Long Lost QI


Long Lost

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Transcript


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APPLAUSE

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Bon soir, guten abend, guten abend, guten abend, guten abend,

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good evening, good evening, good evening,

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good evening and welcome, willkommen, vient de nous,

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nache a QI, where tonight, at long last, it's the Long Lost show.

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Let's meet the long-trousered Jimmy Carr.

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APPLAUSE

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The long-suffering Claudia O'Doherty.

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The long-awaited Suggs.

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And a lost cause, Alan Davies.

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And now for some long-form buzzers. Jimmy goes...

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GONG

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That is long-form.

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-I'm not finished.

-Thank you.

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Claudia goes...

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SUSTAINED ELECTRIC GUITAR NOTE

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It's going to be a very long show.

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Sometimes we shorten the cues - you'd be surprised. Suggs goes...

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OUT OF TUNE TRUMPET PLAYS

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I thought as much.

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HITS DEEP NOTE

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That's better.

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And Alan goes...

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FLY BUZZES

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LAUGHTER

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Ah, ooh, bitter, very bitter.

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Now, we haven't been going long and already I've lost a lavatory,

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so if you spot it, let me know by playing your Spend a Penny.

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Spend a Penny and if you're right...

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TOILET FLUSHES

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..there'll be points.

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If you're wrong, there may be deductions, it's up to me to decide. But that's your joker.

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So, how could living in a tiny flat stop you from losing your marbles?

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-CLAUDIA'S BUZZER

-Yes, Claudia?

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If you had a very small house,

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you wouldn't be worried that there was a killer in the next room.

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That's something that I worry about in my house.

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-Do you?

-Yes.

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But if it was small, very small, one room, I would be fine,

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I wouldn't be scared at all.

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-Wouldn't you need a Jodie Foster-style sort of safe...?

-A panic room.

-The panic room.

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-Well, the whole house is the panic room.

-Oh, well, I guess it would be.

-If it's a small flat, yeah.

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-I guess it is, isn't it?

-Yes. So how many points do I get for that?

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-I think you may have come in with a rather optimistic frame of mind here.

-OK, right.

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Do you think you watched too many horror films where it's always the phone call came from in the house?

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-They're calling from inside the house.

-House.

-Yeah.

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Well, if they're not in the house, they can't get you. Your horror movies sound fine.

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There's so many genres and sometimes

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-there's the cabin in the woods genre, high school ones, different kinds.

-There's camp ones.

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-Camp ones, exactly. I mean, not camp in the sense of...

-No, no.

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But camp horror would be quite fun, wouldn't it -

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"Ooh! Ooh! Ooh, you gave me a start!"

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I think you've created a genre right there.

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I think I may have done. I think I may.

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Oh, something just stabbed me in the back!

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LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE

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Oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear. Behave, all of you.

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Now, let's return to the question, which was, Suggs...?

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It was why would you be less likely to

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lose your marbles in a small flat?

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Apart from the fact if you're playing marbles,

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-there's less distance for them to go.

-That's a very good thought.

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It's actually, we're actually being figurative here.

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It's a very common thing that happens, when you've gone

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into a room and you've forgotten what you've gone into it for. You know.

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I've had that in...I had that at the Hammersmith Apollo once.

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Walked out on stage and went, "What have I...? Oh, jokes, right. OK."

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Shit.

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There was a study at Notre Dame, Notre Dame -

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as they call it in America - University, which discovered

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that the key thing that makes you forget is crossing a threshold.

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In other words, going from one room to another.

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If you have a one-room flat, it's unlikely to happen.

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There's something that happens in the brain.

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It may be an evolutionary thing when you move from one

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sort of landscape - from a thicket to open country as it were -

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the equivalent of a threshold, that for some reason, you no

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longer need the same tools to cope with that particular environment

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or habitat, and so you, you know, we somehow seem to forget it.

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But I mean, for instance, if you were in B&Q,

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that's one big room, isn't it? I mean, you don't cross any thresholds. But...

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True, when you go in there, you do forget everything you were meant to...

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-I meant to get those Rawlplugs and the other things...

-You forget the day.

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-The butt plugs.

-The reason why you're alive.

-Where the car is, who you're married to.

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Why you haven't killed yourself earlier.

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Oh, Suggs, Suggs! Let's not go down there.

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No, but I'm just saying, it is one big room. I mean, it is a big room, isn't it?

