Middle Muddle QI


Middle Muddle

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Transcript


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This programme contains some strong language.

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CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

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Good evening!

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Good evening, good evening, good evening, good evening,

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and welcome to QI, for the middle show of the M series.

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Which is in the middle of the alphabet.

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Where our theme is, well, not so much middle as muddle, to be honest.

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But we have the magnificent Aisling Bea.

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CHEERING

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The mighty Danny Bhoy.

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CHEERING

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The magnetic Jimmy Carr.

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CHEERING

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And the miscellaneous Alan Davies.

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CHEERING

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And their buzzers are merrily multifarious.

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Aisling goes...

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# Here we go round the mulberry bush,

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# The mulberry bush, the mulberry bush. #

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Danny goes...

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# This old man, he played one,

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# He played knick knack on my drum. #

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Jimmy goes...

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# Three blind mice

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# Three blind mice. #

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It's like the soundtrack of a horror film.

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And Alan goes...

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# My Bonnie lies over... #

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-BANG ON DOOR

-Will you go to bed?!

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DOOR SLAMS

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-Was that a gunshot?

-I don't know.

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The bit at the end, yes.

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Well, the best place to start, I always think, is in the middle.

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How do you know when a chimpanzee is having a midlife crisis?

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Does it get a Chinese tattoo?

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-Just on the back of his neck there.

-A motorbike.

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A motorbike?

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CLAXON SOUNDS

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APPLAUSE

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Where does the phrase midlife crisis come from?

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How long has it been in the language, do you think?

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Do you think the Victorians used it? Do you think...

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-I bet it's more recent. I bet it's like a '50s...

-Yeah.

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Cos it was about buying sports cars and doing those kind of crazy...

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divorcing your wife and going out with someone of 22.

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It was actually 1965

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that a psychologist decided on this midlife crisis.

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He thought that only geniuses got a midlife crisis.

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He used the phrase,

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but he said it was something that happened to geniuses.

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-But we...

-It's not only us. It's not only us.

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Is it, Alan? You get them too.

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-Yeah.

-Yeah. LAUGHTER

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The awkward thing about midlife crises,

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I've had some friends that have gone through them recently

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and they've left their partners, gone out with much younger women

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and they've bought sports cars, and the most difficult thing

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is pretending to my other half that,

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"Aw! That's terrible. Isn't it sad?"

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"Aw, ah. God, he's had a disaster there.

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"Yeah. No, apparently she used to be a dancer. Yeah."

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Yeah. LAUGHTER

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He's not... But is he happy?

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Aw.

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Yes.

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He can't stop smiling.

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He showed me some photos on his phone, it looks amazing.

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Well, it turns out that chimpanzees, when they're young, they're high

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and when they get to middle age, they kind of go down

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and then up again, which is supposedly what a midlife crisis is.

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Does it only affect the men, or does it affect the women chimps as well?

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It seems to be a male thing, doesn't it? And I think...

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Yeah. I hear that, sister monkeys.

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Are those guys laughing at the ginger ones?

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Well, the tests were done on the ginger ones,

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or orang-utans, as some people prefer to call them...

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-The ginger ones, yes.

-..and on the chimpanzees.

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Now, what mania was started by a few myopic Merseysiders?

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-# Mulberry bush. #

-Weirdly, you know...

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-Yeah?

-No, keep going.

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Does this buzzer stop Jimmy speaking? Try again.

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LAUGHTER

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Say something.

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-I was just going to say...

-# Mulberry bush. #

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There's some support for it.

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LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE

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I find the buzzers really disconcerting.

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It does feel like someone's about to get murdered in the show.

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-"Oh, go to bed!"

-LAUGHTER

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Those childish ghost cries.

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# Mice. #

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It's usually The Beatles.

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-Hmm.

-Isn't it?

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Yeah, it's usually The Beatles.

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-The Beatles is what you're saying.

-It's usually The Beatles.

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He's saying The Beatles.

