". The sweets came down in little handkerchiefHandkerchiefA handkerchief , also called a handkercher or hanky, is a form of a kerchief, typically a hemmed square of thin fabric that can be carried in the pocket or purse, and which is intended for personal hygiene purposes such as wiping one's hands or face, or blowing one's nose...
-style parachuteParachuteA parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag, or in the case of ram-air parachutes, aerodynamic lift. Parachutes are usually made out of light, strong cloth, originally silk, now most commonly nylon...
s. 2,223,000 tons of supplies were dropped during the airlift. (Forfeit: don't mention the war (Sean × 2))
- Uncle Wiggly Wings
General Ignorance:
- In Germany, at 11:11 on 11 November every year, the Germans celebrate the start of their Carnival, which lasts all the way up to Ash WednesdayAsh WednesdayAsh Wednesday, in the calendar of Western Christianity, is the first day of Lent and occurs 46 days before Easter. It is a moveable fast, falling on a different date each year because it is dependent on the date of Easter...
. It starts off quietly through November and December, partially due to Christmas, but by the time the Mardi GrasMardi GrasThe terms "Mardi Gras" , "Mardi Gras season", and "Carnival season", in English, refer to events of the Carnival celebrations, beginning on or after Epiphany and culminating on the day before Ash Wednesday...
arrives, everything is in full flow. The word "carnival" doesn't mean "goodbye to meat", as believed, but actually means "to remove meat from your dietDietingDieting is the practice of eating food in a regulated fashion to achieve or maintain a controlled weight. In most cases dieting is used in combination with physical exercise to lose weight in those who are overweight or obese. Some athletes, however, follow a diet to gain weight...
", from the words "carne levare". (Forfeit: don't mention the war (Alan))
Episode 9 "Gallimaufrey"
The full episode title "A Gallimaufrey of Gingambobs", means "an absurd medley of testicles".Broadcast date:
- 22 January 2010
- 23 January 2010 (XL edition)
- 19 May 2010 (ABC1 airing/iView upload)
Recording date:
- 4 June 2009
Panellists:
- Alan DaviesAlan DaviesAlan Davies is an English comedian, writer and actor best known for starring in the TV mystery series Jonathan Creek and as the permanent panellist on the TV panel show QI.- Early life :...
(−56 points) - Hugh DennisHugh DennisPeter Hugh Dennis is an English actor, comedian, writer, impressionist and voice-over artist, best known for his work with comedy partner Steve Punt. He is also known for his position as a permanent panelist on the TV comedy show Mock The Week...
(winner with 4 points) - Andy HamiltonAndy HamiltonAndrew Neil Hamilton is a British comedian, game show panellist, television director, comedy screenwriter and radio dramatist.-Early life:...
(2 points) - Phill JupitusPhill JupitusPhillip Christopher Jupitus is an English stand-up and improvised comedian, actor, performance poet, musician and podcaster....
(−15 points)
Buzzers:
- Hugh – OboeOboeThe oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...
playing stately tune - Andy – BassoonBassoonThe bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and tenor registers, and occasionally higher. Appearing in its modern form in the 19th century, the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band and chamber music literature...
playing jaunty tune - Phill – StringsString instrumentA string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...
and fluteFluteThe flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
playing jolly melodyMelodyA melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity... - Alan – When I'm Cleaning WindowsThe Window Cleaner"The Window Cleaner" is a comedy song performed by Lancastrian comic, actor and ukulele player George Formby. It first appeared in the 1936 film Keep Your Seats Please...
by George Formby
Topics:
- Captain Schlitt of German submarine U-1206 caused his U-boatU-boatU-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
to sink because of a problem he had involving the toiletToiletA toilet is a sanitation fixture used primarily for the disposal of human excrement, often found in a small room referred to as a toilet/bathroom/lavatory...
in the submarine. The problem with toilet in submersible vehicleVehicleA vehicle is a device that is designed or used to transport people or cargo. Most often vehicles are manufactured, such as bicycles, cars, motorcycles, trains, ships, boats, and aircraft....
s is that they can't work like toilets on aeroplanes and trainTrainA train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track to transport cargo or passengers from one place to another place. The track usually consists of two rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway.Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate...
s, because of the obvious dangers with being underwaterUnderwaterUnderwater is a term describing the realm below the surface of water where the water exists in a natural feature such as an ocean, sea, lake, pond, or river. Three quarters of the planet Earth is covered by water...
. Special training is actually needed to operate it properly. On 14 April 1945, Schlitt went to the toilet to do a pooFecesFeces, faeces, or fæces is a waste product from an animal's digestive tract expelled through the anus or cloaca during defecation.-Etymology:...
, and he claimed that the toilet flushFlush toiletA flush toilet is a toilet that disposes of human waste by using water to flush it through a drainpipe to another location. Flushing mechanisms are found more often on western toilets , but many squat toilets also are made for automated flushing...
wasn't working properly, but there is a theoryTheoryThe English word theory was derived from a technical term in Ancient Greek philosophy. The word theoria, , meant "a looking at, viewing, beholding", and referring to contemplation or speculation, as opposed to action...
that he just did a rather unpleasant poo and didn't want to ask the person who did the flushing to come in, so he did it himself and got it wrong and filled the submarine with sewageSewageSewage is water-carried waste, in solution or suspension, that is intended to be removed from a community. Also known as wastewater, it is more than 99% water and is characterized by volume or rate of flow, physical condition, chemical constituents and the bacteriological organisms that it contains...
and water, which then lead to the power sourceMotive powerIn thermodynamics, motive power is an agency, as water or steam, used to impart motion. Generally, motive power is defined as a natural agent, as water, steam, wind, electricity, etc., used to impart motion to machinery; a motor; a mover. The term may also define something, as a locomotive or a...
, a huge acid battery, which therefore created toxicToxicityToxicity is the degree to which a substance can damage a living or non-living organisms. Toxicity can refer to the effect on a whole organism, such as an animal, bacterium, or plant, as well as the effect on a substructure of the organism, such as a cell or an organ , such as the liver...
chlorineChlorineChlorine is the chemical element with atomic number 17 and symbol Cl. It is the second lightest halogen, found in the periodic table in group 17. The element forms diatomic molecules under standard conditions, called dichlorine...
gas, so they had to surface to ventVentingVenting is the debut album and sole studio album by the post-grunge/hard rock music group Five.Bolt.Main. It was released on September 13, 2005 via Rock Ridge Music. Three singles were released from the album: "Pathetic" , "The Gift" , and "Seem to Be Fine"...
the gas, but they spotted and blown out of the water. - The handwritingPenmanshipPenmanship is the technique of writing with the hand using a writing instrument. The various generic and formal historical styles of writing are called hands, whilst an individual personal style of penmanship is referred to as handwriting....
of each panellist is shown.- A graphologistGraphologyGraphology is the pseudoscientific study and analysis of handwriting, especially in relation to human psychology. In the medical field, it can be used to refer to the study of handwriting as an aid in diagnosis and tracking of diseases of the brain and nervous system...
would say of Andy's that because it's mostly joined up, it's of a "logical, systematic thinker", since some words are spaced out, he is "open, honest, but deep in thought", and "sociable", because of the slightly forward slant to the right. - Alan's would be described as "unstable", because of the close lettering, "does things without thinking", because the letters aren't mostly joined up.
- Hugh's would be described as "artistic and intuitive", because most, but not all of the letters are joined up, but because it's upright, it also shows "self-control, egoism and coldness".
- Phill's would be described as also having "self-control, egoism and coldness", "unstable" and "does things without thinking".
- A graphologist
Stephen then explains that there wasn't much point in doing this because the British Psychological Society
British Psychological Society
The British Psychological Society is a representative body for psychologists and psychology in the United Kingdom. The BPS is also a Registered Charity and, along with advantages, this also imposes certain constraints on what the society can and cannot do...
says that graphology as a way of interpreting character
Character structure
A character structure is a system of relatively permanent traits that are manifested in the specific ways that an individual relates and reacts to others, to various kinds of stimuli, and to the environment...
has zero validity. It's also not allowed in American court
Court
A court is a form of tribunal, often a governmental institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance with the rule of law...
s either. Although, forensic graphology is allowable. Amazingly, 3,000 British business
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
es use graphologists for recruitment
Recruitment
Recruitment refers to the process of attracting, screening, and selecting qualified people for a job. For some components of the recruitment process, mid- and large-size organizations often retain professional recruiters or outsource some of the process to recruitment agencies.The recruitment...
.
- Tangent: Andy once took a handwriting test to try and become a French train driverRailroad engineerA railroad engineer, locomotive engineer, train operator, train driver or engine driver is a person who drives a train on a railroad...
. He reveals that his friend's dad was a psychologistPsychologistPsychologist is a professional or academic title used by individuals who are either:* Clinical professionals who work with patients in a variety of therapeutic contexts .* Scientists conducting psychological research or teaching psychology in a college...
for SNCFSNCFThe SNCF , is France's national state-owned railway company. SNCF operates the country's national rail services, including the TGV, France's high-speed rail network...
, and they did test to work out if drivers were maniacs or not, so they made people write with their wrong hand, and put a rubberRubberNatural rubber, also called India rubber or caoutchouc, is an elastomer that was originally derived from latex, a milky colloid produced by some plants. The plants would be ‘tapped’, that is, an incision made into the bark of the tree and the sticky, milk colored latex sap collected and refined...
ring around the middle of the penPenA pen is a device used to apply ink to a surface, usually paper, for writing or drawing. Historically, reed pens, quill pens, and dip pens were used, with a nib of some sort to be dipped in the ink. Ruling pens allow precise adjustment of line width, and still find a few specialized uses, but...
and you had to try and trace over what was written there. If you drifted up the page, you were either assertive or slightly aggressive, but if it went down the page, you were deemed as too passive. There was also another test where the applicants were told to press the coloured button they were told to press for 15 seconds and there would be a hooter sounded, if they got it wrong. It would also be heard after the 15 seconds, to make sure they didn't go to pieces.- In IrelandRepublic of IrelandIreland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
, the police, known as the GardaGarda Síochána, more commonly referred to as the Gardaí , is the police force of Ireland. The service is headed by the Commissioner who is appointed by the Irish Government. Its headquarters are located in the Phoenix Park in Dublin.- Terminology :...
were duped by a Polish driver called Prawo Jazdy. This driver had done 50 speeding offenceTraffic ticketA traffic ticket is a notice issued by a law enforcement official to a motorist or other road user, accusing violation of traffic laws. Traffic tickets generally come in two forms, citing a moving violation, such as exceeding the speed limit, or a non-moving violation, such as a parking violation,...
s across Ireland, and was fast becoming Ireland's most wanted motorist. He managed to make different driving licencesDriver's licenseA driver's license/licence , or driving licence is an official document which states that a person may operate a motorized vehicle, such as a motorcycle, car, truck or a bus, on a public roadway. Most U.S...
with different addressesAddress (geography)An address is a collection of information, presented in a mostly fixed format, used for describing the location of a building, apartment, or other structure or a plot of land, generally using political boundaries and street names as references, along with other identifiers such as house or...
, so it would be hard to catch him. Then one of the Garda realised that Prawo Jazdy was the Polish for driving licence. Even more weird was the fact that above Prawo Jazdy on the licence was "Permis de conduire", which is of course French. The QueenElizabeth II of the United KingdomElizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
is the only person in Britain, who can legally drive without a driving licence. The first person to have a driving licence was Karl BenzKarl BenzKarl Friedrich Benz, was a German engine designer and car engineer, generally regarded as the inventor of the gasoline-powered car, and together with Bertha Benz pioneering founder of the automobile manufacturer Mercedes-Benz...
of Mercedes-BenzMercedes-BenzMercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is a division of its parent company, Daimler AG...
. The people who authorised the tests were the Dampfkesselüberwachungsverein (Steam Boiler Supervision Association), who authorised the first mandatory licences in PrussiaPrussiaPrussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
.
- In Ireland
- Tangent: Up until 14 May 2002, women in LithuaniaLithuaniaLithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
were made to undergo smear tests, or to be more accurate, a gynaecologicalGynaecologyGynaecology or gynecology is the medical practice dealing with the health of the female reproductive system . Literally, outside medicine, it means "the science of women"...
examination. In China, they have a driving test that consists of 100 multiple choiceMultiple choiceMultiple choice is a form of assessment in which respondents are asked to select the best possible answer out of the choices from a list. The multiple choice format is most frequently used in educational testing, in market research, and in elections-- when a person chooses between multiple...
questionQuestionA question may be either a linguistic expression used to make a request for information, or else the request itself made by such an expression. This information may be provided with an answer....
s. One of them is "If you come across a road accident victim whose intestineIntestineIn human anatomy, the intestine is the segment of the alimentary canal extending from the pyloric sphincter of the stomach to the anus and, in humans and other mammals, consists of two segments, the small intestine and the large intestine...
s are lying on the road, should you pick them up and push them back in?" Yes or No? The answer is No. It was believed that in China that some traffic lightTraffic lightTraffic lights, which may also be known as stoplights, traffic lamps, traffic signals, signal lights, robots or semaphore, are signalling devices positioned at road intersections, pedestrian crossings and other locations to control competing flows of traffic...
s had the colour sequence altered, so red meant go and green meant stop, but they didn't change all the lights, so some still remained at red for stop and green for go, although in some cases, blue is used instead of green, because red-green is a common form of colour blindnessColor blindnessColor blindness or color vision deficiency is the inability or decreased ability to see color, or perceive color differences, under lighting conditions when color vision is not normally impaired...
.- Spring travels from Land's EndLand's EndLand's End is a headland and small settlement in west Cornwall, England, within the United Kingdom. It is located on the Penwith peninsula approximately eight miles west-southwest of Penzance....
to John o' GroatsJohn o' GroatsJohn o' Groats is a village in the Highland council area of Scotland. Part of the county of Caithness, John o' Groats is popular with tourists because it is usually regarded as the most northerly settlement of mainland Great Britain, although this is not a claim made by the inhabitants...
every year at about ⅓ of a mile per hour, although when going over hills, it takes an extra couple of days per 100 feet of elevation. It officially takes 8 weeks to get from the south of the UK, to the north of the UK. Spring is officially a phenotypePhenologyPhenology is the study of periodic plant and animal life cycle events and how these are influenced by seasonal and interannual variations in climate...
of when common plants associated with Spring start to bloom. BirdBirdBirds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
s fly south in the Winter, mainly because they need a source of food. - The panellists are shown diagramDiagramA diagram is a two-dimensional geometric symbolic representation of information according to some visualization technique. Sometimes, the technique uses a three-dimensional visualization which is then projected onto the two-dimensional surface...
s of perpetual motionPerpetual motionPerpetual motion describes hypothetical machines that operate or produce useful work indefinitely and, more generally, hypothetical machines that produce more work or energy than they consume, whether they might operate indefinitely or not....
machineMachineA machine manages power to accomplish a task, examples include, a mechanical system, a computing system, an electronic system, and a molecular machine. In common usage, the meaning is that of a device having parts that perform or assist in performing any type of work...
s. A perpetual motion machine never stops, so it carries on forever, but it also must not have any energyEnergyIn physics, energy is an indirectly observed quantity. It is often understood as the ability a physical system has to do work on other physical systems...
input, although it must carry on having energy output. Perpetual motion transgresses both the firstFirst law of thermodynamicsThe first law of thermodynamics is an expression of the principle of conservation of work.The law states that energy can be transformed, i.e. changed from one form to another, but cannot be created nor destroyed...
and second law of thermodynamicsSecond law of thermodynamicsThe second law of thermodynamics is an expression of the tendency that over time, differences in temperature, pressure, and chemical potential equilibrate in an isolated physical system. From the state of thermodynamic equilibrium, the law deduced the principle of the increase of entropy and...
. In an episode of The SimpsonsThe SimpsonsThe Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
, LisaLisa SimpsonLisa Marie Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons. She is the middle child of the Simpson family. Voiced by Yeardley Smith, Lisa first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Cartoonist Matt Groening...
makes a perpetual motion machine, although it's impossible for it to happen in reality. Leonardo da VinciLeonardo da VinciLeonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
did some drawings of possible perpetual motion machines, but he realised early on that it was going to be impossible for them to work.
- Spring travels from Land's End
General Ignorance:
- If you give a child a really sugary drinkSugar drinkA sugar drink or high-sugar drink is a sweetened beverage consisting almost entirely of water and sugar. Unlike "sweetened beverages" such as coffee or tea that may use smaller amounts of sugar, sugar drinks' main component is sugar, and its main appeal is not taste, but sweetness.Sugar drinks form...
, they do not go hyperactive, according to a medical study. The interesting thing about it is that parents actually perceive that sugary drinks make children go hyperactive. A trial on the QI websiteWebsiteA website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
showed that 0% of people believed this statement. - If you leave teeth in a glass of colaColaCola is a carbonated beverage that was typically flavored by the kola nut as well as vanilla and other flavorings, however, some colas are now flavored artificially. It became popular worldwide after druggist John Pemberton invented Coca-Cola in 1886...
overnight, nothing much happens (forfeit: they dissolveDissolution (chemistry)Dissolution is the process by which a solid, liquid or gas forms a solution in a solvent. In solids this can be explained as the breakdown of the crystal lattice into individual ions, atoms or molecules and their transport into the solvent. For liquids and gases, the molecules must be compatible...
). In 1951, Clive McCayClive McCayClive Maine, McCay was a biochemist, nutritionist, gerontologist, and professor of Animal Husbandry at Cornell University from 1927-1963. His main interest was the influence of nutrition on aging...
of Cornell UniversityCornell UniversityCornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
made an appearance before a select committee at the United States House of RepresentativesUnited States House of RepresentativesThe United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
claimed that if a tooth was left in cola, it would start to dissolve after 2 days, but the point is that it's irrelevant, because cola goes down your mouth quickly when you drink it, it doesn't soak into your teeth. Cola does cause tooth decayDental cariesDental caries, also known as tooth decay or a cavity, is an irreversible infection usually bacterial in origin that causes demineralization of the hard tissues and destruction of the organic matter of the tooth, usually by production of acid by hydrolysis of the food debris accumulated on the...
, but not as much as crispsPotato chipPotato chips are thin slices of potato that are deep fried...
, as mentioned in a previous episode of QI.
- Tangent: Cola, as well as HP SauceHP SauceHP Sauce is a popular brown sauce originally produced by HP Foods in the UK, now produced by H.J. Heinz in the Netherlands.It is the best-known brand of brown sauce in the United Kingdom and Canada as well as the best selling, with 71% of the UK market....
and vinegarVinegarVinegar is a liquid substance consisting mainly of acetic acid and water, the acetic acid being produced through the fermentation of ethanol by acetic acid bacteria. Commercial vinegar is produced either by fast or slow fermentation processes. Slow methods generally are used with traditional...
are very good at cleaning coinCoinA coin is a piece of hard material that is standardized in weight, is produced in large quantities in order to facilitate trade, and primarily can be used as a legal tender token for commerce in the designated country, region, or territory....
s. - Tangent: Andy's mum used to tell him not to drink cola, because it stains the inside of your stomachStomachThe stomach is a muscular, hollow, dilated part of the alimentary canal which functions as an important organ of the digestive tract in some animals, including vertebrates, echinoderms, insects , and molluscs. It is involved in the second phase of digestion, following mastication .The stomach is...
.- The only apeApeApes are Old World anthropoid mammals, more specifically a clade of tailless catarrhine primates, belonging to the biological superfamily Hominoidea. The apes are native to Africa and South-east Asia, although in relatively recent times humans have spread all over the world...
that walks just on its 2 feet, but isn't a human is the gibbonGibbonGibbons are apes in the family Hylobatidae . The family is divided into four genera based on their diploid chromosome number: Hylobates , Hoolock , Nomascus , and Symphalangus . The extinct Bunopithecus sericus is a gibbon or gibbon-like ape which, until recently, was thought to be closely related...
(forfeits: orangutanOrangutanOrangutans are the only exclusively Asian genus of extant great ape. The largest living arboreal animals, they have proportionally longer arms than the other, more terrestrial, great apes. They are among the most intelligent primates and use a variety of sophisticated tools, also making sleeping...
; baboonBaboonBaboons are African and Arabian Old World monkeys belonging to the genus Papio, part of the subfamily Cercopithecinae. There are five species, which are some of the largest non-hominoid members of the primate order; only the mandrill and the drill are larger...
). This way of walkingWalkingWalking is one of the main gaits of locomotion among legged animals, and is typically slower than running and other gaits. Walking is defined by an 'inverted pendulum' gait in which the body vaults over the stiff limb or limbs with each step...
is considered to be more primitive according to evolutionistsEvolutionismEvolutionism refers to the biological concept of evolution, specifically to a widely held 19th century belief that organisms are intrinsically bound to increase in complexity. The belief was extended to include cultural evolution and social evolution...
. - The panellists are asked to put these 4 things in age order from oldest to youngest: The HimalayasHimalayasThe Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
, a triceratopsTriceratopsTriceratops is a genus of herbivorous ceratopsid dinosaur which lived during the late Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous Period, around 68 to 65 million years ago in what is now North America. It was one of the last dinosaur genera to appear before the great Cretaceous–Paleogene...
, a spiderSpiderSpiders are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, and chelicerae with fangs that inject venom. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all other groups of organisms...
and a cockroachCockroachCockroaches are insects of the order Blattaria or Blattodea, of which about 30 species out of 4,500 total are associated with human habitations...
. The answer is the spider at 300 million years old, then the cockroach, which was just afterwards, then the triceratops which lived between 65 and 230 million years ago and lastly, the Himalayas, which are only 40 million years old. AntAntAnts are social insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from wasp-like ancestors in the mid-Cretaceous period between 110 and 130 million years ago and diversified after the rise of flowering plants. More than...
s are contemporaneous with dinosaurDinosaurDinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
s, but cockroaches pre-date them by 55 million years.
- The only ape
QI XL Extras:
- Stephen introduced the panellists using Georgian slangSlangSlang is the use of informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's language or dialect but are considered more acceptable when used socially. Slang is often to be found in areas of the lexicon that refer to things considered taboo...
. "Gravy-eyed" means runny eyes, "Glimflashy" means an angry person, "Whiddle my scrap" means knowing someone's game or to see what people are up to. This leads to a game of Call My Bluff.- A "gentleman of three outs" is either a) a person without witWitWit is a form of intellectual humour, and a wit is someone skilled in making witty remarks. Forms of wit include the quip and repartee.-Forms of wit:...
, money or mannersMannersIn sociology, manners are the unenforced standards of conduct which demonstrate that a person is proper, polite, and refined. They are like laws in that they codify or set a standard for human behavior, but they are unlike laws in that there is no formal system for punishing transgressions, the...
, b) a person who owned three outhouseOuthouseAn outhouse is a small structure separate from a main building which often contained a simple toilet and may possibly also be used for housing animals and storage.- Terminology :...
s, which would be a mark of status in the 18th century, or c) a genteel description by PunchPunch (magazine)Punch, or the London Charivari was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire established in 1841 by Henry Mayhew and engraver Ebenezer Landells. Historically, it was most influential in the 1840s and 50s, when it helped to coin the term "cartoon" in its modern sense as a humorous illustration...
of the highwaymanHighwaymanA highwayman was a thief and brigand who preyed on travellers. This type of outlaw, usually, travelled and robbed by horse, as compared to a footpad who traveled and robbed on foot. Mounted robbers were widely considered to be socially superior to footpads...
Jonny Tripplearse. The answer, correctly guessed by Alan was a). - "Grog Blossom" is either a) the mould inside a barrelBarrelA barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container, traditionally made of vertical wooden staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. Traditionally, the barrel was a standard size of measure referring to a set capacity or weight of a given commodity. A small barrel is called a keg.For example, a...
of beerBeerBeer is the world's most widely consumed andprobably oldest alcoholic beverage; it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of sugars, mainly derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat...
that you have to clean out before you can use it again, or b) pimplePimpleA pimple, zit or spot is a kind of acne, and one of the many results of excess oil getting trapped in the pores. Some of the varieties are pustules or papules....
s that were grown on peoples' faces after drinkingDrinkingDrinking is the act of consuming water or a beverage through the mouth. Water is required for many of life’s physiological processes. Both excessive and inadequate water intake are associated with health problems.-Physiology:...
too much. The answer, incorrectly guessed by Andy & Hugh was b).
- A "gentleman of three outs" is either a) a person without wit
- It's believed that 20% of people have difficulty getting up in the morning, because they are either larkLarkLarks are passerine birds of the family Alaudidae. All species occur in the Old World, and in northern and eastern Australia; only one, the Shore Lark, has spread to North America, where it is called the Horned Lark...
s or owlOwlOwls are a group of birds that belong to the order Strigiformes, constituting 200 bird of prey species. Most are solitary and nocturnal, with some exceptions . Owls hunt mostly small mammals, insects, and other birds, although a few species specialize in hunting fish...
s. If they were a lark, they'd sleep at dinner parties and if they were an owl, they just can't get up. It's believed that young children and old people are larks, whereas teenagers are owls. There are many other methods of getting up, the MITMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyThe Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
invented an alarm clockAlarm clockAn alarm clock is a clock that is designed to make a loud sound at a specific time. The primary use of these clocks is to awaken people from their night's sleep or short naps; they are sometimes used for other reminders as well. To stop the sound, a button or handle on the clock is pressed; but...
that when you pressed the Snooze button, it runs away and hidesClockyClocky is a brand of alarm clock outfitted with wheels, allowing it to hide itself in order to force the owner awake in an attempt to find it. Invented for an industrial design class by Gauri Nanda, then a graduate student at MIT Media Lab, Clocky won the 2005 Ig Nobel Prize in Economics...
, and it's programmed to go to a different place every day, so it always changes. There is also an alarm clock in the shape of a dumbbellDumbbellThe dumbbell, a type of free weight, is a piece of equipment used in weight training. It can be used individually or in pairs .-History:...
, and it doesn't shut up until you've done 30 reps with it. There is also one that has an online connectionInternet accessMany technologies and service plans for Internet access allow customers to connect to the Internet.Consumer use first became popular through dial-up connections in the 20th century....
, and every time you press Snooze, money is donatedDonationA donation is a gift given by physical or legal persons, typically for charitable purposes and/or to benefit a cause. A donation may take various forms, including cash, services, new or used goods including clothing, toys, food, and vehicles...
to a political cause that you hate.
- Tangent: Phill tells of how he used to sleep listening to BBC World ServiceBBC World ServiceThe BBC World Service is the world's largest international broadcaster, broadcasting in 27 languages to many parts of the world via analogue and digital shortwave, internet streaming and podcasting, satellite, FM and MW relays...
, and then waking up listening to BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
and thinking he'd dreamt the newsNewsNews is the communication of selected information on current events which is presented by print, broadcast, Internet, or word of mouth to a third party or mass audience.- Etymology :...
that he heard during his sleep, so thought he was psychicPsychicA psychic is a person who professes an ability to perceive information hidden from the normal senses through extrasensory perception , or is said by others to have such abilities. It is also used to describe theatrical performers who use techniques such as prestidigitation, cold reading, and hot...
. This leads to Stephen telling a story of how he raided the kitchenKitchenA kitchen is a room or part of a room used for cooking and food preparation.In the West, a modern residential kitchen is typically equipped with a stove, a sink with hot and cold running water, a refrigerator and kitchen cabinets arranged according to a modular design. Many households have a...
at boarding schoolBoarding schoolA boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
at 3am, just to get blocks of jellyGelatin dessertGelatin desserts are desserts made with sweetened and flavored gelatin. They can be made by combining plain gelatin with other ingredients or by using a premixed blend of gelatin with additives...
. - Tangent: Andy tells the story of a binman who worked near his house at HernhillHernhillHernhill is a village and civil parish between Faversham and Canterbury in southeast England. The parish includes the hamlets of Crockham, Dargate, The Fostall, Lamberhurst, Oakwell, Staple Street, Thread, Waterham and Wey Street.-Churches:...
, who always sung the last note of Don't Cry for Me Argentina wrongly. - Tangent: When the American IndiansNative Americans in the United StatesNative Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
went on dawn raidDawn raidA police raid or dawn raid is a visit by the police, immigration officers or other officials in the early morning, hoping to use the element of surprise to arrest targets that they think may hide evidence, resist arrest, be politically sensitive, or simply be elsewhere during the day.-Germany:Dawn...
s they used to drink lots of water to make sure they got up early. - Tangent: Andy has a cuckoo clockCuckoo clockA cuckoo clock is a clock, typically pendulum-regulated, that strikes the hours with a sound like a common cuckoo's call and typically has a mechanical cuckoo that emerges with each note...
, which has a monkeyMonkeyA monkey is a primate, either an Old World monkey or a New World monkey. There are about 260 known living species of monkey. Many are arboreal, although there are species that live primarily on the ground, such as baboons. Monkeys are generally considered to be intelligent. Unlike apes, monkeys...