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Yeah. Well, yeah, crossing a threshold makes you lose your thread.

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What's the world's longest living thing?

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SUGGS' BUZZER

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Suggs?

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A giant redwood.

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Good answer. Not correct, but good.

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They do live a very, very long time.

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And it's not a klaxon.

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-There was a clam.

-A clam?

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A clam that some scientists killed last year, that was 500 years old.

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-That some scientists killed?

-Yeah, it was an accident.

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But they were like, "Guys, great news, we've found the oldest thing in the world"

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"We killed it, but it's really old."

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And it was over 500 years old.

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This is well over 500 years old. Possibly immortal.

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Is that picture a clue?

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There is some there, I think, well, you can see...

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Shall we have a klaxon? Do you want a klaxon?

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What are you going to say?

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Brucie.

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KLAXON

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The biggest thing in the world, got to have a bit of fun.

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-Obviously if you're watching this...

-Love, respect, everything.

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-What a great man he was.

-Yeah. We loved you, Brucie.

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And if you're still, if you're still hanging on, well - well done.

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-Stop it!

-Lichen.

-Yes, is the right answer. Lichen.

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But no... Nothing to do with the lavatory, but we don't count that as playing it.

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It is lichen, lichen, there it is.

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How many forms of life make up lichen, as it were?

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Well, I don't even understand the question - how many forms of life?

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Well, you know, sometimes you get symbiosis, which creates what

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seems to be one thing but is in fact made up of other things.

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-Okey-doke.

-Things living together, symbiotic.

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And this is two organisms, it's fungus and algae.

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-Fungus and algae.

-Yeah.

-Living together.

-Yeah, that's right.

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-Is it, we're making the worst ever sitcom?

-Well, one provides... The fungus...

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They're living together but they don't get on. Oh, they're so very different.

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Fungus the Bogeyman and Algy, Algy from Biggles.

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I've got Ebony and Ivory in my head now.

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-Fungus and Algae.

-Well, the fungus provides a cosy environment

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and the algae has the equipment to photosynthesise, and they live

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happily together on stones and in incredible environments.

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-That's the oldest thing?

-Well, there's a 9,000 years old one in Lapland,

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probably the world's oldest living thing, as far as we know.

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They're everywhere.

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They're the dominant vegetation on 8% of the world's surface.

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Not just they exist there, they are the dominant vegetation. They can be very tasty.

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There's a...Pete Townshend, you know, you remember Pete Townshend.

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-Indeed.

-No, I don't mean Pete Townshend. That can't be right.

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Go in another room, see if you can remember.

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-Pete Waterman.

-Aha!

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Pete Waterman. Two very different animals.

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They are, very different.

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That's a very different set of jokes in my head.

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-I've got very little in that category.

-Neither of them are acceptable.

-Dear, oh, dear!

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So, Pete Waterman, his hobbies.

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Model railway collecting.

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-Model railways, very good.

-Yes, yes.

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-Where might you use lichen or...?

-All over his face. No, sorry, no.

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-I don't know what I thought there.

-There's a kind of lichen that's known as Caribou Moss,

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so it's a moss-like lichen.

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And that's it there.

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And it's used by model railway enthusiasts for what?

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-Grass.

-Oh, who put that...

-To create grass.

-Not grass.

-Bushes.

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-Bushes and trees.

-And little furry green wigs.

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Hang on a second, can we take a moment to look at that photo and ask

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what the hell is going on there?

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That feels to me like a zoo with an enclosure that's just gone...

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Stick 'em in together.

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There's been some budget cuts, they can work it out.

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-It's gorgeous.

-You can't put them in with them!

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-It's so wonderful. Yes, you can.

-A lot of those guys need water.

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-Well, it's very near the coast, as you can see.

-How is that near the coast?

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It's slithering down, all the little waters running down to the sea.

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Look at the poor fat fella at the back.

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Look at him. He's just stranded there going, well...

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-It does look a bit odd...

-Hang on.

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"Hello, this feels wrong. Hello?

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"I shouldn't be in with the deer. Hello?"

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The photographer is giving his usual lie, which is -

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"Just one more, just one more."

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"Hello? The deer have drunk all the water!"

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They are reindeer.

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FAINT GROANS

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Come on, that's bloody good! "Rain-deer."

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But lichen, liken, litchen, however you want to say it.

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There seems to be no clear consensus as to whether it is lichen.