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-CLAXON SOUNDS

-# Mulberry bush. #

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Very good.

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No, is the answer.

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-Oh.

-It was a mania, but not Beatlemania on Merseyside.

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-Myopic Merseyside.

-It involves something to do with M.

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-Myopic is short-sighted, is it?

-Yes.

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-Partially-sighted.

-So, what M could help you

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with partial-sightedness?

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-My glasses.

-LAUGHTER

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Yes.

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Any particular type of ophthalmic instrument

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-that would help, that began with M?

-Monocle.

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Monocle is the right answer. There we go, very good.

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Yeah.

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APPLAUSE

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I only knew that cos there happens to be a monocle next to me.

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It was a bit of a giveaway.

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There you are, pop 'em in.

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It was a fashion thing that seemed to sweep Liverpool.

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I can imagine it taking off again, to be honest.

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-You do look great.

-You look very good.

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-Ah, Jimmy!

-LAUGHTER

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-Oh, my goodness.

-My old pal.

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What are you laughing at?

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Jimmy, you've never looked more like a ventriloquist's doll in your life.

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LAUGHTER

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So, Jimmy...

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SPEECH DROWNED OUT BY LAUGHTER

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Oh, my! You really did look like Lord Charles there.

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HE LAUGHS

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I now feel slightly haunted.

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Wow! Thank you for putting your hand there, by the way.

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It was really...special.

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Your hair is all up.

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They won't fit because monocles had to be made to fit,

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which is why they were expensive.

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And because they were expensive,

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they were associated with the upper classes.

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And even when you wear them,

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it's very hard not to look rather kind of like that, isn't it?

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At what point in history did someone just go,

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make that mental leap between,

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"I've got it here and I've got a little bridge here.

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"I could maybe just put another one..."

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Well, it's funny you should say that.

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Which came first, the monocle or the spectacles?

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I'm going to say the spectacles.

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Yes. The spectacles, by hundreds of years.

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-What?

-When do you think the monocle came in?

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1974.

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No. They came in, in the 1800s and they were instantly a success,

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but they were expensive.

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And we associate them with, I suppose...

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-Oh, there I am.

-DANNY:

-Yeah. There you are, yeah.

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I had all three of those.

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-DANNY:

-They knocked that up pretty quickly.

-Yeah.

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But something gave them a rather bad image

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-in the 20th century.

-Californian vegetables.

-Nazis.

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Nazis, and in fact... LAUGHTER

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Californian vegetables.

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Buy Californian vegetables.

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-By Jove, they're awfully good.

-LAUGHTER

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-Yeah, they were associated with...

-You do become instantly posh.

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..aristocrats, German soldiers and generals.

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Ludendorff wore one, Krebs, various of those figures there did.

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Ja.

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Advance.

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-They really did never stop...

-No squinting.

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-..trying to look more evil, did they?

-No, they didn't.

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Well, what could we add to this?

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I've got the, you know, the skull and crossbones,

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I've got the weird look, I've got the steely eyes.

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-They're a very good fit.

-I know, I'll put one spectacle lens

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over here.

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-GERMAN ACCENT:

-What about a monocle?

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Zat would make us more evil. A tiny moustache.

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Anyway, now for a medical question.

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What malady could you ameliorate by standing in the middle of Wales?

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-Yes?

-Er, Moby Dick.

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Ha!

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-Stand in the middle of whales.

-Moby Dick!

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Ah.

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Oh, very good. Very good. APPLAUSE

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-Very good.

-Whales or Wales the country, though?

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Well, you see, this is the thing.

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Not whale, the giant mammal.

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You kind of deserve a little point for your Moby Dick.

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-Oh, do I?

-Because I am actually talking...

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If you stood in the middle of a blue whale.

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I know you're obsessed, but it doesn't have to be blue.

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Yeah, but let's say it's blue.

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All right, blue. All right blue.

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Because you know you can stand in one of those.