, instead of a cuckooCuckooThe cuckoos are a family, Cuculidae, of near passerine birds. The order Cuculiformes, in addition to the cuckoos, also includes the turacos . Some zoologists and taxonomists have also included the unique Hoatzin in the Cuculiformes, but its taxonomy remains in dispute...
in it, and it only comes out whenever he says something interesting.- The Goldilocks effect works on the theory that Goldilocks liked everything "just right". It's used in business, you have 3 items, the first one is unbelievable expensive, the second is a quarter of the pricePrice-Definition:In ordinary usage, price is the quantity of payment or compensation given by one party to another in return for goods or services.In modern economies, prices are generally expressed in units of some form of currency...
, but just as nice, and the third is very cheap, which makes people go for the second one. The best use of the Goldilocks effect is with airfares. A standard Transatlantic economy seat is £Pound sterlingThe pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
500, business class is £3,500 and first class, where you get a full-size bedBedA bed is a large piece of furniture used as a place to sleep, relax, or engage in sexual relations.Most modern beds consist of a mattress on a bed frame, with the mattress resting either on a solid base, often wooden slats, or a sprung base...
and have food whenever you want would cost £8,000. So, people would think that the perks of business class would be reasonable compared to first class, even though it costs 7 times as much as economy.
- The Goldilocks effect works on the theory that Goldilocks liked everything "just right". It's used in business, you have 3 items, the first one is unbelievable expensive, the second is a quarter of the price
- Tangent: Alan was once told by Steve CramSteve CramStephen "Steve" Cram MBE is a British retired athlete. Along with fellow Britons Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett, he was one of the world's dominant middle distance runners during the 1980s. Nicknamed "The Jarrow Arrow", Cram set world records in the 1500 metres, 2000 metres and the mile during a...
that some trainersAthletic shoeAthletic shoe is a generic name for the footwear primarily designed for sports or other forms of physical exercise but in recent years has come to be used for casual everyday activities....
have to expensively made so people will buy them, an example of "prestige pricing". - Tangent: The Goldilocks ZoneHabitable zoneIn astronomy and astrobiology, a habitable zone is an umbrella term for regions that are considered favourable to life. The concept is inferred from the empirical study of conditions favourable for Life on Earth...
is the distance from the SunSunThe Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
that another planetPlanetA planet is a celestial body orbiting a star or stellar remnant that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity, is not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion, and has cleared its neighbouring region of planetesimals.The term planet is ancient, with ties to history, science,...
has to be in another solar systemPlanetary systemA planetary system consists of the various non-stellar objects orbiting a star such as planets, dwarf planets , asteroids, meteoroids, comets, and cosmic dust...
which would support water where it wasn't too hot or cold.- The snail telegraphPasilalinic-sympathetic compassThe pasilalinic-sympathetic compass, also referred to as the snail telegraph, was a contraption built in an attempt to prove the misguided hypothesis that snails create a permanent telepathic link when they touch...
was a form of communicationCommunicationCommunication is the activity of conveying meaningful information. Communication requires a sender, a message, and an intended recipient, although the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast...
. A Frenchman called Benoit had an idea that when 2 snailSnailSnail is a common name applied to most of the members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells in the adult stage. When the word is used in its most general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails. The word snail without any qualifier is however more often...
s matedMatingIn biology, mating is the pairing of opposite-sex or hermaphroditic organisms for copulation. In social animals, it also includes the raising of their offspring. Copulation is the union of the sex organs of two sexually reproducing animals for insemination and subsequent internal fertilization...
, they had a telepathic powerTelepathyTelepathy , is the induction of mental states from one mind to another. The term was coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Fredric W. H. Myers, a founder of the Society for Psychical Research, and has remained more popular than the more-correct expression thought-transference...
, which meant that no matter how far away they were, they could always make thoughts to each other. So, he raised money and then glueGlueThis is a list of various types of glue. Historically, the term "glue" only referred to protein colloids prepared from animal flesh. The meaning has been extended to refer to any fluid adhesive....
d 24 snails in a dish and labelled them all with lettersLetter (alphabet)A letter is a grapheme in an alphabetic system of writing, such as the Greek alphabet and its descendants. Letters compose phonemes and each phoneme represents a phone in the spoken form of the language....
of the alphabetAlphabetAn alphabet is a standard set of letters—basic written symbols or graphemes—each of which represents a phoneme in a spoken language, either as it exists now or as it was in the past. There are other systems, such as logographies, in which each character represents a word, morpheme, or semantic...
and then he labelled the mates of the snails on another dish and sent it to New York City, so the mate of the one in New York City would wibble to receive the messageMessageA message in its most general meaning is an object of communication. It is a vessel which provides information. Yet, it can also be this information. Therefore, its meaning is dependent upon the context in which it is used; the term may apply to both the information and its form...
from the other one in Benoit's lab. Unfortunately, this pasilalinic-sympathetic compass with "escargotic" vibration was proven not to work at all.
- The snail telegraph
Episode 10 "Greats"
Broadcast date:- 29 January 2010
- 30 January 2010 (XL edition)
- 26 May 2010 (ABC1 airing/iView upload)
Recording date:
- 12 June 2009
Panellists:
- Alan DaviesAlan DaviesAlan Davies is an English comedian, writer and actor best known for starring in the TV mystery series Jonathan Creek and as the permanent panellist on the TV panel show QI.- Early life :...
(2 points) - Jo BrandJo BrandJosephine Grace "Jo" Brand is a BAFTA winning British comedian, writer, and actor.- Early life :Jo Brand was born 23 July 1957 in Wandsworth, London. Her mother was a social worker. Brand is the middle of three children, with two brothers...
(−46 points) - Sean LockSean LockSean Lock is an English comedian and actor. He began his comedy career as a stand-up comedian. He won the British Comedy Award in 2000 in the category of Best Live Comic, and was nominated for the Perrier Comedy Award. He is also well known for his appearances on television and radio...
(−6 points) - David MitchellDavid Mitchell (actor)David James Stuart Mitchell is a British actor, comedian and writer. He is half of the comedy duo Mitchell and Webb, alongside Robert Webb, whom he met at Cambridge University. There they were both part of the Cambridge Footlights, of which Mitchell became President. Together the duo star in the...
(winner with 4 points) - Barack ObamaBarack ObamaBarack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
(−10 points)
Buzzers:
- Sean — Great Balls of FireGreat Balls of Fire"Great Balls of Fire" is a 1957 song recorded by Jerry Lee Lewis on Sun Records and featured in the 1957 movie Jamboree. It was written by Otis Blackwell and Jack Hammer...
by Jerry Lee LewisJerry Lee LewisJerry Lee Lewis is an American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis's career faltered after he married his young cousin, and he afterwards made a career extension to country and western music. He is known by the nickname 'The... - Jo — The Great PretenderThe Great Pretender"The Great Pretender" is a popular song recorded by The Platters, with Tony Williams on lead vocals, and released as a single on November 3, 1955. The words and music were created by Buck Ram, the Platters' manager and producer who was a successful songwriter before moving into producing and...
by The PlattersThe PlattersThe Platters were a vocal group of the early rock and roll era. Their distinctive sound was a bridge between the pre-rock Tin Pan Alley tradition and the burgeoning new genre... - David — The Great EscapeThe Great Escape (film)The Great Escape is a 1963 American film about an escape by Allied prisoners of war from a German POW camp during World War II, starring Steve McQueen, James Garner, and Richard Attenborough...
theme - Alan — A recorded call centreCall centreA call centre or call center is a centralised office used for the purpose of receiving and transmitting a large volume of requests by telephone. A call centre is operated by a company to administer incoming product support or information inquiries from consumers. Outgoing calls for telemarketing,...
message from First Great EasternFirst Great EasternFirst Great Eastern was an award-winning train operating company that operated suburban, local and medium distance train services from London Liverpool Street via Romford to Essex and Ipswich in the United Kingdom on the Great Eastern Main Line railway.First Group gained the Great Eastern...
Topics:
- Despite all the claims, many of the world's greatest dictatorDictatorA dictator is a ruler who assumes sole and absolute power but without hereditary ascension such as an absolute monarch. When other states call the head of state of a particular state a dictator, that state is called a dictatorship...
s weren't short, and there is no proof that shorter people are more power-hungry than taller people, otherwise known as the Napoleon complexNapoleon complexNapoleon complex is an informal term describing an alleged type of inferiority complex which is said to affect some people, especially men, who are short in stature. The term is also used more generally to describe people who are driven by a perceived handicap to overcompensate in other aspects of...
. NapoleonNapoleon I of FranceNapoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
was above the average height at 5'7". The reason many think he was short was because the British cartoonistCartoonistA cartoonist is a person who specializes in drawing cartoons. This work is usually humorous, mainly created for entertainment, political commentary or advertising...
James GillrayJames GillrayJames Gillray , was a British caricaturist and printmaker famous for his etched political and social satires, mainly published between 1792 and 1810.- Early life :He was born in Chelsea...
. His most famous depiction of Napoleon was a picture of him standing on George III'sGeorge III of the United KingdomGeorge III was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of these two countries on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death...
hand in a sort of Gulliver's TravelsGulliver's TravelsTravels into Several Remote Nations of the World, in Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships, better known simply as Gulliver's Travels , is a novel by Anglo-Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan Swift that is both a satire on human nature and a parody of...
sort of way. He was actually 3 inchInchAn inch is the name of a unit of length in a number of different systems, including Imperial units, and United States customary units. There are 36 inches in a yard and 12 inches in a foot...
es taller than NelsonHoratio Nelson, 1st Viscount NelsonHoratio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronté, KB was a flag officer famous for his service in the Royal Navy, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars. He was noted for his inspirational leadership and superb grasp of strategy and unconventional tactics, which resulted in a number of...
. StalinJoseph StalinJoseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
was 5'5", MussoliniBenito MussoliniBenito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
was 5'6", FrancoFrancisco FrancoFrancisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
was 5'4", HitlerAdolf HitlerAdolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
was 5'8". Some exceptions include Idi AminIdi AminIdi Amin Dada was a military leader and President of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. Amin joined the British colonial regiment, the King's African Rifles in 1946. Eventually he held the rank of Major General in the post-colonial Ugandan Army and became its Commander before seizing power in the military...
who was 6'4", the same height as Stephen, Fidel CastroFidel CastroFidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
was 6'1" and MaoMao ZedongMao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...
was 5'9", which exceptionally tall for a Chinese personPeople's Republic of ChinaChina , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
.
- Tangent: There does seem to be cases of heightismHeightismHeightism is prejudice or discrimination based on height. In principle it can refer to treatment of either unusually tall or short people.-Origin of the term:...
in the workplace, short people are paid less than taller people and is comparable in magnitude to raceRacismRacism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
and genderSexismSexism, also known as gender discrimination or sex discrimination, is the application of the belief or attitude that there are characteristics implicit to one's gender that indirectly affect one's abilities in unrelated areas...
. A study of Fortune 500Fortune 500The Fortune 500 is an annual list compiled and published by Fortune magazine that ranks the top 500 U.S. closely held and public corporations as ranked by their gross revenue after adjustments made by Fortune to exclude the impact of excise taxes companies collect. The list includes publicly and...
companiesCompanyA company is a form of business organization. It is an association or collection of individual real persons and/or other companies, who each provide some form of capital. This group has a common purpose or focus and an aim of gaining profits. This collection, group or association of persons can be...
shows 90% of the chief executives of those companies are above average height, and 30% of those are above 6'2".- Everyone who was born in Europe is descended from the 8th century kingKing- Centers of population :* King, Ontario, CanadaIn USA:* King, Indiana* King, North Carolina* King, Lincoln County, Wisconsin* King, Waupaca County, Wisconsin* King County, Washington- Moving-image works :Television:...
CharlemagneCharlemagneCharlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
. The reason being is that since every person has 2 parents, 4 grandparents, 8 great-grandparents, etc., by the time you get back to the 13th century, you'll have had more ancestors than people who have lived on the planet. This was discovered in 1995, by a man called Mark Humphreys at Dublin UniversityUniversity of DublinThe University of Dublin , corporately designated the Chancellor, Doctors and Masters of the University of Dublin , located in Dublin, Ireland, was effectively founded when in 1592 Queen Elizabeth I issued a charter for Trinity College, Dublin, as "the mother of a university" – this date making it...
. He discovered that his wife was the great-granddaughter of King Edward IIIEdward III of EnglandEdward III was King of England from 1327 until his death and is noted for his military success. Restoring royal authority after the disastrous reign of his father, Edward II, Edward III went on to transform the Kingdom of England into one of the most formidable military powers in Europe...
, 20 generations down the line. He also discovered that Hermann GöringHermann GöringHermann Wilhelm Göring, was a German politician, military leader, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. He was a veteran of World War I as an ace fighter pilot, and a recipient of the coveted Pour le Mérite, also known as "The Blue Max"...
and the American explorer Daniel BooneDaniel BooneDaniel Boone was an American pioneer, explorer, and frontiersman whose frontier exploits mad']'e him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. Boone is most famous for his exploration and settlement of what is now the Commonwealth of Kentucky, which was then beyond the western borders of...
had the same ancestry and then realised that the mathematicsMathematicsMathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
meant that everyone had the same ancestry as well. - The greatest good that the Great Fire of LondonGreat Fire of LondonThe Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through the central parts of the English city of London, from Sunday, 2 September to Wednesday, 5 September 1666. The fire gutted the medieval City of London inside the old Roman City Wall...
did was to clear buildings so that new ones could be made by Christopher WrenChristopher WrenSir Christopher Wren FRS is one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history.He used to be accorded responsibility for rebuilding 51 churches in the City of London after the Great Fire in 1666, including his masterpiece, St. Paul's Cathedral, on Ludgate Hill, completed in 1710...
, such as St Paul's CathedralSt Paul's CathedralSt Paul's Cathedral, London, is a Church of England cathedral and seat of the Bishop of London. Its dedication to Paul the Apostle dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD 604. St Paul's sits at the top of Ludgate Hill, the highest point in the City of London, and is the mother...
(forfeit: cleared the city of plagueGreat Plague of LondonThe Great Plague was a massive outbreak of disease in the Kingdom of England that killed an estimated 100,000 people, 20% of London's population. The disease is identified as bubonic plague, an infection by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, transmitted through a flea vector...
). By the time of the fire, most of the plague had already gone, but it wouldn't have made much difference to the city, because the plague mainly took hold in the suburbSuburbThe word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
s. By the time of the fire in September 1666, there were very few deaths and it just died, not because of the fire, but by an unknown source. - The Great Train RobbersGreat Train Robbery (1963)The Great Train Robbery is the name given to a £2.6 million train robbery committed on 8 August 1963 at Bridego Railway Bridge, Ledburn near Mentmore in Buckinghamshire, England. The bulk of the stolen money was not recovered...
weren't really great because of the very easy methods in which they were caught. The went to a farmFarmA farm is an area of land, or, for aquaculture, lake, river or sea, including various structures, devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food , fibres and, increasingly, fuel. It is the basic production facility in food production. Farms may be owned and operated by a single...
and played MonopolyMonopoly (game)Marvin Gardens, the leading yellow property on the board shown, is actually a misspelling of the original location name, Marven Gardens. The misspelling was said to be introduced by Charles Todd and passed on when his home-made Monopoly board was copied by Charles Darrow and thence to Parker...
using the stolen money and they left their fingerprintFingerprintA fingerprint in its narrow sense is an impression left by the friction ridges of a human finger. In a wider use of the term, fingerprints are the traces of an impression from the friction ridges of any part of a human hand. A print from the foot can also leave an impression of friction ridges...
s all over the set. 12 of the 15 were rounded up, 1 was acquitted and 2 of them were never caught. The most famous member was Ronnie BiggsRonnie BiggsRonald Arthur "Ronnie" Biggs is an English criminal, known for his role in the Great Train Robbery of 1963, for his escape from prison in 1965, for living as a fugitive for 36 years and for his various publicity stunts while in exile. In 2001, he voluntarily returned to the United Kingdom and...
, who was asked by the mastermind, Bruce ReynoldsBruce ReynoldsBruce Richard Reynolds was part of the gang behind the 'Great Train Robbery' in 1963 in £2.6 million was stolen....
to find a diesel train driverRailroad engineerA railroad engineer, locomotive engineer, train operator, train driver or engine driver is a person who drives a train on a railroad...
for the robbery. The man he found was known either as Old Pete or Stan Agate (it's not known because he was one of the 2 who were never caught), and so Biggs received £147,000 (£1.6 million today) just for finding this driver and bringing him to the scene, who it turned out, couldn't drive a train, yet Biggs still received his money. - Despite being discovered in 1535, the reason it took 300 years to give the Giant tortoiseGiant tortoiseGiant tortoises are characteristic reptiles of certain tropical islands. Often reaching enormous size—they can weigh as much as 300 kg and can grow to be 1.3 m long—they live, or lived , in the Seychelles, the Mascarenes and the Galapagos...
a scientific nameBinomial nomenclatureBinomial nomenclature is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, although they can be based on words from other languages...
was because they were so edible. While they were being brought back to London and eventually Europe, they were all eaten, so no scientific study on them could be done. The only comparisons of them were that they tasted like chickenChickenThe chicken is a domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the Red Junglefowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird...
, beefBeefBeef is the culinary name for meat from bovines, especially domestic cattle. Beef can be harvested from cows, bulls, heifers or steers. It is one of the principal meats used in the cuisine of the Middle East , Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Europe and the United States, and is also important in...
, mutton and butterButterButter is a dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk. It is generally used as a spread and a condiment, as well as in cooking applications, such as baking, sauce making, and pan frying...
and saying how much better they are than all of those things. No-one who had ate tortoise had eaten anything better. All 12 speciesSpeciesIn biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
of giant tortoise are now protected. AdwaitaAdwaitaAdwaita was the name of a male Aldabra giant tortoise in the Alipore Zoological Gardens of Kolkata, India...
was Clive of India'sRobert Clive, 1st Baron CliveMajor-General Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive, KB , also known as Clive of India, was a British officer who established the military and political supremacy of the East India Company in Bengal. He is credited with securing India, and the wealth that followed, for the British crown...
pet tortoise. He died in 2006, at the age of 255, meaning he was born before Wolfgang Amadeus MozartWolfgang Amadeus MozartWolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
, before the French RevolutionFrench RevolutionThe French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
and had his death announced on CNN. He is believed to be the oldest living creature ever, because most creatures don't survive long out of captivityCaptivity (animal)Animals that live under human care are in captivity. Captivity can be used as a generalizing term to describe the keeping of either domesticated animals or wild animals. This may include for example farms, private homes and zoos...
. They were also used as water stores, because they have a special internal bladderBladderBladder usually refers to an anatomical hollow organBladder may also refer to:-Biology:* Urinary bladder in humans** Urinary bladder ** Bladder control; see Urinary incontinence** Artificial urinary bladder, in humans...
that stores water so perfectly that it's drinkable, so when you slit them open you get an extra gallonGallonThe gallon is a measure of volume. Historically it has had many different definitions, but there are three definitions in current use: the imperial gallon which is used in the United Kingdom and semi-officially within Canada, the United States liquid gallon and the lesser used United States dry...
of fresh water. It was pretty useful, as they could be stacked on boats, because they couldn't move and they didn't need to be fed for a long time. They also contributed to whalingWhalingWhaling is the hunting of whales mainly for meat and oil. Its earliest forms date to at least 3000 BC. Various coastal communities have long histories of sustenance whaling and harvesting beached whales...
, as they could be used as a foodstuff and a water supply. They had no predators until they were discovered by man, they were evolutionarily complacent, like many island species, because only humans travel across islands in that way.
- Everyone who was born in Europe is descended from the 8th century king
General Ignorance:
- Catherine the GreatCatherine II of RussiaCatherine II, also known as Catherine the Great , Empress of Russia, was born in Stettin, Pomerania, Prussia on as Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg...
died in bedBedA bed is a large piece of furniture used as a place to sleep, relax, or engage in sexual relations.Most modern beds consist of a mattress on a bed frame, with the mattress resting either on a solid base, often wooden slats, or a sprung base...
(forfeit: on the loo) after suffering a stroke while on the toiletToiletA toilet is a sanitation fixture used primarily for the disposal of human excrement, often found in a small room referred to as a toilet/bathroom/lavatory...
. People who it is believed did die on the toilet were Elvis PresleyElvis PresleyElvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
and George IIGeorge II of Great BritainGeorge II was King of Great Britain and Ireland, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Archtreasurer and Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire from 11 June 1727 until his death.George was the last British monarch born outside Great Britain. He was born and brought up in Northern Germany...
, who was declared dead "at stool". It's also not true that Catherine had sexual intercourseSexual intercourseSexual intercourse, also known as copulation or coitus, commonly refers to the act in which a male's penis enters a female's vagina for the purposes of sexual pleasure or reproduction. The entities may be of opposite sexes, or they may be hermaphroditic, as is the case with snails...
with a horse, also she did have plenty of sex with some of her courtierCourtierA courtier is a person who is often in attendance at the court of a king or other royal personage. Historically the court was the centre of government as well as the residence of the monarch, and social and political life were often completely mixed together...
s. Her son, Tsar Paul IPaul I of RussiaPaul I was the Emperor of Russia between 1796 and 1801. He also was the 72nd Prince and Grand Master of the Order of Malta .-Childhood:...
hated her and spread the rumour about the sex with horses, as did the French.
- Tangent: Discussion about 18th century paintingPaintingPainting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
s depicting horseHorseThe horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
s with small heads.- In cold weather, most of your heat escapes from your arm or leg (forfeit: your head), if exposed. Only 10% of heat escapes from your head.
- Tangent: Sean tells of how he once sat next to Lionel BlairLionel BlairLionel Blair is a British actor, choreographer, tap dancer and television presenter. He is the son of Myer Ogus and Deborah Greenbaum...
, and that he never got the chance to tell his grandmother that fact.- The lingua francaLingua francaA lingua franca is a language systematically used to make communication possible between people not sharing a mother tongue, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both mother tongues.-Characteristics:"Lingua franca" is a functionally defined term, independent of the linguistic...
(or everybody's second languageLanguageLanguage may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
) of Ancient RomeAncient RomeAncient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
was Greek (forfeit: LatinLatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
). - 43 different men have been President of the United States. The panellists are shown a clip from the inauguration of Barack ObamaInauguration of Barack ObamaThe inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States took place on Tuesday, January 20, 2009. The inauguration, which set a record attendance for any event held in Washington, D.C., marked the commencement of the four-year term of Barack Obama as President and Joe...
, which shows him saying he's the 44th President, which is true in the case of terms, but not in the terms of people. Grover ClevelandGrover ClevelandStephen Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States. Cleveland is the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms and therefore is the only individual to be counted twice in the numbering of the presidents...
was both the 22nd and 24th President, so he took the Presidential Oath twice. The reason he is counted twice is because he had two non-consecutive terms, since Benjamin HarrisonBenjamin HarrisonBenjamin Harrison was the 23rd President of the United States . Harrison, a grandson of President William Henry Harrison, was born in North Bend, Ohio, and moved to Indianapolis, Indiana at age 21, eventually becoming a prominent politician there...
was President between his two terms, so Obama is the 43rd different American president. (Forfeit: 44 — since the forfeit was taken from Obama's speech, Obama himself was given the forfeit of −10 points.)
- The lingua franca
QI XL Extras:
- The Great DisappointmentGreat DisappointmentThe Great Disappointment was a major event in the history of the Millerite movement, a 19th-century American Christian sect that formed out of the Second Great Awakening. Based on his interpretations of the prophecies in the book of Daniel The Great Disappointment was a major event in the history...
was the name given to the supposed Second ComingSecond ComingIn Christian doctrine, the Second Coming of Christ, the Second Advent, or the Parousia, is the anticipated return of Jesus Christ from Heaven, where he sits at the Right Hand of God, to Earth. This prophecy is found in the canonical gospels and in most Christian and Islamic eschatologies...
of JesusJesusJesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
. The American William MillerWilliam Miller (preacher)William Miller was an American Baptist preacher who is credited with beginning the mid-nineteenth century North American religious movement now known as Adventism. Among his direct spiritual heirs are several major religious denominations, including Seventh-day Adventists and Advent Christians...
carefully scrutinised the BibleBibleThe Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
and it suggested that Jesus would return in 1844 and scourge the world and clean the sanctuary, that was according to Daniel 8:4. Over a million Millerites believed him and sold everything they had to prove this belief. One man even threw himself off a barnBarnA barn is an agricultural building used for storage and as a covered workplace. It may sometimes be used to house livestock or to store farming vehicles and equipment...
believing he would be scooped up and saved. Unfortunately, Jesus didn't return and it became known as "The Great Disappointment". Many more well-known religions have branched off from Millerism, including the Seventh-day Adventist ChurchSeventh-day Adventist ChurchThe Seventh-day Adventist Church is a Protestant Christian denomination distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the original seventh day of the Judeo-Christian week, as the Sabbath, and by its emphasis on the imminent second coming of Jesus Christ...
, which was founded by a former female MilleriteEllen G. WhiteEllen Gould White was a prolific author and an American Christian pioneer. She, along with other Sabbatarian Adventist leaders, such as Joseph Bates and her husband James White, would form what is now known as the Seventh-day Adventist Church.Ellen White reported to her fellow believers her...
, and currently has 15 million adherents in America. Another man, Charles RussellCharles Taze RussellCharles Taze Russell , or Pastor Russell, was a prominent early 20th century Christian restorationist minister from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, and founder of what is now known as the Bible Student movement, from which Jehovah's Witnesses and numerous independent Bible Student groups emerged...
founded the Jehovah's WitnessesJehovah's WitnessesJehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The religion reports worldwide membership of over 7 million adherents involved in evangelism, convention attendance of over 12 million, and annual...
, which held the belief of the ApocalypseApocalypseAn Apocalypse is a disclosure of something hidden from the majority of mankind in an era dominated by falsehood and misconception, i.e. the veil to be lifted. The Apocalypse of John is the Book of Revelation, the last book of the New Testament...
, as depicted in the Book of RevelationBook of RevelationThe Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament. The title came into usage from the first word of the book in Koine Greek: apokalupsis, meaning "unveiling" or "revelation"...
s. Nowadays, there is a new movement, known as the RaptureRaptureThe rapture is a reference to the "being caught up" referred to in 1 Thessalonians 4:17, when the "dead in Christ" and "we who are alive and remain" will be caught up in the clouds to meet "the Lord"....
, that believes that when Jesus returns, everyone will escape from their bodies and leave their clothesClothingClothing refers to any covering for the human body that is worn. The wearing of clothing is exclusively a human characteristic and is a feature of nearly all human societies...
behind them. A book by Edgar WhisenantEdgar C. WhisenantEdgar C. Whisenant , was a former NASA engineer and Bible student who predicted the Rapture would occur in 1988, sometime between Sept. 11 and Sept. 13. He published two books about this: 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988 and On Borrowed Time...
that was released in 1988 and called 88 Reasons why the Rapture is in 1988, sold 4 million copies, although it of course, didn't happen, but there is now a websiteWebsiteA website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
called www.raptureready.com, which has millions of hits, tells of ways to prepare for the Rapture and to protect loved ones who don't make it, such as being stung by enormous waspWaspThe term wasp is typically defined as any insect of the order Hymenoptera and suborder Apocrita that is neither a bee nor an ant. Almost every pest insect species has at least one wasp species that preys upon it or parasitizes it, making wasps critically important in natural control of their...
s. (Forfeit: Have you been talking to my husband? (Jo))
- Tangent: In the Nazi concentration campsNazi concentration camp badgesNazi concentration camp badges, primarily triangles, were part of the system of identification in Nazi camps. They were used in the concentration camps in the Nazi-occupied countries to identify the reason the prisoners had been placed there. The triangles were made of fabric and were sewn on...
, the Jehovah's Witnesses had purplePurplePurple is a range of hues of color occurring between red and blue, and is classified as a secondary color as the colors are required to create the shade....
triangleTriangleA triangle is one of the basic shapes of geometry: a polygon with three corners or vertices and three sides or edges which are line segments. A triangle with vertices A, B, and C is denoted ....
s on their uniformsPrison uniformA prison uniform is any uniform worn by individuals incarcerated in a prison, jail or similar facility of detention.-Nazi Germany:During the Nazi period of Germany, interned people in the concentration camp system were often made to wear prisoner's uniforms.-Convict era:In the United Kingdom,...
, the Jews had yellow starYellow badgeThe yellow badge , also referred to as a Jewish badge, was a cloth patch that Jews were ordered to sew on their outer garments in order to mark them as Jews in public. It is intended to be a badge of shame associated with antisemitism...
s, the gaysHomosexualityHomosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
had pinkPinkPink is a mixture of red and white. Commonly used for Valentine's Day and Easter, pink is sometimes referred to as "the color of love." The use of the word for the color known today as pink was first recorded in the late 17th century....
triangles. - Tangent: As mentioned in Series C, Samuel PepysSamuel PepysSamuel Pepys FRS, MP, JP, was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament who is now most famous for the diary he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man...
famously buriedBurialBurial is the act of placing a person or object into the ground. This is accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing an object in it, and covering it over.-History:...
some Parmesan cheese in his garden to protect it from the Great Fire.- CheeseCheeseCheese is a generic term for a diverse group of milk-based food products. Cheese is produced throughout the world in wide-ranging flavors, textures, and forms....
tastes better when it's gratedGrated cheeseGrated cheese is a type of cheese that has gone through the process of being grated. Typically, aged hard cheeses are used for this purpose. A hand grater can be used to manually grate the cheese, or cheese can be bought already grated...
because it has a wider area that connects with the tongueTongueThe tongue is a muscular hydrostat on the floors of the mouths of most vertebrates which manipulates food for mastication. It is the primary organ of taste , as much of the upper surface of the tongue is covered in papillae and taste buds. It is sensitive and kept moist by saliva, and is richly...
and the cheese has a more intense flavourFlavorFlavor or flavour is the sensory impression of a food or other substance, and is determined mainly by the chemical senses of taste and smell. The "trigeminal senses", which detect chemical irritants in the mouth and throat as well as temperature and texture, are also very important to the overall...