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But as the great performance poet Rory Motion put it,

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"You call it liken, I call it lichen, let's call the whole thing moss."

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AUDIENCE GROAN

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Now what's...

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What's long, begins with L and gets you sleepy, horny and pregnant?

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-Suggsie.

-Lunch.

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Well, that's pretty true.

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How do you know the pet name I've got for my penis?

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That's just terrible.

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Is it Larry?

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Is it Larry?

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-Is it Larry?

-"Meet Larry."

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I would think it's probably Lancelot.

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Oh, my goodness!

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Well, it's actually called Lancelot, because of all the boils.

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AUDIENCE: Ooh!

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Hey, they booked me - what were they hoping for?

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So it's horny, sleepy.

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Horny, sleepy, pregnant, yeah.

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Is it, it sounds like Rohypnol.

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No.

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Lying down?

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Lying down would kind of make you feel all those things.

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This is a foodstuff.

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-That makes you pregnant.

-Leeks.

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Leeks, good, good, you're in the right area,

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-you're in the vegetable garden. That's where I want you to be.

-Legumes?

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-Lettuce.

-Lettuce.

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-Lettuce is the right answer.

-What?

-Lettuce.

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Ooh, look at that. Phwor! Oh, Stephen, oh!

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This is a family show, take it away.

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Imagine if those Inuits were here now, eh - forget the lichen,

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-let me at that.

-What?

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I would ride that like a stolen bike.

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You're bad.

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Who gets horny looking at lettuce?

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Are you now pregnant?

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Hippocrates, the father of medicine - he described its opiate

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-qualities, as did Beatrix Potter, in Peter Rabbit.

-Soporific?

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-Soporific was exactly the word she used, very good.

-Indeed. Yes.

-Points for that.

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And they very nearly ended up in Mrs McGregor's rabbit pie as a result of falling asleep.

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Anyway, yes, lettuce is slightly soporific-making.

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However, it's been bred less and less so.

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But wild lettuce in really strong quantities.

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Rather than, Claudia, it making you feel sleepy, it makes you feel...?

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Horny.

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Horny. Horny. Horny and bouncy.

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-Right. We'll see.

-And therefore it's a kind of stimulant, which is

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tropane alkaloid, which is the same as is found in cocaine.

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And so it can give you a bit of a kick.

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I'm getting down the greengrocers.

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Well, they did try and sell it in America under names like

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L'Opium, with an L, and an apostrophe - and Lettucene.

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But most were made from ordinary garden lettuce.

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It has to be wild lettuce that you find. And it shouldn't be fed to rabbits,

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because it upsets their tummies, actually.

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Victorian picnickers wrapped lettuce around what, for picnics?

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-Their penises.

-Meat?

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That's, if in doubt, it's going to be a knob.

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-It is a knob. The word knob is used with this substance.

-Butter?

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Yes! That's absolutely right. They'd wrap it round butter to keep it cool. Yeah.

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Yeah, there it is.

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-What do they wrap round their penises?

-I don't know.

-Butter.

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And don't new mothers put cabbage leaves in their bras to

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-cool their cracked, sore nipples?

-Yep.

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-I didn't know that, is that true?

-Yeah.

-Is that the thing? Yeah.

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Cracking... Cracking of the nipple is not a laughing matter.

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-No, I wouldn't want...

-Not a laughing matter.

-Oh, ouch.

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And it doesn't make the baby any less hungry.

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And is it any easier if you express into a machine, or is that worse?

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Well...

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I don't know all the details.

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No.

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You agree to do two-thirds of the nappy work,

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quite a lot of the driving round in a car when it's screaming.

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I just remember the "Argh, ooh, argh!"

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But it's a great way for new mums to express themselves.

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Quite.

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Anyway, lettuce is good for all sorts of things,

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except rabbits, apparently.

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What's the world's longest experiment?

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QI.

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That's certainly possibly the world's longest failed experiment.

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I've definitely had a couple of double physics on a Wednesday afternoon that dragged.

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Hmm, I know what you mean.

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This is really quite long for one experiment.

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If I tell you when it started,

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it may give you an idea of how old it is.

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It was started in 1840, at least that's what we think.

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It may actually have begun 15 years earlier than that.

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And is it still, it's not still going?

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It's still going. Yeah.

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-Is it on animals?

-I think they've got to just call a day on that, haven't they?

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Just, that homework is going to be late, is all we know for sure.

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-Oh, is it curing the common cold?

