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Find out moreJohn Lloyd has a broadcasting background. As a radio producer he devised The News Quiz and To the Manor Born before moving to television to start Not the Nine O'Clock News, Spitting Image, Blackadder and, of course, QI.
Being a small “instant” humour book there is no bibliography telling you where these facts originate but we now have google so can read up on such things as why Horatio Nelson’s pension continued to be paid to 1947. Harris Hawks standing on each other’s shoulders to get a better view was quite flabbergasting although I was more horrified to read that slugs have about 27,000 teeth. It is, of course, a book designed to entertain and it certainly does that in fine style. ~ Sue BakerLike for Like ReadingFascinating Footnotes from History, Giles MiltonThe Ultimate Book of Heroic Failures, Stephen Pie
What is truth and what is hogwash? This is the question that The Book of General Ignorance asks. Did Henry VIII have six wives, does Earth have only one moon? If you still think so, then you badly need this book to right your wrongs. Thomas Edison stated that we know less than one millionth of one percent about anything; Mark Twain thought it would take 8 million years to master mathematics alone; Woody Allen said that some drink deeply from the river of knowledge, but others only gargle. A comprehensive and humiliating catalogue of all the misconceptions, mistakes and misunderstandings in 'common knowledge', which will make you wonder why anyone ever bothers to go to school.
Being a small “instant” humour book there is no bibliography telling you where these facts originate but we now have google so can read up on such things as why Horatio Nelson’s pension continued to be paid to 1947. Harris Hawks standing on each other’s shoulders to get a better view was quite flabbergasting although I was more horrified to read that slugs have about 27,000 teeth. It is, of course, a book designed to entertain and it certainly does that in fine style. ~ Sue BakerLike for Like ReadingFascinating Footnotes from History, Giles MiltonThe Ultimate Book of Heroic Failures, Stephen Pie
The Third Book of General Ignorance gathers together 180 questions, both new and previously featured on the BBC TV programme's popular 'General Ignorance' round, and show why, when it comes to general knowledge, none of us knows anything at all. Who invented the sandwich? What was the best thing before sliced bread? Who first ate frogs' legs? Which cat never changes its spots? What did Lady Godiva do? What can you legally do if you come across a Welshman in Chester after sunset?
The Museum of Curiosity is BBC Radio 4's monumental comedy edifice, and the only one with gargoyles in the foyer. It allows nothing inside that doesn't make you scratch your head, stroke your chin or, at the very least, go 'Hmm'. Fortunately, helping to fill its vacant plinths is a gathering of the world's most original minds. Among the guests bearing donations to the museum in these 25 episodes are Neil Gaiman, Sarah Millican, Clive James, Kate Adie, Sir Terry Pratchett, Ronni Ancona, Jon Ronson, Bettany Hughes, Ben Elton, Francesca Stavrakopoulou, Alain de Botton, Charlotte Uhlenbroek, Alistair Fothergill, Ruth Padel, Jonathan Miller, Lucie Green, Marcus du Sautoy, Sara Wheeler, Brian Eno, Shappi Khorsandi, John Hodgman, Chris Addison, Roger Law, Tim Minchin, Philip Pullman, Richard Wiseman, Victoria Finlay, Simon Singh, Jimmy Carr, Graham Linehan, Sarah Bakewell, Robin Ince, David Eagleman, Natalie Haynes, Brian Blessed, Alan Davies, Gareth Edwards, Martha Reeves, Harry Enfield, Helen Scales, Admiral Alan West & many more. In addition to all the episodes from the first four series, a previously unbroadcast pilot episode, The Professor of Curiosity, is also included. Running time: 12 hours approx.
1,411 Quite Interesting Facts to Knock You Sideways is a gold mine of wide-ranging, eye-opening, brain-bursting nuggets of trivia that's impossible to put down, another treasure trove of factoids (National Public Radio, Weekend Edition). Did you know? Orchids can get jet lag Lizards can't walk and breathe at the same time Frank Sinatra took a shower 12 times a day Ladybug orgasms last for 30 minutes There are 177,147 ways to tie a tie Traffic lights existed before cars The soil in your garden is 2 million years old
The QI team have blown your socks off, made your jaw drop and knocked you sideways. Now they return with 1,234 brand-new mind-blowing facts that will leave you speechless. - Flowers get suntans. - Denmark imports prisoners. - Bees can fly higher than Mount Everest. - The Republic of Ireland first got postcodes in 2015. - Martin Luther King Jr got a C+ in Public Speaking. - No one in the UK dies of 'natural causes'. - Penguins can't taste fish.