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-You can?

-They're huge.

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Yeah.

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They are quite big, aren't they?

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Of course, they're not the biggest life form on earth, as you know.

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Hell no!

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Sorry, are we doing a 'best of' show?

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In some ways, it's the 'worst of'.

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You two have had this conversation like a million times.

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What's the question again, Stephen?

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Yeah, what sort of amelioration for what sort of malady

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could you expect, if you stood...

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A cream, an ointment? Some...a balm.

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No. No, this is...the act of standing,

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it's not something that's just taken from a whale.

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This is an example. This is in 1896 or thereabouts.

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-This is an Australian...

-Is that a dead whale?

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A drunken Australian found a dead whale on the beach...

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Just say Australian, you don't need to beleaguer.

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-I knew you'd say that.

-Is that him there?

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Yeah, that's him. ..and decided to walk into the whale.

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That looks like something from Embarrassing Bodies, doesn't it?

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It does a bit.

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-AUSTRALIAN ACCENT:

-I've put on a little bit of weight.

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-AUSTRALIAN ACCENT:

-I've fallen into a bloody whale.

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LAUGHTER

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I thought a blowhole meant something else.

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I feel like a bloody fool now.

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I'll look for a malady and ameliorate it.

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Just the kind of language you'd use.

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But no, he got out of the whale...

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He got out, he stank.

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..and was amazed to discover...

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He could walk.

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LAUGHTER

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-That his...

-He was sober.

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..his rheumatism had disappeared.

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We'd never have got that. We could have been here about a week.

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I know. That's why I helped you out.

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-Thank you so much.

-So it cures rheumatism?

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-Well...

-But I mean, you can't get them at the chemist, can you?

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No, you can't. It started a fad, though. People...

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-Would go and stand in the middle of dead whales?

-Yeah.

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And whalers would leave a hole,

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a little, sort of, area for people who would pay

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and go and stand inside.

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And the decaying blubber would act as a kind of poultice.

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-Is there any kind of...?

-I want to go now.

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-No.

-Total...

-No evidence that it works at all.

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But it was just one of those fads that they had in those days.

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-What a fun fad.

-A fun fad.

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-These days we've got...

-Imagine if the monocle people went

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and they were standing there like, "Oh, I'm all for a fad now.

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"Here I am with my monocle, sat in a whale.

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"I'll do anything."

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Well, yeah, that's it really.

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Australians with rheumatism had a whale of a time.

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What would you find in a medieval manhole?

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Do they keep their favourite things in it?

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Do they bury them in case of marauding pillagers?

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We're actually in the Germanic regions here.

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Obviously, there was no Germany in medieval times, but...

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Is it access to drains?

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Ah, no. It's a legal issue. It's a rather bizarre one.

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If a man wanted to take another man to court,

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in Germany and in England, they used trial by battle.

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In England, if a man wanted to take a woman to court,

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he couldn't use trial by battle.

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But in Germany, you could,

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but you had to dig a hole and be inside a hole

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and tie one arm behind your back...

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-LAUGHTER

-Oh, yeah.

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-No way!

-..and then you could fight.

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-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-I feel like on this panel show,

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I should be stood up like this and all of you should be down there,

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-and I'm slashing around me jokes.

-LAUGHTER

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Erm... The man would be given three clubs

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with which he could, you know, try and hit the woman.

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And the woman would have rocks and a slingshot.

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-Now...

-Did this actually happen, or...?

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-Yes. Oh gosh, yes.

-Really?

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That should be surely be the other way on.

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He should have the slingshot and the rocks,

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if he's just stuck in a hole.

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-Yeah, I know. It's strange.

-She can stand back quite a way

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-and just fire at him.

-With stones.

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Imagine then I suppose you can get right down in your hole, can't you.

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Yeah. And just go round like that, with a club.

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If the man touched the side of his hole...

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Oh, that's... LAUGHTER

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You know what I mean.

