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: 469
Episode menu
Series C, Episode 12 - Combustion
Extra Tasks
- "Doubt cards": One of the answers is false. If a panellist thinks the answer is "bollocks", they put up their card to score bonus points.
Topics
- The greatest raid made by Mosquitoes during World War II was when 12 of them rescued 12 members of the French Resistance, bombing the Amines Prison.
- The first thing to happen to the crew of the Titanic as it started to sink was that their wages were stopped. (Forfeit: They drowned)
- Tangent: The Duff-Gordon family allegedly bribed the lifeboat crew to save their lives.
- The difference between Able and Ordinary seaman is that Able seaman carry a log called a 'certificate of continuous discharge'.
- You can sink a ship using pistachios and walnuts because they spontaneously combust in water.
- Peanuts, almonds, pistachios, Brazil nuts, cashews, coconuts, horse-chestnuts, pine nuts and beetle nuts are not nuts. Most are seeds. True nuts include walnuts, butternuts, hickory, pecans, wingnuts, beech, oak, stone oak, tanoak, hazelnuts, filbert and hornbeams.
- Tangent: Coconuts kill people 10 times more than sharks do per year.
- Rolls-Royce test aircraft engines by firing dead chickens from a cannon. They are fired out of cannons at 186mph, which is 1/360,000th the speed of light, also known as "C". Correction: It is actually 1/3,600,000th the speed of light. Correction: The aeroplane engine shown in the photo on the screens is not a Rolls-Royce engine.
- The theory of relativity was invented by Galileo. (Forfeit: Einstein)
- Three-quarters of the women accused of witchcraft in England were acquitted. (Forfeit: They were burned)
- Tangent: Alan talks about a band he knew who performed a song called "Peter Cushing lives in Whitstable". Stephen goes onto talk working with Vincent Price and Christopher Lee.
General Ignorance
- Pine is an example of a softwood. (Forfeit: Balsa wood)
- If you cut an earthworm in two, you get one dead worm in two pieces. (Forfeit: You get two earthworms)
- Tangent: A planaria is a type of flatworm discovered by T. H. Morgan. 1/279th can regenerate into an original full-size planaria.
- Instead of using a special space pen, astronauts can just use a regular biro in zero gravity. (Forfeit: A pencil)
- Doubt card: Neil Armstrong and the Mr. Gorski myth: The myth claims that when he was a boy, Armstrong hit his baseball into the next-door neighbours' garden, the Gorski's. Mrs. Gorski said, "Oral sex - I'll have oral sex with you the day that kid next-door lands on the moon." Alan is the only one to play his "doubt card".
- Correction: Dara's fact about the triple point of water which he mentioned in Series B is corrected. He claimed it was 0 degrees Celcius, but it is actually 0.01 degrees. (Forfeit: 0 degrees Celcius)
Scores
- Bill Bailey: 3 points
- Dara O'Briain: -8 points
- Phill Jupitus: -18 points
- Alan Davies: -47 points
Notes
For the engine correction, see QI Qibble Blog
Broadcast details
- Date
- Friday 9th December 2005
- Time
- 10:30pm
- Channel
- BBC Four
- Length
- 30 minutes
Repeats
Show past repeats
Date | Time | Channel |
---|---|---|
Saturday 10th July 2010 | 10:10pm | Dave |
Saturday 28th August 2010 | 10:40pm | Dave |
Wednesday 8th September 2010 | 9:00pm | Dave |
Saturday 30th October 2010 | 11:00pm | Dave |
Friday 24th December 2010 | 7:40pm | Dave |
Wednesday 24th April 2013 | 11:20pm | Dave |
Sunday 9th June 2013 | 2:20pm | Dave |
Sunday 9th June 2013 | 6:20pm | Dave |
Monday 16th December 2013 | 1:00pm | Dave |
Monday 16th December 2013 | 6:20pm | Dave |
Friday 26th September 2014 | 11:20pm | Dave |
Saturday 27th September 2014 | 2:00am | Dave |
Thursday 22nd January 2015 | 11:00pm | Dave |
Friday 17th April 2015 | 11:00pm 60 minute version |
Dave |
Wednesday 30th September 2015 | 8:00pm | Dave |
Thursday 1st October 2015 | 1:00am | Dave |
Thursday 3rd December 2015 | 12:20am | Dave |
Thursday 3rd December 2015 | 10:00pm | Dave |
Tuesday 10th May 2016 | 2:20am | Dave |
Tuesday 10th May 2016 | 11:20pm | Dave |
Friday 19th August 2016 | 1:40am | Dave |
Friday 19th August 2016 | 11:00pm | Dave |
Thursday 24th November 2016 | 12:00am | Dave |
Tuesday 21st February 2017 | 2:40pm | Dave |
Thursday 17th August 2017 | 12:00am | Dave |
Thursday 17th August 2017 | 2:00am | Dave |
Saturday 19th August 2017 | 12:20am | Dave |
Saturday 19th August 2017 | 2:20am | Dave |
Friday 22nd September 2017 | 1:20am | Dave |
Friday 1st December 2017 | 11:20pm | Dave |
Tuesday 30th January 2018 | 11:00pm | Dave |
Wednesday 31st January 2018 | 1:00am | Dave |
Wednesday 18th April 2018 | 12:00am | Dave |
Wednesday 18th April 2018 | 2:00am | Dave |
Saturday 14th July 2018 | 2:20am | Dave |
Monday 21st January 2019 | 11:00pm | Dave |
Tuesday 22nd January 2019 | 1:00am | Dave |
Thursday 26th September 2019 | 11:00pm | Dave |
Friday 27th September 2019 | 8:20pm | Dave |
Wednesday 1st January 2020 | 7:00pm | Dave |
Tuesday 24th March 2020 | 8:20pm | Dave |
Wednesday 25th March 2020 | 2:10am | Dave |
Cast & crew
Stephen Fry | Host / Presenter |
Alan Davies | Regular Panellist |
Bill Bailey | Guest |
Phill Jupitus | Guest |
Dara O Briain | Guest |
Justin Pollard | Researcher |
John Mitchinson | Question Writer |
Piers Fletcher | Question Writer |
Garrick Alder | Researcher |
Dan Schreiber | Researcher |
Mat Coward | Researcher |
Christopher Gray | Researcher |
James Harkin | Researcher |
Ian Lorimer | Director |
John Lloyd | Producer |
Mark Freeland | Executive Producer |
Sally Debonnaire | Executive Producer |
Nick King | Editor |
Jonathan Paul Green | Production Designer |
Howard Goodall | Composer |
Video
The 'Cushing' Music Video
An extra on the forthcoming QI Series C DVD. An animated music video of the Peter Cushing song.
Featuring: Alan Davies, Stephen Fry, Bill Bailey, Jo Brand, Phill Jupitus & Dara O Briain.