. When Parmesan is grated, it smells of vomit, mainly due to it having butyric acidButyric acidButyric acid , also known under the systematic name butanoic acid, is a carboxylic acid with the structural formula CH3CH2CH2-COOH. Salts and esters of butyric acid are known as butyrates or butanoates...
and isovaleric acid3-Methylbutanoic acid3-Methylbutanoic acid, or more commonly isovaleric acid, is a natural fatty acid found in a wide variety of plants and essential oils. Isovaleric acid is clear colorless liquid that is sparingly soluble in water, but extremely soluble in most common organic solvents.Isovaleric acid has a strong...
in it, which are also to found in bodyBodyWith regard to living things, a body is the physical body of an individual. "Body" often is used in connection with appearance, health issues and death...
odour.
- Cheese
- Tangent: Discussion of why cheese has a sell-by dateShelf lifeShelf life is the length of time that food, drink, medicine, chemicals, and many other perishable items are given before they are considered unsuitable for sale, use, or consumption...
on it. - Tangent: Sean mixing up the Great Train Robbery with the plot of the film Herbie Rides AgainHerbie Rides AgainHerbie Rides Again is a 1974 comedy film. It is the sequel to The Love Bug, released six years earlier, and the second in a series of movies made by Walt Disney Productions starring an anthropomorphic 1963 Volkswagen racing Beetle named Herbie...
. The Great Train Robbery took place on 8 August 1963 and the amount of money stolen was the equivalent of £Pound sterlingThe pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
40 million in today's money. The trainTrainA train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track to transport cargo or passengers from one place to another place. The track usually consists of two rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway.Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate...
was a post office trainTravelling Post OfficeA Travelling Post Office was a type of mail train in the UK where the post was sorted en-route. The last Travelling Post Office services were ended on 9 January 2004, with the carriages used now sold for scrap or to preservation societies....
that was being sent to burn used £1, £5 and £10 notesBank of England note issuesThe Bank of England, which is now the Central Bank of the United Kingdom, has issued banknotes since 1694. Since 1970, its new series of notes have featured portraits of British historical figures. Of the eight banks authorised to issue banknotes in the UK, only the Bank of England can issue...
. - Tangent: The main reason why the Great Train Robbery was referred to as "Great", was because it was simply a train robbery. In 1903, the first ever film that was based on a story, rather than just looking at nature was released and it was called The Great Train Robbery.
- Tangent: Alan tells of a caféCaféA café , also spelled cafe, in most countries refers to an establishment which focuses on serving coffee, like an American coffeehouse. In the United States, it may refer to an informal restaurant, offering a range of hot meals and made-to-order sandwiches...
near him that does "good ol' English grub" and on the table there are 3 different menuMenuIn a restaurant, a menu is a presentation of food and beverage offerings. A menu may be a la carte – which guests use to choose from a list of options – or table d'hôte, in which case a pre-established sequence of courses is served....
s, one has Sid JamesSid JamesSid James was an English-based South African actor and comedian. He made his name as Tony Hancock's co-star in Hancock's Half Hour and also starred in the popular Carry On films. He was known for his trademark "dirty laugh" and lascivious persona...
and Barbara WindsorBarbara WindsorBarbara Ann Windsor, MBE , better known by her stage name Barbara Windsor, is an English actress. Her best known roles are in the Carry On films and as Peggy Mitchell in the BBC soap opera EastEnders....
in a Carry On film, one has Peter CookPeter CookPeter Edward Cook was an English satirist, writer and comedian. An extremely influential figure in modern British comedy, he is regarded as the leading light of the British satire boom of the 1960s. He has been described by Stephen Fry as "the funniest man who ever drew breath," although Cook's...
and Dudley MooreDudley MooreDudley Stuart John Moore, CBE was an English actor, comedian, composer and musician.Moore first came to prominence as one of the four writer-performers in the ground-breaking comedy revue Beyond the Fringe in the early 1960s, and then became famous as half of the highly popular television...
in their overcoatOvercoatAn overcoat is a type of long coat intended to be worn as the outermost garment. Overcoats usually extend below the knee, but are sometimes mistakenly referred to as topcoats, which are short coats that end at or above the knees. Topcoats and overcoats together are known as outercoats...
s and the other has the Kray twinsKray twinsReginald "Reggie" Kray and his twin brother Ronald "Ronnie" Kray were the foremost perpetrators of organised crime in London's East End during the 1950s and 1960s...
.- If a Giant PandaGiant PandaThe giant panda, or panda is a bear native to central-western and south western China. It is easily recognized by its large, distinctive black patches around the eyes, over the ears, and across its round body. Though it belongs to the order Carnivora, the panda's diet is 99% bamboo...
does a handstandHandstandA handstand is the act of supporting the body in a stable, inverted vertical position by balancing on the hands. In a basic handstand the body is held straight with arms and legs fully extended, with hands spaced approximately shoulder-width apart...
in front of you, it's trying to tell you that you're on its land. Because they eat for 12 hours a day, they don't have much time for ruttingRut (mammalian reproduction)The rut is the mating season of ruminant animals such as deer, sheep, elk, moose, caribou, ibex, goats, pronghorn and Asian and African antelope....
or fighting, so they urinateUrinationUrination, also known as micturition, voiding, peeing, weeing, pissing, and more rarely, emiction, is the ejection of urine from the urinary bladder through the urethra to the outside of the body. In healthy humans the process of urination is under voluntary control...
to mark out their territory, and they prefer to urinate while in the handstand position, and the higher up a tree that the urineUrineUrine is a typically sterile liquid by-product of the body that is secreted by the kidneys through a process called urination and excreted through the urethra. Cellular metabolism generates numerous by-products, many rich in nitrogen, that require elimination from the bloodstream...
lands on, the more dominant it is.
- If a Giant Panda
- Tangent: A recent discovery in San Diego ZooSan Diego ZooThe San Diego Zoo in Balboa Park, San Diego, California, is one of the most progressive zoos in the world, with over 4,000 animals of more than 800 species...
has revealed that pandas don't need ViagraSildenafilSildenafil citrate, sold as Viagra, Revatio and under various other trade names, is a drug used to treat erectile dysfunction and pulmonary arterial hypertension . It was originally developed by British scientists and then brought to market by the US-based pharmaceutical company Pfizer...
or panda pornographyPornographyPornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...
to get sexually excited. It's believed that if they swap cagesCage (enclosure)A cage is an enclosure made of mesh, bars or wires, used to confine, contain or protect something or someone. A cage can serve many purposes, including keeping an animal in captivity, capturing, and being used for display of an animal at a zoo.-History:...
and smell the secretionSecretionSecretion is the process of elaborating, releasing, and oozing chemicals, or a secreted chemical substance from a cell or gland. In contrast to excretion, the substance may have a certain function, rather than being a waste product...
s in each other's cage, then they're up for it.
Episode 11 "Gifts"
Broadcast date:- 5 February 2010
- 6 February 2010 (XL edition)
- 1 June 2010 (ABC1 airing/iView upload)
Recording date:
- 19 May 2009
Panellists:
- Alan DaviesAlan DaviesAlan Davies is an English comedian, writer and actor best known for starring in the TV mystery series Jonathan Creek and as the permanent panellist on the TV panel show QI.- Early life :...
(−18 points) - Clive AndersonClive AndersonClive Anderson is a British former barrister, best known for being a comedy writer as well as a radio and television presenter in the United Kingdom...
(−14 points) - Jimmy CarrJimmy CarrJames Anthony Patrick "Jimmy" Carr is an English-Irish comedian and humourist. He is known for his deadpan delivery and dark humour. He is also a writer, actor and presenter of radio and television....
(−7 points) - Jan RavensJan RavensJanet "Jan" Ravens is an English actress and impressionist, famous for her voices on Spitting Image and Dead Ringers.-Early life:...
(winner with 6 points)
Buzzers:
- Jimmy — Gimme All Your Lovin'Gimme All Your Lovin'"Gimme All Your Lovin" is a song by ZZ Top from their 1983 album Eliminator. The song was released as the album's first single in 1983 ....
by ZZ TopZZ TopZZ Top is an American rock band, sometimes referred to as "That Little Ol' Band from Texas". Their style, which is rooted in blues-based boogie rock, has come to incorporate elements of arena, southern, and boogie rock. The band, from Houston Texas, formed in 1969... - Jan — Give Me Just a Little More TimeGive Me Just a Little More Time"Give Me Just a Little More Time" is the debut single for Chairmen of the Board, released in 1970 through Capitol Records on Holland–Dozier–Holland's Invictus Records label....
by Chairmen of the Board - Clive — Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! ", originally titled "Been and Gone and Done It", is one of Swedish pop group ABBA's biggest disco hits. It was recorded and released in 1979 with "The King Has Lost His Crown" as the B-side. It appears on ABBA's Greatest Hits Vol...
by ABBAABBAABBA was a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1970 which consisted of Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Agnetha Fältskog... - Alan — (How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window?(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window?" That Doggie in the Window?" is a popular novelty song written by Bob Merrill and Ingrid Reuterskiöld in 1952. The best-known version of the song was recorded by Patti Page on December 18, 1952 and released by Mercury Records as catalog number 70070, with the flip side being "My Jealous Eyes". It...
by Patti PagePatti PageClara Ann Fowler , known by her professional name Patti Page, is an American singer, one of the best-known female artists in traditional pop music. She was the best-selling female artist of the 1950s, and has sold over 100 million records...
Topics:
- The panellists are given bags of items that are seized by American customsU.S. Customs and Border ProtectionU.S. Customs and Border Protection is a federal law enforcement agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security charged with regulating and facilitating international trade, collecting import duties, and enforcing U.S. regulations, including trade, customs and immigration. CBP is the...
. Items include counterfeit moneyCounterfeit moneyCounterfeit money is currency that is produced without the legal sanction of the state or government to resemble some official form of currency closely enough that it may be confused for genuine currency. Producing or using counterfeit money is a form of fraud or forgery. Counterfeiting is probably...
, a handkerchiefHandkerchiefA handkerchief , also called a handkercher or hanky, is a form of a kerchief, typically a hemmed square of thin fabric that can be carried in the pocket or purse, and which is intended for personal hygiene purposes such as wiping one's hands or face, or blowing one's nose...
covered in any amount of human fluids, SpamSpam (food)Spam is a canned precooked meat product made by the Hormel Foods Corporation, first introduced in 1937. The labeled ingredients in the classic variety of Spam are chopped pork shoulder meat, with ham meat added, salt, water, modified potato starch as a binder, and sodium nitrite as a preservative...
, seedSeedA seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant...
s, a lotteryLotteryA lottery is a form of gambling which involves the drawing of lots for a prize.Lottery is outlawed by some governments, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national or state lottery. It is common to find some degree of regulation of lottery by governments...
ticket, a Cuban cigar, shoeShoeA shoe is an item of footwear intended to protect and comfort the human foot while doing various activities. Shoes are also used as an item of decoration. The design of shoes has varied enormously through time and from culture to culture, with appearance originally being tied to function...
s that have been to a farmFarmA farm is an area of land, or, for aquaculture, lake, river or sea, including various structures, devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food , fibres and, increasingly, fuel. It is the basic production facility in food production. Farms may be owned and operated by a single...
in the last month, a hessian bag and a Kinder eggKinder SurpriseKinder Surprise, also known as a Kinder Egg or, in the original Italian, Kinder Sorpresa, is a confection manufactured by Italian company Ferrero. Originally intended for children, it has the form of a chocolate egg containing a small toy, often requiring assembly.-Overview:Kinder Surprise...
. You could go to prisonPrisonA prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
for 2 years for bringing in a lottery ticket. The hessian bag isn't allowed, because it's made of hempHempHemp is mostly used as a name for low tetrahydrocannabinol strains of the plant Cannabis sativa, of fiber and/or oilseed varieties. In modern times, hemp has been used for industrial purposes including paper, textiles, biodegradable plastics, construction, health food and fuel with modest...
. The most confiscated item is a Kinder egg as children may chokeChokingChoking is the mechanical obstruction of the flow of air from the environment into the lungs. Choking prevents breathing, and can be partial or complete, with partial choking allowing some, although inadequate, flow of air into the lungs. Prolonged or complete choking results in asphyxia which...
on it. Alan notes that the panellists were actually supplied with Creme Eggs, and not Kinder Eggs. Only people with one arm can carry a switchbladeSwitchbladeA switchblade is a type of knife with a folding or sliding blade contained in the handle which is opened automatically by a spring when a button, lever, or switch on the handle or bolster is activated A switchblade (also known as an automatic knife, pushbutton knife, switch, Sprenger, Springer,...
.
- Tangent: Since 1992, there has been a ban on all imports from Cuba to the United StatesUnited States embargo against CubaThe United States embargo against Cuba is a commercial, economic, and financial embargo partially imposed on Cuba in October 1960...
, but most United Nations countries have condemned this boycottBoycottA boycott is an act of voluntarily abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with a person, organization, or country as an expression of protest, usually for political reasons...
, except for IsraelIsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
and PalauPalauPalau , officially the Republic of Palau , is an island nation in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Philippines and south of Tokyo. In 1978, after three decades as being part of the United Nations trusteeship, Palau chose independence instead of becoming part of the Federated States of Micronesia, a...
.- The word for people who don't laughLaughterLaughing is a reaction to certain stimuli, fundamentally stress, which serves as an emotional balancing mechanism. Traditionally, it is considered a visual expression of happiness, or an inward feeling of joy. It may ensue from hearing a joke, being tickled, or other stimuli...
is agelastic. Examples given were Isaac NewtonIsaac NewtonSir Isaac Newton PRS was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian, who has been "considered by many to be the greatest and most influential scientist who ever lived."...
, who only laughed once in his whole life, Joseph StalinJoseph StalinJoseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
, who never laughed according to Marshal ZhukovGeorgy ZhukovMarshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov , was a Russian career officer in the Red Army who, in the course of World War II, played a pivotal role in leading the Red Army through much of Eastern Europe to liberate the Soviet Union and other nations from the Axis Powers' occupation...
, Jonathan SwiftJonathan SwiftJonathan Swift was an Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer , poet and cleric who became Dean of St...
and William Ewart GladstoneWilliam Ewart GladstoneWilliam Ewart Gladstone FRS FSS was a British Liberal statesman. In a career lasting over sixty years, he served as Prime Minister four separate times , more than any other person. Gladstone was also Britain's oldest Prime Minister, 84 years old when he resigned for the last time...
. Whereas Anthony TrollopeAnthony TrollopeAnthony Trollope was one of the most successful, prolific and respected English novelists of the Victorian era. Some of his best-loved works, collectively known as the Chronicles of Barsetshire, revolve around the imaginary county of Barsetshire...
couldn't stop laughing, he actually died giggling. There are theories of laughterTheories of humorThere are many theories of humor which attempt to explain what humor is, what social function it serves, and what would be considered humorous. It would be very difficult to explain humor to a hypothetical person who did not have a sense of humor already. In fact, to such a person humor would...
: the superiority theory, the sudden glory felt when someone else suffers; the incongruity theory, when the logical dissolves into the absurd, and the relief theory, which was Freud's ideaSigmund FreudSigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...
, relieving inhibition to forbidden thoughts and feelings, which leads to Jimmy talking about his book, The Naked Jape, which was about theories like that from around the world. Animals can't laugh.
- The word for people who don't laugh
- Tangent: Jan explains that performing impressions of other people's physical movements and mannerisms is called echopraxiaEchopraxiaEchopraxia is the involuntary repetition or imitation of the observed movements of another. It is closely related to echolalia, the involuntary repetition of another's speech. The etymology of the term is from Ancient Greek: "ἠχώ from ἠχή " and "πρᾶξις "...
. An impression of the way they speak is called echolaliaEcholaliaEcholalia is the automatic repetition of vocalizations made by another person. It is closely related to echopraxia, the automatic repetition of movements made by another person....
. - Tangent: Trollope also invented the post boxPost boxA post box is a physical box into which members of the public can deposit outgoing mail intended for collection by the agents of a country's postal service...
, but he regretted doing so. The problem was that women were now able to communicateCommunicationCommunication is the activity of conveying meaningful information. Communication requires a sender, a message, and an intended recipient, although the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast...
freely at post officePost officeA post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...
s, because before the post box, every woman had to go to their father or servant to put the stampPostage stampA postage stamp is a small piece of paper that is purchased and displayed on an item of mail as evidence of payment of postage. Typically, stamps are made from special paper, with a national designation and denomination on the face, and a gum adhesive on the reverse side...
on, but now they could do send the letters themselves, so could have relationshipIntimate relationshipAn intimate relationship is a particularly close interpersonal relationship that involves physical or emotional intimacy. Physical intimacy is characterized by romantic or passionate love and attachment, or sexual activity. The term is also sometimes used euphemistically for a sexual...
s without their parents' consent.- The oldest joke in the world was "There was an absent-minded professor who was on a sea voyage when a stormStormA storm is any disturbed state of an astronomical body's atmosphere, especially affecting its surface, and strongly implying severe weather...
blows up and his slaves are weeping in terror. He said, "Don't cry, I have freed you all in my willWill (law)A will or testament is a legal declaration by which a person, the testator, names one or more persons to manage his/her estate and provides for the transfer of his/her property at death...
"". That joke depicted the AbderitesAbderitesAbderites or the School of Abdera was a Pre-Socratic school of thought, founded in Abdera, Thrace around 440 to 430 BC. Its proponents, Leucippus and Democritus, were the earliest atomists....
as being rather stupid. The Greek joke book, the PhilogelosPhilogelosPhilogelos is the oldest existing collection of jokes.The collection is written in Greek, and the language used indicates that it may have been written in the 4th century AD, according to William Berg, an American classics professor. It is attributed to Hierokles and Philagrios, about whom little...
has this joke inside it: "An Abderite asks a eunuchEunuchA eunuch is a person born male most commonly castrated, typically early enough in his life for this change to have major hormonal consequences...
how many children he has, the eunuch replies "None, Duh! I'm a eunuch!", then the Abderite says..." The punch linePunch lineA punch line is the final part of a joke, comedy sketch, or profound statement, usually the word, sentence or exchange of sentences which is intended to be funny or to provoke laughter or thought from listeners...
of that joke is actually missing. Another old joke is a SumerSumerSumer was a civilization and historical region in southern Mesopotamia, modern Iraq during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age....
ian one from 1900BC, which goes "something that has never occurred since time immemorial – a young woman did not fart in her husband's lapLapA lap is a surface created between the knee and hips of a bipedal being when it is in a seated or lying down position.-Consumer products for laps:...
." An old English one is "What is the most cleanliest leafLeafA leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....
amongst all others? – HollyHollyIlex) is a genus of 400 to 600 species of flowering plants in the family Aquifoliaceae, and the only living genus in that family. The species are evergreen and deciduous trees, shrubs, and climbers from tropics to temperate zones world wide....
leaves, because no-one will wipe their arse with them."
- The oldest joke in the world was "There was an absent-minded professor who was on a sea voyage when a storm
- Tangent: The subject of the first impression recorded was SocratesSocratesSocrates was a classical Greek Athenian philosopher. Credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, he is an enigmatic figure known chiefly through the accounts of later classical writers, especially the writings of his students Plato and Xenophon, and the plays of his contemporary ...
in The CloudsThe CloudsThe Clouds is a comedy written by the celebrated playwright Aristophanes lampooning intellectual fashions in classical Athens. It was originally produced at the City Dionysia in 423 BC and it was not well received, coming last of the three plays competing at the festival that year. It was revised...
, a play by AristophanesAristophanesAristophanes , son of Philippus, of the deme Cydathenaus, was a comic playwright of ancient Athens. Eleven of his forty plays survive virtually complete...
. SocratesSocratesSocrates was a classical Greek Athenian philosopher. Credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, he is an enigmatic figure known chiefly through the accounts of later classical writers, especially the writings of his students Plato and Xenophon, and the plays of his contemporary ...
was put to death for corrupting youths. - Tangent: An old Greek joke provided by Jimmy that still works today, "A barberBarberA barber is someone whose occupation is to cut any type of hair, and to shave or trim the beards of men. The place of work of a barber is generally called a barbershop....
asks "How do you want your hair cut?", and the person says "In silence"."- A scold's bridleScold's bridleA scold's bridle, sometimes called "the branks", was a punishment device for men and women, also used as a mild form of torture. It was an iron muzzle in an iron framework that enclose the head. The bridle-bit was about 2 inches long and 1 inch broad, projected into the mouth and pressed down on...
was a tortureTortureTorture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
device for women who gossip or were malicious and spiteful. A more common punishmentPunishmentPunishment is the authoritative imposition of something negative or unpleasant on a person or animal in response to behavior deemed wrong by an individual or group....
is the cucking stoolCucking stoolDucking-stools and cucking-stools are chairs formerly used for punishment of women in England and Scotland . The term cucking-stool derives from wyuen pine as referred in Langland's Piers Plowman.They were both instruments of social humiliation and censure, primarily for the offense of scolding...
, wrongly known as the ducking stool. The male equivalent was barratryBarratryBarratry is the name of four legal concepts, three in criminal and civil law, and one in admiralty law.* Barratry, in criminal and civil law, is the act or practice of bringing repeated legal actions solely to harass...
. There are hardly any records of them being used, 50 of them still exist today. The studio has the one that currently resides in Walton-on-ThamesWalton-on-ThamesWalton-on-Thames is a town in the Elmbridge borough of Surrey in South East England. The town is located south west of Charing Cross and is between the towns of Weybridge and Molesey. It is situated on the River Thames between Sunbury Lock and Shepperton Lock.- History :The name "Walton" is...
. - "What do you get if you cross a caterpillarCaterpillarCaterpillars are the larval form of members of the order Lepidoptera . They are mostly herbivorous in food habit, although some species are insectivorous. Caterpillars are voracious feeders and many of them are considered to be pests in agriculture...
and a butterflyButterflyA butterfly is a mainly day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, which includes the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, the butterfly's life cycle consists of four parts: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured...
?" (Forfeits: butterpillar, caterfly) There is a theory put forward by Donald WilliamsonDonald I. WilliamsonDonald Irving Williamson is a British planktologist and carcinologist, born 8 January 1922, Alnham, Northumberland, England. He gained his first degree from the Durham University in 1942, his Ph.D. from the same university in 1948, and a D.Sc. from the Newcastle University in 1972...
called hybridogenesis stating the butterfly and the caterpillar are of different speciesSpeciesIn biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
. Normal starfish start life as a small larvaLarvaA larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...
with a tiny starfish inside. They grow and separate and the larvaLarvaA larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...
degeneratesDegenerationThe idea of degeneration had significant influence on science, art and politics from the 1850s to the 1950s. The social theory developed consequently from Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution...
. Williamson found the Luidia sarsiLuidia sarsiThe Luidia sarsi is a species of starfish. Sand colored with a velvety texture, the species expresses pentamerism or pentaradial symmetry as adults. The five gently tapering arms have conspicuous bands of long white marginal spines in groups of three...
differs with the larva living for months as an independent animal. He reasons there is a chance of creating a double species, since "spermSpermThe term sperm is derived from the Greek word sperma and refers to the male reproductive cells. In the types of sexual reproduction known as anisogamy and oogamy, there is a marked difference in the size of the gametes with the smaller one being termed the "male" or sperm cell...
and seed" have been mixing in the sea for millions of years, so these new species could be created once every million years. - 1% of American adults are in jailPrisonA prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
, roughly 2.3 million, or 1 in every 99.1 adults. More than twice as many as South Africans, more than three times as the IranIranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
ians, more than six times as the Chinese. No societySocietyA society, or a human society, is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or virtual territory, subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations...
in history has imprisoned more of its citizens than the United States. The United Kingdom is ahead of China, Turkey and India, with 148 prisoners per 100,000. In the USA, they have the three strikes lawThree strikes lawThree strikes laws)"are statutes enacted by state governments in the United States which require the state courts to hand down a mandatory and extended period of incarceration to persons who have been convicted of a serious criminal offense on three or more separate occasions. These statutes became...
, which gives a life sentenceLife imprisonmentLife imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...
for anyone's third crime, no matter how trivial, providing they have 2 serious crimes against them already. So, a man called Leandro AndradeLockyer v. AndradeLockyer v. Andrade, , decided the same day as Ewing v. California, held that there would be no relief by means of a petition for a writ of habeas corpus from a sentence imposed under California's three strikes law as a violation of the Eighth Amendment's prohibition of cruel and unusual...
is serving 2 consecutive 25-year terms for shopliftingShopliftingShoplifting is theft of goods from a retail establishment. It is one of the most common property crimes dealt with by police and courts....
9 videotapeVideotapeA videotape is a recording of images and sounds on to magnetic tape as opposed to film stock or random access digital media. Videotapes are also used for storing scientific or medical data, such as the data produced by an electrocardiogram...
s. Another man, Kevin Weber, got given 26 years for stealing 4 chocolate chip cookieChocolate chip cookieA chocolate chip cookie is a drop cookie that originated in the United States and features chocolate chips as its distinguishing ingredient. The traditional recipe combines a dough composed of butter and both brown and white sugar with semi-sweet chocolate chips...
s. One in 30 men aged between 20–34 are in jail, and for black males, it's 1 in 9. There are more 17-year-old black people in jail, than in collegeCollegeA college is an educational institution or a constituent part of an educational institution. Usage varies in English-speaking nations...
. 5% of the world is American, and 25% of all prisoners are American.
- A scold's bridle
- Tangent: In reference to the first question, you're not allowed to bring in anything into America that has been made in a prison, but the prisoners are effectively slave labourSlaverySlavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
. 100% of all military helmetsCombat helmetA combat helmet or battle helmet is a type of personal armor designed specifically to protect the head during combat. Helmets are among the oldest forms of personal protective equipment and are known to have been worn by the Akkadians/Sumerians in the 23rd century BC, Mycenaean Greeks since 17th...
, ammunition beltsBelt (firearm)A belt or ammunition belt is a device used to retain and feed cartridges into a firearm. Belts and the associated feed systems are typically employed to feed machine guns or other automatic weapons...
, bulletproof vests and ID tagsDog tag (identifier)A dog tag is the informal name for the identification tags worn by military personnel, named such as it bears resemblance to actual dog tags. The tag is primarily used for the identification of dead and wounded and essential basic medical information for the treatment of the latter, such as blood...
and other military essentials are made in jail, along with 93% of domestically produced paintPaintPaint is any liquid, liquefiable, or mastic composition which after application to a substrate in a thin layer is converted to an opaque solid film. One may also consider the digital mimicry thereof...
s, 36% of home applianceHome applianceHome appliances are electrical/mechanical machines which accomplish some household functions, such as cooking or cleaning. Home appliances can be classified into:*Major appliances, or White goods*Small appliances, or Brown goods...
s and 21% of officeOfficeAn office is generally a room or other area in which people work, but may also denote a position within an organization with specific duties attached to it ; the latter is in fact an earlier usage, office as place originally referring to the location of one's duty. When used as an adjective, the...
furnitureFurnitureFurniture is the mass noun for the movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating and sleeping in beds, to hold objects at a convenient height for work using horizontal surfaces above the ground, or to store things...
, which allows the USA to compete with Mexico. All prisoners are forced to work, failure to comply leads to solitary confinementSolitary confinementSolitary confinement is a special form of imprisonment in which a prisoner is isolated from any human contact, though often with the exception of members of prison staff. It is sometimes employed as a form of punishment beyond incarceration for a prisoner, and has been cited as an additional...
.
General Ignorance:
- The CornishCornish folkloreCornish folklore is the folk tradition which has developed in Cornwall. There is much traditional folklore in Cornwall, often tales of giants, mermaids, Bucca, piskies or the 'pobel vean' These are still surprisingly popular today, with many events hosting a 'droll teller' to tell the stories:...
WreckersWrecking (shipwreck)Wrecking is the practice of taking valuables from a shipwreck which has foundered near or close to shore. Often an unregulated activity of opportunity in coastal communities, wrecking has been subjected to increasing regulation and evolved into what is now known as marine salvage...
may have made a living salvaging shipwreckShipwreckA shipwreck is what remains of a ship that has wrecked, either sunk or beached. Whatever the cause, a sunken ship or a wrecked ship is a physical example of the event: this explains why the two concepts are often overlapping in English....
s (forfeit: lured ships onto the rockRock (geology)In geology, rock or stone is a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids.The Earth's outer solid layer, the lithosphere, is made of rock. In general rocks are of three types, namely, igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic...
s). The closest thing to luring ships onto the rocks was a wreck in AngleseyAngleseyAnglesey , also known by its Welsh name Ynys Môn , is an island and, as Isle of Anglesey, a county off the north west coast of Wales...