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If he touched the side of the hole, he forfeited one of his clubs.

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-Right.

-And then he only had two clubs left.

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But, it's important to remember,

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whoever lost the battle would be put to death.

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So this is quite a serious thing.

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They've already sort of dug the grave, so it's all right.

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-Yes, that's true.

-It's not as bad.

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-Pop them in there, fill it in, we're done.

-Yeah.

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-That's extraordinary.

-Isn't it?

-Yeah.

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-Yeah.

-Anyway...

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That's what I love about this show,

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that sometimes we can all just go, "Yeah, fine."

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-Indeed.

-Perfectly lovely.

-That's quite interesting, yeah.

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Still on the medieval match-ups,

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what brilliant new strategy was employed by the England team

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in the European Championships of 1176?

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Did they just do what they always do -

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get a really easy qualifying group?

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And Scotland got, you know,

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-the Holy Roman Empire.

-LAUGHTER

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The Knights Templar and Spain.

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And England...England get Lindisfarne.

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This is medieval again,

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and it's early medieval, I suppose you might say.

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It's not football though, is it? It must be another...

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-No, it's not football.

-Jousting?

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Jousting came later.

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-What happened in early medieval...

-They need more space for that.

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..was that.

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I know, they do, don't they? It's rather crowded.

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They're not getting enough of a run-up.

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Yeah. Before jousting, the two with lances, you know,

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riding towards each other,

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there was something, which was a French word

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that we still use to mean a kind of fray.

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-It begins with M.

-Menagerie.

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Not a menagerie. LAUGHTER

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Menage a trois.

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A European menage a trois.

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-Melee.

-Yes! A melee is what it was.

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Well done.

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The original cast of Avatar in a melee.

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And we're looking at the 12th century,

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-and the great king then was...

-Henry II.

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-Followed by his son, Richard I, the Lionheart.

-Oh, right.

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And they liked this melee when Richard wasn't out at the Crusades.

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-I like it.

-And...

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"I do. It pleaseth me."

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And they saw this very good trick and they copied it.

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And that is, you tell them you're not going to fight today.

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You know, "I won't do the melee today."

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And they go, "Oh, OK."

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And then they exhaust each other. And then you come with your lot saying,

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"I think I will actually."

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And they're all completely tired, and you win.

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What do you mean they exhaust each other?

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Well, because they're running backwards and forwards at each other,

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-running and running.

-This is how I do a menage a trois.

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I let them go for a while and then I come in late.

0:14:510:14:53

They stole the idea off Philip of Flanders

0:14:550:14:57

and it seemed to work pretty well.

0:14:570:14:59

The sport is called melee and it's similar to jousting?

0:14:590:15:02

Well, the reason jousting then took on,

0:15:020:15:03

as you can see from the picture, this involves a lot all at once,

0:15:030:15:06

whereas jousting is cheaper.

0:15:060:15:08

-Ah, I see.

-It's simply that.

0:15:080:15:09

It was so much cheaper to have that.

0:15:090:15:12

And you've got champions at the jousting

0:15:120:15:14

who appeal to the ladies.

0:15:140:15:16

You know, the handkerchiefs and the favours

0:15:160:15:18

and the rather extraordinary elaborate form of romance.

0:15:180:15:21

It's kind of funny that that would appeal to ladies.

0:15:210:15:24

It's kind of like the version now for men for The Only Way Is Essex.

0:15:240:15:26

-That you don't actually know what someone looks like...

-Yes!

0:15:260:15:29

..because they've got so much fancy stuff and extensions on.

0:15:290:15:32

You're like, "Oh, he's gorgeous. Look at him!

0:15:320:15:34

"I really like the look of him."

0:15:340:15:35

Then he takes off his thing at the end

0:15:350:15:37

and you're like, "Oh, God!

0:15:370:15:38

"Maybe I don't like him."

0:15:380:15:40

Going round in a miniskirt with a massive pole in your hand.

