QI
- TV panel show
- BBC Two / BBC One / BBC Four
- 2003 - 2024
- 312 episodes (21 series)
Panel game that contains lots of difficult questions and a large amount of quite interesting facts. Stars Sandi Toksvig, Stephen Fry and Alan Davies.
- Continues on Tuesday on BBC2 at 9pm with Series U, Episode 14
- Catch-up on Series U, Episode 13
- Streaming rank this week: 512
Episode menu
Series A - Advent
Extra Tasks
- Each panellist has to draw a Christmas tree. Alan made the mistake of drawing the branches pointing downwards, when in fact the branches go upwards.
Topics
- A "Gripple" is a gripping device, invented in Sheffield. Gripples are used to hold up Christmas lights, and also hold together the world's largest fence, the Great Dingo Fence in Australia.
- After dogs, the first animal to be domesticated was the reindeer.
- Another common name for the reindeer in North America is the caribou.
- A male reindeer would fancy Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer because Rudolph is female. We know this because she is always shown with antlers at Christmas, and only female reindeer have antlers around Christmas. However, it is also possible that Rudolph is castrated. Eunuch male reindeers also keep their antlers.
- In "days of yore" Yorkshiremen gathered around their beehives because they believed the bees would start humming on midnight to symbolise the birth of Christ. They also claimed they hummed correctly after Britain changed from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar.
- Mince pies were banned by Oliver Cromwell because they symbolised Catholicism.
- Between 1840 and the beginning of World War Two, the German village of Lauscha provided most of the world's baubles. At one point 95% of U.S. baubles came from Lauscha. "Lauscha" means "Eves-dropper" in German.
- In 1908, U.S. insurance companies tried to ban the placing of live candles on Christmas trees because people kept getting injured.
- Tangent: The first ever life insurance policy was not claimed because the underwriters defined a year on their own terms.
- During the 1870 siege of Paris by the Prussians, the city ran out of food, so one restaurant came up with the idea of eating rats.
- Tangent: There is a Chinese dish called "Three squeak". It is so called because it involved a rat that squeaks three times - When you pick it up, when you dip it in the chilli sauce and when you bite into it.
General Ignorance
- Paris, London, Poland and Banana are all places in the Christmas Islands.
- The youngest age at which a person can drink in a restaurant beer garden in the UK is 5. It is only illegal to purchase drink at the bar if you are under 18. (Forfeit: Eighteen)
- Santa Claus, or rather St. Nicholas, comes from Turkey. (Forfeit: Lapland)
- The modern-day image of Santa Clause comes from the poem Twas the Night before Christmas.
Deleted Scenes
- Genghis Khan said that the Sami people of Lapland were the only people he would never fight, because the Sami always hid from him. The Sami have never declared war on anyone.
Scores
- John Sessions: 28 points
- Sean Lock: 7 points
- Phill Jupitus: 5 points
- Alan Davies -6 points
Broadcast details
- Date
- Tuesday 23rd December 2003
- Time
- 10pm
- Channel
- BBC Two
- Length
- 30 minutes
Repeats
Show past repeats
Date | Time | Channel |
---|---|---|
Sunday 28th November 2010 | 8:20pm | Dave |
Saturday 15th January 2011 | 8:30pm | Dave |
Wednesday 9th February 2011 | 11:00pm | Dave |
Saturday 18th June 2011 | 7:20pm | Dave |
Saturday 25th June 2011 | 7:45pm | Dave |
Friday 16th September 2011 | 7:20pm | Dave |
Friday 16th September 2011 | 11:30pm | Dave |
Wednesday 9th November 2011 | 6:40pm | Dave |
Sunday 25th December 2011 | 3:20pm | Dave |
Monday 26th December 2011 | 11:00am | Dave |
Thursday 1st November 2012 | 5:20pm | Dave |
Wednesday 26th December 2012 | 3:00pm | Dave |
Wednesday 26th December 2012 | 11:35pm | Dave |
Tuesday 28th May 2013 | 10:40pm | Dave |
Wednesday 29th May 2013 | 2:00am | Dave |
Sunday 1st September 2013 | 2:00pm | Dave |
Tuesday 19th November 2013 | 11:00pm | Dave |
Wednesday 20th November 2013 | 2:15am | Dave |
Wednesday 25th December 2013 | 3:50pm | Dave |
Thursday 26th December 2013 | 12:20am | Dave |
Tuesday 13th January 2015 | 11:40pm | Dave |
Monday 30th March 2015 | 11:00pm | Dave |
Wednesday 15th July 2015 | 11:40pm | Dave |
Tuesday 29th December 2015 | 11:20pm | Dave |
Wednesday 30th December 2015 | 8:00pm | Dave |
Thursday 4th August 2016 | 12:20am | Dave |
Thursday 4th August 2016 | 9:20pm | Dave |
Friday 23rd December 2016 | 1:30am | Dave |
Wednesday 18th January 2017 | 3:20pm | Dave |
Wednesday 17th January 2018 | 11:40pm | Dave |
Thursday 18th January 2018 | 1:40am | Dave |
Saturday 24th March 2018 | 1:00am | Dave |
Tuesday 22nd May 2018 | 8:00pm | Dave |
Friday 28th September 2018 | 1:00am | Dave |
Wednesday 19th December 2018 | 7:20pm | Dave |
Thursday 20th December 2018 | 12:20am | Dave |
Monday 2nd September 2019 | 8:20pm | Dave |
Cast & crew
Stephen Fry | Host / Presenter |
Alan Davies | Regular Panellist |
John Sessions | Guest |
Sean Lock | Guest |
Phill Jupitus | Guest |
Samantha Ball | Researcher |
Adam Jacot de Boinod | Researcher |
Sophie Johnstone | Researcher |
Molly Oldfield | Researcher |
Adam King | Researcher |
Ian Lorimer | Director |
John Lloyd | Producer |
Phil Clarke | Executive Producer |
Richard Everton | Editor |
Jonathan Paul Green | Production Designer |
Howard Goodall | Composer |