-No, if I said it was a pile, does that help you?

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Oh, is it? It's not like continental drift or something, is it?

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No, the word "pile" - what does it mean in French?

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Oh, pile.

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Pile. Yes, in English how would we say that?

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JIMMY DOES FRENCH IMPRESSION

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Yeah. Battery, the French call the battery a pile, a pile, a heap, a stack.

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And this one is in Oxford, in a scientific laboratory

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and has been there since 1840.

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And as you can see, below it are two domes and a clanger.

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And when one clanger hits a bell, it causes a charge to make it go

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and hit the other one.

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It's rung ten billion times since it was started.

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Oh, it's annoying for the neighbours, isn't it?

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Fortunately, it's incredibly quiet,

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because it's inside a double bell jar.

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But the actual battery won't run out for 350 years, they think.

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350 years. Could these people get in touch with Apple?

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Because my phone runs out like about every hour.

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I don't think you need worry, there's some good

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scientists in Israel who've come up with an extraordinary,

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almost you might call biological battery, which they've demonstrated

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the concept by charging a phone in 45 seconds, fully charging it.

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Really very impressive.

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It will be ready to go to market in a couple of years.

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I'm very impressed with 350 year battery life.

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It is damn good but it's a tiny amount that's needed in order to operate.

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They could have done something more interesting with it.

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-I mean, say what you want about the Duracell bunny, it's fun to watch.

-You're right.

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It has a lovely clang and it goes, you know, something.

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So, that's the Clarendon Dry Pile,

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the world's longest scientific experiment.

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It's been quietly ringing bells in the City of Dreaming Spires for 174 years.

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What use is half a copy of the Daily Telegraph? That's a very pleasing photograph.

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Makes your butt look good. Look at that, that looks good.

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Yes, it does, doesn't it? That is a fine, fine pair of nates.

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Footballers used to put magazines down the back of their socks,

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in the days when you were allowed to tackle from behind.

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Well, that's interesting. So to stop them getting hacked.

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Where they got kicked in the legs.

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-Is it, well, they used to put newspaper, fish and chips were...

-Yes.

-..sold in newspaper,

0:15:500:15:54

and it was because it was the cheapest way to get a clean wrapper.

0:15:540:15:57

Absolutely, but I'll draw a line now,

0:15:570:15:59

because you'll get it just by default.

0:15:590:16:01

It's the Spend A Penny question.

0:16:010:16:03

-The lavatorial answer.

-So half a copy of the...

-Daily Telegraph.

0:16:030:16:07

-Wow, that's a lot going on...

-I know what you're thinking of,

0:16:070:16:10

you're immediately thinking of essuyage, of wiping, aren't you?

0:16:100:16:13

That's not the answer.

0:16:130:16:15

It was used until the 1970s as a test, as an index, to test?

0:16:150:16:19

-Oh, if it could flush away.

-Yes?

-The length of time spent on...

0:16:190:16:23

-Not that, that's a very good...

-But if you put it down the toilet, flush that away...

-If you could flush it.

0:16:230:16:28

A lavatory had to be powerful enough to be able to flush down half

0:16:280:16:31

a Daily Telegraph.

0:16:310:16:32

-That's quite a lot to flush away, isn't it?

-Yeah.

0:16:320:16:34

-It's a lot to flush, isn't it?

-It is, it is. And it's...

0:16:340:16:37

-Hell of a lot of shit in the Daily Telegraph.

-Sometimes...

0:16:370:16:39

LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE

0:16:390:16:42

-Very good.

-Boom, boom.

0:16:420:16:43

Ha, ha, nice one.

0:16:430:16:46

-Not a unanimous round of applause, I noticed.

-Not unanimous, no.

0:16:460:16:49

They now use a synthetic sludge stimulant.

0:16:490:16:52

-What, to read?

-No!

0:16:520:16:54

-Christ!

-No, that would do it.

-Jesus!

0:16:540:16:57

-It's in the Daily Mail.

-Yeah, that's the Daily Mail.

0:16:570:17:00

No, it's...

0:17:000:17:01

LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE

0:17:010:17:04

It's synthetic sludge stimulant,

0:17:070:17:08

a mixture of yeast, water, seed husks, peanut oil,

0:17:080:17:11

miso paste and shredded tissue, otherwise known as fake poo.

0:17:110:17:15

Unilever developed it for their Domex Toilet Academy,

0:17:150:17:18

which is in India.