0:15:400:15:42

-Yeah.

-LAUGHTER

0:15:420:15:44

The chicks go wild.

0:15:440:15:45

Well, the first rule of knight club was to cheat.

0:15:460:15:51

Now, for a question about moral turpitude.

0:15:510:15:54

What morally questionable activity will you finally be able to do

0:15:540:15:58

on the streets of Knutsford in 2015?

0:15:580:16:01

-Is the clue in the picture, Stephen?

-Sort of, yeah.

0:16:030:16:05

Does it involve nuts?

0:16:050:16:07

No. Sadly not.

0:16:070:16:08

Does it involve bunting?

0:16:080:16:10

Nor bunting. And look lower down.

0:16:100:16:11

What is there particularly noticeable?

0:16:110:16:13

-Terrible shoes.

-Oh. Look at them, oh.

0:16:130:16:16

-Very bad shoes.

-Yeah.

0:16:160:16:18

-The road.

-Pavement's...

-Parking. Double yellow lines.

0:16:180:16:20

The pavement.

0:16:200:16:21

-What about the pavement?

-It's small, very narrow.

0:16:210:16:24

It's a very narrow pavement. Thank you, Danny.

0:16:240:16:26

-It is a narrow pavement.

-You can't have that.

0:16:260:16:28

There's a reason for the narrow pavement.

0:16:280:16:30

-Because...

-Those two people are massive.

0:16:300:16:32

LAUGHTER

0:16:320:16:34

In the olden days...

0:16:350:16:37

-Yeah?

-A certain class of person virtually ruled the roost in Britain

0:16:370:16:42

-and that was an aristocrat.

-Oh, the bastards.

0:16:420:16:44

Yes. Absolutely shocking people.

0:16:440:16:46

And you had to throw yourself into the gutter if one approached you.

0:16:460:16:49

Well, sometimes they had strong, stern and absurd moral views.

0:16:490:16:54

-And...

-Oh, so they weren't allowed to walk...

-Well, yes.

0:16:540:16:57

-If you imagine...

-..side by side?

0:16:570:16:58

ARISTOCRATIC VOICE: "I'm not having the working classes

0:16:580:17:00

"next to each other in the street.

0:17:000:17:03

"cos it can only lead to touching."

0:17:030:17:05

I know you think you're doing a voice, but that is how you talk.

0:17:050:17:08

LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE

0:17:080:17:11

There's no difference.

0:17:140:17:16

Like a hair's breadth.

0:17:170:17:18

You are a beast.

0:17:190:17:21

Voicing the inner workings of the mind.

0:17:220:17:25

So, you weren't allowed to walk hand-in-hand with a lady?

0:17:250:17:28

You could just walk behind her?

0:17:280:17:29

-Basically, yeah.

-I'm happy with that.

0:17:290:17:32

Well, the Lady Jane Stanley,

0:17:320:17:33

who was the daughter of the 11th Earl of Derby,

0:17:330:17:36

-and she laid down this strict code of...

-Single-file pavement...

0:17:360:17:40

-Single-file pavements.

-..in case they touched one another.

0:17:400:17:42

-Yes. She died unmarried, as you might expect.

-Yeah!

0:17:420:17:45

She wrote her own epitaph, apparently, which is,

0:17:450:17:48

"A maid I lived and a maid I died. I never was asked and never denied."

0:17:480:17:53

I think that's not bad, considering she was dead.

0:17:530:17:55

Yes, quite.

0:17:550:17:57

Fair enough.

0:17:570:17:58

But perhaps the most famous prude of his era was a little later,

0:17:580:18:01

in the 1870s - a fellow called Anthony Comstock.

0:18:010:18:04

Comstock, was from New York

0:18:040:18:07

and founded a league against lewdness of any kind.

0:18:070:18:10

He saw it everywhere. He hated it.

0:18:100:18:12

He'd been in the civil war, didn't like the swearing, apparently.