, but that turned out to be a myth as well. It never happened, so no-one was ever hanged for it. The only evidence of it is in books such as Jamaica InnJamaica Inn (novel)Jamaica Inn is a novel by the English writer Daphne du Maurier, first published in 1936. It was later made into a film, also called Jamaica Inn, by Alfred Hitchcock...
by Daphne du MaurierDaphne du MaurierDame Daphne du Maurier, Lady Browning DBE was a British author and playwright.Many of her works have been adapted into films, including the novels Rebecca and Jamaica Inn and the short stories "The Birds" and "Don't Look Now". The first three were directed by Alfred Hitchcock.Her elder sister was...
. Jan won an edition of Celebrity MastermindCelebrity MastermindCelebrity Mastermind is a British television quiz show broadcast by BBC television. The show is a spin-off of the long running quiz show Mastermind, with the exception that all the contestants are celebrities. As with the main show, John Humphrys is the host and question-master...
with Daphne du Maurier as her specialist subject. It's believed that Methodist preacherPreacherPreacher is a term for someone who preaches sermons or gives homilies. A preacher is distinct from a theologian by focusing on the communication rather than the development of doctrine. Others see preaching and theology as being intertwined...
s wanted to give the idea that Cornish peopleCornish peopleThe Cornish are a people associated with Cornwall, a county and Duchy in the south-west of the United Kingdom that is seen in some respects as distinct from England, having more in common with the other Celtic parts of the United Kingdom such as Wales, as well as with other Celtic nations in Europe...
were barbarianBarbarianBarbarian and savage are terms used to refer to a person who is perceived to be uncivilized. The word is often used either in a general reference to a member of a nation or ethnos, typically a tribal society as seen by an urban civilization either viewed as inferior, or admired as a noble savage...
s of sorts. It was then repeated by Rev. Sabine Baring-GouldSabine Baring-GouldThe Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould was an English hagiographer, antiquarian, novelist and eclectic scholar. His bibliography consists of more than 1240 publications, though this list continues to grow. His family home, Lew Trenchard Manor near Okehampton, Devon, has been preserved as he had it...
, who wrote Onward, Christian SoldiersOnward, Christian Soldiers"Onward, Christian Soldiers" is a 19th century English hymn. The words were written by Sabine Baring-Gould in 1865, and the music was composed by Arthur Sullivan in 1871. Sullivan named the tune "St. Gertrude," after the wife of his friend Ernest Clay Ker Seymer, at whose country home he composed...
.
- Tangent: Baring-Gould is also believed to have been at a children's party he asked a small girl, "And whose little girl are you?" whereon she burst into tears, and said: "I'm yours, Daddy." He did however have 15 children, so could have been easily confused. Alan tells how a comedian was asked after an act who his agent was, and the comedian replied "You are".
- Tangent: Art collector Edward JamesEdward JamesEdward William Frank James was a British poet known for his patronage of the surrealist art movement.-Early life and marriage:...
recalled in his autobiographyAutobiographyAn autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
, his mother shouting "Nanny! I'm going to church. I want one of my daughters to go with me." The nanny then asked which one. Mrs. James replied "The one with the red hair, she'll go with this coatCoat (clothing)A coat is a long garment worn by both men and women, for warmth or fashion. Coats typically have long sleeves and are open down the front, closing by means of buttons, zippers, hook-and-loop fasteners, toggles, a belt, or a combination of some of these...
."- It is virtually impossible for ArchimedesArchimedesArchimedes of Syracuse was a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer. Although few details of his life are known, he is regarded as one of the leading scientists in classical antiquity. Among his advances in physics are the foundations of hydrostatics, statics and an...
to have moved the Earth in the way he suggested (forfeit: with a leverLeverIn physics, a lever is a rigid object that is used with an appropriate fulcrum or pivot point to either multiply the mechanical force that can be applied to another object or resistance force , or multiply the distance and speed at which the opposite end of the rigid object travels.This leverage...
). He said, "Give me a place to stand and I will move the Earth." Assuming he weighed 100 kilogramKilogramThe kilogram or kilogramme , also known as the kilo, is the base unit of mass in the International System of Units and is defined as being equal to the mass of the International Prototype Kilogram , which is almost exactly equal to the mass of one liter of water...
s and placed his fulcrum a kilometreKilometreThe kilometre is a unit of length in the metric system, equal to one thousand metres and is therefore exactly equal to the distance travelled by light in free space in of a second...
away from the bottom of the Earth, he would need a lever 6.5 billion light-yearLight-yearA light-year, also light year or lightyear is a unit of length, equal to just under 10 trillion kilometres...
s long to balance and move the planetPlanetA planet is a celestial body orbiting a star or stellar remnant that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity, is not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion, and has cleared its neighbouring region of planetesimals.The term planet is ancient, with ties to history, science,...
. Assuming that he moved the lever by one metreMetreThe metre , symbol m, is the base unit of length in the International System of Units . Originally intended to be one ten-millionth of the distance from the Earth's equator to the North Pole , its definition has been periodically refined to reflect growing knowledge of metrology...
, the Earth would move by less than the diameterDiameterIn geometry, a diameter of a circle is any straight line segment that passes through the center of the circle and whose endpoints are on the circle. The diameters are the longest chords of the circle...
of a single protonProtonThe proton is a subatomic particle with the symbol or and a positive electric charge of 1 elementary charge. One or more protons are present in the nucleus of each atom, along with neutrons. The number of protons in each atom is its atomic number....
.
- It is virtually impossible for Archimedes
- Tangent: If you tried to use Newtonian mechanicsClassical mechanicsIn physics, classical mechanics is one of the two major sub-fields of mechanics, which is concerned with the set of physical laws describing the motion of bodies under the action of a system of forces...
, by getting everyone to jumpJumpingJumping or leaping is a form of locomotion or movement in which an organism or non-living mechanical system propels itself through the air along a ballistic trajectory...
up at the same time, the Earth would a tiny bit, but it would be cancelled out by Newton's third law of motion.
QI XL Extras:
- Tangent: Despite the United States-CubaCubaThe Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
boycott, you can still get flights to Miami, and people on the flights wear massive coatCoat (clothing)A coat is a long garment worn by both men and women, for warmth or fashion. Coats typically have long sleeves and are open down the front, closing by means of buttons, zippers, hook-and-loop fasteners, toggles, a belt, or a combination of some of these...
s to hide things that they're not allowed to bring on board from security. - Tangent: In recent times, the Academy AwardsAcademy AwardsAn Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
goody bag have had to be declared against taxTaxTo tax is to impose a financial charge or other levy upon a taxpayer by a state or the functional equivalent of a state such that failure to pay is punishable by law. Taxes are also imposed by many subnational entities...
. The 2008 Academy Awards81st Academy AwardsThe 81st Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences , honored the best films of 2008 and took place February 22, 2009, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST / 8:30 p.m. EST...
goody bags were worth £Pound sterlingThe pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
57,000. They included a £15,000 holidayHolidayA Holiday is a day designated as having special significance for which individuals, a government, or a religious group have deemed that observance is warranted. It is generally an official or unofficial observance of religious, national, or cultural significance, often accompanied by celebrations...
, an espresso machineEspresso machineAn espresso machine is used to produce the traditional Italian coffee beverage called espresso.-History:The first machine for making espresso was built and patented by Angelo Moriondo of Turin, Italy, who demonstrated a working example at the Turin General Exposition of 1884. He was granted patent no...
, a cashmereCashmere woolCashmere wool, usually simply known as cashmere, is a fiber obtained from Cashmere and other types of goats. The word cashmere derives from an old spelling of Kashmir. Cashmere is fine in texture, and strong, light, and soft. Garments made from it provide excellent...
blanketBlanketA blanket is a type of bedding, generally speaking, a large piece of cloth, intended to keep the user warm, especially while sleeping. Blankets are distinguished from sheets by their thickness and purpose; the thickest sheet is still thinner than the lightest blanket. Blankets are generally used...
worth £855 and a white gold pearlPearlA pearl is a hard object produced within the soft tissue of a living shelled mollusk. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is made up of calcium carbonate in minute crystalline form, which has been deposited in concentric layers. The ideal pearl is perfectly round and smooth, but many other...
and diamondDiamondIn mineralogy, diamond is an allotrope of carbon, where the carbon atoms are arranged in a variation of the face-centered cubic crystal structure called a diamond lattice. Diamond is less stable than graphite, but the conversion rate from diamond to graphite is negligible at ambient conditions...
pendantPendantA pendant is a loose-hanging piece of jewellery, generally attached by a small loop to a necklace, when the ensemble may be known as a "pendant necklace". A pendant earring is an earring with a piece hanging down. In modern French "pendant" is the gerund form of “hanging”...
worth £740. At the BAFTAsBritish Academy of Film and Television ArtsThe British Academy of Film and Television Arts is a charity in the United Kingdom that hosts annual awards shows for excellence in film, television, television craft, video games and forms of animation.-Introduction:...
, you get given Tic Tacs and at the British Comedy AwardsBritish Comedy AwardsThe British Comedy Awards is an annual awards ceremony in the United Kingdom celebrating notable comedians and entertainment performances of the previous year.-History:...
, they used to give out bowls of MinstrelsMinstrels (chocolate)Minstrels are milk chocolate buttons with a hard glazed shell sold in several countries including the UK, Ireland, South Africa, Cyprus, France, Malta, and Spain....
, as well as plenty of alcohol.- The box of chocolateChocolateChocolate is a raw or processed food produced from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico, Central and South America. Its earliest documented use is around 1100 BC...
s given by Gordon BrownGordon BrownJames Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
to George W. BushGeorge W. BushGeorge Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
were immediately destroyed. Under the guidelineGuidelineA guideline is a statement by which to determine a course of action. A guideline aims to streamline particular processes according to a set routine or sound practice. By definition, following a guideline is never mandatory. Guidelines are not binding and are not enforced. A guideline is a statement...
s of the United States Secret ServiceUnited States Secret ServiceThe United States Secret Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency that is part of the United States Department of Homeland Security. The sworn members are divided among the Special Agents and the Uniformed Division. Until March 1, 2003, the Service was part of the United States...
, any food or drinkDrinkA drink, or beverage, is a liquid which is specifically prepared for human consumption. In addition to fulfilling a basic human need, beverages form part of the culture of human society.-Water:...
is immediately destroyed, such as the £150 box of Charbonnel et WalkerCharbonnel et WalkerCharbonnel et Walker Chocolatier is a firm of chocolate makers based in Bond Street London. Its current Chairman, Galvin Weston, has greatly expanded the business and has made Charbonnel a very 'high end' chocolate and its chocolates have even been presented to Queen Elizabeth II.- History...
given by Brown to Bush. The Prime Minister of Qatar gave him a £650 box of chocolates, the President of IraqPresident of IraqThe President of Iraq is the head of state of Iraq and "safeguards the commitment to the Constitution and the preservation of Iraq's independence, sovereignty, unity, the security of its territories in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution." The President is elected by the Council of...
gave him an assortment of nutNut (fruit)A nut is a hard-shelled fruit of some plants having an indehiscent seed. While a wide variety of dried seeds and fruits are called nuts in English, only a certain number of them are considered by biologists to be true nuts...
pasties and 3 lb of live shamrockShamrockThe shamrock is a three-leafed old white clover. It is known as a symbol of Ireland. The name shamrock is derived from Irish , which is the diminutive version of the Irish word for clover ....
s from Bertie AhernBertie AhernPatrick Bartholomew "Bertie" Ahern is a former Irish politician who served as Taoiseach of Ireland from 26 June 1997 to 7 May 2008....
given to celebrate Saint Patrick's DaySaint Patrick's DaySaint Patrick's Day is a religious holiday celebrated internationally on 17 March. It commemorates Saint Patrick , the most commonly recognised of the patron saints of :Ireland, and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland. It is observed by the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion , the Eastern...
were all destroyed. The QI office rang Downing StreetDowning StreetDowning Street in London, England has for over two hundred years housed the official residences of two of the most senior British cabinet ministers: the First Lord of the Treasury, an office now synonymous with that of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and the Second Lord of the Treasury, an...
to ask if they were aware of this, they didn't reply. Brown gave Barack ObamaBarack ObamaBarack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
an inedible ornamental penholder made from the Victorian anti-slaver . In return, Brown was given 25 American classic DVDs, not including, as Jimmy hoped, Who's Nailin' Paylin?Who's Nailin' Paylin?Who's Nailin' Paylin? is an American satirical pornographic film released on November 4, 2008, that satirizes former U.S. vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin. The film was directed by Jerome Tanner and stars Lisa Ann, Nina Hartley and Jada Fire...
Some believe that the discs were actually Region 1DVD region codeDVD region codes are a digital-rights management technique designed to allow film distributors to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and price, according to the region...
, which meant that Brown couldn't watch them unless he had a hacked DVD playerDVD playerA DVD player is a device that plays discs produced under both the DVD-Video and DVD-Audio technical standards, two different and incompatible standards. These devices were invented in 1997 and continue to thrive...
. It's believed that the only reason these pointless presents are given out is because of protocolProtocol (diplomacy)In international politics, protocol is the etiquette of diplomacy and affairs of state.A protocol is a rule which guides how an activity should be performed, especially in the field of diplomacy. In diplomatic services and governmental fields of endeavor protocols are often unwritten guidelines...
. - The world's cheapest cheapskateMiserA miser, cheapskate, snipe-snout, penny pincher, piker, scrooge, skinflint or tightwad is a person who is reluctant to spend money, sometimes to the point of forgoing even basic comforts and some necessities...
is the dance flyEmpididaeEmpididae is a family of flies with over 3,000 described species occurring worldwide, but the majority are found in the Holarctic. They are mainly predatory flies like most of their relatives in the Empidoidea, and exhibit a wide range of forms but are generally small to medium sized, non-metallic...
, which give gifts in the form of silkSilkSilk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity...
or a balloonBalloonA balloon is an inflatable flexible bag filled with a gas, such as helium, hydrogen, nitrous oxide, oxygen, or air. Modern balloons can be made from materials such as rubber, latex, polychloroprene, or a nylon fabric, while some early balloons were made of dried animal bladders, such as the pig...
wrapped in the male's analAnusThe anus is an opening at the opposite end of an animal's digestive tract from the mouth. Its function is to control the expulsion of feces, unwanted semi-solid matter produced during digestion, which, depending on the type of animal, may be one or more of: matter which the animal cannot digest,...
secretionSecretionSecretion is the process of elaborating, releasing, and oozing chemicals, or a secreted chemical substance from a cell or gland. In contrast to excretion, the substance may have a certain function, rather than being a waste product...
s. One of the speciesSpeciesIn biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
, the Rhamphomyia sulcataRhamphomyia sulcataRhamphomyia sulcata is a species of dance fly, in the fly family Empididae. It is found in most of Europe, except the Balkan Peninsula....
, which captures an insectInsectInsects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
, sucks out its innards completely and then wraps the empty shell and gives it to the female, but by the time that the female unwraps it, he's mated her, then scarpered. In the insect kingdom, some male insects pretend to be females, so they can receive a gift from a male and just have it for another female.
- The box of chocolate
- Tangent: Jan tells of the story about one of the first cheapskates, Diogenes the CynicDiogenes of SinopeDiogenes the Cynic was a Greek philosopher and one of the founders of Cynic philosophy. Also known as Diogenes of Sinope , he was born in Sinope , an Ionian colony on the Black Sea , in 412 or 404 BCE and died at Corinth in 323 BCE.Diogenes of Sinope was a controversial figure...
. - Tangent: It was almost impossible to do an impression of Gladstone or Disraeli in the 19th century, as the population was so big, it would be hard to know if the impression was accurate at all. Harold MacmillanHarold MacmillanMaurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, OM, PC was Conservative Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 10 January 1957 to 18 October 1963....
met Peter CookPeter CookPeter Edward Cook was an English satirist, writer and comedian. An extremely influential figure in modern British comedy, he is regarded as the leading light of the British satire boom of the 1960s. He has been described by Stephen Fry as "the funniest man who ever drew breath," although Cook's...
at the Fortune TheatreFortune TheatreThe Fortune Theatre is a 432 seat West End theatre in Russell Street, near Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster, built in 1922-4 by Ernest Schaufelberg for impresario Laurence Cowen. The façade is principally bush hammered concrete, with brick piers supporting the roof...
, and Cook impersonated Macmillan, the first time a Prime MinisterPrime Minister of the United KingdomThe Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
had been impersonated. In 1737, Robert WalpoleRobert WalpoleRobert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, KG, KB, PC , known before 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole, was a British statesman who is generally regarded as having been the first Prime Minister of Great Britain....
created an actLicensing Act 1737The Licensing Act or Theatrical Licensing Act of 21 June 1737 was a landmark act of censorship of the British stage and one of the most determining factors in the development of Augustan drama...
which forbade any person from doing political satirePolitical satirePolitical satire is a significant part of satire that specializes in gaining entertainment from politics; it has also been used with subversive intent where political speech and dissent are forbidden by a regime, as a method of advancing political arguments where such arguments are expressly...
on him, it also gave the Lord ChamberlainLord ChamberlainThe Lord Chamberlain or Lord Chamberlain of the Household is one of the chief officers of the Royal Household in the United Kingdom and is to be distinguished from the Lord Great Chamberlain, one of the Great Officers of State....
the powers to approve any play before it was staged, with the exception of The Establishment ClubThe Establishment (club)The Establishment was a London nightclub which opened in October 1961, at 18 Greek Street, Soho and was famous in retrospect for satire although actually more notable at the time for jazz and other events. It was founded by Peter Cook and Nicholas Luard, both of whom were also important in the...
.- Luigi GalvaniLuigi GalvaniLuigi Aloisio Galvani was an Italian physician and physicist who lived and died in Bologna. In 1791, he discovered that the muscles of dead frogs legs twitched when struck by a spark...
from BolognaBolognaBologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
discovered that electricityElectricityElectricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...
works through frogFrogFrogs are amphibians in the order Anura , formerly referred to as Salientia . Most frogs are characterized by a short body, webbed digits , protruding eyes and the absence of a tail...
s, hence creating the term galvanizationGalvanizationGalvanization is the process of applying a protective zinc coating to steel or iron, in order to prevent rusting. The term is derived from the name of Italian scientist Luigi Galvani....
, which meant that humans worked with electricity. His Giovanni AldiniGiovanni AldiniGiovanni Aldini , Italian physicist born at Bologna, was a brother of the statesman Count Antonio Aldini and nephew of Luigi Galvani, whose treaties on muscular electricity he edited with notes in 1791....
star pupil toured England in 1803 and astounded the Royal College of SurgeonsRoyal College of Surgeons of EnglandThe Royal College of Surgeons of England is an independent professional body and registered charity committed to promoting and advancing the highest standards of surgical care for patients, regulating surgery, including dentistry, in England and Wales...
with what he discovered. He convulsedConvulsionA convulsion is a medical condition where body muscles contract and relax rapidly and repeatedly, resulting in an uncontrolled shaking of the body. Because a convulsion is often a symptom of an epileptic seizure, the term convulsion is sometimes used as a synonym for seizure...
the body of the murderer George Forster, just after he'd been hangedHangingHanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...
. Electric rods were attached to Foster's mouth and ear, which led to the jawJawThe jaw is any opposable articulated structure at the entrance of the mouth, typically used for grasping and manipulating food. The term jaws is also broadly applied to the whole of the structures constituting the vault of the mouth and serving to open and close it and is part of the body plan of...
quivering and one eye opening, then when a rod was placed up his rectumRectumThe rectum is the final straight portion of the large intestine in some mammals, and the gut in others, terminating in the anus. The human rectum is about 12 cm long...
, the whole body convulsed, so it looked like reanimationUndeadUndead is a collective name for fictional, mythological, or legendary beings that are deceased and yet behave as if alive. Undead may be incorporeal, such as ghosts, or corporeal, such as vampires and zombies...
. The experimentExperimentAn experiment is a methodical procedure carried out with the goal of verifying, falsifying, or establishing the validity of a hypothesis. Experiments vary greatly in their goal and scale, but always rely on repeatable procedure and logical analysis of the results...
proved that the nerves use electricity to make the body work, rather than pneumatic power as previously thought. Mary ShelleyMary ShelleyMary Shelley was a British novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, and travel writer, best known for her Gothic novel Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus . She also edited and promoted the works of her husband, the Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley...
saw this to prove that electricity created life, but oddly, in her book FrankensteinFrankensteinFrankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel about a failed experiment that produced a monster, written by Mary Shelley, with inserts of poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Shelley started writing the story when she was eighteen, and the novel was published when she was twenty-one. The first...
, electricity isn't used, only in all the film representations of Frankenstein is it used. Galvanized bucketBucketA bucket, also called a pail, is typically a watertight, vertical cylinder or truncated cone, with an open top and a flat bottom, usually attached to a semicircular carrying handle called the bail. A pail can have an open top or can have a lid....
s are coated with zincZincZinc , or spelter , is a metallic chemical element; it has the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is the first element in group 12 of the periodic table. Zinc is, in some respects, chemically similar to magnesium, because its ion is of similar size and its only common oxidation state is +2...
to avoid corrosionCorrosionCorrosion is the disintegration of an engineered material into its constituent atoms due to chemical reactions with its surroundings. In the most common use of the word, this means electrochemical oxidation of metals in reaction with an oxidant such as oxygen...
, it has nothing to do with this form of galvanization. - The Emperor of ChinaEmperor of ChinaThe Emperor of China refers to any sovereign of Imperial China reigning between the founding of Qin Dynasty of China, united by the King of Qin in 221 BCE, and the fall of Yuan Shikai's Empire of China in 1916. When referred to as the Son of Heaven , a title that predates the Qin unification, the...
hated pigeons because they used to steal the rice from his riceRiceRice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
granariesGranaryA granary is a storehouse for threshed grain or animal feed. In ancient or primitive granaries, pottery is the most common use of storage in these buildings. Granaries are often built above the ground to keep the stored food away from mice and other animals.-Early origins:From ancient times grain...
. Enemies of the Emperor would train pigeons to fly to the granaries and tell them to steal as much of the rice as they can and fly back, then they would be fed water and alumAlumAlum is both a specific chemical compound and a class of chemical compounds. The specific compound is the hydrated potassium aluminium sulfate with the formula KAl2.12H2O. The wider class of compounds known as alums have the related empirical formula, AB2.12H2O.-Chemical properties:Alums are...
to disgorge the rice, which could then be washed. They could get 50 lbs of rice from 100 pigeons. It's unknown if they were ever caught.
- Luigi Galvani
- Tangent: Clive once got given some homing pigeonHoming pigeonThe homing pigeon is a variety of domestic pigeon derived from the Rock Pigeon selectively bred to find its way home over extremely long distances. The wild rock pigeon has an innate homing ability, meaning that it will generally return to its own nest and its own mate...
s, which returned to their original owners after a couple of weeks.
Episode 12 "Gravity"
Broadcast date:- 12 February 2010
- 13 February 2010 (XL edition)
- 8 June 2010 (ABC1 airing/iView upload)
Recording date:
- 9 May 2009
Panellists:
- Alan DaviesAlan DaviesAlan Davies is an English comedian, writer and actor best known for starring in the TV mystery series Jonathan Creek and as the permanent panellist on the TV panel show QI.- Early life :...
(joint winner with 3 points) - Bill BaileyBill BaileyBill Bailey is an English comedian, musician and actor. As well as his extensive stand-up work, Bailey is well known for his appearances on Black Books, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Have I Got News for You, and QI.Bailey was listed by The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy in...
(−8 points) - Rich HallRich HallRichard "Rich" Hall is an American comedian, writer and musician.-Early life and career:Hall was born in Alexandria, Virginia and grew up in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. He is part Cherokee Indian...
(joint winner with 3 points) - Barry HumphriesBarry HumphriesJohn Barry Humphries, AO, CBE is an Australian comedian, satirist, dadaist, artist, author and character actor, best known for his on-stage and television alter egos Dame Edna Everage, a Melbourne housewife and "gigastar", and Sir Les Patterson, Australia's foul-mouthed cultural attaché to the...
(−36 points)
- Note: This is the first time Alan has been a joint winner, and also the first time that Rich Hall has sat in a different seat to his usual one (on Stephen's immediate left). Up until now, only Alan has sat in the same seat, apart from when he swapped places with Stephen in the series B Christmas Special.
Buzzers:
- Rich — Falling object crashing on landing
- Barry — SoldierSoldierA soldier is a member of the land component of national armed forces; whereas a soldier hired for service in a foreign army would be termed a mercenary...
s marching followed by their commander shouting "Wait for it!" - Bill — A speak-your-weight machine saying "12 stone, 2 pounds, 4 ounces"
- Alan — A person being sprung in the air yelling "Arrrrrrrggggghhhhh!!!"
Topics:
- Theoretically, you can get to anywhere on Earth in exactly 42 minutes and 12 seconds, by burrowing through itGravity trainA gravity train is a theoretical means of transportation intended to go between two points on the surface of a sphere, following a straight tunnel that goes directly from one point to the other through the interior of the sphere....
. The speedSpeedIn kinematics, the speed of an object is the magnitude of its velocity ; it is thus a scalar quantity. The average speed of an object in an interval of time is the distance traveled by the object divided by the duration of the interval; the instantaneous speed is the limit of the average speed as...
would be the maximum velocityVelocityIn physics, velocity is speed in a given direction. Speed describes only how fast an object is moving, whereas velocity gives both the speed and direction of the object's motion. To have a constant velocity, an object must have a constant speed and motion in a constant direction. Constant ...
as determined by gravity. If you had a tube that went through the Earth, you'd accelerate to the middle, then decelerate on your way out. You could end up anywhere, because gravity works at every angle, not just north-south. The AntipodesAntipodesIn geography, the antipodes of any place on Earth is the point on the Earth's surface which is diametrically opposite to it. Two points that are antipodal to one another are connected by a straight line running through the centre of the Earth....
are the exact opposite points on Earth, they don't have to be north-south. There was a contest to make an Earth SandwichThe show with zefrankthe show with zefrank was a web video show by Ze Frank produced each weekday from March 17, 2006 until March 17, 2007. The format of the program combined commentary on media and current events with viewer contributions and activities...
to find the antipodal pointAntipodal pointIn mathematics, the antipodal point of a point on the surface of a sphere is the point which is diametrically opposite to it — so situated that a line drawn from the one to the other passes through the centre of the sphere and forms a true diameter....
s of places on the Earth. The winners had New Zealand at one end and Spain at the other, but there was controversy because baguetteBaguetteA baguette is "a long thin loaf of French bread" that is commonly made from basic lean dough...
s were used for the sandwichSandwichA sandwich is a food item, typically consisting of two or more slices of :bread with one or more fillings between them, or one slice of bread with a topping or toppings, commonly called an open sandwich. Sandwiches are a widely popular type of lunch food, typically taken to work or school, or...
, and if they were put crossways, it strictly wouldn't be a sandwich. Other antipodal points include IndonesiaIndonesiaIndonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
to ColombiaColombiaColombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
, and an interesting one for religionists, MeccaMeccaMecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...
to the TematangiTematangiTematangi or Tematangui is an atoll in the southeastern area of the Tuamotu Archipelago, French Polynesia. Tematangi's nearest neighbor is Mururoa, which is located 161 km to the ESE....
AtollAtollAn atoll is a coral island that encircles a lagoon partially or completely.- Usage :The word atoll comes from the Dhivehi word atholhu OED...
(also known as Captain Bligh'sWilliam BlighVice Admiral William Bligh FRS RN was an officer of the British Royal Navy and a colonial administrator. A notorious mutiny occurred during his command of HMAV Bounty in 1789; Bligh and his loyal men made a remarkable voyage to Timor, after being set adrift in the Bounty's launch by the mutineers...
Atoll) in the Pacific Ocean. There is a massive lagoonLagoonA lagoon is a body of shallow sea water or brackish water separated from the sea by some form of barrier. The EU's habitat directive defines lagoons as "expanses of shallow coastal salt water, of varying salinity or water volume, wholly or partially separated from the sea by sand banks or shingle,...
in the centre of the island, and because it's the antipode, whichever direction you look at, you're facing Mecca. The 42 minutes and 12 second theoryTheoryThe English word theory was derived from a technical term in Ancient Greek philosophy. The word theoria, , meant "a looking at, viewing, beholding", and referring to contemplation or speculation, as opposed to action...
was made in a series of letters in the 17th century between Isaac NewtonIsaac NewtonSir Isaac Newton PRS was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian, who has been "considered by many to be the greatest and most influential scientist who ever lived."...
and Robert HookeRobert HookeRobert Hooke FRS was an English natural philosopher, architect and polymath.His adult life comprised three distinct periods: as a scientific inquirer lacking money; achieving great wealth and standing through his reputation for hard work and scrupulous honesty following the great fire of 1666, but...
