The Museum Of Curiosity. John Lloyd. Copyright: BBC
The Museum Of Curiosity

The Museum Of Curiosity

  • Radio panel show
  • BBC Radio 4
  • 2007 - 2023
  • 106 episodes (17 series)

Radio panel show in which John Lloyd and his curators try to fill up their museum with curious objects. Also features Bill Bailey, Sean Lock, Jon Richardson, Dave Gorman, Jimmy Carr and more.

Episode menu

Gallery 10, Episode 5 - Meeting Sixty

John Lloyd and Jo Brand are joined by comedian Deborah Frances-White, bumble-bee expert Dr. Dave Goulson, and comic actor and Time Team presenter Sir Tony Robinson.

Further details

Deborah Frances-White, comedian, co-host of The Guilty Feminist podcast, and whose past stand-up shows have dealt with her experiences being a teenage Jehovah's Witness and trying to track down her biological family, donates to the Museum the first Englishwoman to make a living as a professional published poet: Emilia Lanier. Among the poems she published include a proto-feminist reading of the Bible.

Dave Goulson, fellow of the Royal Entomological Society, the Royal Society of Edinburgh, professor of biology at the University of Sussex where he is an expert on bumblebees, and a man who has attempted to create a wildlife sanctuary in France, offers up a pair of virgin death watch beetles. These beetles get their name from their love cry, which people used to think was the sound of the Devil tapping his fingers while waiting for someone to die.

Sir Tony Robinson, comic actor, star of Blackadder, and presenter of countless history programmes including Time Team, Time Walks and The Worst Jobs in History provides an alabaster statue of four soldiers from the First World War coming out of the trenches - except on closer inspection these soldiers are Captain Blackadder, Captain Darling, Lieutenant George and Private Baldrick from Blackadder Goes Forth. The ending for the series was made harder by the fact they had to finish by 10pm and the poor quality polystyrene set meant the cast bounced when they fell to the ground.

Broadcast details

Date
Monday 6th February 2017
Time
6:30pm
Channel
BBC Radio 4
Length
30 minutes

Repeats

Show past repeats

Date Time Channel
Sunday 12th February 2017 12:00pm Radio 4
Monday 13th February 2017 7:30am Radio 4 Extra
Monday 13th February 2017 5:30pm Radio 4 Extra
Monday 13th February 2017 10:00pm Radio 4 Extra
Tuesday 14th February 2017 5:30am Radio 4 Extra
Tuesday 13th July 2021 4:00pm Radio 4 Extra
Wednesday 14th July 2021 4:00am Radio 4 Extra

Cast & crew

Cast
John Lloyd Host / Presenter
Jo Brand Host / Presenter
Guest cast
Deborah Frances-White Guest
Dave Goulson Guest
Tony Robinson Guest
Production team
Richard Turner Producer
James Harkin Producer
Anne Miller Researcher
Mike Turner Researcher

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