0:18:120:18:16

-Yeah, that's the worst thing about war.

-Yes, I know.

0:18:160:18:19

Especially that civil war, you know? I mean...

0:18:190:18:22

They've blown my fucking leg off!

0:18:220:18:24

Now, now. Language.

0:18:240:18:27

"I'm going to fucking kill you."

0:18:270:18:28

"Please, could you just kill me? Thank you."

0:18:280:18:30

But the particular tragedy that struck him in 1873,

0:18:300:18:33

after the war,

0:18:330:18:34

was a friend of his - who was addicted to pornography - died,

0:18:340:18:38

supposedly having masturbated himself to death.

0:18:380:18:41

LAUGHTER

0:18:410:18:44

There's a lesson in there, Jimmy.

0:18:440:18:46

I'm happy to report, Stephen, that cannot happen.

0:18:460:18:48

You're just not trying hard enough, boy.

0:18:500:18:52

HE LAUGHS

0:18:520:18:54

I thought you looked pale, Jimmy.

0:18:540:18:55

Comstock believed that anyway.

0:18:550:18:57

Yes, he founded the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice

0:18:570:19:00

and for nine years in its height, from the '70s to early '80s,

0:19:000:19:03

the society was responsible for 700 arrests, 333 prison sentences.

0:19:030:19:08

So, almost a 50% success rate on its arrests.

0:19:080:19:10

And fines totalling 65,000, which was a heck of a lot then.

0:19:100:19:14

The seizure of roughly 65,000 articles as well.

0:19:140:19:17

Articles for immoral use of rubber, etc.

0:19:170:19:20

LAUGHTER

0:19:200:19:22

As late as 1927 they were still going

0:19:240:19:26

and they managed, reprehensibly,

0:19:260:19:28

to shut down Mae West's Broadway play, Sex,

0:19:280:19:31

and had her imprisoned for ten days.

0:19:310:19:33

Really?

0:19:330:19:34

There was the Comstock Law, which made it a federal offence

0:19:340:19:36

to send obscene matter - for example, contraceptives - through the post.

0:19:360:19:41

It was finally overturned in '36 in the wonderfully named case of

0:19:410:19:44

United States versus One Package of Japanese Pessaries.

0:19:440:19:48

LAUGHTER

0:19:480:19:52

The US was always going to win that one.

0:19:520:19:54

It was, wasn't it? I think so.

0:19:540:19:56

I've never had...I've never had, in 14 years,

0:19:560:20:00

people eating sweets in the front row.

0:20:000:20:02

What the hell?!

0:20:020:20:04

And I can't think about anything else.

0:20:040:20:06

LAUGHTER

0:20:060:20:09

Thanks, Jimmy.

0:20:180:20:20

You can have them back at the end of the lesson.

0:20:200:20:22

I feel really bad for those people,

0:20:230:20:25

because, obviously, you're just sat there watching an episode of QI,

0:20:250:20:28

and then suddenly the telly gets up...

0:20:280:20:30

LAUGHTER

0:20:300:20:34

..and nicks your sweets.

0:20:340:20:35

I didn't press the red button, what's going on?

0:20:370:20:40

LAUGHTER

0:20:400:20:42

Anyway, what did the French do with marmosets

0:20:420:20:47

that normal people did with cheese?

0:20:470:20:48

LAUGHTER

0:20:480:20:52

-I have no memory of that whatsoever.

-That's Alan!

0:20:540:20:57

Oh, we all remember our student days.

0:20:570:20:59

Forget the marmoset.

0:21:010:21:02

-Right, forget the marmoset.

-I say normal people do with cheese?

0:21:020:21:05

-What do we do with cheese?

-I put it on bread or crackers.

0:21:050:21:07

Put it in the back of the fridge for six months, then chuck it out.

0:21:070:21:10

Think laterally.

0:21:100:21:11

Not the substance, not the food even.

0:21:110:21:14

What else is there?

0:21:140:21:15

-Cheese.