Who invented the sandwich? What was the best thing before sliced bread? Who first ate frogs' legs?
Just when you thought it was safe to start showing off again, the bestselling authors of The Book of General Ignorance and 1,277 QI Facts To Blow Your Socks Off are back. With a foreword by Stephen Fry, this parcel of unimaginable information is here to solve a few common misconceptions, mistakes and misunderstandings. Octopuses have six legs, oranges aren't orange, bats aren't blind, napoleon wasn't short, vikings didn't wear horned helmets, there is no such thing as a fish. QI: The Second Book of General Ignorance is the essential set text for everyone who's proud to admit that they don't know everything, and an ideal stick with which to beat people who think they do. John Lloyd and John Mitchinson are the bestselling authors of QI: The Book of General Ignorance and 1,277 QI Facts To Blow Your Socks Off. Here they present a wonderful collection of astonishingly interesting facts, perfect for pub quiz lovers, trivia buffs and general knowledge experts alike.
An indispensable compendium of popular misconceptions, misunderstandings and common mistakes culled from the hit BBC show, QI. From the bestselling authors of The Book of General Ignorance comes a noticeably stouter edition, with 26% extra facts and figures perfect for trivia, pub quiz and general knowledge enthusiasts. The QI team sets out again to show you that a lot of what you think you know is wrong. If, like Alan Davies, you still think the Henry VIII had six wives, the earth has only one moon, that George Washington was the first president of the USA, that Bangkok is the capital of Thailand, that the largest living thing is a blue whale, that Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, that whisky and bagpipes come from Scotland or that Mount Everest is the world's tallest mountain, then there are at least 200 reasons why this is the book for you. The researchers at QI have written many bestselling books including such titles as The QI Book of General Ignorance and 1,277 Facts To Blow Your Socks Off. They now present a noticeably stouter edition, an indispensable handbook for trivia lovers, pub quiz enthusiasts and general knowledge experts alike. And remember - everything you think you know is still wrong.
The ultimate compendium of crisp one-liners, knockout jokes, droll asides and universal truths collected over the years by the creators of QI. 'You know 'that look' women get when they want sex? Me neither.' Steve Martin 'You cannot prevent the birds of sorrow from flying over your head, but you can prevent them from nesting in your hair.' Chinese proverb 'The Beatles are dying in the wrong order.' Victor Lewis-Smith 'Cauliflower is nothing but a cabbage with a college education.' Mark Twain 'Depend on the rabbit's foot if you will, but remember: it didn't work for the rabbit.' R.E. Shay 'If it were not for quotations, conversation between gentlemen would be an endless series of 'what-ho's!'' P.G.Wodehouse
Join QI's expedition into the animal kingdom to encounter 100 of its most remarkable subjects. Marvel at the elephants that walk on tiptoe, pigs that shine in the dark, and the woodlouse that drinks through its bottom. Albatrosses can fly non-stop for ten years without touching the ground Box jellyfish have twenty-four eyes Geese mourn their dead Koalas don't drink Monkeys pay to look at porn Lobsters live for a century Mice sing while having sex Spiders can fly
Public relations and journalism have had a difficult relationship for over a century, characterised by mutual dependence and - often - mutual distrust. The two professions have vied with each other for primacy: journalists could open or close the gates, but PR had the stories, the contacts and often the budgets for extravagant campaigns. The arrival of the internet, and especially of social media, has changed much of that. These new technologies have turned the audience into players - who play an important part in making the reputation, and the brand, of everyone from heads of state to new car models vulnerable to viral tweets and social media attacks. Companies, parties and governments are seeking more protection - especially since individuals within these organisations can themselves damage, even destroy, their brand or reputation with an ill-chosen remark or an appearance of arrogance. The pressures, and the possibilities, of the digital age have given public figures and institutions both a necessity to protect themselves, and channels to promote themselves free of news media gatekeepers. Political and corporate communications professionals have become more essential, and more influential within the top echelons of business, politics and other institutions. Companies and governments can now - must now - become media themselves, putting out a message 24/7, establishing channels of their own, creating content to attract audiences and reaching out to their networks to involve them in their strategies Journalism is being brought into these new, more influential and fast growing communications strategies. And, as newspapers struggle to stay alive, journalists must adapt to a world where old barriers are being smashed and new relationships built - this time with public relations in the driving seat. The world being created is at once more protected and more transparent; the communicators are at once more influential and more fragile. This unique study illuminates a new media age.
