The Unbelievable Truth. David Mitchell. Copyright: BBC / Random Entertainment
The Unbelievable Truth

The Unbelievable Truth

  • Radio panel show
  • BBC Radio 4
  • 2006 - 2024
  • 177 episodes (29 series)

David Mitchell hosts this Radio 4 panel game built on truth and lies. Contestants must try and smuggle truths into lie-filled speeches.

Episode menu

Series 14, Episode 1

David Mitchell is joined by Lloyd Langford, David O'Doherty, Susan Calman and Josh Widdicombe as they lie on the subjects of penguins, spoons, dolls and letters.

The Truths

Lloyd Langford - Penguins

- King penguins chicks can go for five months without food. Found by Josh.

- Actor Spencer Tracy turned down the role of The Penguin in the 1960s Batman TV series because his character was not allowed to kill Batman. Found by Susan.

- Chinstrap penguins can generate rectal pressure 4 times as great as that of a human, around 7psi, the same as a can of lager. Found by David.

- The collective noun for a group of penguins is a "parcel". Successfully smuggled.

- Penguins have furnishings above their eyes to take the salt out seawater. Successfully smuggled.

David O'Doherty - Spoons

- There are more living organisms in a teaspoon full of good soil than there are people on the planet. Found by Susan.

- A bee needs to visit 28,000 flowers to make a single teaspoon full of honey. Found by Josh.

- 18,000 grains of sugar can fit on a teaspoon. Found by Lloyd.

- A teaspoon full of neutron star would weigh 1,000,000,000 tonnes and cause the Earth to be thrown out of orbit. Found by Susan.

- A teaspoon has a capacity of 60 metric droplets of water. Successfully smuggled.

Susan Calman - Dolls

- A ventriloquist doll won an Oscar in 1937. Edgar Bergen won for his doll Charlie McCarthy and was given an honorary wooden Oscar with a movable mouth. Found by David.

- In her 87-year-long career Barbie's past occupations have included being a diplomat. "Summit Barbie" was released in 1990 to mark the end of the Cold War. Found by Lloyd.

- The Ideal Toy Company marketed their Lost Baby Doll by saying it had been abandoned and needed looking after. It came with a card that read: "I'm little lost baby. You can make me happy." Found by Lloyd.

- Barbie originally had nipples that were removed. The doll was originally based on a semi-pornographic German doll. Some early collectable Barbie dolls do have nipples. Successfully smuggled.

Josh Widdicombe - Letters

- ITV once received letters of complaint when Coronation Street's Ena Sharples was seen eating two chocolate éclairs afters two years after a previous episode made mention that the character did not like them. Found by Susan.

- Pope John Paul I wrote letters to Pinocchio. Found by Susan.

- Clyde Barrow (of Bonnie and Clyde fame) once wrote a fan letter to Henry Ford praising the Ford V8 as the best car he had ever stolen. Found by David.

- In 1989 a computer error lead to 41,000 Parisians to be sent letter charging people with murder, extortion and prostitution instead of parking offences. Found by Susan.

- The earliest known use of the letters "OMG" to mean "Oh My God" was used in a letter sent to Winston Churchill. Lord Fisher wrote to Churchill in 9th September 1917: "I hear that a new order of knighthoods is on the tapis. OMG (Oh My God), shower it on the Admiralty." Found by David.

Scores

- David O'Doherty: 3 points
- Susan Calman and Lloyd Langford: 1 point
- Josh Widdicombe: -5 points

Broadcast details

Date
Monday 29th December 2014
Time
6:30pm
Channel
BBC Radio 4
Length
30 minutes

Repeats

Show past repeats

Date Time Channel
Sunday 4th January 2015 12:00pm Radio 4
Monday 5th January 2015 7:30am Radio 4 Extra
Monday 5th January 2015 10:00pm Radio 4 Extra
Monday 5th August 2019 9:00am Radio 4 Extra
Monday 5th August 2019 4:00pm Radio 4 Extra
Tuesday 6th August 2019 4:00am Radio 4 Extra
Saturday 10th August 2019 12:00pm Radio 4 Extra

Cast & crew

Cast
David Mitchell Host / Presenter
Guest cast
Susan Calman Guest
Lloyd Langford Guest
David O'Doherty Guest
Josh Widdicombe Guest
Writing team
Dan Gaster Writer
Colin Swash Writer
Production team
Jon Naismith Producer

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