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 I - Ice

A Christmas special with Ross Noble, Sean Lock and Brian Blessed.

Preview clips

Topics

- The country which takes the most days off work and has the most expensive Big Macs in the world is Iceland. They take 367 days off per year per 1,000 people, compared to about 20 in Britain and 1 in Switzerland. Their Big Mac was twice as expensive as the British one. It was so expensive that McDonald's has since withdrawn from the country. Iceland also has more Nobel Prize winners per capita than any other country, despite the fact there has only been one Icelandic Nobel Prize winner: Halldor Laxness, winner of the 1955 prize for literature. This is because their population is so small, at only 320,000 people (roughly the same as Croydon). It also uses three times more electricity than any other country, but as it is all green (geothermal and hydro-electric) it is the cleanest electric country in the world. It is also the youngest country in the world geologically speaking, and has the world's oldest parliament. It began in 947AD.

- Iceland's youngest volcano is similar to Genghis Khan because they both helped the environment. The Eyjafjallajökull volcano poured out between 150,000 and 300,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide, but because it stopped so much air traffic it saved three million tonnes. Genghis Khan killed about 40 million people, and because farming was reduced by such a huge amount the forests grew back. "Eyjafjallajökull" is pronounced "EY-ya-fyat-lah-YOH-kuhtl".

- XL: The thing you should not do with the Icelandic phone book is look people up by the surname. Icelandic surnames come form the name of the father, so it would be "son of" or "daughter of", thus there are lots of people with the same surname. When women marry they do not take their husband's name, but keep their father's name. As a result people are listed alphabetically by their forename, and often by their title as well. If the panel were named the Icelandic way, their names would be Stephen Alanson, Brian Williamson, Sean Sidneyson, Alan Royson and Ross Malcolmson.

- The panel are shown what at first look like a normal pair of trousers and are asked what they actually are. It is in fact the bottom half of some male human skin, complete with testicles, known as a "nabrok". This is an example of Icelandic witchcraft which is on display in the Icelandic Museum of Witchcraft. You first ask a friend if you can have their skin after they die. If they give permission you then flay the skin below the waist in one piece, then you wear them as tights. You then have to steal a coin from a widow, and place the coin in the scrotal sack, with a written incantation, and then it is believed that the sack will fill up with money.

- Stephen then gives the panel some phone books, in which the pages of one has been interleafed with the pages of the other. The panel then try to pull the two apart but they cannot do it because of the friction. You need 8,000lb of force in order to pull them apart. Alan does manage to do it, but only by trashing the books so much that the pages are ripped out of the book.

- The panel recreate some of the events in the World Eskimo-Indian Olympics, which have been held annually since 1961. One involves lubricated wooded rods. Each competitor grabs hold of the rod, and they have to force it out of their opponents grasp without twisting or jerking. The other involves a piece of knotted string which is attached to an ear of each opponent, and the two opponents pull the string with their ears. The object is to endure the pain the longest.

- XL Tangent: Brian went to an expedition to the magnetic North Pole in 2004. Because it is so cold you only have 25 seconds to urinate because if you take any longer your penis will fall off. When Briain got to the Pole he could feel the magnetism. His hair stood on end, and he thought he could feel an earthquake. Then out from the ice came a Russian Typhoon submarine. When the men got off they called Brian "Father Christmas", because he was covered in ice. Brian then sang opera to them.

- Nobody Knows: No-one knows why in 1845 Sir John Franklin led an expedition of 128 men to the Arctic to discover the Northwest Passage, carrying a sled-load of button polish, handkerchiefs, curtain rods and a writing desk. We do know that 35 rescue parties over several decades were sent out to discover what had happened. Eventually, in the 1980s they discovered that they were eating canned food, but the cans used lead-solder. They thus suffered from mass delusions caused by lead poisoning. We do not know why they did it, but we know they did, and no-one from the expedition came back alive. Alan gets the bonus.

- XL: In order to keep his lads entertained, Scott of the Antarctic took a pianola (playing piano) with him during two of his expeditions. On his first expedition he took a normal piano, but he later discovered that no-one could play it. On the second expedition a company gave him twenty roles of music to play. On the fatal third expedition another company gave them 250 roles. They took the pianola to their first base camp.

- XL Tangent: Scott went along the known route which was very tough because he had to go up along glaciers. Amundsen went a different route which luckily for him was easier. When Amundsen returned to Norway he was in the bath when his wife burst in and exclaimed that Scott had died on the way back. Amundsen responded by shouting: "He's beaten me!" because he knew that people would remember Scott's heroic failure more than his triumph.