.
- Tangent: The idea of a gravity train isn't feasible on Earth, but it's possible on the MoonMoonThe Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
, because there is no molten corePlanetary coreThe planetary core consists of the innermost layer of a planet.The core may be composed of solid and liquid layers, while the cores of Mars and Venus are thought to be completely solid as they lack an internally generated magnetic field. In our solar system, core size can range from about 20% to...
, but it would take 53 minutes to go through the Moon.- AristotleAristotleAristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
believed that heavier objects fell faster than lighter objects, but this theory was disproved by Galileo GalileiGalileo GalileiGalileo Galilei , was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who played a major role in the Scientific Revolution. His achievements include improvements to the telescope and consequent astronomical observations and support for Copernicanism...
who worked out in his head that objects with different masses fell at the same speed. He then did experimentExperimentAn experiment is a methodical procedure carried out with the goal of verifying, falsifying, or establishing the validity of a hypothesis. Experiments vary greatly in their goal and scale, but always rely on repeatable procedure and logical analysis of the results...
s involving ramps and other things (forfeit: dropping cannonballsRound shotRound shot is a solid projectile without explosive charge, fired from a cannon. As the name implies, round shot is spherical; its diameter is slightly less than the bore of the gun it is fired from.Round shot was made in early times from dressed stone, but by the 17th century, from iron...
from the Leaning Tower of PisaLeaning Tower of PisaThe Leaning Tower of Pisa or simply the Tower of Pisa is the campanile, or freestanding bell tower, of the cathedral of the Italian city of Pisa...
). He then proved that half a ton of coalCoalCoal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
fell at the same speed as a ton of coal. He also proved that if people believed Aristotle's theory, it wouldn't work, since he said that the heavier object fell faster than the lighter one, so if they were attached together they would have to fall at the same speed, because one couldn't hold the other one up. Then, the Apollo 15Apollo 15Apollo 15 was the ninth manned mission in the American Apollo space program, the fourth to land on the Moon and the eighth successful manned mission. It was the first of what were termed "J missions", long duration stays on the Moon with a greater focus on science than had been possible on previous...
astronautAstronautAn astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....
David ScottDavid ScottDavid Randolph Scott is an American engineer, test pilot, retired U.S. Air Force officer, and former NASA astronaut and engineer, who was one of the third group of astronauts selected by NASA in October 1963...
did an experiment on the Moon with a hammerHammerA hammer is a tool meant to deliver an impact to an object. The most common uses are for driving nails, fitting parts, forging metal and breaking up objects. Hammers are often designed for a specific purpose, and vary widely in their shape and structure. The usual features are a handle and a head,...
and a feather to prove Galileo right.
- Aristotle
- Tangent: Alan tried to answer which was heavier, a ton of goldGoldGold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
or a ton of featherFeatherFeathers are one of the epidermal growths that form the distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on birds and some non-avian theropod dinosaurs. They are considered the most complex integumentary structures found in vertebrates, and indeed a premier example of a complex evolutionary novelty. They...
s, but since gold is measured in troy weightTroy weightTroy weight is a system of units of mass customarily used for precious metals, gemstones, and black powder.There are 12 troy ounces per troy pound, rather than the 16 ounces per pound found in the more common avoirdupois system. The troy ounce is 480 grains, compared with the avoirdupois ounce,...
, rather than avoirdupoisAvoirdupoisThe avoirdupois system is a system of weights based on a pound of 16 ounces. It is the everyday system of weight used in the United States and is still widely used to varying degrees by many people in Canada, the United Kingdom, and some other former British colonies despite the official adoption...
, a ton of gold is heavier than a ton of feathers. - Tangent: Similarly, Isaac Newton's law of gravitationNewton's law of universal gravitationNewton's law of universal gravitation states that every point mass in the universe attracts every other point mass with a force that is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them...
were thought out before he published them in 1687, which was a whole 100 years before the Montgolfier brothersMontgolfier brothersJoseph-Michel Montgolfier and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier were the inventors of the montgolfière-style hot air balloon, globe aérostatique. The brothers succeeded in launching the first manned ascent, carrying Étienne into the sky...
did their first flight in a hot air balloonHot air balloonThe hot air balloon is the oldest successful human-carrying flight technology. It is in a class of aircraft known as balloon aircraft. On November 21, 1783, in Paris, France, the first untethered manned flight was made by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d'Arlandes in a hot air...
.- George Biggin and Letitia Sage flew in a hydrogenHydrogenHydrogen is the chemical element with atomic number 1. It is represented by the symbol H. With an average atomic weight of , hydrogen is the lightest and most abundant chemical element, constituting roughly 75% of the Universe's chemical elemental mass. Stars in the main sequence are mainly...
balloonBalloon (aircraft)A balloon is a type of aircraft that remains aloft due to its buoyancy. A balloon travels by moving with the wind. It is distinct from an airship, which is a buoyant aircraft that can be propelled through the air in a controlled manner....
from SouthwarkSouthwarkSouthwark is a district of south London, England, and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Southwark. Situated east of Charing Cross, it forms one of the oldest parts of London and fronts the River Thames to the north...
and went "all the way". Around 150,000 people came to see balloon ascents, as they were the spectacle of the age. Vincenzo LunardiVincenzo LunardiVicenzo Lunardi was born in Lucca, Italy. His family were of minor Neapolitan nobility, and his father had married late in life. Vicenzo was one of three children...
, an Italian who brought ballooning to Britain, was going to go up with Biggin & Sage, but he then thought that might be too many, so he escaped and so they became the first members of the mile high clubMile High ClubThe Mile High Club is a slang term applied collectively to individuals who have sex while on board an aircraft in flight. There is no known formally constituted club so named...
. Whilst flying over PiccadillyPiccadillyPiccadilly is a major street in central London, running from Hyde Park Corner in the west to Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is completely within the city of Westminster. The street is part of the A4 road, London's second most important western artery. St...
, it was believed that Sage was spotted "on all fours", although she later claimed that she was fastening up the opening of the balloon. The accurate answer is that they got to HarrowLondon Borough of HarrowThe London Borough of Harrow is a London borough of north-west London. It borders Hertfordshire to the north and other London boroughs: Hillingdon to the west, Ealing to the south, Brent to the south-east and Barnet to the east.-History:...
, so they travelled a distance of 14 mileMileA mile is a unit of length, most commonly 5,280 feet . The mile of 5,280 feet is sometimes called the statute mile or land mile to distinguish it from the nautical mile...
s, and spoke to below through a speaking trumpetMegaphoneA megaphone, speaking-trumpet, bullhorn, blowhorn, or loud hailer is a portable, usually hand-held, cone-shaped horn used to amplify a person’s voice or other sounds towards a targeted direction. This is accomplished by channelling the sound through the megaphone, which also serves to match the...
. There was a scandalScandalA scandal is a widely publicized allegation or set of allegations that damages the reputation of an institution, individual or creed...
involving wager booksMathematics of bookmakingIn betting parlance, making a book is the practice of laying bets on the various possible outcomes of a single event. The term originates from the practice of recording such wagers in a hard-bound ledger and gives the English language the term bookmaker for the person laying the bets and thus...
and the gentlemen's clubGentlemen's clubA gentlemen's club is a members-only private club of a type originally set up by and for British upper class men in the eighteenth century, and popularised by English upper-middle class men and women in the late nineteenth century. Today, some are more open about the gender and social status of...
s, Brooks'sBrooks'sBrooks's is one of London's most exclusive gentlemen's clubs, founded in 1764 by 27 men, including four dukes. From its inception, it was the meeting place for Whigs of the highest social order....
and White'sWhite'sWhite's is a London gentlemen's club, established at 4 Chesterfield Street in 1693 by Italian immigrant Francesco Bianco . Originally it was established to sell hot chocolate, a rare and expensive commodity at the time...
in the St James's area of London. It mainly involved making betGamblingGambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...
s involving having sexual intercourseSexual intercourseSexual intercourse, also known as copulation or coitus, commonly refers to the act in which a male's penis enters a female's vagina for the purposes of sexual pleasure or reproduction. The entities may be of opposite sexes, or they may be hermaphroditic, as is the case with snails...
in a balloon, or as they put it, "plays hospitals with...", but they made bets on just about anything imaginable.
- George Biggin and Letitia Sage flew in a hydrogen
- Tangent: The first people to cross the English ChannelEnglish ChannelThe English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
by air were Jean-Pierre BlanchardJean-Pierre BlanchardJean-Pierre Blanchard , aka Jean Pierre François Blanchard, was a French inventor, most remembered as a pioneer in aviation and ballooning....
and his American backerJohn JeffriesJohn Jeffries was a Boston physician, scientist, and a military surgeon with the British Army in Nova Scotia and New York during the American Revolution. Born in Boston, Jeffries graduated from Harvard College and obtained his medical degree at the University of Aberdeen...
. While on the flight, they had a massive argument involving their nations, who they were both very proud of. So, Blanchard put on leadLeadLead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...
weights to give the balloon more ballastBallast tankA ballast tank is a compartment within a boat, ship or other floating structure that holds water.-History:The basic concept behind the ballast tank can be seen in many forms of aquatic life, such as the blowfish or argonaut octopus, and the concept has been invented and reinvented many times by...
, meaning that Jeffries would have to get out, so Blanchard would become the first man to cross, but then both their national flagNational flagA national flag is a flag that symbolizes a country. The flag is flown by the government, but usually can also be flown by citizens of the country.Both public and private buildings such as schools and courthouses may fly the national flag...
s fell out of the balloon as well. Then they dropped out of the sky too early, so they had to jettison all their food and instrumentFlight instrumentsFlight instruments are the instruments in the cockpit of an aircraft that provide the pilot with information about the flight situation of that aircraft, such as height, speed and altitude...
s, as well as the sandbagSandbagA sandbag is a sack made of hessian/burlap, polypropylene or other materials that is filled with sand or soil and used for such purposes as flood control, military fortification, shielding glass windows in war zones and ballast....
s, before taking all their clothingClothingClothing refers to any covering for the human body that is worn. The wearing of clothing is exclusively a human characteristic and is a feature of nearly all human societies...
off and they then peed and pooed out of the basket, and they just made it over the cliffs and landed in a tree to get the record.- A gossypibomaGossypibomaGossypiboma or textiloma is the technical term for a surgical complications resulting from foreign materials, such as a surgical sponge, accidentally left inside a patient's body...
is something left inside you by a surgeonSurgeonIn medicine, a surgeon is a specialist in surgery. Surgery is a broad category of invasive medical treatment that involves the cutting of a body, whether human or animal, for a specific reason such as the removal of diseased tissue or to repair a tear or breakage...
after he has done an operationSurgerySurgery is an ancient medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, or to help improve bodily function or appearance.An act of performing surgery may be called a surgical...
, normally cottonCottonCotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
, lint or sponge. "Gossypi" is actually the LatinLatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
for cotton. There are 1,500 cases of this every year in the United States. 54% of foreign objectsForeign bodyA foreign body is any object originating outside the body. In machinery, it can mean any unwanted intruding object.Most references to foreign bodies involve propulsion through natural orifices into hollow organs....
are found in the abdomenAbdomenIn vertebrates such as mammals the abdomen constitutes the part of the body between the thorax and pelvis. The region enclosed by the abdomen is termed the abdominal cavity...
or pelvis, 22% in the vaginaVaginaThe vagina is a fibromuscular tubular tract leading from the uterus to the exterior of the body in female placental mammals and marsupials, or to the cloaca in female birds, monotremes, and some reptiles. Female insects and other invertebrates also have a vagina, which is the terminal part of the...
, 7.5% in the chestChestThe chest is a part of the anatomy of humans and various other animals. It is sometimes referred to as the thorax or the bosom.-Chest anatomy - Humans and other hominids:...
and 17% in other places, like the spinal canalSpinal canalThe spinal canal is the space in vertebrae through which the spinal cord passes. It is a process of the dorsal human body cavity. This canal is enclosed within the vertebral foramen of the vertebrae...
, brainHuman brainThe human brain has the same general structure as the brains of other mammals, but is over three times larger than the brain of a typical mammal with an equivalent body size. Estimates for the number of neurons in the human brain range from 80 to 120 billion...
or face. There have been cases of suing, such as a man who had a 6 inch metal surgical clampAortic cross-clampAn aortic cross-clamp is a surgical instrument used in cardiac surgery to clamp the aorta and separate the systemic circulation from the outflow of the heart....
, but then they realised that he'd already had an operation to take out a 6 inch surgical clamp, because it was then found out that he had 2 stuck in, and when they removed the first one, they didn't bother checking around for the other one. The main reason for objects being left in people is either because of emergencyEmergencyAn emergency is a situation that poses an immediate risk to health, life, property or environment. Most emergencies require urgent intervention to prevent a worsening of the situation, although in some situations, mitigation may not be possible and agencies may only be able to offer palliative...
work which hasn't been properly planned, unplanned changes in procedure and patients with a higher body mass indexBody mass indexThe body mass index , or Quetelet index, is a heuristic proxy for human body fat based on an individual's weight and height. BMI does not actually measure the percentage of body fat. It was invented between 1830 and 1850 by the Belgian polymath Adolphe Quetelet during the course of developing...
. If the item stuck inside a person is a surgical instrument, it's known as foreign-body granuloma, but interesting the surgeons refer to it as "retaining", making out that it's the fault of the patients. (Forfeit: mind your own business (Barry - after being asked "What do you say to a gossypiboma?")) - When you shootShootingShooting is the act or process of firing rifles, shotguns or other projectile weapons such as bows or crossbows. Even the firing of artillery, rockets and missiles can be called shooting. A person who specializes in shooting is a marksman...
a gunGunA gun is a muzzle or breech-loaded projectile-firing weapon. There are various definitions depending on the nation and branch of service. A "gun" may be distinguished from other firearms in being a crew-served weapon such as a howitzer or mortar, as opposed to a small arm like a rifle or pistol,...
in the air, the bullets land in a different place, so the shooter would never get hit, as even a small blast of wind, would move it away from the gun. A test was done on a floating platform, where 500 bulletBulletA bullet is a projectile propelled by a firearm, sling, or air gun. Bullets do not normally contain explosives, but damage the intended target by impact and penetration...
s were shot in the air and only 4 landed on the platform. A typical 7.62mm bullet fired vertically can reach a height of nearly 2.5kmKilometreThe kilometre is a unit of length in the metric system, equal to one thousand metres and is therefore exactly equal to the distance travelled by light in free space in of a second...
, meaning it would take 17 seconds to reach the top height, then take another 40 seconds to come down, if it was going at a speed of 70 metres a second, which would cause serious cranial injuries. If you had a bullet in one hand and a gun facing horizontally at the same level in another, both bullets would hit the ground at the same time, if fired at the same time. The reason being is that they both have the same force working on them, gravity. The only way this couldn't happen is if the bullet was fired at 5 miles per second, which means it would leave the Earth and never return into the atmosphereAtmosphereAn atmosphere is a layer of gases that may surround a material body of sufficient mass, and that is held in place by the gravity of the body. An atmosphere may be retained for a longer duration, if the gravity is high and the atmosphere's temperature is low...
, or if the bullet went far enough, because then the curvatureCurvatureIn mathematics, curvature refers to any of a number of loosely related concepts in different areas of geometry. Intuitively, curvature is the amount by which a geometric object deviates from being flat, or straight in the case of a line, but this is defined in different ways depending on the context...
of the Earth would mean it had further to fall. There are many practical applications to this in the laws of physicsPhysical lawA physical law or scientific law is "a theoretical principle deduced from particular facts, applicable to a defined group or class of phenomena, and expressible by the statement that a particular phenomenon always occurs if certain conditions be present." Physical laws are typically conclusions...
which say it must be the case. - If someone is hiding at the Welcome BreakWelcome BreakWelcome Break is a company which operates thirty-five motorway service stations in the UK. It is the second largest motorway service area operator behind Moto.-History:...
motorway service stationMotorway service areaIn the UK motorway service areas, also known as service stations, are places where drivers can leave a motorway to refuel, rest, or take refreshments. The vast majority of motorway services in the UK are owned by one of three companies: Moto, Welcome Break and RoadChef. Extra are also developing a...
at Scratchwood ServicesLondon Gateway servicesLondon Gateway services is the southern-most motorway service station on the M1 motorway, located between Junctions 2 and 4 north of London, England....
, which is the first service station on the M1 motorwayM1 motorwayThe M1 is a north–south motorway in England primarily connecting London to Leeds, where it joins the A1 near Aberford. While the M1 is considered to be the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the United Kingdom, the first road to be built to motorway standard in the country was the...
, north of London, the best way to stop them without getting out of London and with no telecommunications, is to shoot them using the guns on HMS BelfastHMS Belfast (C35)HMS Belfast is a museum ship, originally a Royal Navy light cruiser, permanently moored in London on the River Thames and operated by the Imperial War Museum....
, which is permanently moored in the River ThamesRiver ThamesThe River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...
in the centre of London. The forward turretTurretIn architecture, a turret is a small tower that projects vertically from the wall of a building such as a medieval castle. Turrets were used to provide a projecting defensive position allowing covering fire to the adjacent wall in the days of military fortification...
s on HMS Belfast are directly aimed at Scratchwood Services.
- A gossypiboma
- Tangent: In World War II, the USS PhoenixUSS Phoenix (CL-46)USS Phoenix , a Brooklyn-class light cruiser, was the third Phoenix of the United States Navy. After World War II the ship was transferred to Argentina in 1951 and was ultimately renamed the General Belgrano. General Belgrano was sunk during the Falklands War in 1982 by the British nuclear-powered...
managed to survive the attack on Pearl HarborAttack on Pearl HarborThe attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
without even a scratch, it was known as the luckiest ship in the United States NavyUnited States NavyThe United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
. It was sunk in 1982, after it had been sold to Argentina and renamed General BelgranoARA General BelgranoThe ARA General Belgrano was an Argentine Navy light cruiser in service from 1951 until 1982. Formerly the , she saw action in the Pacific theater of World War II before being sold to Argentina. After almost 31 years of service, she was sunk during the Falklands War by the Royal Navy submarine ...
, which still remains the only ship sunk by a nuclearNuclear marine propulsionNuclear marine propulsion is propulsion of a ship by a nuclear reactor. Naval nuclear propulsion is propulsion that specifically refers to naval warships...
submarineSubmarineA submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
, with the loss of over 300 lives.
General Ignorance:
- The daily recommendation of wineWineWine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...
could be dispensed by a cloud the size of a busBusA bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...
. The daily limit of wine is 250ml. - A gunslinger's revolverRevolverA revolver is a repeating firearm that has a cylinder containing multiple chambers and at least one barrel for firing. The first revolver ever made was built by Elisha Collier in 1818. The percussion cap revolver was invented by Samuel Colt in 1836. This weapon became known as the Colt Paterson...
has 5 bullets (forfeit: six). Wyatt EarpWyatt EarpWyatt Berry Stapp Earp was an American gambler, investor, and law enforcement officer who served in several Western frontier towns. He was also at different times a farmer, teamster, bouncer, saloon-keeper, miner and boxing referee. However, he was never a drover or cowboy. He is most well known...
said that despite the fact there are six chambers, the 6th chamber is for safety, the hammer can rest on it, so you couldn't discharge by mistake, because the six-gun, as it was known, had no safety catch.
- Tangent: Stephen met an armourer in America who worked on WesternsWestern (genre)The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
all his life and said that the only 2 people never to blink when firing a gun were Clint EastwoodClint EastwoodClinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...
and Yul BrynnerYul BrynnerYul Brynner was a Russian-born actor of stage and film. He was best known for his portrayal of Mongkut, king of Siam, in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The King and I, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Actor for the film version; he also played the role more than 4,500 times on...
.Alan Davies abrubtly said one of them was Kenneth WilliamsKenneth WilliamsKenneth Charles Williams was an English comic actor and comedian. He was one of the main ensemble in 26 of the Carry On films, and appeared in numerous British television shows, and radio comedies with Tony Hancock and Kenneth Horne.-Life and career:Kenneth Charles Williams was born on 22 February...
- The red juiceJuiceJuice is the liquid that is naturally contained in fruit or vegetable tissue.Juice is prepared by mechanically squeezing or macerating fruit or vegetable flesh without the application of heat or solvents. For example, orange juice is the liquid extract of the fruit of the orange tree...
that comes out of a steakSteakA steak is a cut of meat . Most are cut perpendicular to the muscle fibers, improving the perceived tenderness of the meat. In North America, steaks are typically served grilled, pan-fried, or broiled. The more tender cuts from the loin and rib are cooked quickly, using dry heat, and served whole...
when you cookCookingCooking is the process of preparing food by use of heat. Cooking techniques and ingredients vary widely across the world, reflecting unique environmental, economic, and cultural traditions. Cooks themselves also vary widely in skill and training...
it is myoglobinMyoglobinMyoglobin is an iron- and oxygen-binding protein found in the muscle tissue of vertebrates in general and in almost all mammals. It is related to hemoglobin, which is the iron- and oxygen-binding protein in blood, specifically in the red blood cells. The only time myoglobin is found in the...
(forfeit: blood), which is used to operate muscles. When you use muscles for short, sharp bursts of energyEnergyIn physics, energy is an indirectly observed quantity. It is often understood as the ability a physical system has to do work on other physical systems...
, glucoseGlucoseGlucose is a simple sugar and an important carbohydrate in biology. Cells use it as the primary source of energy and a metabolic intermediate...
from the blood provides the fuel, but when you want to do sustained activity, myoglobin is used to oxidise the fatFatFats consist of a wide group of compounds that are generally soluble in organic solvents and generally insoluble in water. Chemically, fats are triglycerides, triesters of glycerol and any of several fatty acids. Fats may be either solid or liquid at room temperature, depending on their structure...
, which provides the energy.
- The red juice
- Tangent: A joke from Stephen: "What do you get when you put "it" in gravyGravyGravy is a sauce made often from the juices that run naturally from meat or vegetables during cooking. In North America the term can refer to a wider variety of sauces and gravy is often thicker than in Britain...
?" – Gravity.
QI XL Extras:
- Tangent: A discussion about the film BrazilBrazil (film)Brazil is a 1985 British science fiction fantasy/black comedy film directed by Terry Gilliam. It was written by Gilliam, Charles McKeown, and Tom Stoppard and stars Jonathan Pryce. The film also features Robert De Niro, Kim Greist, Michael Palin, Katherine Helmond, Bob Hoskins, and Ian Holm...
, change machineChange machineA change machine is a machine that accepts large denominations of currency and returns an equal amount of currency in smaller bills or coins. Typically these machines are used to provide coins in exchange for paper currency, in which case they are also often known as bill changers.In the US, these...
s, tubes, the dangers of aeroplane toiletToiletA toilet is a sanitation fixture used primarily for the disposal of human excrement, often found in a small room referred to as a toilet/bathroom/lavatory...
s and sucking up prairie dogPrairie dogPrairie dogs are burrowing rodents native to the grasslands of North America. There are five different species of prairie dogs: black-tailed, white-tailed, Gunnison's, Utah and Mexican prairie dogs. They are a type of ground squirrel, found in the United States, Canada and Mexico...
s with a grain elevatorGrain elevatorA grain elevator is a tower containing a bucket elevator, which scoops up, elevates, and then uses gravity to deposit grain in a silo or other storage facility...
. - Tangent: In those days, they used a barometerBarometerA barometer is a scientific instrument used in meteorology to measure atmospheric pressure. Pressure tendency can forecast short term changes in the weather...
as an altimeterAltimeterAn altimeter is an instrument used to measure the altitude of an object above a fixed level. The measurement of altitude is called altimetry, which is related to the term bathymetry, the measurement of depth underwater.-Pressure altimeter:...
when flying.- An underwater weighing machine would be used for the most accurate form of body weighing (Forfeit: whaleWhaleWhale is the common name for various marine mammals of the order Cetacea. The term whale sometimes refers to all cetaceans, but more often it excludes dolphins and porpoises, which belong to suborder Odontoceti . This suborder also includes the sperm whale, killer whale, pilot whale, and beluga...
weigh station). If you're under 20% fat, then you're not obeseObesityObesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems...
, but for women, it's 30%.
- An underwater weighing machine would be used for the most accurate form of body weighing (Forfeit: whale
- Tangent: The body mass index is your weight divided by your height squared. Although the BMI has flaws, because muscular people would be classed as overweight, because of all their toned muscleMuscleMuscle is a contractile tissue of animals and is derived from the mesodermal layer of embryonic germ cells. Muscle cells contain contractile filaments that move past each other and change the size of the cell. They are classified as skeletal, cardiac, or smooth muscles. Their function is to...
s, but marathonMarathonThe marathon is a long-distance running event with an official distance of 42.195 kilometres , that is usually run as a road race...
runners would also be classified as malnourished and underweight.- Even though bicycles have been around for over a century, the physicsBicycle and motorcycle dynamicsBicycle and motorcycle dynamics is the science of the motion of bicycles and motorcycles and their components, due to the forces acting on them. Dynamics is a branch of classical mechanics, which in turn is a branch of physics. Bike motions of interest include balancing, steering, braking,...
of bicycles has been pooly understood. When you want to turn left on a bicycle, you turn the handlebarBicycle handlebarBicycle handlebar or often bicycle handlebars refers to the steering mechanism for bicycles; the equivalent of a steering wheel. Besides steering, handlebars also often support a portion of the rider's weight, depending on their riding position, and provide a convenient mounting place for brake...
slightly to the right, known as countersteeringCountersteeringCountersteering is the technique used by single-track vehicle operators, such as cyclists and motorcyclists, to initiate a turn toward a given direction by momentarily steering counter to the desired direction...
.
- Even though bicycles have been around for over a century, the physics
- Tangent: Bill reveals the time that he played Adolf HitlerAdolf HitlerAdolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
in a play called "The Resistible Rise of Arturo UiThe Resistible Rise of Arturo UiThe Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui is a play by the German dramatist Bertolt Brecht, originally written in 1941...
", and his mum said that Bill looked great looking like Hitler. - Tangent: Stephen tells of a UtopiaUtopiaUtopia is an ideal community or society possessing a perfect socio-politico-legal system. The word was imported from Greek by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book Utopia, describing a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean. The term has been used to describe both intentional communities that attempt...
n way of exchanging bicycleBicycleA bicycle, also known as a bike, pushbike or cycle, is a human-powered, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A person who rides a bicycle is called a cyclist, or bicyclist....
s that happened in CambridgeCambridgeThe city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, where people would just exchange bikes wherever they wanted and it lasted just 2 days.- The Fosbury FlopFosbury FlopThe Fosbury Flop is a style used in the athletics event of high jump. It was popularized and perfected by American athlete Dick Fosbury, whose gold medal in the 1968 Summer Olympics brought it to the world's attention...
was created by Dick FosburyDick FosburyRichard Douglas "Dick" Fosbury is one of the most influential athletes in the history of track and field. He completely revolutionized the high jump event, inventing a unique "back-first" technique, now known as the Fosbury Flop, adopted by almost all high jumpers today. His method was to sprint...
as a better techniqueSkillA skill is the learned capacity to carry out pre-determined results often with the minimum outlay of time, energy, or both. Skills can often be divided into domain-general and domain-specific skills...
to do the high jumpHigh jumpThe high jump is a track and field athletics event in which competitors must jump over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without the aid of certain devices in its modern most practiced format; auxiliary weights and mounds have been used for assistance; rules have changed over the years....
. The previous techniques were the straddleStraddle techniqueThe straddle technique was the dominant style in the High Jump before the development of the Fosbury Flop. One version is called the western roll....
, the Western roll, the ScissorsScissors-JumpThe Scissors is a style used in the athletics event of high jump. As it allows the jumper to land on their feet, it is the most common style used by junior athletes where the landing surface is not deep or soft enough to meet full competition standards....
and the Eastern cut-offEastern cut-offThe Eastern cut-off is a style used in the athletics event of High Jump. It can be used as an intermediate progression from the simpler Scissors-Jump technique towards performance of the Fosbury Flop technique....
. In the 1968 Summer Olympics1968 Summer OlympicsThe 1968 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Mexico City, Mexico in October 1968. The 1968 Games were the first Olympic Games hosted by a developing country, and the first Games hosted by a Spanish-speaking country...