In recent years, media coverage of the European Union has faced its most serious test. The interlinked crises in the Union have severely tested the expertise of the EU press corps, many of whom have struggled to cope with its complexities, and have thrown into sharper relief the differences among the national coverages. At the same time, the crises have deepened trends towards euro scepticism in many EU member states - thus putting pressure on correspondents to be more sceptical, analytical, argumentative and even hostile, in their reporting. This development has revealed a greater gulf between reporters - who are now more sceptical than their predecessors - and the press service and officials of the EU, who remain strongly committed to the narrative of an 'ever-closer union'. Yet - in contrast to the rising euro scepticism - the crises have emphasised the need perceived by European officials and many European politicians for deeper integration, at least among Euro currency members, to cope with the crisis. This book, based on extensive interviews with EU correspondents, editors, public relations and other EU executives, will reveal for the first time how this powerful group of institutions at the heart of the Union are covered - or are not covered. The analysis and critique of the present coverage also carries a series of recommendations on how it might be made to better serve the citizens of the EU members. The authors highlight the structural and historic difficulties in covering a multinational institution, and the struggle - generally unsuccessful - to develop a journalism which can fully hold the institutions to account, and find an audience which goes beyond the narrow circles of professionals and politicians who are closely concerned with the business of the Union.
1,227 QI Facts blew your socks off. 1,339 QI Facts made your jaw drop. Now the QI team return with this year's groaning sack of astonishment. Prepare to be knocked sideways...Orchids can get jetlag. Lizards can't walk and breathe at the same time. There are 177,147 ways to tie a tie. Ladybird orgasms last for 30 minutes. Traffic lights existed before cars. Sir Bruce Forsyth is four months older than sliced bread. The soil in your garden is 2 million years old.
I first came across this splendid way of reassigning some of Britain’s splendid place names as words in a couple of Paul Jennings’ pieces written for The Observer. Now sadly forgotten he was a past master (none of your Bovey Tracey ways here Miss, being my particular favourite). In Afterliff, the humour comes from the words that John Lloyd and Jon Canter find the need for more than the aptness of the place-name chosen. However large the vocabulary of the English Language there is obviously always room for more!Like for Like ReadingThe Meaning of Liff: The Original Dictionary of Things There Should be Words for, John Lloyd The New Uxbridge English Dictionary, John Naismith
Imagine an incredible edition of Guinness World Records created by Stephen Fry, Alan Davies, Jo Brand, Bill Bailey and other regular guests on the QI show... The QI Annual 2011 features original contributions from stand up comedians and presents a whole heap-full of QI's weird, wonderful and really quite interesting facts. Holy Horology!! By the Hoary Horsefeathers of Hoggoth!! Here's the Heroic H Annual!! The Heroic H Annual is a Humungous Haul of Honey, Halves, Hipsters, Hats and Health & Safety from those Highbrow Homunculi at QI! Heaving with Hippos, Heraldry, Hot-dogs, Hermaphrodites and Houdini! From the bestselling authors of The Book of General Ignorance and 1,227 QI Facts To Blow Your Socks Off, comes a hilarious and incredibly informative selection of the QI team's most interesting facts. Featuring contributions from Stephen Fry, Alan Davies and many other QI guests, the is a perfect gift for pub quiz experts, fans of Guinness World Records and lovers of all things QI.
QI is the smartest comedy show on British television, but few people know that we're also a major legal hit in Australia, New Zealand, Israel and Africa and an illegal one on BitTorrent. We also write books and newspaper columns; run a thriving website, a Facebook page, a Twitter feed; and produce an iPhone App and a sister Radio 4 programme. At the core of what we do is the astonishing fact - painstakingly researched and distilled to a brilliant and shocking clarity. In Einstein's words: 'Everything should be as simple as possible, but not simpler.' Did you know that: cows moo in regional accents; the entire internet weighs less than a grain of sand; the dialling code from Britain to Russia is 007; potatoes have more chromosomes than human beings; the London Underground has made more money from its famous map than it has from running trains; Tintin is called Tantan in Japanese because TinTin is pronounced 'Chin chin' and means penis; the water in the mouth of a blue whale weighs more than its body; Scotland has twice as many pandas as Conservative MPs; Saddam's bunker was designed by the grandson of the woman who built Hitler's bunker; Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981, it is explicitly illegal in Britain to use a machinegun to kill a hedgehog. 1,227 QI Facts To Blow Your Socks Off will make you look at the universe (and your socks) in an alarming new way.
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