-Oh, not...not on some sort of, no...

0:21:150:21:18

-No, don't.

-Oh, Jimmy.

0:21:180:21:19

Not the substance.

0:21:190:21:22

Not any substance at all.

0:21:220:21:24

-Say "cheese". We say "cheese".

-That's it! Thank you, Danny.

0:21:240:21:27

Thank you. APPLAUSE

0:21:270:21:29

Very good.

0:21:290:21:30

So do the French say "marmoset?"

0:21:300:21:33

-They do.

-They say "marmoset"?

0:21:330:21:35

Well, they used to. I put it in the past tense.

0:21:350:21:37

That makes me go, "Oh, no wonder." Cos that makes you go like this...

0:21:370:21:40

and that's what old French people look like in photos, "Allo. Allo."

0:21:400:21:43

We have a Frenchman in the audience.

0:21:430:21:44

We have Vincent, who's come all the way from la belle France,

0:21:440:21:47

-from la Republique.

-Bonjour.

0:21:470:21:48

Let's just listen to him shouting marmoset in French.

0:21:480:21:51

Ouistiti.

0:21:510:21:52

Ouistiti. Brilliant, thank you.

0:21:520:21:54

And the point is, we smile when we say the...

0:22:000:22:03

-Which titty?

-Which titty?

-Which titty?

0:22:030:22:04

-Ouistiti.

-This titty...

-Which titty?

-..or this titty?

0:22:040:22:07

-Which titty?

-This titty or this titty?

-Ouistiti...

0:22:070:22:09

-Which titty?

-Which titty will make you smile?

-Which titty?

0:22:090:22:13

It does make you smile, just saying "which titty?"

0:22:130:22:15

If you stretch your face to say "ti-ti".

0:22:170:22:19

-Titty.

-Titty.

0:22:190:22:21

-As you do to say cheese.

-Little titty, big titty.

0:22:210:22:23

Exactly.

0:22:230:22:24

And other languages, of course, have other words, or used to.

0:22:240:22:27

I don't think it... But people Blue Steel now, don't they?

0:22:270:22:30

-They Blue Steel it. They don't...

-Well, there is that, unfortunately.

0:22:300:22:33

But do you know of any other country's words?

0:22:340:22:37

-Yes, the Danish...

-Yes?

-Yeah, what? Yeah?

0:22:370:22:40

They say "orange".

0:22:400:22:42

Well, they don't say the word orange, do they?

0:22:420:22:44

Well, I don't know what it is, but I remember someone...

0:22:440:22:47

It's the Danish for orange. Do we have Danes in the audience?

0:22:470:22:49

-There's one.

-Oh.

-You're Danish?

0:22:490:22:51

It sounds like apple, doesn't it? Say, if you could...

0:22:510:22:53

-AUDIENCE MEMBER:

-Appelsin.

-Yeah, there we go.

-AISLING:

-Appelsin?

0:22:530:22:56

A pussy?

0:22:560:22:58

-Appelsin.

-Where titty, a pussy?

0:22:580:23:00

-Which titty? A pussy.

-A pussy.

0:23:010:23:04

-This is... Europe is filth!

-Europe is filthy.

0:23:040:23:06

And in various other languages, we have Serbian,

0:23:080:23:10

-I don't suppose anyone. Well...

-I don't think they smile in Serbia.

0:23:100:23:13

LAUGHTER

0:23:130:23:15

Do we have any Slavs in the audience?

0:23:150:23:17

No, we don't.

0:23:170:23:19

"Little bird" in Serbian is ptica.

0:23:190:23:22

Tee-chee-tsa.

0:23:220:23:23

-Tee-chee-tsa.

-It might be the same in Russian, I don't know.

0:23:230:23:26

-Iticheetza!

-LAUGHTER

0:23:260:23:28

Iticheetza! Iticheetza!

0:23:280:23:31

Iticheetza!