0:17:180:17:19

They hope to be able to install 24,000 new lavatories in India,

0:17:190:17:24

for World Toilet Day, 2015.

0:17:240:17:26

It's a very important thing though, a third of the world's population don't have a flushing toilet.

0:17:260:17:30

Absolutely. In India, a staggering 90% of Indians own a mobile phone,

0:17:300:17:35

but only 50% have flush loos.

0:17:350:17:37

-Yeah.

-Priorities, and it's all priorities.

0:17:370:17:39

According to insurance claims, a staggering 800,000 mobile phones

0:17:390:17:42

-are accidentally flushed down the loo in Britain each year.

-At least they don't have that.

0:17:420:17:46

Quite, exactly.

0:17:460:17:48

-So...

-They just needed a packet of vegetarian sausages, take it from me.

-Really?

0:17:480:17:51

-That would probably be the closest poo replica you can find.

-Yes.

0:17:510:17:55

-But they're absolutely delicious.

-I'm sure they are.

0:17:550:17:58

Anyway, what would you do with the world's longest corkscrew?

0:17:580:18:02

Undo the world's most convivial bottle of wine.

0:18:030:18:05

-Well, exactly. That's perfect.

-Obviously.

-I would make, I would make a sex toy for pigs.

0:18:050:18:10

Oh, that's very good.

0:18:100:18:12

-Because you know about the fact...

-The pig's got a little corkscrew...

0:18:120:18:15

-..a little curly corkscrew of a knoblet.

-Yes.

-Not just pigs as well.

0:18:150:18:18

-Oh, is it not for taking out plugs...

-Ducks.

0:18:180:18:21

LAUGHTER

0:18:210:18:22

Have you been looking for someone who goes the other way?

0:18:240:18:27

As it were.

0:18:270:18:28

LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE

0:18:280:18:30

Oh, dear.

0:18:340:18:35

-I love it when it's a genuine...

-I know!

0:18:350:18:37

So, this is a helical structure. It's not really a corkscrew,

0:18:370:18:40

but it's the longest that occurs in nature.

0:18:400:18:43

And I have one.

0:18:430:18:44

I mean, I say I have one, I don't have one growing about my person,

0:18:440:18:47

I have one on my person, as it were, now it's on my person.

0:18:470:18:51

I can't believe you're being so blase about this, you've killed a unicorn!

0:18:510:18:54

-LAUGHTER

-Yeah.

0:18:540:18:56

-You're a monster!

-Oh, JK Rowling gave me permission.

0:18:560:19:00

Um, it's not a unicorn,

0:19:000:19:01

though some believe the unicorn myth sprang from this...

0:19:010:19:04

-Is it the narwhal?

-Narwhal! Absolutely right. And...

-Very good.

0:19:040:19:08

-I'm pretty sure that's made up.

-Yeah.

-What is a narwhal?

0:19:080:19:10

-This guy.

-There it is.

-What?

-I know. Isn't it astonishing?

-No way!

0:19:100:19:13

You think it's been glued on by someone

0:19:130:19:15

at the Natural History Unit in Bristol,

0:19:150:19:17

but it is a real creature.

0:19:170:19:18

It's a whale, and the word narwhal means dead body, 'Nar' in Norsk,

0:19:180:19:23

because it's a rather grey, unappetising-looking flesh.

0:19:230:19:26

But what do you think it is? Do you think it's horn, or tooth, or what?

0:19:260:19:29

-I imagine it's hair, always hair, isn't it?

-In this case it isn't, it is actually a tooth.

0:19:290:19:33

It's a tooth without enamel. It is a single tooth that bursts out of it.

0:19:330:19:37

I mean, it's phenomenal.

0:19:370:19:38

And nobody quite knows, A, why it's corkscrewed

0:19:380:19:41

and what it's for.

0:19:410:19:43

The assumption people make, because it's on the male,

0:19:430:19:45

must be that it's for fighting other males for the right to mate.

0:19:450:19:48

But nobody's ever observed two... Oh, well, hang on...

0:19:480:19:51

LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE

0:19:510:19:53

No. They rub them together as a bonding thing,

0:19:560:19:58

it's not fighting, they don't hurt each other.

0:19:580:20:01

-Rub them together as a bonding sort of thing?

-Yeah.

-That's right.

-They've been to private school.

0:20:010:20:05

Keep telling yourself that, Stephen, I don't know who you're fooling.