- XL Tangent: Scott's last words in his diary were: "We took risks, we knew we were taking them, and things have come up against us, therefore we have no reason to complain. For God's sake, look after our people."

- XL: When a penguin steps on a landmine, nothing happens because it is not heavy enough to trigger it. In the Falkland Islands, the Argentineans planted landmines, but the penguins can walk over them without being harmed. As a result the once dwindling penguin population has now increased again. The penguin population fell originally because of whaling. Whalers burned whales to collect whale oil, but as there were so few trees on the Falklands they burned penguins, and used penguin oil to burn the whales. The population fell from ten million to a very small number indeed.

- No-one is sure where the best place to look for a yeti is. Brian is a believer of the yeti and knows much about them. In Canada it is known as Sasquatch or Bigfoot; in Russia it is the Almas Giant, yeti, Sukpa, or Meh-Teh-Ma; in China they also call them Yeti, Sukpa and Meh-Teh-Ma; in Sumatra it is called the Orang Pendek, which means "Upright man". Brian went to Mongolia where the locals claimed they migrate in late autumn. There are two centres studying yetis, one in Siberia and the other in Bhutan.

- XL: Queen Victoria got her ice from Lake Wenham, outside Boston, Massachusetts. This lake provided the rich and the Royal Houses of Europe with ice until refrigeration was developed. A man called Tudor had the idea of chopping up the frozen lake water into blocks. One shop in The Strand had a huge block of ice in it. Newspaper was placed behind it to show just how clear the ice was, because you could still read the paper through the block.

- XL: The Spanish Duke of Alba ordered 7,000 pairs of ice skates so he could take on the Dutch in battle. The Pope had sentenced the entire population of the Netherlands to death for heresy after converting from Catholicism to Protestantism. Thus the Catholic Spanish were at war with the Protestant Dutch. During one very cold battle the Dutch fought on ice skates and defeated the Spaniards. Thus the Duke decided to buy ice skates to make sure such a defeat never occurred again, but they were never used.

- XL: The panel are each given some ice cream and are asked what flavour it is. It is a Turkish ice cream made from "fox testicles", which is actually a type of orchid known in Turkish as "salepi dondurma", which is Turkish for "fox testicle". "Salep" is Turkish for orchid. The ice cream is made from the early purple orchid, which is now endangered and illegal to export.

General Ignorance

- Igloos are usually made from the hides of caribou. (Forfeit: Ice)

- You no longer say "mush" to a husky to make it go. The commands change from time to time, and for now it is "hike". "Mush" comes from the French "marche", meaning "go". They are so strong that a team of 73 huskies once pulled a 10 tonne truck.

- Tangent: When Brian went to Mongolia he learnt that the locals tend to keep huskies and wolves instead of normal dogs. Brian slept in a tent next to a wolf, and climbed a 14,000 feet ledge alongside it.

- XL: The panel are shown a photo of what appears to be something with a long neck coming out of Loch Ness and are asked what it is. It is actually a hoax committed by journalist Marmaduke Wetherell. He was a big game hunter and there was a competition held by the Daily Mail to prove that the Loch Ness Monster existed. He was fooled by some artificial footprints made by some using severed hippo legs. The Mail published them but the Natural History Museum proved Wetherell wrong. Because of this he was fired by the Mail. He was so angry that he put together the famous hoax photo of Nessie along with another man called Christian Spurling.

- To finish off the show the panel are given bells and a musical score. Stephen conducts them as they play, "We Wish You a Merry Christmas".

Scores

- Alan Davies: 9 points (Alan's 14th victory)
- Brian Blessed: -2 points
- Ross Noble: -3 points
- Sean Lock: -8 points

