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: 961
Episode menu
Series D, Episode 4 - Dictionaries
Theme
- This is one of two "General" shows in Series D, covering a wide range of different topics beginning with "D". The other is "Doves".
Topics
- People who write dictionaries like to start with the letter "M". (Forfeit: A)
- The Long Years of Obscurity is a three volume book about the history of Didcot.
- Tangent: Alan once did a concert with Phil Collins who was performing a song called "Where's My Hat?". Collins was wearing his hat throughout.
- Tangent: According to a poll by "Country Life", Didcot Power Station is third worst eyesore in the country. Wind farms were number one.
- Tangent: Didcot has the second oldest tree in the country, which is over 1,600 years old.
- The Bubi people of Bioko cannot talk in the dark because their talking is mostly gesture. They cannot see what they are saying.
- Tangent: 'Lord Elgin and Duncan' once went to a dinner after dropping the latter half of his name. He saw his place at the table listed as "Lord Elgin". The person sitting next to him was "Duncan".
- Tangent: The panel talk about colonial women, which leads to talking about Diana Mosley and her fondness for Adolf Hitler.
- Prince Charles owns Dartmoor Prison, as he occupies the Duchy of Cornwall.
- Tangent: Stephen talks about his time in prison. The word "Snout" is no longer used to mean "Cigarettes". The word is now "Burn". "Twos up on your burn" is when an inmate claims the fag-end. Once enough are collected, another cigarette can be made.
- If the Queen was to knight Alan, or anyone else, she would say nothing. (Forfeit: "Arise, Sir Alan")
- Tangent: When a member of the clergy is knighted, no sword is used.
- Tangent: "Degradation" is when a knighthood is taken away. The last public degradation was that of Sir Francis Mitchell in 1621.
- Raindrops are spherical in shape. Correction: While smaller raindrops do remain spherical as they fall, larger ones are distorted by aerodynamic drag, being flatter at the bottom and rounder at the top. Sometimes they break up into smaller droplets. (Forfeit: Pear-shaped)
- The world's biggest drip is a stalactite in Gruta Rei do Mato, Brazil.
- Tangent: One way to member the difference between a "Stalagmite" and a "Stalactite" is that "Stalagmite" are in the ground, because it has a "G" in it. Another way is that, "Tights hang down, like Stalactites." The thickness of tights is measured in denier.
- The world's biggest crashing bore is found in the tidal bore in the Qiantang River, China.
- The biggest floater under the sun is Saturn. Saturn's density is less than water, so it could float.
General Ignorance
- There are fewer plants than you would think. Around every plant has been counted four times.
- There were several sides during the Battle of Culloden. There were more Scots in the army that fought against Bonnie Prince Charlie than in the force fighting for him.
- Tangent: Scottish history lessons tend to mention nothing about English history, except the Battle of Bannockburn, where the Scots defeated the English.
- Tangent: The English soldiers were called "Tommy lobsters". It was the first battle in which the army was trained to use bayonets.
- Dolphins do not drink. They get all their water from their food. As a result, they cannot tell the difference between hunger and thrust. Correction: While dolphins cannot drink seawater, they do drink milk when they are young like all other mammals.
Scores
- Ronni Ancona: 13 points.
- Rory Bremner, Phill Jupitus and Alan Davies: -7 points.
Notes
For more information on the corrections, see the QI Qibble Blog here and here.
Broadcast details
- Date
- Friday 13th October 2006
- Time
- 10:30pm
- Channel
- BBC Four
- Length
- 30 minutes
Repeats
Show past repeats
Date | Time | Channel |
---|---|---|
Sunday 28th March 2010 | 10:00pm | Dave |
Friday 27th August 2010 | 9:00pm | Dave |
Thursday 18th November 2010 | 9:00pm | Dave |
Wednesday 23rd February 2011 | 11:00pm | Dave |
Sunday 29th May 2011 | 11:00pm | Dave |
Monday 30th May 2011 | 1:20am | Dave |
Saturday 8th October 2011 | 11:00pm | Dave |
Monday 23rd January 2012 | 10:00pm | Dave |
Tuesday 24th January 2012 | 1:00am | Dave |
Wednesday 28th March 2012 | 10:40pm | Dave |
Sunday 13th May 2012 | 6:40pm | Dave |
Thursday 18th October 2012 | 4:40pm | Dave |
Monday 24th December 2012 | 2:00pm | Dave |
Monday 24th December 2012 | 11:40pm | Dave |
Sunday 24th March 2013 | 1:00pm | Dave |
Sunday 24th March 2013 | 5:00pm | Dave |
Tuesday 21st May 2013 | 11:20pm | Dave |
Wednesday 22nd May 2013 | 2:20am | Dave |
Wednesday 10th July 2013 | 11:00pm | Dave |
Thursday 11th July 2013 | 2:10am | Dave |
Thursday 18th September 2014 | 10:20pm | Dave |
Friday 19th September 2014 | 1:20am | Dave |
Sunday 21st December 2014 | 3:20pm | Dave |
Thursday 5th February 2015 | 11:00pm | Dave |
Monday 22nd June 2015 | 11:40pm | Dave |
Tuesday 23rd June 2015 | 9:40pm | Dave |
Thursday 1st October 2015 | 11:40pm | Dave |
Wednesday 21st October 2015 | 11:20pm | Dave |
Thursday 22nd October 2015 | 2:20am | Dave |
Sunday 27th December 2015 | 11:20pm | Dave |
Monday 28th December 2015 | 6:00pm | Dave |
Thursday 30th June 2016 | 2:00am | Dave |
Thursday 30th June 2016 | 10:00pm | Dave |
Tuesday 23rd August 2016 | 1:00am | Dave |
Tuesday 23rd August 2016 | 8:00pm | Dave |
Monday 3rd October 2016 | 2:15am | Dave |
Monday 27th February 2017 | 2:40pm | Dave |
Wednesday 2nd August 2017 | 11:20pm | Dave |
Thursday 3rd August 2017 | 1:20am | Dave |
Wednesday 3rd January 2018 | 11:40pm | Dave |
Thursday 4th January 2018 | 1:40am | Dave |
Monday 5th March 2018 | 1:50am | Dave |
Tuesday 6th March 2018 | 1:00am | Dave |
Friday 27th April 2018 | 12:00am | Dave |
Friday 27th April 2018 | 2:00am | Dave |
Tuesday 29th May 2018 | 12:00am | Dave |
Tuesday 29th May 2018 | 2:00am | Dave |
Thursday 21st June 2018 | 11:20pm | Dave |
Friday 22nd June 2018 | 2:20am | Dave |
Monday 18th February 2019 | 11:00pm | Dave |
Tuesday 19th February 2019 | 1:00am | Dave |
Tuesday 3rd September 2019 | 11:00pm | Dave |
Cast & crew
Stephen Fry | Host / Presenter |
Alan Davies | Regular Panellist |
Phill Jupitus | Guest |
Ronni Ancona | Guest |
Rory Bremner | Guest |
Ian Lorimer | Director |
John Lloyd | Producer |
Lorraine Heggessey | Executive Producer |
Katie Taylor | Executive Producer |
Nick King | Editor |
Jonathan Paul Green | Production Designer |
Howard Goodall | Composer |