0:20:050:20:08

It's the only way they ever get to chew.

0:20:080:20:11

They get a grape between them and kind of...

0:20:110:20:13

-They're very much the Ken Dodd of the oceans.

-They are, aren't they?

0:20:130:20:16

They actually eat their food by hoovering it up

0:20:160:20:18

and just inhaling it, virtually.

0:20:180:20:20

They're not krill eaters, like a lot of the larger whales.

0:20:200:20:22

But it's fascinating that a creature like that, you know,

0:20:220:20:25

we think we cover the world with our natural history documentaries

0:20:250:20:28

there are whole channels devoted to it,

0:20:280:20:30

and people go out in boats and they're quietly watching.

0:20:300:20:32

But we still just don't know what that's for.

0:20:320:20:35

That's, I think it's nice when there's a mystery about animals.

0:20:350:20:38

We're very grateful to Raff Fells, who leant us his snooker cue, and...

0:20:380:20:43

-Maybe they are just attractive to the female whales.

-It may be that.

0:20:430:20:47

-Yeah, it may just be that.

-It may be like, ooh, I like your one.

-Yeah.

0:20:470:20:50

Yes, anyway, what human endurance record

0:20:500:20:53

-gets broken every eight months?

-Pregnancy.

0:20:530:20:57

LAUGHTER

0:20:570:20:58

Just stop and think now.

0:20:580:21:00

How is that an endurance record?

0:21:000:21:02

Every eight months, on average, the world's oldest person...

0:21:020:21:05

-Dies. Or something like that.

-Brilliant Claudia, absolutely right.

0:21:050:21:09

Every eight months on average, yeah, the world's oldest person dies.

0:21:090:21:12

At the moment they may be the oldest person in the world somewhere in,

0:21:120:21:15

I don't know, Kazakhstan, or somewhere.

0:21:150:21:17

-There are certain places...

-It's normally Japan.

0:21:170:21:20

-Well, Japan is...

-It's always Japan.

-..Japan, Costa Rica,

0:21:200:21:22

nearly always near the sea. Sardinia is another place.

0:21:220:21:25

-Bournemouth.

-Bournemouth, maybe.

-LAUGHTER

0:21:250:21:28

Who's that? Do you remember her? She is a very extraordinary exception,

0:21:280:21:32

who stayed the oldest person for a very long time.

0:21:320:21:34

She died in 1997, aged 122

0:21:340:21:37

and 164 days, so 122 and a third and the rest.

0:21:370:21:41

She was a smoker and she hogged pole position for more than two years.

0:21:410:21:45

She died in '97, she knew van Gogh.

0:21:450:21:48

And Bruce Forsyth.

0:21:480:21:49

-LAUGHTER

-And Bruce Forsyth, of course, absolutely.

0:21:490:21:52

She was a fabulous figure.

0:21:520:21:53

She said, "the only wrinkle I have, I'm sitting on."

0:21:530:21:55

LAUGHTER

0:21:550:21:58

But terrific, terrifically humorous and extraordinary woman

0:21:580:22:02

and her name was Jeanne Calment.

0:22:020:22:04

And that's exactly where she lived, around Arles. Extraordinary.

0:22:040:22:07

Lots of olive oil, obviously. That seems to be good.

0:22:070:22:10

There are parts of the world where people seem to live unusually long,

0:22:100:22:13

they're called "blue zones" and you can see them there.

0:22:130:22:15

Loma Linda, Nicoya, Costa Rica, Sardinia, Icaria,

0:22:150:22:19

which is where Icarus is said to have dropped into the sea,

0:22:190:22:22

and Okinawa.

0:22:220:22:23

All of them by the sea, so maybe seafood is a good thing,

0:22:230:22:27

and omega three's which come from, sorry, am I in the way?

0:22:270:22:29

-I'm just checking Australia.

-Oh, no, I'm afraid...

0:22:290:22:31

-Doesn't look good, does not look good.

-No luck there.

0:22:310:22:34

-I'll tell you where a great place to live is, the sea.

-Yes.

0:22:340:22:37

LAUGHTER

0:22:370:22:39

-It really feels like...

-That's very blue.

0:22:390:22:42

-..it really feels like you could last there.

-Yeah.

0:22:420:22:44

-Highly blue.

-Dry land seems to be holding us back.

0:22:440:22:46

So, anyway, there we are with age.