, he performed this new technique and won the gold medal. The reason why every high jumper now uses the Fosbury Flop is because of how the centre of gravityCenter of massIn physics, the center of mass or barycenter of a system is the average location of all of its mass. In the case of a rigid body, the position of the center of mass is fixed in relation to the body...
works. When doing the Flop, your centre of gravity is under the bar, whereas if you did the Scissors, your centre of gravity would be 30cmCentimetreA centimetre is a unit of length in the metric system, equal to one hundredth of a metre, which is the SI base unit of length. Centi is the SI prefix for a factor of . Hence a centimetre can be written as or — meaning or respectively...
over the bar. The other thing the Flop did was change the landing from a sandpitSandpitA sandpit or sandbox is a low, wide container or shallow depression filled with sand in which children can play. Many homeowners with children build sandpits in their backyards because, unlike much playground equipment, they can be easily and cheaply constructed...
to a cushionCushionA cushion is a soft bag of some ornamental material, stuffed with wool, hair, feathers, polyester staple fiber, non-woven material, or even paper torn into fragments. It may be used for sitting or kneeling upon, or to soften the hardness or angularity of a chair or couch...
type landing. So, by having a lower centre of gravity, you have more height, in exchange for no extra effort. The records have also stood for a long time. The male record was set in 1993, while the female one was set in 1987. The male long jumpLong jumpThe long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength, and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a take off point...
record between 1935 and 1960 was held by Jesse OwensJesse OwensJames Cleveland "Jesse" Owens was an American track and field athlete who specialized in the sprints and the long jump. He participated in the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, where he achieved international fame by winning four gold medals: one each in the 100 meters, the 200 meters, the...
.
- The Fosbury Flop
- Tangent: Bill tells of the time he lost a charity limbo dancingLimbo (dance)Limbo is a popular form of dance that originated on the island of Trinidad. The dancer moves to a Caribbean rhythm, then leans backward and dances under a horizontal pole without touching it. Upon touching it or falling backwards, the dancer is "out"...
match to Sinitta and Lionel BlairLionel BlairLionel Blair is a British actor, choreographer, tap dancer and television presenter. He is the son of Myer Ogus and Deborah Greenbaum...
. He came 3rd, and Lionel Blair won.
General Ignorance:
- Tangent: The recommended daily allowanceDietary Reference IntakeThe Dietary Reference Intake is a system of nutrition recommendations from the Institute of Medicine of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. The DRI system is used by both the United States and Canada and is intended for the general public and health professionals...
of wine in the United Kingdom is 21 unitsUnit of alcoholUnits of alcohol are a measure of the volume of pure alcohol in an alcoholic beverage. Such units are used in some countries asa guideline for a drinker's alcohol consumption....
per week. In Poland, it's 12.5, in Canada, it's 23.75 and in America, it's 24.5, in South Africa and Denmark, it's 31.5 and in Australia, it's 35. In the UK, if you drank between 21 and 30 units, you'd be in the group of people in the lowest mortality rateMortality rateMortality rate is a measure of the number of deaths in a population, scaled to the size of that population, per unit time...
in the country. To be on the same level as a teetotallerTeetotalismTeetotalism refers to either the practice of or the promotion of complete abstinence from alcoholic beverages. A person who practices teetotalism is called a teetotaler or is simply said to be teetotal...
, you'd have to drink 63 units a week, the equivalent of a whole bottleBottleA bottle is a rigid container with a neck that is narrower than the body and a "mouth". By contrast, a jar has a relatively large mouth or opening. Bottles are often made of glass, clay, plastic, aluminum or other impervious materials, and typically used to store liquids such as water, milk, soft...
of wine a day. Although, it was later admitted by the person who made the claim, that he made the number up, and was just asked to think of a number.
Episode 13 "Gothic"
Broadcast date:- 19 February 2010
- 20 February 2010 (XL edition)
- 15 June 2010 (ABC1 airing/iView upload)
Recording date:
- 14 May 2009
Panellists:
- Alan DaviesAlan DaviesAlan Davies is an English comedian, writer and actor best known for starring in the TV mystery series Jonathan Creek and as the permanent panellist on the TV panel show QI.- Early life :...
(joint winner with −17 points) - Jimmy CarrJimmy CarrJames Anthony Patrick "Jimmy" Carr is an English-Irish comedian and humourist. He is known for his deadpan delivery and dark humour. He is also a writer, actor and presenter of radio and television....
(−28 points) - Jack DeeJack DeeJames Andrew Innes "Jack" Dee is an English stand-up comedian, actor and writer known for his sardonic, curmudgeonly, and deadpan style.-Early life:...
(joint winner with −17 points) - Sue PerkinsSue PerkinsSue Perkins is an English comedienne, broadcaster, actress, and writer.-Education:Perkins was educated at Croham Hurst School, an independent school for girls in Croydon in South London, at the same time as the BBC Breakfast News presenter Susanna Reid...
(−26 points)
Buzzers:
- Jack — PsychoPsycho (1960 film)Psycho is a 1960 American suspense/psychological horror film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins. The film is based on the screenplay by Joseph Stefano, who adapted it from the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch...
-esque music - Jimmy — A man breaking down a door, saying "Here's Jimmy!", followed by a woman screaming (a reference to The ShiningThe Shining (film)The Shining is a 1980 psychological horror film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, co-written with novelist Diane Johnson, and starring Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, and Danny Lloyd. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King. A writer, Jack Torrance, takes a job as an...
) - Sue — The Wilhelm screamWilhelm screamThe Wilhelm scream is a film and television stock sound effect first used in 1951 for the film Distant Drums. The effect gained new popularity after it was used in Star Wars and many other blockbuster films as well as television programs and video games...
- Alan — The reading of a classified football result; "ArsenalArsenal F.C.Arsenal Football Club is a professional English Premier League football club based in North London. One of the most successful clubs in English football, it has won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups...
0, Norwich CityNorwich City F.C.Norwich City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. As of the 2011–12 season, Norwich City are again playing in the Premier League after a six-year absence, having finished as runner up in the Championship in 2010–11 and winning automatic promotion.The...
4." (Famously, Davies is an Arsenal fan, while Fry is a Norwich fan.)
Theme:
- The set is darkened and everyone is wearing black. Stephen is sat in between some grotesqueGrotesqueThe word grotesque comes from the same Latin root as "Grotto", meaning a small cave or hollow. The original meaning was restricted to an extravagant style of Ancient Roman decorative art rediscovered and then copied in Rome at the end of the 15th century...
s and gnomeGnomeA gnome is a diminutive spirit in Renaissance magic and alchemy, first introduced by Paracelsus and later adopted by more recent authors including those of modern fantasy literature...
s. There's also a cobwebSpider webA spider web, spiderweb, spider's web or cobweb is a device built by a spider out of proteinaceous spider silk extruded from its spinnerets....
-laden candlestickCandlestickA candlestick, chamberstick, or candelabrum is a holder for one or more candles, used for illumination, rituals, or decorative purposes. The name 'candlestick' derives from the fact that it is usually tall and stick-shaped.Candlesticks are also called candle holders...
.
Topics:
- The panellists are shown a picture of a grotesqueGrotesqueThe word grotesque comes from the same Latin root as "Grotto", meaning a small cave or hollow. The original meaning was restricted to an extravagant style of Ancient Roman decorative art rediscovered and then copied in Rome at the end of the 15th century...
(forfeit: gargoyleGargoyleIn architecture, a gargoyle is a carved stone grotesque, usually made of granite, with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building thereby preventing rainwater from running down masonry walls and eroding the mortar between...
). The difference between a grotesque and a gargoyle is that gargoyles are used for draining and guttering in Gothic buildingsGothic architectureGothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
. The word gargoyle comes from the French gargouille, meaning throatThroatIn vertebrate anatomy, the throat is the anterior part of the neck, in front of the vertebral column. It consists of the pharynx and larynx...
, also coming from the English word "gargle". - The GothsGothsThe Goths were an East Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin whose two branches, the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, played an important role in the fall of the Roman Empire and the emergence of Medieval Europe....
were originally from Scandinavia, who defeated the VandalsVandalsThe Vandals were an East Germanic tribe that entered the late Roman Empire during the 5th century. The Vandals under king Genseric entered Africa in 429 and by 439 established a kingdom which included the Roman Africa province, besides the islands of Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia and the Balearics....
, a German tribeTribeA tribe, viewed historically or developmentally, consists of a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states.Many anthropologists use the term tribal society to refer to societies organized largely on the basis of kinship, especially corporate descent groups .Some theorists...
, where we get the word "vandal" from. Goth has tended to mean other things though, such as the cathedralCathedralA cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...
s, which were called "barbaric" during the Italian RenaissanceItalian RenaissanceThe Italian Renaissance began the opening phase of the Renaissance, a period of great cultural change and achievement in Europe that spanned the period from the end of the 13th century to about 1600, marking the transition between Medieval and Early Modern Europe...
, as it was used as an insult for anything that wasn't classic, because they were perceived to be the people who destroyed Rome and therefore civilisation. Gothic literatureGothic fictionGothic fiction, sometimes referred to as Gothic horror, is a genre or mode of literature that combines elements of both horror and romance. Gothicism's origin is attributed to English author Horace Walpole, with his 1764 novel The Castle of Otranto, subtitled "A Gothic Story"...
has tended to be referred to as "macabreMacabreIn works of art, macabre is the quality of having a grim or ghastly atmosphere. Macabre works emphasize the details and symbols of death....
". Carpenter GothicCarpenter GothicCarpenter Gothic, also sometimes called Carpenter's Gothic, and Rural Gothic, is a North American architectural style-designation for an application of Gothic Revival architectural detailing and picturesque massing applied to wooden structures built by house-carpenters...
is a form of craftsmanship famously depicted in the Grant WoodGrant WoodGrant DeVolson Wood was an American painter, born four miles east of Anamosa, Iowa. He is best known for his paintings depicting the rural American Midwest, particularly the painting American Gothic, an iconic image of the 20th century.- Life and career :His family moved to Cedar Rapids after his...
paintingPaintingPainting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
American GothicAmerican GothicAmerican Gothic is a painting by Grant Wood, in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. Wood's inspiration came from a cottage designed in the Gothic Revival style with a distinctive upper window and a decision to paint the house along with "the kind of people I fancied should live in that...
, which showed a house, now known as the American Gothic HouseAmerican Gothic HouseThe American Gothic House, also known as the Dibble House, is an iconic Carpenter Gothic house in Eldon, Iowa. It was the backdrop of the 1930 painting American Gothic by Grant Wood...
in the town of Eldon, IowaEldon, IowaEldon is a city in Wapello County, Iowa, United States. The population was 998 at the 2000 census. Eldon is the site of the small Carpenter Gothic style house that has come to be known as the American Gothic House because Grant Wood used it for the background in his famous 1930 painting American...
. The main feature of Carpenter Gothic is the pointed EcclesiasticalEcclesiologyToday, ecclesiology usually refers to the theological study of the Christian church. However when the word was coined in the late 1830s, it was defined as the science of the building and decoration of churches and it is still, though rarely, used in this sense.In its theological sense, ecclesiology...
starStarA star is a massive, luminous sphere of plasma held together by gravity. At the end of its lifetime, a star can also contain a proportion of degenerate matter. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth...
on the top, which resembles a Gothic arch. If a Goth is "emotional", they're referred to as EmoEmoEmo is a style of rock music and its associated subcultureEmo may also refer to:- Businesses :* Emo , an Irish oil company and filling station chain* Emo Speedway, a racetrack in Emo, Ontario...
s. Emos want to kill themselves, whereas Goths want to kill everyone else.
- Tangent: The man in American Gothic was Grant Wood's dentist.
- Tangent: Discussion about why everyone wanted to paint their bedroomBedroomA bedroom is a private room where people usually sleep for the night or relax during the day.About one third of our lives are spent sleeping and most of the time we are asleep, we are sleeping in a bedroom. To be considered a bedroom the room needs to have bed. Bedrooms can range from really simple...
s black, like Goths. - Tangent: Jimmy points out how the woman in American Gothic looks like Gail PlattGail PlattGail McIntyre is a long-standing fictional character in the UK television ITV soap opera, Coronation Street. Portrayed by actress Helen Worth, the character first appeared on screen on 12 July 1974...
from Coronation StreetCoronation StreetCoronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...
.- The painter who painted SunflowersSunflowers (series of paintings)Sunflowers are the subject of two series of still life paintings by the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh. The earlier series executed in Paris in 1887 gives the flowers lying on the ground, while the second set executed a year later in Arles shows bouquets of sunflowers in a vase...
was Vincent van GoghVincent van GoghVincent Willem van Gogh , and used Brabant dialect in his writing; it is therefore likely that he himself pronounced his name with a Brabant accent: , with a voiced V and palatalized G and gh. In France, where much of his work was produced, it is...
, pronounced faŋ ˈxɔx (forfeits: Van Goff; Van Goth; Van Go). The Dutch pronunciationPronunciationPronunciation refers to the way a word or a language is spoken, or the manner in which someone utters a word. If one is said to have "correct pronunciation", then it refers to both within a particular dialect....
was given by Arthur JapinArthur JapinArthur Valentijn Japin is a renowned Dutch novelist.-Biography:His parents were Bert Japin, a teacher and writer of detective novels, and Annie Japin-van Arnhem. After a difficult childhood - his father killed himself when Arthur was twelve years old - Japin entered the Kleinkunstacademie in...
, a famous novelist, who is also the presenter of the Dutch version of QIQIQI is a British comedy panel game television quiz show created and co-produced by John Lloyd, hosted by Stephen Fry, and featuring permanent panellist Alan Davies. Most of the questions are extremely obscure, making it unlikely that the correct answer will be given...
, who was also in the audienceAudienceAn audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature , theatre, music or academics in any medium...
. Stephen and Arthur talk about the Dutch version, as well as Thomas van Luyn, who is the Dutch equivalent to Alan in the show.
- The painter who painted Sunflowers
- Tangent: Discussion about van Gogh giving his ear to a prostitute, and the "possibility" of it being a primitive bugging deviceCovert listening deviceA covert listening device, more commonly known as a bug or a wire, is usually a combination of a miniature radio transmitter with a microphone. The use of bugs, called bugging, is a common technique in surveillance, espionage and in police investigations.A bug does not have to be a device...
, which leads to Alan telling of the similarity between that and the alien in the John SaylesJohn SaylesJohn Thomas Sayles is an American independent film director, screenwriter and author.-Early life:Sayles was born in Schenectady, New York, the son of Mary , a teacher, and Donald John Sayles, a school administrator. He was raised Catholic and took to labeling himself "a Catholic atheist"...
film The Brother from Another PlanetThe Brother from Another PlanetThe Brother from Another Planet is a science fiction film written, directed and edited by John Sayles. It stars Joe Morton as an extraterrestrial who has escaped to Earth and who hides in New York City.-Plot:...
.- The whole planet's population of 6.8 billion could turn into zombieZombieZombie is a term used to denote an animated corpse brought back to life by mystical means such as witchcraft. The term is often figuratively applied to describe a hypnotized person bereft of consciousness and self-awareness, yet ambulant and able to respond to surrounding stimuli...
s, otherwise known as a zombie apocalypseZombie apocalypseA zombie apocalypse is a particular scenario of apocalyptic literature that customarily has a science fiction/horror rationale. In a zombie apocalypse, a widespread rise of zombies hostile to human life engages in a general assault on civilization....
, within 38 days, using geometric progressionGeometric progressionIn mathematics, a geometric progression, also known as a geometric sequence, is a sequence of numbers where each term after the first is found by multiplying the previous one by a fixed non-zero number called the common ratio. For example, the sequence 2, 6, 18, 54, ... is a geometric progression...
and exponential growthExponential growthExponential growth occurs when the growth rate of a mathematical function is proportional to the function's current value...
to work it out. The word "zombie" comes from HaitiHaitiHaiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
, where they got the venomVenomVenom is the general term referring to any variety of toxins used by certain types of animals that inject it into their victims by the means of a bite or a sting...
from a pufferfish to make them appear sort of "dead". It was first discovered by Wade DavisWade DavisEdmund Wade Davis is a Canadian anthropologist, ethnobotanist, author and photographer whose work has focused on worldwide indigenous cultures, especially in North and South America and particularly involving the traditional uses and beliefs associated with psychoactive plants...
, an ethnobotanistEthnobotanyEthnobotany is the scientific study of the relationships that exist between people and plants....
in the 1980s, but his theory that it put people into a sort of "zombie tranceTranceTrance denotes a variety of processes, ecstasy, techniques, modalities and states of mind, awareness and consciousness. Trance states may occur involuntarily and unbidden.The term trance may be associated with meditation, magic, flow, and prayer...
" isn't universally accepted. - In AccraAccraAccra is the capital and largest city of Ghana, with an urban population of 1,658,937 according to the 2000 census. Accra is also the capital of the Greater Accra Region and of the Accra Metropolitan District, with which it is coterminous...
, the capital cityCapital CityCapital City was a television show produced by Euston Films which focused on the lives of investment bankers in London living and working on the corporate trading floor for the fictional international bank Shane-Longman....
of GhanaGhanaGhana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
, people are buriedBurialBurial is the act of placing a person or object into the ground. This is accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing an object in it, and covering it over.-History:...
in elaborate coffinCoffinA coffin is a funerary box used in the display and containment of dead people – either for burial or cremation.Contemporary North American English makes a distinction between "coffin", which is generally understood to denote a funerary box having six sides in plan view, and "casket", which...
s made into whatever shape you wanted, like a fishFishFish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
, an aeroplane, a mobile phoneMobile phoneA mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
, a BibleBibleThe Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
or even a car. They cost up to US$400, which is nearly a year's wageWageA wage is a compensation, usually financial, received by workers in exchange for their labor.Compensation in terms of wages is given to workers and compensation in terms of salary is given to employees...
s to some Ghanaians. It's only been a traditionTraditionA tradition is a ritual, belief or object passed down within a society, still maintained in the present, with origins in the past. Common examples include holidays or impractical but socially meaningful clothes , but the idea has also been applied to social norms such as greetings...
in Ghana for the last 50 years or so. - The best way to make sure your family never forget you after you die is to make a lifesize replicaReplicaA replica is a copy closely resembling the original concerning its shape and appearance. An inverted replica complements the original by filling its gaps. It can be a copy used for historical purposes, such as being placed in a museum. Sometimes the original never existed. For example, Difference...
of yourself. The Japanese artist Hananuma MasakichiHananuma Masakichiwas a Japanese sculpture artist. Believing that he was dying from tuberculosis, Masakichi sculpted a life size statue of himself as a gift to the woman he loved, which was completed in 1885. The artist himself died 10 years later, in poverty aged 63. The statue was later purchased by Robert Ripley...
was diagnosed with tuberculosisTuberculosisTuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
in the 1880s, so he knew he was going to die, so he made a life-size replica of himself that matched him exactly, with every hair from every pore on his body included, as well as his fingernails, toenails, teethToothTeeth are small, calcified, whitish structures found in the jaws of many vertebrates that are used to break down food. Some animals, particularly carnivores, also use teeth for hunting or for defensive purposes. The roots of teeth are embedded in the Mandible bone or the Maxillary bone and are...
and having glass eyes made in place of real ones. It was so life-like, that people couldn't tell which was the real one and which was the fake. It eventually went into Robert RipleyRobert RipleyRobert LeRoy Ripley was an American cartoonist, entrepreneur and amateur anthropologist, who created the world famous Ripley's Believe It or Not! newspaper panel series, radio show, and television show which feature odd 'facts' from around the world.Subjects covered in Ripley's cartoons and text...
's Odditorium in Los Angeles, but it got injured in an earthquakeEarthquakeAn earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...
in 1996, and is awaiting restorationAntiques restorationAntiques restoration refers to either the practice of "restoration"- restoring an antique or work of art to a like-new condition , or "conservation"- the practice of preserving an antique or work of art against further deterioration.-Restoration:Restoration can be as simple as light cleaning to...
.
- The whole planet's population of 6.8 billion could turn into zombie
- Tangent: In Seattle, there is a company called SeeMeRot.com, where you can have cameraCameraA camera is a device that records and stores images. These images may be still photographs or moving images such as videos or movies. The term camera comes from the camera obscura , an early mechanism for projecting images...
s put into coffins, so you can the person inside disintegrateAblationAblation is removal of material from the surface of an object by vaporization, chipping, or other erosive processes. This occurs in spaceflight during ascent and atmospheric reentry, glaciology, medicine, and passive fire protection.-Spaceflight:...
(This is most likely a hoax). Their sloganSloganA slogan is a memorable motto or phrase used in a political, commercial, religious and other context as a repetitive expression of an idea or purpose. The word slogan is derived from slogorn which was an Anglicisation of the Scottish Gaelic sluagh-ghairm . Slogans vary from the written and the...
is "Being dead and buried doesn't mean you can't have friends over!". This leads to a discussion about being buried alivePremature burialPremature burial, also known as live burial, burial alive, or vivisepulture, means to be buried while still alive. Animals or humans may be buried alive accidentally or intentionally...
.- In the 1960s, ⅔ of all AmericansUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
who accidentally lost a limbLimb (anatomy)A limb is a jointed, or prehensile , appendage of the human or other animal body....
came from the same town in Florida. The reason was insuranceInsuranceIn law and economics, insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for payment. An insurer is a company selling the...
. There were 50 occurrences in the town which had a population of just 500. Most claimed they were shot off by huntingHuntingHunting is the practice of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...
rifleRifleA rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls. The raised areas of the rifling are called "lands," which make contact with the projectile , imparting spin around an axis corresponding to the...
s. Other claims included accidentally firing someone climbing a fenceFenceA fence is a freestanding structure designed to restrict or prevent movement across a boundary. It is generally distinguished from a wall by the lightness of its construction: a wall is usually restricted to such barriers made from solid brick or concrete, blocking vision as well as passage .Fences...
.
- In the 1960s, ⅔ of all Americans
General Ignorance:
- After the Vietnam WarVietnam WarThe Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was occupied by a soldierSoldierA soldier is a member of the land component of national armed forces; whereas a soldier hired for service in a foreign army would be termed a mercenary...
who had died in VietnamVietnamVietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
(forfeit: nobody knows). His family had heard that "the Unknown Soldier" had died in a helicopterHelicopterA helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...
crash, and their son had also died in the same helicopter crash, but through DNA testingMitochondrial DNAMitochondrial DNA is the DNA located in organelles called mitochondria, structures within eukaryotic cells that convert the chemical energy from food into a form that cells can use, adenosine triphosphate...
, it was proved that he was "the Unknown Soldier", so his remains were exhumed. It's believed that there never will be another "Unknown Soldier", because all British & American soldiers are DNA profiled. The original "Unknown Soldier" was first done simultaneously in Britain & France after World War I in 1920. In Britain, there were 4 bodies and the general pointed at one and he became "the Unknown Soldier". That particular soldier was given a state funeralState funeralA state funeral is a public funeral ceremony, observing the strict rules of protocol, held to honor heads of state or other important people of national significance. State funerals usually include much pomp and ceremony as well as religious overtones and distinctive elements of military tradition...
at Westminster AbbeyWestminster AbbeyThe Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
with full military honours and was entombed with a Medieval crusaderCrusadesThe Crusades were a series of religious wars, blessed by the Pope and the Catholic Church with the main goal of restoring Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem...
's swordSwordA sword is a bladed weapon used primarily for cutting or thrusting. The precise definition of the term varies with the historical epoch or the geographical region under consideration...
from the Royal CollectionRoyal CollectionThe Royal Collection is the art collection of the British Royal Family. It is property of the monarch as sovereign, but is held in trust for her successors and the nation. It contains over 7,000 paintings, 40,000 watercolours and drawings, and about 150,000 old master prints, as well as historical...
in the presence of a guard made up of 100 VC's. The guests of honour were 100 women who had lost their husbands and their sons during the war. The CenotaphCenotaphA cenotaph is an "empty tomb" or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been interred elsewhere. The word derives from the Greek κενοτάφιον = kenotaphion...
, made by LutyensEdwin LutyensSir Edwin Landseer Lutyens, OM, KCIE, PRA, FRIBA was a British architect who is known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era...
is dedicated to the soldier as well. - The phrasePhraseIn everyday speech, a phrase may refer to any group of words. In linguistics, a phrase is a group of words which form a constituent and so function as a single unit in the syntax of a sentence. A phrase is lower on the grammatical hierarchy than a clause....
"Saved by the bell" is a boxingBoxingBoxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
term. There is no proof of the myths about people who tied a bell to their toe, but they have found to not be true, although many people do fear premature burialPremature burialPremature burial, also known as live burial, burial alive, or vivisepulture, means to be buried while still alive. Animals or humans may be buried alive accidentally or intentionally...
s, such as in the Edgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
book, The Premature BurialThe Premature Burial"The Premature Burial" is a horror short story on the theme of being buried alive, written by Edgar Allan Poe and published in 1844 in The Philadelphia Dollar Newspaper. Fear of being buried alive was common in this period and Poe was taking advantage of the public interest...
. (Forfeit: buried alive) - MozartWolfgang Amadeus MozartWolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
's burial wasn't a pauper's funeralFuneralA funeral is a ceremony for celebrating, sanctifying, or remembering the life of a person who has died. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember the dead, from interment itself, to various monuments, prayers, and rituals undertaken in their honor...
in ViennaViennaVienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
as many believe, although only members of the aristocracyAristocracyAristocracy , is a form of government in which a few elite citizens rule. The term derives from the Greek aristokratia, meaning "rule of the best". In origin in Ancient Greece, it was conceived of as rule by the best qualified citizens, and contrasted with monarchy...
were buried in tombs or vaults. His funeral cost 8 guilder and 56 kreuzerKreuzerThe Kreuzer, in English usually kreutzer, was a silver coin and unit of currency existing in the southern German states prior to the unification of Germany, and in Austria.-Early history:...
. Mozart had a pet starlingStarlingStarlings are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Sturnidae. The name "Sturnidae" comes from the Latin word for starling, sturnus. Many Asian species, particularly the larger ones, are called mynas, and many African species are known as glossy starlings because of their iridescent...
whom he buried in 1784, and its whistling inspired the principal theme of the last movement of Piano ConcertoMozart piano concertosThe Mozart piano concertos refer to the 27 concertos for piano and orchestra written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. These works, many of which Mozart composed for himself to play in the Vienna concert series of 1784–86, held a special place for him; indeed, Mozart's father apparently interrupted him...
K453Piano Concerto No. 17 (Mozart)The Piano Concerto No. 17 in G major, KV. 453, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, was written in 1784.The work is orchestrated for solo piano, flute, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns, and strings...
.
- Tangent: On the top 10 list of play-off tunes for people who die is the theme tune to CountdownCountdown (game show)Countdown is a British game show involving word and number puzzles. It is produced by ITV Studios and broadcast on Channel 4. It is presented by Jeff Stelling, assisted by Rachel Riley, with regular lexicographer Susie Dent. It was the first programme to be aired on Channel 4, and over sixty-five...
.
QI XL Extras:
- Tangent: Discussion about The Da Vinci CodeThe Da Vinci CodeThe Da Vinci Code is a 2003 mystery-detective novel written by Dan Brown. It follows symbologist Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu as they investigate a murder in Paris's Louvre Museum and discover a battle between the Priory of Sion and Opus Dei over the possibility of Jesus having been married to...
being a book about "bad monkMonkA monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...
s" and about the fact that Grant Wood sounds like the name of a porn star. - Tangent: Discussion about early Goths, such as Alice CooperAlice CooperAlice Cooper is an American rock singer, songwriter and musician whose career spans more than four decades...
, Robert SmithRobert Smith (musician)Robert James Smith is an English musician. He is the lead singer, guitar player and principal songwriter of the rock band The Cure, and its only constant member since its founding in 1976...
of The CureThe CureThe Cure are an English rock band formed in Crawley, West Sussex in 1976. The band has experienced several line-up changes, with frontman, vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter Robert Smith being the only constant member...
and Siouxsie SiouxSiouxsie SiouxSiouxsie Sioux is an English singer-songwriter. She is best known as the lead singer of the critically acclaimed rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees and of its splinter group The Creatures . The Banshees produced eleven studio albums and a string of hit singles including "Hong Kong Garden",...
. - Tangent: Discussion of the new theory that van Gogh lost his ear in a fight with Paul GauguinPaul GauguinEugène Henri Paul Gauguin was a leading French Post-Impressionist artist. He was an important figure in the Symbolist movement as a painter, sculptor, print-maker, ceramist, and writer...
. van Gogh was never good with girls either, the parents of a girl he liked refused him access, so he stood with his hand being burnt by a flame of a candleCandleA candle is a solid block or cylinder of wax with an embedded wick, which is lit to provide light, and sometimes heat.Today, most candles are made from paraffin. Candles can also be made from beeswax, soy, other plant waxes, and tallow...
until he could see her, but her father just blew it out and told him to go away. - Tangent: The exponential growth originated with the rice and chessboard problemWheat and Chessboard ProblemThe wheat and chessboard problem is a mathematical problem: To solve this, observe that a chess board is an 8×8 square, containing 64 squares...