Broadcast details

Date
Thursday 29th December 2011
Time
9pm
Channel
BBC Two
Length
30 minutes

Repeats

Show past repeats

Date Time Channel
Friday 30th December 2011 10:00pm
45 minute version
BBC2
Friday 30th December 2011 11:00pm
45 minute version
BBC2 Wales
Friday 24th February 2012 10:00pm BBC2
Thursday 16th August 2012 9:00pm
60 minute version
Dave
Friday 17th August 2012 12:50am
55 minute version
Dave
Tuesday 9th October 2012 9:00pm
60 minute version
Dave
Wednesday 10th October 2012 12:20am
60 minute version
Dave
Monday 24th December 2012 12:30am BBC2
Thursday 28th February 2013 8:00pm
60 minute version
Dave
Friday 1st March 2013 12:40am
60 minute version
Dave
Friday 31st May 2013 7:00pm
60 minute version
Dave
Saturday 1st June 2013 12:25am
60 minute version
Dave
Sunday 14th July 2013 11:00pm
60 minute version
Dave
Monday 19th August 2013 7:00pm
60 minute version
Dave
Sunday 15th September 2013 8:00pm
60 minute version
Dave
Monday 14th October 2013 9:00pm
60 minute version
Dave
Tuesday 15th October 2013 12:00am
60 minute version
Dave
Friday 20th December 2013 10:00pm BBC2
Tuesday 24th December 2013 10:00pm
60 minute version
Dave
Wednesday 25th December 2013 1:00am
60 minute version
Dave
Thursday 17th April 2014 8:00pm
60 minute version
Dave
Thursday 17th April 2014 11:40pm
60 minute version
Dave
Thursday 19th June 2014 9:00pm
60 minute version
Dave
Sunday 22nd June 2014 9:00pm
60 minute version
Dave
Monday 29th September 2014 9:00pm
60 minute version
Dave
Tuesday 30th September 2014 12:20am
60 minute version
Dave
Tuesday 10th February 2015 8:00pm
60 minute version
Dave
Tuesday 5th May 2015 7:00pm
60 minute version
Dave
Tuesday 5th May 2015 10:40pm
60 minute version
Dave
Wednesday 22nd July 2015 8:00pm
60 minute version
Dave
Sunday 1st May 2016 2:20am
50 minute version
Dave
Sunday 1st May 2016 7:00pm
60 minute version
Dave
Friday 2nd September 2016 8:00pm
60 minute version
Dave
Saturday 3rd September 2016 12:40am
60 minute version
Dave
Monday 20th February 2017 10:00pm
60 minute version
Dave
Sunday 18th June 2017 9:00pm
60 minute version
Dave
Sunday 3rd December 2017 12:20am
60 minute version
Dave
Thursday 18th January 2018 8:00pm
60 minute version
Dave
Thursday 26th April 2018 9:00pm
60 minute version
Dave
Friday 25th May 2018 7:00pm
60 minute version
Dave
Tuesday 28th August 2018 9:00pm
60 minute version
Dave
Sunday 10th February 2019 12:00am
60 minute version
Dave
Thursday 11th March 2021 9:20pm Dave
Friday 12th March 2021 1:00am Dave
Friday 13th August 2021 8:20pm Dave
Saturday 14th August 2021 2:15am Dave
Thursday 11th November 2021 9:20pm Dave
Friday 12th November 2021 2:30am Dave
Friday 29th April 2022 10:00pm Dave
Tuesday 30th August 2022 7:00pm Dave
Wednesday 31st August 2022 12:40am Dave
Friday 23rd December 2022 2:30am Dave
Friday 23rd December 2022 7:00pm Dave
Tuesday 24th October 2023 9:00pm
60 minute version
Dave
Tuesday 19th December 2023 9:00pm
60 minute version
Dave

Cast & crew

Cast
Stephen Fry Host / Presenter
Alan Davies Regular Panellist
Guest cast
Sean Lock Guest
Ross Noble Guest
Brian Blessed Guest
Writing team
John Mitchinson Question Writer
Mat Coward Researcher
Justin Pollard Question Writer
James Harkin Question Writer
Molly Oldfield Question Writer
Will Bowen Researcher
Andrew Hunter Murray Question Writer
Production team
Ian Lorimer Director
David Morley (as Dave Morley) Executive Producer
Ruby Kuraishe Executive Producer
Nick King Editor
Jonathan Paul Green Production Designer
Howard Goodall Composer

Video

A Christmas Party Trick

Stephen Fry shows the panel a Christmas party trick using two phone books and some string.

Featuring: Alan Davies, Stephen Fry, Brian Blessed, Sean Lock & Ross Noble.

Press

Wrapped up in colourful scarves, Stephen Fry and company are in particularly jovial mood tonight for this festive edition of the esoteric quiz. Answering questions on such subjects as ice and prawns, Ross Noble, Sean Lock, Brian Blessed and Alan Davies prove hilarious company as they reel off a number of anecdotes. For the comedian's quick wits, though, the most amusing moment comes from Lock falling off his chair.

Patrick Smith, The Telegraph, 29th December 2011

Stephen Fry and his contestants don colourful scarves for a festive edition of the highbrow quiz show that loves a bit of low humour. Brian Blessed gets into the spirit on the subject of ice with some windy anecdotes about the Yeti and his love of husky dogs.

Sean Lock and Ross Noble are the quick wits riffing on Icelandic banking and prawns, while host Fry adopts his stern headmaster persona whenever his "class" seem to be having too much fun.

Like many teachers in the old-fashioned mould, though, he finds his own enjoyment peeking at the sight of one of his boys being humiliated... tonight, it's Lock falling off a chair.

Emma Perry, Radio Times, 29th December 2011

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