0:22:460:22:48

Someone breaks the world's oldest living person record every eight months,

0:22:480:22:52

which brings us stumbling into the long lost land of General Ignorance.

0:22:520:22:55

Fingers on buzzers if you would please.

0:22:550:22:57

Now, what colour is the dark side of the moon?

0:22:570:23:01

Well, you can't see it, Stephen, so no-one really knows.

0:23:010:23:04

Oh, that's not true at all.

0:23:040:23:06

The dark side of the moon is the part which is dark when it's...

0:23:060:23:08

That dreadful Pink Floyd album that won't go out of the charts.

0:23:080:23:11

-That lasted....

-That thing, yeah.

0:23:110:23:13

..a very long time, sold 50 million copies and counting.

0:23:130:23:16

But you can see a horned moon or a new moon,

0:23:160:23:19

you can see the sliver and then the dark bit.

0:23:190:23:21

It reflects, what does it reflect?

0:23:210:23:23

It is light, we'll show you a bit of horned moon here.

0:23:230:23:26

There's a horned moon

0:23:260:23:28

and there's a shine on it that comes as a reflection of the Earth.

0:23:280:23:32

So, it's actually a kind of blue, but it's not really blue,

0:23:320:23:36

it's turquoise, according to the Mauna Loa lab,

0:23:360:23:38

the observatory in Hawaii.

0:23:380:23:40

So it has earth-shine, which is turquoise.

0:23:400:23:42

That's what the colour of the dark side of the moon is.

0:23:420:23:45

-In case you wanted to know.

-It's lovely.

-Very nice.

0:23:450:23:47

At least, I say "the moon,"

0:23:470:23:49

but how many moons does the earth have?

0:23:490:23:51

-Oh, God!

-Yeah...

-LAUGHTER

0:23:510:23:53

-BUZZER

-Most definitely only one.

0:23:530:23:57

-Oh, dear. Oh, dear.

-Of course.

-KLAXON SOUNDS

0:23:570:23:59

-It had to be that.

-Of course.

-Yeah.

0:23:590:24:02

-It is the moon, I think I'm with him.

-Yeah.

-They've changed it.

0:24:020:24:05

-KLAXON SOUNDS

-They call it...

0:24:050:24:07

LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE

0:24:070:24:08

The one and only moon!

0:24:110:24:13

-Well, there are moons around, around other planets...

-The moon in June, all them songs.

0:24:130:24:17

-They're all about "the moon."

-There are lots of orbiting objects, aren't there?

0:24:170:24:21

-Some of them are far away.

-Lots of orbiting objects, yes.

0:24:210:24:23

We gave an argument there were hundreds, last time, to confuse you,

0:24:230:24:26

but there's another argument which seems compelling and interesting, which is that there are none.

0:24:260:24:31

Which is to say that the moon is not a moon.

0:24:310:24:33

-The moon actually qualifies...

-Christ!

0:24:330:24:35

We've discovered it's turquoise and now it's not there.

0:24:350:24:38

-LAUGHTER

-No, it's there,

0:24:380:24:40

but it maybe qualifies as a planet.

0:24:400:24:42

A wanderer, a planet...

0:24:420:24:44

Well, the Clangers lived on it, didn't they? We know that.

0:24:440:24:47

-Soup Dragon and all that.

-That's true.

0:24:470:24:49

In order to be a planet, the International Astronomical Union, in 2006, laid down definitions.

0:24:490:24:53

These were the ones that booted out Pluto, I think.

0:24:530:24:55

-So, it has to orbit the sun...

-Right.

0:24:550:24:57

..it has to be massive enough for its own gravity to make it round.

0:24:570:25:00

It has to have cleared its neighbourhood of smaller objects.

0:25:000:25:04

The moon comfortably fulfils the first two.

0:25:040:25:06

On the third it makes more sense to say that the Earth and moon

0:25:060:25:09

TOGETHER have cleared their neighbourhood.

0:25:090:25:11

The Earth certainly hasn't cleared the moon,

0:25:110:25:13

so they are a binary system, like binary stars.

0:25:130:25:16

-Like lichen.

-Yeah, exactly, exactly.

0:25:160:25:19

So, there is a genuine possibility some people...

0:25:190:25:22

LAUGHTER

0:25:220:25:24

And the sun's gravitational effect on the moon

0:25:240:25:26

is more than twice that of the Earth's.

0:25:260:25:28

So we don't have nearly as much gravitational effect.

