QI. Image shows from L to R: Alan Davies, Sandi Toksvig. Copyright: TalkbackThames
QI

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.

Episode menu

Series C, Episode 3 - Common Knowledge

Chickens

Extra Tasks

- A 'Genius Question': one of the questions is so difficult, that 100 points will be given if anyone gives the correct answer.

Topics

- The commonest bird in the world is the domesticated chicken.

- Tangent: According to the Kinsey report, 1 in 6 people in Iowa has had sex with a chicken.

- The inventor of the decimal point encouraged his servants to stroke his cock so that he could trap a thief. John Napier, who also invented logarithms and supposedly the machine gun, kept a jet-black cockerel as his pet. He had some thefts and he was almost certain it was one of his servants, so he told his servants to go into a darkened room, stroke his cockerel and it would tell which one had stolen it. What he did not tell them was that he had covered his cock in soot. So the ones who were innocent stroked the cockerel and had dirty hands. The thief avoided stroking it and so had clean hands.

- Tangent: A discussion on Piccadill ruffs.

- There is no difference between a "Chevin" and a "Chavender", as they are both names for the same type of carp. Carps are a kind of chub, which is were the word "Chubby" comes from. (Forfeit: A chav called Kevin; A chav in Eastenders)

- The fingerprints of a koala are very similar to those of a human. Marsupials, like the koala, are not mammals. Correction: Marsupials are mammals.

- The study of fingerprints is "Dermatoglyphics". Dermatoglyphics and "Uncopyrightable" are the longest words in English to contain no repeated letters.

- Tangent: The longest palindrome in the world is the Finnish word "Saippuakuppinippukauppias". The word means, "A travelling salesman who sells caustic soda to the soap industry".

- Genius question: The commonest metal in the human body is calcium. (Forfeit: Iron; Mercury)

- Tangent: Rory displays an extensive knowledge of the atomic numbers of all the elements.

- The "first" Prime Minister was Henry Campbell-Bannerman. Prior to this, all other PM's were referred to as "The First Lord of the Treasury". The term "Prime Minister" was originally used as an insult. (Forfeit: Walpole; Pitt the Elder)

- Tangent: Campbell-Bannerman's last words were, "This is not the end of me."

General Ignorance

- Another name for the common cormorant is the seacrow. (Forfeit: Shag)

- Tangent: Rory and Stephen talk about the Latin names for birds. Sean gets fed up with them both and pretends to be sucked under the desk, claiming there is a portal to the underworld down there.

- The Queen has several cardigans, such as Cardigan Bay, but her corgis are Pembroke corgis, not Cardigans.

- The House of Lords smells faintly of urine because tweed is made using stale urine.

- Mr. Chicken lived at 10 Downing Street. He was the last private resident of 10 Downing Street before it became the home for Prime Ministers (or rather First Lords of the Treasury). (Forfeit: Kentucky)

- Tangent: The front door of 10 Downing Street can only be opened from the inside.

Deleted scenes

- Most historians agree that cannibalism has been practiced by humans, particularly as part of tribal customs. However, such tribes never boiled humans in large metal pots or cauldrons, because they would not have had the technology.

- Cannibalism was widespread in England during the reign of Elizabeth I, because almost every apothecary sold "Mummy powder", which was made using mummies.

- Tangent: Rory asks why talking about dogfish lead the panel to the "Pin the tastebud on the Catfish" competition.

- Tangent: Sean says that the better QI players should be handicapped to make it easier for the players who are not as good. Stephen then rants against his idea.

Scores

- Rory McGrath: 88 points
- Sean Lock: 0 points
- Alan Davies: -9 points
- Jimmy Carr: -12 points

Notes

The recording of this episode was interrupted by a streaker. The streaker can be seen in the deleted scenes from the Series C DVD.

For the correction, see QI Qibble Blog.

Broadcast details

Date
Friday 7th October 2005
Time
10:30pm
Channel
BBC Four
Length
30 minutes

Repeats

Show past repeats

Date Time Channel
Monday 21st September 2009 9:00pm Dave
Thursday 1st July 2010 11:20pm Dave
Monday 11th October 2010 9:40pm Dave
Wednesday 2nd February 2011 7:50pm Dave
Wednesday 10th April 2013 11:20pm Dave
Saturday 1st June 2013 7:25pm Dave
Saturday 1st June 2013 11:35pm Dave
Sunday 4th August 2013 10:00pm Dave
Saturday 23rd November 2013 7:40pm Dave
Sunday 24th November 2013 3:20pm Dave
Sunday 22nd December 2013 1:40pm Dave
Sunday 22nd December 2013 11:40pm Dave
Friday 23rd May 2014 12:40pm Dave
Friday 23rd May 2014 5:40pm Dave
Thursday 15th January 2015 11:00pm Dave
Friday 3rd April 2015 11:00pm Dave
Wednesday 9th September 2015 8:40pm Dave
Friday 6th May 2016 1:00am Dave
Friday 6th May 2016 10:40pm Dave
Friday 13th May 2016 1:00am Dave
Friday 13th May 2016 10:40pm Dave
Friday 13th May 2016 10:40pm Dave
Tuesday 16th August 2016 1:00am Dave
Tuesday 16th August 2016 8:00pm Dave
Monday 6th February 2017 6:40pm Dave
Tuesday 7th February 2017 2:40pm Dave
Thursday 30th March 2017 12:20am Dave
Thursday 30th March 2017 3:00am Dave
Thursday 3rd August 2017 11:40pm Dave
Friday 4th August 2017 1:40am Dave
Friday 4th August 2017 10:40pm Dave
Thursday 7th September 2017 11:20pm Dave
Tuesday 28th November 2017 1:20am Dave
Wednesday 11th April 2018 12:40am Dave
Wednesday 11th April 2018 2:40am Dave
Thursday 31st May 2018 12:00am Dave
Thursday 31st May 2018 2:00am Dave
Wednesday 18th July 2018 11:20pm Dave
Thursday 19th July 2018 2:20am Dave
Wednesday 3rd October 2018 12:20am Dave
Thursday 27th June 2019 1:00am Dave
Thursday 27th June 2019 11:00pm Dave

Cast & crew

Cast
Stephen Fry Host / Presenter
Alan Davies Regular Panellist
Guest cast
Jimmy Carr Guest
Sean Lock Guest
Rory McGrath Guest
Writing team
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
Production team
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

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