, in which a guy puts one piece of rice on the first chessboardChessboardA chessboard is the type of checkerboard used in the board game chess, and consists of 64 squares arranged in two alternating colors...
piece, then 2 on the next, 4 on the next, etc. The total number of grains needed to fill the board is 18,446,744,073,709,551,615 (2^64 – 1), which is the amount of riceRiceRice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
that would be made in 80 years, if all the arable landArable landIn geography and agriculture, arable land is land that can be used for growing crops. It includes all land under temporary crops , temporary meadows for mowing or pasture, land under market and kitchen gardens and land temporarily fallow...
was converted. - Tangent: Even though zombies and voodoo are associated with HaitiHaitiHaiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
, it originated in West Africa. "Zombie" comes from the West African word, "nzambi". - Tangent: Jimmy once took his brother through a graveyardGraveyardA graveyard is any place set aside for long-term burial of the dead, with or without monuments such as headstones...
and he thought that people who were buried under gravestonesHeadstoneA headstone, tombstone, or gravestone is a marker, usually stone, that is placed over a grave. In most cases they have the deceased's name, date of birth, and date of death inscribed on them, along with a personal message, or prayer.- Use :...
with curly bits on the top were chefChefA chef is a person who cooks professionally for other people. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who cooks for a living, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation.-Etymology:The word "chef" is borrowed ...
s.- In a graveyard, a person buried under a broken columnColumnA column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a vertical structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. For the purpose of wind or earthquake engineering, columns may be designed to resist lateral forces...
means that they died young. Other symbolSymbolA symbol is something which represents an idea, a physical entity or a process but is distinct from it. The purpose of a symbol is to communicate meaning. For example, a red octagon may be a symbol for "STOP". On a map, a picture of a tent might represent a campsite. Numerals are symbols for...
s include a broken chainChainA chain is a sequence of connected links.Chain may also refer to:Chain may refer to:* Necklace - a jewelry which is worn around the neck* Mail , a type of armor made of interlocking chain links...
which symbolises a loss in the family and appleAppleThe apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family . It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by humans. Apple grow on small, deciduous trees that blossom in the spring...
s represent sinSinIn religion, sin is the violation or deviation of an eternal divine law or standard. The term sin may also refer to the state of having committed such a violation. Christians believe the moral code of conduct is decreed by God In religion, sin (also called peccancy) is the violation or deviation...
. The lichenLichenLichens are composite organisms consisting of a symbiotic organism composed of a fungus with a photosynthetic partner , usually either a green alga or cyanobacterium...
that grows on graveyards is looked at by scientists as an indicator for pollutionPollutionPollution is the introduction of contaminants into a natural environment that causes instability, disorder, harm or discomfort to the ecosystem i.e. physical systems or living organisms. Pollution can take the form of chemical substances or energy, such as noise, heat or light...
. The main reasons they do it is because you can roughly tell the age of the lichen on the gravestone because of the date and graveyards are not normally sprayed with chemicals, so they remain unaltered, and because it's considered bad to spray them with pesticidePesticidePesticides are substances or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling or mitigating any pest.A pesticide may be a chemical unicycle, biological agent , antimicrobial, disinfectant or device used against any pest...
s.
- In a graveyard, a person buried under a broken column
- Tangent: Other odd methods of burials include being turned into compost by being dissolved in liquid nitrogenLiquid nitrogenLiquid nitrogen is nitrogen in a liquid state at a very low temperature. It is produced industrially by fractional distillation of liquid air. Liquid nitrogen is a colourless clear liquid with density of 0.807 g/mL at its boiling point and a dielectric constant of 1.4...
then being vibrated, then a magnet is used to remove mercuryMercury (element)Mercury is a chemical element with the symbol Hg and atomic number 80. It is also known as quicksilver or hydrargyrum...
and other metals that could harm the making of it. Then 25–30 kilograms are left over which then gets made into a coffin made out of maize or potato starch, and then you're buried and rot into the earth and biodegradeBiodegradationBiodegradation or biotic degradation or biotic decomposition is the chemical dissolution of materials by bacteria or other biological means...
within 6–12 months.- The Vampire SquidVampire SquidThe vampire squid is a small, deep-sea cephalopod found throughout the temperate and tropical oceans of the world. Unique retractile sensory filaments justify the Vampire Squid's placement in its own order: Vampyromorphida , which shares similarities with both squid and octopuses...
from HellHellIn many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
, LatinLatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
name, Vampyroteuthis infernalis, has the biggest eyes of any animal in comparison to the size of its head, if it were put into a human, the eyes of a human would be a foot wide. Because it lives so deep in the sea, its defence is not ink, but a stream of blue bioluminescentBioluminescenceBioluminescence is the production and emission of light by a living organism. Its name is a hybrid word, originating from the Greek bios for "living" and the Latin lumen "light". Bioluminescence is a naturally occurring form of chemiluminescence where energy is released by a chemical reaction in...
orbs, which dazzle its enemies. - The toughest way to become a mummyMummyA mummy is a body, human or animal, whose skin and organs have been preserved by either intentional or incidental exposure to chemicals, extreme coldness , very low humidity, or lack of air when bodies are submerged in bogs, so that the recovered body will not decay further if kept in cool and dry...
is by self-mummification. In the old days, they used to remove the brain through the nose by turning it into a liquid mush. A BuddhistBuddhismBuddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
sect called SokushinbutsuSokushinbutsuSokushinbutsu were Buddhist monks or priests who caused their own deaths in a way that resulted in their mummification. This practice reportedly took place almost exclusively in northern Japan around the Yamagata Prefecture. It is believed that many hundreds of monks tried, but only between 16 and...
use self-mummification. To do this, for 1,000 days, a priest would eat nuts and seeds, while taking part in vigorous physical activity, so he'd have no body fatAdipose tissueIn histology, adipose tissue or body fat or fat depot or just fat is loose connective tissue composed of adipocytes. It is technically composed of roughly only 80% fat; fat in its solitary state exists in the liver and muscles. Adipose tissue is derived from lipoblasts...
. Then for another 1,000 days, he's eat just bark and tree roots and then drink a poisonous tea made from the sap of the Urushi tree, which would cause him to vomit and lose bodily fluids. Then he'd be locked inside a small stone tomb with just an air tube and a bell while doing the lotus positionLotus positionThe Lotus Position is a cross-legged sitting posture originating in meditative practices of ancient India, in which the feet are placed on the opposing thighs. It is an established posture, commonly used for meditation, in the Hindu Yoga and Buddhist contemplative traditions...
. He'd ring the bell every day to prove he was alive. When the bell stopped ringing, the tube was removed and the tomb was sealed. Then after another 1,000 days, the tomb was checked and if it was successful, he was deemed to have reached enlightenmentEnlightenment (spiritual)Enlightenment in a secular context often means the "full comprehension of a situation", but in spiritual terms the word alludes to a spiritual revelation or deep insight into the meaning and purpose of all things, communication with or understanding of the mind of God, profound spiritual...
. Since the 19th century, it's not done any more, as it is now an illegal form of suicide.
- The Vampire Squid
- Tangent: The panellists try to explain to Stephen what the reverse cowgirl is.
General Ignorance:
- If the beat on an electrocardiogram has flat-lined, it means that the cableCableA cable is two or more wires running side by side and bonded, twisted or braided together to form a single assembly. In mechanics cables, otherwise known as wire ropes, are used for lifting, hauling and towing or conveying force through tension. In electrical engineering cables are used to carry...
has been pulled out (forfeit: you're dead). FibrillatorsFibrillationFibrillation is the rapid, irregular, and unsynchronized contraction of muscle fibers. An important occurrence is with regards to the heart.-Cardiology:There are two major classes of cardiac fibrillation: atrial fibrillation and ventricular fibrillation....
are used for arrythmiaCardiac dysrhythmiaCardiac dysrhythmia is any of a large and heterogeneous group of conditions in which there is abnormal electrical activity in the heart. The heart beat may be too fast or too slow, and may be regular or irregular.Some arrhythmias are life-threatening medical emergencies that can result in cardiac...
, not to start up the heartHeartThe heart is a myogenic muscular organ found in all animals with a circulatory system , that is responsible for pumping blood throughout the blood vessels by repeated, rhythmic contractions...
again, as depicted in many movies.
- Tangent: Another popular play-off tune is Bohemian RhapsodyBohemian Rhapsody"Bohemian Rhapsody" is a song by the British rock band Queen. It was written by Freddie Mercury for the band's 1975 album A Night at the Opera...
by QueenQueen (band)Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
. The next track on their album after Bohemian Rhapsody is Another One Bites the DustAnother One Bites the Dust"Another One Bites the Dust" is a song by the English rock band Queen. Written by bass guitarist John Deacon, the song featured on the group's eighth studio album The Game . The song was a worldwide hit, charting number one on the United States Billboard Hot 100, number two on the R&B charts and...
.
Episode 14 "Greeks"
Broadcast date:- 5 March 2010
- 6 March 2010 (XL edition)
Recording date:
- 26 May 2009
Panellists:
- Alan DaviesAlan DaviesAlan Davies is an English comedian, writer and actor best known for starring in the TV mystery series Jonathan Creek and as the permanent panellist on the TV panel show QI.- Early life :...
(−47 points) - Clive AndersonClive AndersonClive Anderson is a British former barrister, best known for being a comedy writer as well as a radio and television presenter in the United Kingdom...
(winner with 3 points) - Rich HallRich HallRichard "Rich" Hall is an American comedian, writer and musician.-Early life and career:Hall was born in Alexandria, Virginia and grew up in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. He is part Cherokee Indian...
(2 points) - Phill JupitusPhill JupitusPhillip Christopher Jupitus is an English stand-up and improvised comedian, actor, performance poet, musician and podcaster....
(−5 points) - The AudienceAudienceAn audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature , theatre, music or academics in any medium...
(Winner with 10 points)
Buzzers:
- Clive — Hymn to Liberty
- Rich — Theme from Zorba
- Phill — Traditional Greek folk tune
- Alan — Greased Lightning from GreaseGrease (musical)Grease is a 1971 musical by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. The musical is named for the 1950s United States working-class youth subculture known as the greasers. The musical, set in 1959 at fictional Rydell High School , follows ten working-class teenagers as they navigate the complexities of love,...
Notes:
- This is the third instance of a complete panel appearing twice. Anderson, Hall and Jupitus all appeared together in episode 3 of series B.
- The Audience were only announced as winners in the XL version, as the fact that won them their 10 points was cut from the initial broadcast.
Theme:
- The set is decorated in Ancient Greek architectureArchitecture of Ancient GreeceThe architecture of Ancient Greece is the architecture produced by the Greek-speaking people whose culture flourished on the Greek mainland and Peloponnesus, the Aegean Islands, and in colonies in Asia Minor and Italy for a period from about 900 BC until the 1st century AD, with the earliest...
.
Topics:
- Rich AthenianAthensAthens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
s had to sponsor a Greek battleshipBattleshipA battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...
(if your propertyPropertyProperty is any physical or intangible entity that is owned by a person or jointly by a group of people or a legal entity like a corporation...
was worth 70 times more than the average wage of a skilled worker). The only way to get out of it was by finding someone richer. - According to HerodotusHerodotusHerodotus was an ancient Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus, Caria and lived in the 5th century BC . He has been called the "Father of History", and was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a...
, before a SpartanSpartan ArmyThe Spartan army was the military force of Sparta, one of the leading city-states of ancient Greece. The army stood at the centre of the Spartan state, whose citizens' primary obligation was to be good soldiers. Subject to military drill from infancy, the Spartans were one of the most feared...
went into battle they had a new haircut, which meant that they were preparing for mortal combatCombatCombat, or fighting, is a purposeful violent conflict meant to establish dominance over the opposition, or to terminate the opposition forever, or drive the opposition away from a location where it is not wanted or needed....
.
- Tangent: At The Battle of Thermopylae, the 300 Spartans were accompanied by 700 ThespiansThespiaeThespiae was an ancient Greek city in Boeotia. It stood on level ground commanded by the low range of hills which runs eastward from the foot of Mount Helicon to Thebes, near modern Thespies.-History:...
. - Tangent: The word "laconicLaconic phraseA laconic phrase is a very concise or terse statement, named after Laconia , a polis of ancient Greece surrounding the city of Sparta proper. In common usage, Sparta referred both to Lacedaemon and Sparta...
" means taking your time before you answer.- The word gymnasiumGymnasium (ancient Greece)The gymnasium in ancient Greece functioned as a training facility for competitors in public games. It was also a place for socializing and engaging in intellectual pursuits. The name comes from the Ancient Greek term gymnós meaning "naked". Athletes competed in the nude, a practice said to...
comes from the Greek word "Gymnos", meaning nakedNudityNudity is the state of wearing no clothing. The wearing of clothing is exclusively a human characteristic. The amount of clothing worn depends on functional considerations and social considerations...
, hence "gymnasium" meant "a naked place". During the Ancient Olympic Games, the competitors performed naked and used a pouch called a kynodesmeKynodesmeA kynodesme was a thin leather strip worn by some athletes in Ancient Greece to restrain the penis such as to prevent the exposure of the glans. It was tied tightly around the akroposthion, the part of the foreskin that extended beyond the glans...
to keep their penis in.
- The word gymnasium
- Tangent: Other things involving the word "gymnos", were "gymnopaediaGymnopaediaThe Gymnopaedia, in ancient Sparta, was a yearly celebration during which naked youths displayed their athletic and martial skills through the medium of war dancing...
", where young naked boys went out dancing in public festivalFestivalA festival or gala is an event, usually and ordinarily staged by a local community, which centers on and celebrates some unique aspect of that community and the Festival....
s and "gymnologise" means "to debateDebateDebate or debating is a method of interactive and representational argument. Debate is a broader form of argument than logical argument, which only examines consistency from axiom, and factual argument, which only examines what is or isn't the case or rhetoric which is a technique of persuasion...
while naked".- Baron de CoubertinPierre de CoubertinPierre de Frédy, Baron de Coubertin was a French educationalist and historian, founder of the International Olympic Committee, and is considered the father of the modern Olympic Games...
, the founder of the modern Olympic Games, won his own Olympic gold medal in poetry. There were all kinds of artistic eventsArt competitions at the Olympic GamesArt competitions formed part of the modern Olympic Games during its early years, from 1912 to 1952. The competitions were part of the original intention of the Olympic Movement's founder, Pierre de Frédy, Baron de Coubertin...
but they were stopped as it was felt it defeated the point of amateurism.
- Baron de Coubertin
- Tangent: Up until the 1948 games1948 Summer OlympicsThe 1948 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XIV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was held in London, England, United Kingdom. After a 12-year hiatus because of World War II, these were the first Summer Olympics since the 1936 Games in Berlin...
there was a medal for town planning. - Tangent: The oldest person to win an Olympic medal was a BritonUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
called John Copley, who won a silver medal in the 1948 engravings and etchings event, aged 73.- Olympic gold medalGold medalA gold medal is typically the medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture...
s are made of at least 92.5% silverSilverSilver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
(forfeits: goldGoldGold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
, chocolateChocolateChocolate is a raw or processed food produced from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico, Central and South America. Its earliest documented use is around 1100 BC...
). They are gold plated and they do have six grams of gold in them, but they haven't been made entirely of gold since 19121912 Summer OlympicsThe 1912 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the V Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Stockholm, Sweden, between 5 May and 27 July 1912. Twenty-eight nations and 2,407 competitors, including 48 women, competed in 102 events in 14 sports...
.
- Olympic gold medal
- Tangent: If the medals today were made out of 18 caratCarat (purity)The karat or carat is a unit of purity for gold alloys.- Measure :Karat purity is measured as 24 times the purity by mass:where...
gold, they'd be worth £3,000, or £1.5 million for the whole competition.- If you bite a gold coin and a toothmark is left, then it's a fake coin, because other metals were used in making gold coins but for counterfeits leadLeadLead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...
was used, and that did leave an impression.
- If you bite a gold coin and a toothmark is left, then it's a fake coin, because other metals were used in making gold coins but for counterfeits lead
- Tangent: There is no lead in pencilPencilA pencil is a writing implement or art medium usually constructed of a narrow, solid pigment core inside a protective casing. The case prevents the core from breaking, and also from marking the user’s hand during use....
s, as mentioned in series A. - Tangent: Only 161,000 tonneTonneThe tonne, known as the metric ton in the US , often put pleonastically as "metric tonne" to avoid confusion with ton, is a metric system unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. The tonne is not an International System of Units unit, but is accepted for use with the SI...
s of gold has ever been minedMiningMining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
in human history, most of it being in the last 50 years - Tangent: The island of YapYapYap, also known as Wa'ab by locals, is an island in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean. It is a state of the Federated States of Micronesia. Yap's indigenous cultures and traditions are still strong compared to other neighboring islands. The island of Yap actually consists of four...
in MicronesiaMicronesiaMicronesia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising thousands of small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It is distinct from Melanesia to the south, and Polynesia to the east. The Philippines lie to the west, and Indonesia to the southwest....
, used hole shaped stonesRai stonesRai, or stone money, are large, circular stone disks carved out of limestone formed from aragonite and calcite crystals, Rai stones were mined in Palau and transported for use to the island of Yap, Micronesia...
as its currency, and it makes it a fixed money supplyMoney supplyIn economics, the money supply or money stock, is the total amount of money available in an economy at a specific time. There are several ways to define "money," but standard measures usually include currency in circulation and demand deposits .Money supply data are recorded and published, usually...
.- SewageSewageSewage is water-carried waste, in solution or suspension, that is intended to be removed from a community. Also known as wastewater, it is more than 99% water and is characterized by volume or rate of flow, physical condition, chemical constituents and the bacteriological organisms that it contains...
could be used to create alienExtraterrestrial lifeExtraterrestrial life is defined as life that does not originate from Earth...
life, because most faeces produced in space is jettisoned rather than taken back to Earth. Arthur C. ClarkeArthur C. ClarkeSir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE, FRAS was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, famous for his short stories and novels, among them 2001: A Space Odyssey, and as a host and commentator in the British television series Mysterious World. For many years, Robert A. Heinlein,...
had a theory known as "Toilet of the Gods", which suggested that humans might even be descended from the poo of another civilisation. A lot of the junk in Earth's orbitOrbitIn physics, an orbit is the gravitationally curved path of an object around a point in space, for example the orbit of a planet around the center of a star system, such as the Solar System...
was found to be covered in faecal matter
- Sewage
- Tangent: There are now space debrisSpace debrisSpace debris, also known as orbital debris, space junk, and space waste, is the collection of objects in orbit around Earth that were created by humans but no longer serve any useful purpose. These objects consist of everything from spent rocket stages and defunct satellites to erosion, explosion...
lawyers to ensure any junk that hits an Earth-orbiting satelliteSatelliteIn the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavour. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....
.
General Ignorance:
- MeteoriteMeteoriteA meteorite is a natural object originating in outer space that survives impact with the Earth's surface. Meteorites can be big or small. Most meteorites derive from small astronomical objects called meteoroids, but they are also sometimes produced by impacts of asteroids...
s that have just crashed on Earth would be too cold (forfeit: it's hot).
- Tangent: In space meteor temperatures are between −240°C and −270°C, inside and outside.
- Tangent: Around 50,000 meteorites above 20 grams fall into Earth every year, most of them are lost at sea and most of the rest are found in Antarctica.
- Tangent: No human has ever died from a meteorite, a dog was killed by one in EgyptEgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
in 1911 and a boy from UgandaUgandaUganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
was hit, but not seriously hurt by one in 1992.- The instant you get sucked into a vacuumVacuumIn everyday usage, vacuum is a volume of space that is essentially empty of matter, such that its gaseous pressure is much less than atmospheric pressure. The word comes from the Latin term for "empty". A perfect vacuum would be one with no particles in it at all, which is impossible to achieve in...
you have only the amount of air left that you exhale to survive (forfeit: instant death). You could survive with no long-term problems, but only if you stay in for only a couple of minutes. Gases escaping from your body would make you instantly defecate, projectile vomit and urinate. - The country that has weekly news broadcasts in LatinLatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
is FinlandFinlandFinland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
(forfeit: Vatican CityVatican CityVatican City , or Vatican City State, in Italian officially Stato della Città del Vaticano , which translates literally as State of the City of the Vatican, is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, Italy. It has an area of...
). The show, called Nuntii LatiniNuntii LatiniNuntii Latini is a news service based in Finland that broadcasts news in Latin. It has been broadcast since September 1989 by the Finnish national broadcaster YLE on YLE Radio 1 -channel.- Station output :...
has a 5-minute broadcast every Friday at 1:55pm, then again on the local radio in HelsinkiHelsinkiHelsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...
. Radio BremenRadio BremenRadio Bremen , Germany's smallest public radio and television broadcaster, is the legally mandated broadcaster for the city-state of Bremen...
in Germany also do four and a half minutes of Latin news a month.
- The instant you get sucked into a vacuum
- Tangent: More people outside Finland understand Latin than Finnish.
- Tangent: There is a Finnish singer called Jukka AmmondtJukka AmmondtJukka Ammondt is a Finnish literature professor who has recorded popular music, including songs of Elvis Presley, in Latin.Jukka Ammondt is a professor of literature in the University of Jyväskylä, Finland with a Ph.D in philosophy. In 1992 he recorded a single consisting of tango songs sung in Latin...
who has done covers of Elvis PresleyElvis PresleyElvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
songs in Latin.- Because of health and safetyOccupational safety and healthOccupational safety and health is a cross-disciplinary area concerned with protecting the safety, health and welfare of people engaged in work or employment. The goal of all occupational safety and health programs is to foster a safe work environment...
, plates are not thrown at the end of a Greek meal any more. Instead, flowers are now used as they're safer (forfeit: platesPlate (dishware)A plate is a broad, concave, but mainly flat vessel on which food can be served. A plate can also be used for ceremonial or decorative purposes.-Materials:...
). Greek restaurants can obtain a licence to throw plates.
- Because of health and safety
QI XL Extras:
- Tangent: The suffixSuffixIn linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns or adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs...
"ship", as in "battleship" or "championshipChampionshipChampionship is a term used in sport to refer to various forms of competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion.- Title match system :...
" is of GermanicGermanic languagesThe Germanic languages constitute a sub-branch of the Indo-European language family. The common ancestor of all of the languages in this branch is called Proto-Germanic , which was spoken in approximately the mid-1st millennium BC in Iron Age northern Europe...
origin. All the f's in German become p's and the Arabic languageArabic languageArabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
removed all its p's. This is known as the fricative shiftHigh German consonant shiftIn historical linguistics, the High German consonant shift or second Germanic consonant shift is a phonological development that took place in the southern parts of the West Germanic dialect continuum in several phases, probably beginning between the 3rd and 5th centuries AD, and was almost...
.- A RomanAncient RomeAncient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
orgyOrgyIn modern usage, an orgy is a sex party where guests engage in promiscuous or multifarious sexual activity or group sex. An orgy is similar to debauchery, which refers to excessive indulgence in sensual pleasures....
is not as debauched as a Greek symposiumSymposiumIn ancient Greece, the symposium was a drinking party. Literary works that describe or take place at a symposium include two Socratic dialogues, Plato's Symposium and Xenophon's Symposium, as well as a number of Greek poems such as the elegies of Theognis of Megara...
. A Greek symposium was a place mainly for drinkingDrinkingDrinking is the act of consuming water or a beverage through the mouth. Water is required for many of life’s physiological processes. Both excessive and inadequate water intake are associated with health problems.-Physiology:...
, as opposed as to what it means today. A Roman orgy wasn't really a place where mass sexual intercourseSexual intercourseSexual intercourse, also known as copulation or coitus, commonly refers to the act in which a male's penis enters a female's vagina for the purposes of sexual pleasure or reproduction. The entities may be of opposite sexes, or they may be hermaphroditic, as is the case with snails...
took place.
- A Roman
- Tangent: CaligulaCaligulaCaligula , also known as Gaius, was Roman Emperor from 37 AD to 41 AD. Caligula was a member of the house of rulers conventionally known as the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Caligula's father Germanicus, the nephew and adopted son of Emperor Tiberius, was a very successful general and one of Rome's most...
liked to have solid goldGoldGold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
food and fishFishFish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
that were blue. - Tangent: A vomitoriumVomitoriumA vomitorium is a passage situated below or behind a tier of seats in an amphitheatre, through which big crowds can exit rapidly at the end of a performance...
was not a place used to throw up food, but was actually an exit from a theatre. - Tangent: tactical chundering.
- Tangent: Gymnasiums were originally designed to be places where the middle classes trained for battle. They then became places of educationGymnasium (school)A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
, the two most famous ones being the AcademyPlatonic AcademyThe Academy was founded by Plato in ca. 387 BC in Athens. Aristotle studied there for twenty years before founding his own school, the Lyceum. The Academy persisted throughout the Hellenistic period as a skeptical school, until coming to an end after the death of Philo of Larissa in 83 BC...
and the LyceumLyceum (Classical)The Lyceum was a gymnasium and public meeting place in Classical Athens named after the god of the grove that housed the Lyceum, Apollo Lyceus...
. The Academy was where PlatoPlatoPlato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
taught and was named after AkademosAkademosAkademos was an Attic hero in Greek mythology. The tale traditionally told of him is that when Castor and Polydeuces invaded Attica to liberate their sister Helen, he betrayed to them that she was kept concealed at Aphidnae...
. - Tangent: The word OdeonOdeon (building)Odeon is the name for several ancient Greek and Roman buildings built for singing exercises, musical shows and poetry competitions. They were generally small in size, especially compared with a full-size ancient Greek theatre....
as used to describe a movie theatre was named by Oscar DeutschOscar DeutschOscar Deutsch was the founder of the Odeon Cinemas chain in the United Kingdom.-Life and career:Deutsch was born in Balsall Heath, Birmingham, England, the son of Leopold Deutsch, a successful Hungarian Jewish scrap metal merchant. After attending King Edward VI Five Ways, he opened his first...
, who used his initials "OD", to name the cinema chainOdeon CinemasOdeon Cinemas is a British chain of cinemas, one of the largest in Europe. It is owned by Odeon & UCI Cinemas Group whose ultimate parent is Terra Firma Capital Partners.-History:Odeon Cinemas was created in 1928 by Oscar Deutsch...
he created. - Tangent: David O'KeefeDavid O'KeefeDavid Dean O'Keefe was an Irishman who immigrated to Savannah, Georgia, USA before becoming a historical figure to the island of Yap....
created counterfeitCounterfeitTo counterfeit means to illegally imitate something. Counterfeit products are often produced with the intent to take advantage of the superior value of the imitated product...
Rai stones on Yap and ruined its economy.- A 'Greek ideal' was a person who seemed to symbolise the "perfect" Greek person, determined by a few factors, one of them being the wristWristIn human anatomy, the wrist is variously defined as 1) the carpus or carpal bones, the complex of eight bones forming the proximal skeletal segment of the hand;...
measurement. Each of the panellists gave their wrist measurement and the one closest to the Greek ideal was Clive.
- A 'Greek ideal' was a person who seemed to symbolise the "perfect" Greek person, determined by a few factors, one of them being the wrist
- Tangent: Eugen SandowEugen SandowEugen Sandow , born Friedrich Wilhelm Müller, was a Prussian pioneering bodybuilder in the 19th century and is often referred to as the "Father of Modern Bodybuilding".-Early life:...
and Monsieur Attila created the bodybuildingBodybuildingBodybuilding is a form of body modification involving intensive muscle hypertrophy. An individual who engages in this activity is referred to as a bodybuilder. In competitive and professional bodybuilding, bodybuilders display their physiques to a panel of judges, who assign points based on their...
craze, later made more famous by Charles AtlasCharles AtlasCharles Atlas, born Angelo Siciliano , was the developer of a bodybuilding method and its associated exercise program that was best known for a landmark advertising campaign featuring Atlas's name and likeness; it has been described as one of the longest-lasting and most memorable ad campaigns of all...
and Arnold SchwarzeneggerArnold SchwarzeneggerArnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
. They made their fame by doing shows in London, and their fans were only allowed to touch them with smelling saltsSmelling saltsSmelling salts, also known as spirit of hartshorn or sal volatile, are chemical compounds used for arousing consciousness. The usual active compound is ammonium carbonate, a colorless-to-white, crystalline solid...
nearby in case they fainted. - Tangent: Phill has a tattooTattooA tattoo is made by inserting indelible ink into the dermis layer of the skin to change the pigment. Tattoos on humans are a type of body modification, and tattoos on other animals are most commonly used for identification purposes...
of a Greek helmetHelmetA helmet is a form of protective gear worn on the head to protect it from injuries.Ceremonial or symbolic helmets without protective function are sometimes used. The oldest known use of helmets was by Assyrian soldiers in 900BC, who wore thick leather or bronze helmets to protect the head from...
on his wrist (actually the logo for Trojan RecordsTrojan RecordsTrojan Records is a British record label founded in 1968. It specialises in ska, rocksteady, reggae and dub music. The label currently operates under the Sanctuary Records Group. The name Trojan comes from the Croydon-built Trojan truck that was used as Duke Reid's sound system in Jamaica...
).- The panellists are shown a theoryTheoryThe English word theory was derived from a technical term in Ancient Greek philosophy. The word theoria, , meant "a looking at, viewing, beholding", and referring to contemplation or speculation, as opposed to action...
which tries to prove the existence of GodExistence of GodArguments for and against the existence of God have been proposed by philosophers, theologians, scientists, and others. In philosophical terms, arguments for and against the existence of God involve primarily the sub-disciplines of epistemology and ontology , but also of the theory of value, since...
;
- This theory was created by Kurt GödelKurt GödelKurt Friedrich Gödel was an Austrian logician, mathematician and philosopher. Later in his life he emigrated to the United States to escape the effects of World War II. One of the most significant logicians of all time, Gödel made an immense impact upon scientific and philosophical thinking in the...