0:25:280:25:30

There is a good reason to suspect

0:25:300:25:32

that we are actually in possession of a fellow planet.

0:25:320:25:35

It goes round the earth, though.

0:25:350:25:37

-The earth orbits the moon as well.

-What?

-Yeah.

-Does it?

-Hmm.

0:25:370:25:41

-I know. Go use an astrolabe...

-LAUGHTER

0:25:410:25:43

So we've been consistently inconsistent about this,

0:25:430:25:46

but tonight we're saying that the Earth doesn't have a moon at all. So there.

0:25:460:25:50

That was a slightly mean question to end on, so let's have a liquid lark.

0:25:500:25:53

I've got some liquid here in the form of our very own QI water,

0:25:530:25:57

as you can see. And what I'm going to do is pour some,

0:25:570:25:59

I'm going to not use the sporty... Oh, God, I can't even open it.

0:25:590:26:02

I'm going to have to use the sporty bit, there we go. Mmm.

0:26:020:26:05

-There we go.

-That's as much exercise as you get, isn't it?

0:26:050:26:09

LAUGHTER Oh, so sporty.

0:26:090:26:11

What we do is we flatten this card on it

0:26:110:26:14

and we turn it upside down

0:26:140:26:15

and I want you to try and do this if you can.

0:26:150:26:17

And, Oh, God, please work, please work, please work,

0:26:170:26:20

please work, please work. There you go, holds up.

0:26:200:26:23

Hurray.

0:26:230:26:24

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

0:26:240:26:27

So you should, you should be able to try that. Whoa.

0:26:270:26:30

-Terrific, terrific fun.

-Yeah.

0:26:300:26:34

This could not possibly end in tears.

0:26:340:26:36

-No, no, try it, honestly.

-It could go on and on.

0:26:360:26:39

You just, you just turn it over...

0:26:390:26:42

There you are you see, it does work!

0:26:420:26:44

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

0:26:440:26:47

Hang on, so, hang on. And...

0:26:490:26:52

-Yay!

-Hurray!

0:26:520:26:53

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

0:26:530:26:55

Wey-hey!

0:26:550:26:57

And do you want to know something really extraordinary about this?

0:27:000:27:04

Watch. This should work.

0:27:040:27:06

Oh, leave it out.

0:27:060:27:08

GASPING AND APPLAUSE Shut up!

0:27:080:27:11

-Shut the front door.

-Front door.

-How about that?

0:27:110:27:14

-That's pretty amazing, isn't it?

-You're actually made of magic.

0:27:140:27:17

LAUGHTER

0:27:170:27:18

-Go on, let's have a look.

-Not bad, is it?

0:27:180:27:20

SQUEALING AND APPLAUSE

0:27:200:27:23

That's why we gave you these!

0:27:260:27:28

Whoa!

0:27:280:27:29

LAUGHTER

0:27:290:27:31

-Well, hang on a second.

-Oh!

-What happened there?!

0:27:310:27:34

-I know you know JK Rowling, but how is that done?

-So,

0:27:340:27:37

on that water-bombshell, at long last...

0:27:370:27:42

..at long last it is time for the scores.

0:27:420:27:46

And it's pretty exciting.

0:27:460:27:48

-In first place, it's Claudia with plus nine.

-Oh, my goodness.

0:27:480:27:52

-WHOOPING AND APPLAUSE

-Thank you.

0:27:520:27:55

In...

0:27:550:27:56

..second place,

0:27:560:27:59

with minus eight, is Alan Davies!

0:27:590:28:00

-CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

-Thank you very much.

0:28:000:28:04

In third place,

0:28:040:28:06

with minus 16, it's Suggs.

0:28:060:28:08

APPLAUSE

0:28:080:28:10

Which means our runaway loser,

0:28:100:28:12

with minus 37, is Jimmy Carr.

0:28:120:28:15

-And this is why!

-APPLAUSE

0:28:150:28:17

END OF SHOW JINGLE

0:28:170:28:19

So, it's good night from Claudia, Jimmy, Suggs, Alan and me

0:28:230:28:28

and I'll leave you with the last words of the great hotelier,

0:28:280:28:31

Conrad Hilton:

0:28:310:28:32

"Leave the shower curtain on the inside of the tub."

0:28:320:28:36

Those were his dying words. Good night.

0:28:360:28:38

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

0:28:380:28:42

WHISTLING

0:28:420:28:44

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