, widely regarded as the best logician in the 20th century. He never published it because he thought it would make people think he believed in GodGodGod is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
and he was just demonstrating how symbolic logic could be used. He was also a personal friend of Albert EinsteinAlbert EinsteinAlbert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...
. Gödel starved himself to death because he kept having paranoid fantasiesFantasyFantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
of being poisonPoisonIn the context of biology, poisons are substances that can cause disturbances to organisms, usually by chemical reaction or other activity on the molecular scale, when a sufficient quantity is absorbed by an organism....
ed.
- Tangent: Stephen was in the film I.Q.I.Q. (film)I.Q. is a 1994 American romantic comedy film directed by Fred Schepisi and starring Tim Robbins, Meg Ryan, and Walter Matthau. The original music score was composed by Jerry Goldsmith...
, where Lou JacobiLou JacobiLouis Harold "Lou" Jacobi was a Canadian character actor.-Life and career:Jacobi was born Louis Harold Jacobovitch in Toronto, Ontario to Joseph and Fay Jacobivitch...
played Gödel and Walter MatthauWalter MatthauWalter Matthau was an American actor best known for his role as Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple and his frequent collaborations with Odd Couple star Jack Lemmon, as well as his role as Coach Buttermaker in the 1976 comedy The Bad News Bears...
played Einstein. Matthau taught Stephen how to gambleGamblingGambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...
.
General Ignorance:- Tangent: When GreeceGreece national football teamThe Greece national football team represents Greece in association football and is controlled by the Hellenic Football Federation, the governing body for football in Greece. Greece's home ground is Karaiskakis Stadium in Piraeus and their head coach is Fernando Santos...
won UEFA Euro 2004, a pub near where Alan lived made a homemade blue plaqueBlue plaqueA blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person or event, serving as a historical marker....
, which said that a Greek person ran naked down the New North RoadA1200 roadThe A1200 is an A road in the London Borough of Islington connecting Highbury & Islington station and Moorfields Eye Hospital. The link road consists of Canonbury Road and New North Road, then becomes East Road for a short distance, before meeting up with City Road near Moorfields Eye Hospital and...
to celebrate Greece's victory.
- Bonus: Because Alan was in last place, Stephen gave him the chance to switch his points with that of the audience (in a reference to the first question), if he could say what the audience got their points for.
Episode 15 "Green"
Broadcast date:- 26 March 2010
Recording date:- 22 May 2009
Panellists:- Alan DaviesAlan DaviesAlan Davies is an English comedian, writer and actor best known for starring in the TV mystery series Jonathan Creek and as the permanent panellist on the TV panel show QI.- Early life :...
(−7 points) - Bill BaileyBill BaileyBill Bailey is an English comedian, musician and actor. As well as his extensive stand-up work, Bailey is well known for his appearances on Black Books, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Have I Got News for You, and QI.Bailey was listed by The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy in...
(winner with −5 points) - Danny BakerDanny BakerDanny Baker is an English comedy writer, journalist, radio DJ and screenwriter. Since the late 1970s, he has worked for a wide range of publications and broadcasters including NME, LWT, the BBC, and Talk Radio....
(−13 points) - Jeremy ClarksonJeremy ClarksonJeremy Charles Robert Clarkson is an English broadcaster, journalist and writer who specialises in motoring. He is best known for his role on the BBC TV show Top Gear along with co-presenters Richard Hammond and James May...
(−27 points)
Notes:- The projection screen behind Alan and Bill broke during recording, so moved to the other side of the studio for the rest of the show (and was later re-filmed for broadcast).
Buzzers:- The buzzers were disconnected and the contestants had a selection of small wind instruments
- Bill – Plays a scale on a swanee whistle
- Danny – Imitates a cuckooCuckooThe cuckoos are a family, Cuculidae, of near passerine birds. The order Cuculiformes, in addition to the cuckoos, also includes the turacos . Some zoologists and taxonomists have also included the unique Hoatzin in the Cuculiformes, but its taxonomy remains in dispute...
call - Jeremy – Blows hard, causing it to emit a piercing, high-pitched sound
- Alan – A duck callDuck callA Duck call may refer to either the process by which a hunter lures waterfowl, or the actual tool that he uses to do so.-Process:Duck calling is the process in which a hunter uses a tool also known as a "duck call" to emulate the sound of a duck as a means to draw them closer.-Tool:As a tool, a...
Topics:- Frankenstein's monsterFrankenstein's monsterFrankenstein's monster is a fictional character that first appeared in Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus. The creature is often erroneously referred to as "Frankenstein", but in the novel the creature has no name...
was yellow (forfeit: green) according to the description in the novel by Mary ShelleyMary ShelleyMary Shelley was a British novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, and travel writer, best known for her Gothic novel Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus . She also edited and promoted the works of her husband, the Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley...
. It is often mistaken for the title character Victor FrankensteinVictor FrankensteinVictor Frankenstein was born in Napoli, is a Swiss fictional character and the protagonist of the 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, written by Mary Shelley...
.
- Tangent: In the book, the monster is called Adam.
- A tonne of mobile phones contains 150 grams of gold whereas every ton of oreOreAn ore is a type of rock that contains minerals with important elements including metals. The ores are extracted through mining; these are then refined to extract the valuable element....
mined is only 5 gramGramThe gram is a metric system unit of mass....
s of gold
- A tonne of mobile phones contains 150 grams of gold whereas every ton of ore
- Tangent: 1.5 million mobile phones are thrown away in the UK every year.
- Tangent: All the gold ever mined in human history would form a cube 55 feet (16.8 m) square.
- From 1836 to 1940, the Belville familyRuth BelvilleElizabeth Ruth Naomi Belville , also known as the Greenwich Time Lady, was a businesswoman from London. She, her mother Maria Elizabeth, and her father John Henry, sold people the time...
of London took an ArnoldJohn ArnoldJohn Arnold was an English watchmaker and inventor.John Arnold was the first to design a watch that was both practical and accurate, and also brought the term "Chronometer" in to use in its modern sense, meaning a precision timekeeper...
chronometerChronometerChronometer may refer to:* Chronometer watch, a watch tested and certified to meet certain precision standards* Hydrochronometer, a water clock* Marine chronometer, a timekeeper used for celestial navigation...
sto the Royal Observatory, GreenwichRoyal Observatory, GreenwichThe Royal Observatory, Greenwich , in London, England played a major role in the history of astronomy and navigation, and is best known as the location of the prime meridian...
, set it to the correct time, then charged offices and civillians for the correct time.
- From 1836 to 1940, the Belville family
- Tangent: A discussion of the 24-hour clock24-hour clockThe 24-hour clock is a convention of time keeping in which the day runs from midnight to midnight and is divided into 24 hours, indicated by the hours passed since midnight, from 0 to 23. This system is the most commonly used time notation in the world today...
- Tangent: The BabylonBabylonBabylon was an Akkadian city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad...
ians devised a 12-hour clock, because they had a base-12 counting systemDuodecimalThe duodecimal system is a positional notation numeral system using twelve as its base. In this system, the number ten may be written as 'A', 'T' or 'X', and the number eleven as 'B' or 'E'...
.- All the time zoneTime zoneA time zone is a region on Earth that has a uniform standard time for legal, commercial, and social purposes. In order for the same clock time to always correspond to the same portion of the day as the Earth rotates , different places on the Earth need to have different clock times...
s converge at the North PoleNorth PoleThe North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is, subject to the caveats explained below, defined as the point in the northern hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface...
, though the Amundsen-Scott South Pole StationAmundsen-Scott South Pole StationThe Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station is the American scientific research station on the high plateau of Antarctica. This station is located at the southernmost place on the Earth, the Geographic South Pole, at an elevation of 2,835 meters above sea level.The original Amundsen-Scott Station was...
uses New Zealand Standard Time
- All the time zone
- Tangent: Jeremy talks about reaching the Magnetic North Pole.
- The word vegetarian comes from the LatinLatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
word "vegetus", meaning "whole", "sound", "fresh" or "lively" (Forfeit: they only eat vegetableVegetableThe noun vegetable usually means an edible plant or part of a plant other than a sweet fruit or seed. This typically means the leaf, stem, or root of a plant....
s)
- The word vegetarian comes from the Latin
- Tangent: Adolf HitlerAdolf HitlerAdolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
was not a vegetarian - Tangent: Bill talks of his tortoiseTortoiseTortoises are a family of land-dwelling reptiles of the order of turtles . Like their marine cousins, the sea turtles, tortoises are shielded from predators by a shell. The top part of the shell is the carapace, the underside is the plastron, and the two are connected by the bridge. The tortoise...
's leg amputation- A cow magnetCow magnetA cow magnet is a preventive veterinary medical device for cattle. Traditionally, cow magnets were strong alnico magnets about 1cm by 8cm in the shape of a smoothed rod, but today they are more commonly several ring-shaped ferrite magnets attached to a stainless-steel or plastic core, in the same...
collects stray metal objects that the animal has swallowed, allowing them to be digestedDigestionDigestion is the mechanical and chemical breakdown of food into smaller components that are more easily absorbed into a blood stream, for instance. Digestion is a form of catabolism: a breakdown of large food molecules to smaller ones....
.
- A cow magnet
- Tangent: Attacks on people by cows.
- Lord Hardwicke'sPhilip Yorke, 1st Earl of HardwickePhilip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke PC was an English lawyer and politician who served as Lord Chancellor. He was a close confidant of the Duke of Newcastle, Prime Minister between 1754 and 1756 and 1757 until 1762....
Marriage Act of 1753Marriage Act 1753The Marriage Act 1753, full title "An Act for the Better Preventing of Clandestine Marriage", popularly known as Lord Hardwicke's Marriage Act , was the first statutory legislation in England and Wales to require a formal ceremony of marriage. It came into force on 25 March 1754...
did not apply in Scotland, leading to elopements to Gretna GreenGretna GreenGretna Green is a village in the south of Scotland famous for runaway weddings. It is in Dumfries and Galloway, near the mouth of the River Esk and was historically the first village in Scotland, following the old coaching route from London to Edinburgh. Gretna Green has a railway station serving...
, the closest place across the Scottish-England border. - Britain adpoted the term Bogey to mean one over par in 1925, previously known as Colonel BogeyColonel Bogey MarchThe "Colonel Bogey March" is a popular march that was written in 1914 by Lieutenant F. J. Ricketts , a British army bandmaster who later became director of music for the Royal Marines at Plymouth...
, which up to then meant parPar (score)The word "par" is a term in the game of golf used to denote the pre-determined number of strokes that a scratch golfer should require to complete a hole, a round , or a tournament...
.
- Lord Hardwicke's
General Ignorance:- Male mosquitoMosquitoMosquitoes are members of a family of nematocerid flies: the Culicidae . The word Mosquito is from the Spanish and Portuguese for little fly...
s do not drink blood, but feed on nectar and fruit juice. Females need blood for the development of eggs.
- Tangent: Female mosquitoes are attracted by moistureMoistureHumidity is the amount of moisture the air can hold before it rains. Moisture refers to the presence of a liquid, especially water, often in trace amounts...
, lactic acidLactic acidLactic acid, also known as milk acid, is a chemical compound that plays a role in various biochemical processes and was first isolated in 1780 by the Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele. Lactic acid is a carboxylic acid with the chemical formula C3H6O3...
, carbon dioxideCarbon dioxideCarbon dioxide is a naturally occurring chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom...
, body heat and movement. - Tangent: Sugar-based CocktailCocktailA cocktail is an alcoholic mixed drink that contains two or more ingredients—at least one of the ingredients must be a spirit.Cocktails were originally a mixture of spirits, sugar, water, and bitters. The word has come to mean almost any mixed drink that contains alcohol...
s- Wind turbineWind turbineA wind turbine is a device that converts kinetic energy from the wind into mechanical energy. If the mechanical energy is used to produce electricity, the device may be called a wind generator or wind charger. If the mechanical energy is used to drive machinery, such as for grinding grain or...
s kill bats because the change of pressure damages their lungLungThe lung is the essential respiration organ in many air-breathing animals, including most tetrapods, a few fish and a few snails. In mammals and the more complex life forms, the two lungs are located near the backbone on either side of the heart...
s if they fly too close (forfeit) kill birds.
- Wind turbine
Episode 16 "Geometry"
Broadcast date:- 2 April 2010
Recording date:- 2 June 2009
Panellists:- Alan DaviesAlan DaviesAlan Davies is an English comedian, writer and actor best known for starring in the TV mystery series Jonathan Creek and as the permanent panellist on the TV panel show QI.- Early life :...
(winner with 21 points) - Rob BrydonRob BrydonRob Brydon is a BAFTA-nominated Welsh actor, comedian, radio and television presenter, singer and impressionist...
(2 points) - David MitchellDavid Mitchell (actor)David James Stuart Mitchell is a British actor, comedian and writer. He is half of the comedy duo Mitchell and Webb, alongside Robert Webb, whom he met at Cambridge University. There they were both part of the Cambridge Footlights, of which Mitchell became President. Together the duo star in the...
(4 points) - Johnny VegasJohnny VegasJohnny Vegas is an English actor and comedian. He is known for his angry rants, portly figure, high husky voice and support of St Helens rugby league club. More recently he has moved into dramatic acting.-Early life:He was born in St Helens, Lancashire, the youngest of four children of Laurence...
(2 points)
Notes:- This is the first regular edition of QI to not have the klaxon forfeit being set off.
Buzzers:- Rob — Bermuda TriangleBermuda Triangle (song)Bermuda Triangle is a song by Barry Manilow, from his album Barry. Released as a single in 1981, it reached number 15 in the UK charts, and number 16 in Germany....
by Barry ManilowBarry ManilowBarry Manilow is an American singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, producer, conductor, and performer, best known for such recordings as "Could It Be Magic", "Mandy", "Can't Smile Without You", and "Copacabana ."... - Johnny — (You're So Square) Baby I Don't Care(You're So Square) Baby I Don't Care" Baby I Don't Care" is a song written in 1957 by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. It has become a minor pop standard, with notable versions being performed by Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly. Elvis Presley's version was released on his Jailhouse Rock EP, and reached number fourteen on the R&B charts...
by Elvis PresleyElvis PresleyElvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King".... - David — The Windmills of Your MindThe Windmills of Your Mind"The Windmills of Your Mind" is a song performed by Noel Harrison, with music composed by Michel Legrand and English lyrics written by Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman, which was used as the theme for the 1968 film, The Thomas Crown Affair, starring Steve McQueen alongside and ultimately versus...
by Noel HarrisonNoel HarrisonNoel Harrison is an English Olympic athlete, actor and singer. He is the son of British actor Sir Rex Harrison.-Early life:... - Alan — The Wheels on the BusThe Wheels on the Bus"The Wheels on the Bus" is a popular children's song in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. It is popular on journeys to keep children amused and has a very repetitive rhythm. In particular it is sung by pre-teens on bus journeys...
Topics:- People who wear striped clothingClothingClothing refers to any covering for the human body that is worn. The wearing of clothing is exclusively a human characteristic and is a feature of nearly all human societies...
look slimmer if the stripes are horizontal, not vertical, as many people think. It was even said that a female prisoner asked to have vertical stripes on her uniformUniformA uniform is a set of standard clothing worn by members of an organization while participating in that organization's activity. Modern uniforms are worn by armed forces and paramilitary organizations such as police, emergency services, security guards, in some workplaces and schools and by inmates...
to make her look slimmer. It was discovered after researchResearchResearch can be defined as the scientific search for knowledge, or as any systematic investigation, to establish novel facts, solve new or existing problems, prove new ideas, or develop new theories, usually using a scientific method...
by Dr. Peter Thompson of the University of YorkUniversity of YorkThe University of York , is an academic institution located in the city of York, England. Established in 1963, the campus university has expanded to more than thirty departments and centres, covering a wide range of subjects...
.
- Tangent: David's rant about people going on about wearing striped clothing.
- The columnColumnA column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a vertical structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. For the purpose of wind or earthquake engineering, columns may be designed to resist lateral forces...
s around the ParthenonParthenonThe Parthenon is a temple on the Athenian Acropolis, Greece, dedicated to the Greek goddess Athena, whom the people of Athens considered their virgin patron. Its construction began in 447 BC when the Athenian Empire was at the height of its power. It was completed in 438 BC, although...
look straight because they are actually straight. It was originally believed to be an optical illusionOptical illusionAn optical illusion is characterized by visually perceived images that differ from objective reality. The information gathered by the eye is processed in the brain to give a perception that does not tally with a physical measurement of the stimulus source...
due to a thing called entasisEntasisIn architecture, entasis is the application of a convex curve to a surface for aesthetic purposes. Its best-known use is in certain orders of Classical columns that curve slightly as their diameter is decreased from the bottom upwards. In the Hellenistic period some columns with entasis are...
, which is where if a column is exactly straight, it looks big from a distance, but it looks spindly if it bows inwards. So, if you make it bow outwards, it looks straight. But, that's what they didn't do. It is also believed that entasis is used on some buildings nowadays to give them more support, but it certainly doesn't exist in the Parthenon.
- The column
- Tangent: Johnny's rant at Stephen giving ridiculously easy questions.
- Tangent: This research was also done by Dr. Peter Thompson, who happens to be in the audienceAudienceAn audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature , theatre, music or academics in any medium...
at this recording, and "upsets" Johnny by saying that despite the fact that Johnny is wearing horizontal stripes, he doesn't look too thin.- The panellists are shown 2 shapes; a splodgy shape and a spiky shape. One is called "kiki" and the other is called "bouba"Bouba/kiki effectThe Bouba/Kiki Effect is a non-arbitrary mapping between speech sounds and the visual shape of objects. This effect was first observed by German-American psychologist Wolfgang Köhler in 1929...
. Neither of the shapes are associated with the names, but the psychologistPsychologistPsychologist is a professional or academic title used by individuals who are either:* Clinical professionals who work with patients in a variety of therapeutic contexts .* Scientists conducting psychological research or teaching psychology in a college...
Wolfgang KöhlerWolfgang KöhlerWolfgang Köhler was a German psychologist and phenomenologist who, like Max Wertheimer, and Kurt Koffka, contributed to the creation of Gestalt psychology.-Early life:...
devised this test to see what people who spoke different languageLanguageLanguage may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
s thought when they heard the words "kiki" and "bouba", and everyone said that "kiki" sounded like the spiky one and "bouba" sounded like the splodgy one, a sort of onomatopoeia, as it were.
- The panellists are shown 2 shapes; a splodgy shape and a spiky shape. One is called "kiki" and the other is called "bouba"
- Tangent: In the Huambisa language of South America, 98% of people who didn't speak it, when hearing the words "chunchuikit" and "mauts", and asked which was a bird, and which was a fishFishFish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
, thought that "chunchuikit" was a bird and "mauts" was a fish. - Tangent: Rob claims that the Welsh for carrotCarrotThe carrot is a root vegetable, usually orange in colour, though purple, red, white, and yellow varieties exist. It has a crisp texture when fresh...
is "moron" (which, in fact, it is), which he thinks is wrong, but then Stephen informs him that "moron" comes from the Greek for "blunt", hence "oxymoronOxymoronAn oxymoron is a figure of speech that combines contradictory terms...
" means "sharp blunt".- The most successful textbookTextbookA textbook or coursebook is a manual of instruction in any branch of study. Textbooks are produced according to the demands of educational institutions...
of all time is Euclid's ElementsEuclid's ElementsEuclid's Elements is a mathematical and geometric treatise consisting of 13 books written by the Greek mathematician Euclid in Alexandria c. 300 BC. It is a collection of definitions, postulates , propositions , and mathematical proofs of the propositions...
. EuclidEuclidEuclid , fl. 300 BC, also known as Euclid of Alexandria, was a Greek mathematician, often referred to as the "Father of Geometry". He was active in Alexandria during the reign of Ptolemy I...
's teachings in the book are mostly about planes and conic sectionConic sectionIn mathematics, a conic section is a curve obtained by intersecting a cone with a plane. In analytic geometry, a conic may be defined as a plane algebraic curve of degree 2...
s and all the forms of circleCircleA circle is a simple shape of Euclidean geometry consisting of those points in a plane that are a given distance from a given point, the centre. The distance between any of the points and the centre is called the radius....
s and squareSquare (geometry)In geometry, a square is a regular quadrilateral. This means that it has four equal sides and four equal angles...
s, which basically showed how geometryGeometryGeometry arose as the field of knowledge dealing with spatial relationships. Geometry was one of the two fields of pre-modern mathematics, the other being the study of numbers ....
works, which came in very handy for physicsPhysicsPhysics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
and engineeringEngineeringEngineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
. Many mathematicianMathematicianA mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
s believe it to be the most beautiful of all mathematicsMathematicsMathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
textbooks. John DeeJohn DeeJohn Dee was a Welsh mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, occultist, navigator, imperialist, and consultant to Queen Elizabeth I.John Dee may also refer to:* John Dee , Basketball coach...
, the court magician to Queen Elizabeth IElizabeth I of EnglandElizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
, was responsible for bringing Euclid to the attention of the world. He was also a spyEspionageEspionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
and used 007James BondJames Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
as a cipherCipherIn cryptography, a cipher is an algorithm for performing encryption or decryption — a series of well-defined steps that can be followed as a procedure. An alternative, less common term is encipherment. In non-technical usage, a “cipher” is the same thing as a “code”; however, the concepts...
. Alan got 7 points for knowing that piece of information. - The best place to go to look into the future is on the International Date LineInternational Date LineThe International Date Line is a generally north-south imaginary line on the surface of the Earth, passing through the middle of the Pacific Ocean, that designates the place where each calendar day begins...
. If you're to the left of the line, you're ahead in time compared to when you're on the right of the line. Stephen lost a day when he flew from Los Angeles to Sydney recently. David then claims that if you did that every day, you'd theoretically live twice as long as everyone else, because the trip lasted one day, but in terms of actual time, it took 2 days. The literal best place to go is the Diomede IslandsDiomede IslandsThe Diomede Islands , also known in Russia as Gvozdev Islands , consist of two rocky, tuya-like islands:* The U.S. island of Little Diomede or, in its native language, Ignaluk , and* The Russian island of Big Diomede , also known as Imaqliq,...
in the Bering StraitBering StraitThe Bering Strait , known to natives as Imakpik, is a sea strait between Cape Dezhnev, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia, the easternmost point of the Asian continent and Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska, USA, the westernmost point of the North American continent, with latitude of about 65°40'N,...
. Big DiomedeBig DiomedeBig Diomede Island is an unpopulated island among the Diomede Islands in the middle of the Bering Strait. The island is a part of the Chukotsky District of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug of Russia.-Geography:...
Island is on the left of the line and Little Diomede IslandLittle Diomede IslandLittle Diomede Island is an island of Alaska, United States. It is the smaller of the two Diomede Islands located in the middle of the Bering Strait between the Alaska mainland and Siberia...
is to the right of the line, so if you look at Big Diomede from Little Diomede, you are looking into the future.
- The most successful textbook
- Tangent: The main reason why the International Date Line is squiggly and the Greenwich MeridianPrime MeridianThe Prime Meridian is the meridian at which the longitude is defined to be 0°.The Prime Meridian and its opposite the 180th meridian , which the International Date Line generally follows, form a great circle that divides the Earth into the Eastern and Western Hemispheres.An international...
is straight, is because that the Date Line tries not to got through land, so it goes round island territories.
- The panellists are shown this puzzle and are asked where the missing square is. The answer is that the missing piece was created because the hypotenuseHypotenuseIn geometry, a hypotenuse is the longest side of a right-angled triangle, the side opposite the right angle. The length of the hypotenuse of a right triangle can be found using the Pythagorean theorem, which states that the square of the length of the hypotenuse equals the sum of the squares of the...
of the triangleTriangleA triangle is one of the basic shapes of geometry: a polygon with three corners or vertices and three sides or edges which are line segments. A triangle with vertices A, B, and C is denoted ....
s are curved, not straight. The small triangle has a ratioRatioIn mathematics, a ratio is a relationship between two numbers of the same kind , usually expressed as "a to b" or a:b, sometimes expressed arithmetically as a dimensionless quotient of the two which explicitly indicates how many times the first number contains the second In mathematics, a ratio is...
of 5:2 and the big triangle has a ratio of 8:3, so neither triangle is similar. One has a slightly dipped line, the other has a slightly "up" line. The eye assumes they're straight, but they aren't. It's known as Curry's paradoxMissing square puzzleThe missing square puzzle is an optical illusion used in mathematics classes to help students reason about geometrical figures. It depicts two arrangements of shapes, each of which apparently forms a 13×5 right-angled triangle, but one of which has a 1×1 hole in it.-Solution:The key to the puzzle...
.
General Ignorance:- The best place to punch a sharkSharkSharks are a type of fish with a full cartilaginous skeleton and a highly streamlined body. The earliest known sharks date from more than 420 million years ago....
is in the eye or the gillGillA gill is a respiratory organ found in many aquatic organisms that extracts dissolved oxygen from water, afterward excreting carbon dioxide. The gills of some species such as hermit crabs have adapted to allow respiration on land provided they are kept moist...
, not the nose, as many people think, although it is true of dogs though. More people in the world are bitten by New YorkersNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
than by sharks. 81% of people who are bitten by sharks suffered minor injuries, although people bitten by humans could get rabiesRabiesRabies is a viral disease that causes acute encephalitis in warm-blooded animals. It is zoonotic , most commonly by a bite from an infected animal. For a human, rabies is almost invariably fatal if post-exposure prophylaxis is not administered prior to the onset of severe symptoms...
or other diseaseDiseaseA disease is an abnormal condition affecting the body of an organism. It is often construed to be a medical condition associated with specific symptoms and signs. It may be caused by external factors, such as infectious disease, or it may be caused by internal dysfunctions, such as autoimmune...
s. As mentioned in QI's A series, more people are killed by toilets than by sharks every year. 120 million sharks are killed by humans every year, mainly just for their finsShark finningShark finning refers to the removal and retention of shark fins and the discarding of the rest of the fish. Shark finning takes place at sea so the fishers only have to transport the fins.Shark finning is widespread, and largely unmanaged and unmonitored...
, so shark fin soupShark fin soupShark fin soup is a popular soup item of Chinese cuisine usually served at special occasions such as weddings and banquets, or as a luxury item in Chinese culture. The shark fins provide texture while the taste comes from the other soup ingredients.There is controversy over the practice of shark...
can be produced, which according to Stephen is very tasteless, and chicken stockStock (food)Stock is a flavoured water preparation. It forms the basis of many dishes, particularly soups and sauces.- Preparation :Stock is made by simmering various ingredients in water, including some or all of the following...
is used to give it flavourFlavorFlavor or flavour is the sensory impression of a food or other substance, and is determined mainly by the chemical senses of taste and smell. The "trigeminal senses", which detect chemical irritants in the mouth and throat as well as temperature and texture, are also very important to the overall...
.
- Tangent: Despite looking evil and hideous to us, sharks have more reason to fear humans, than the other way round. Their teethShark toothA shark tooth is one of the numerous teeth of a shark. Sharks continually shed their teeth, and some Carcharhiniformes shed approximately 35,000 teeth in a lifetime. In some geological formations, shark's teeth are a common fossil...
structure is also amazing, considering that they point backwards and every time one falls out, one from the row behind moves forward.- An octopusOctopusThe octopus is a cephalopod mollusc of the order Octopoda. Octopuses have two eyes and four pairs of arms, and like other cephalopods they are bilaterally symmetric. An octopus has a hard beak, with its mouth at the center point of the arms...
has 2 legs, or to be more specific, they use 2 arms while moving underwater, as sort of ambulatoryAmbulatoryThe ambulatory is the covered passage around a cloister. The term is sometimes applied to the procession way around the east end of a cathedral or large church and behind the high altar....
gaitGaitGait is the pattern of movement of the limbs of animals, including humans, during locomotion over a solid substrate. Most animals use a variety of gaits, selecting gait based on speed, terrain, the need to maneuver, and energetic efficiency...
, and the other 4 are used for holding food, so it could be said that they have 6 arms and 2 legs. - Because of librationLibrationIn astronomy, libration is an oscillating motion of orbiting bodies relative to each other, notably including the motion of the Moon relative to Earth, or of Trojan asteroids relative to planets.-Lunar libration:...
, you can see 59% of the MoonMoonThe Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
from the Earth. Libration is the sort of jiggling effect you get when you see the Moon. Obviously, when there are different phases of the MoonLunar phaseA lunar phase or phase of the moon is the appearance of the illuminated portion of the Moon as seen by an observer, usually on Earth. The lunar phases change cyclically as the Moon orbits the Earth, according to the changing relative positions of the Earth, Moon, and Sun...
, you see less.
- An octopus
Episode 17 "Compilation Part 1"
Broadcast Date:- 5 April 2010
Theme:- A clip show using unbroadcast material from Series G.
Episode 18 "Compilation Part 2"
Broadcast Date:- 16 April 2010
Theme:- A clip show using unbroadcast material from Series G.
- This theory was created by Kurt Gödel
- The panellists are shown a theory