0:23:310:23:32

Honestly. Korean you might get, cos it's their favourite thing.

0:23:340:23:38

-Eating dogs.

-AUDIENCE MEMBER:

-Kimchi.

0:23:380:23:40

-Kimchi.

-Nuclear.

-Kimchi, yeah.

-Kimchi.

0:23:400:23:42

They love their kimchi.

0:23:420:23:43

Argentina and some other Latin countries

0:23:430:23:46

is actually an English word they say. Or Scottish.

0:23:460:23:48

A Gaelic word, I should say. 'Usquebaugh' means whisky.

0:23:480:23:51

-Usquebaugh?

-Yeah, whisky.

0:23:510:23:53

-Or water of life, isn't it?

-Usquebaugh.

0:23:530:23:55

Ah, usquebaugh is the same in Irish, in Gaelic as well.

0:23:550:23:57

Except you put an 'e' in it when you make it English.

0:23:570:24:00

No, we don't put an 'e' in it, because that's really...

0:24:000:24:02

LAUGHTER

0:24:020:24:04

They did for one 48-hour period, yeah.

0:24:040:24:07

Bulgarian is... We don't have any Bulgars in the audience, I'm sure?

0:24:090:24:12

-There's one!

-Weh!

-A Bulgar!

-You're joking, really?

0:24:120:24:15

Is that what you say, a Bulgar?

0:24:150:24:17

You don't say you're a Bulgar? Bulgarian?

0:24:170:24:19

-AUDIENCE MEMBER:

-I am Bulgarian.

-And what would you say if...?

0:24:190:24:21

-We say "zele". Yes!

-Zele. Which means?

0:24:210:24:25

-Cabbage.

-Cabbage, yes.

-Cabbage.

0:24:250:24:27

Good God, very good.

0:24:270:24:29

The sad thing is that they've tended to die out.

0:24:320:24:36

Not because people do Blue Steel, as you were saying,

0:24:360:24:38

but because the Americanisms and British even,

0:24:380:24:40

they say "cheese" or "smile".

0:24:400:24:42

People go "hmmm" and they just do it.

0:24:420:24:44

Isn't it sad? People saying smile, how awful.

0:24:440:24:46

No, I didn't...

0:24:460:24:47

So, now it's time to run screaming into the disaster zone

0:24:470:24:52

that we call General Ignorance.

0:24:520:24:54

So, fingers on buzzers if you please.

0:24:540:24:56

When is the best time to charge your mobile phone?

0:24:560:24:59

At night.

0:24:590:25:00

Well, good. Yeah, it might be. Any other thoughts?

0:25:010:25:03

Oh, really? I thought that would go off.

0:25:030:25:05

Yeah. When it's completely almost run out of battery.

0:25:060:25:10

-CLAXON SOUNDS Oh!

-Oh!

0:25:100:25:12

If you've got an iPhone, it's every 15 minutes.

0:25:140:25:17

LAUGHTER

0:25:170:25:19

It used to be the case with an old phone.

0:25:190:25:21

Nokia would go on for weeks.

0:25:210:25:23

Yeah! Look at that beauty. Bring 'em back!

0:25:230:25:26

That's like one of the most modern,

0:25:260:25:28

"Oh, it's not like it was in the old days."

0:25:280:25:30

These phones of that generation used what sort of batteries?

0:25:320:25:35

-Lithium?

-Lithium.

-No, nickle is the point.

0:25:350:25:37

And if you charged it when it was 20% full,

0:25:370:25:40

it wouldn't remember the rest of it, as it were,

0:25:400:25:42

it was called memory problem.

0:25:420:25:43

So, you had to drain them.

0:25:430:25:44

You had to use them completely, so that it would charge

0:25:440:25:46

the whole battery.

0:25:460:25:48

But we use lithium now and that isn't a problem any more.

0:25:480:25:51

But here's a great thing about batteries,

0:25:510:25:53

and I'm going to demonstrate this to you,

0:25:530:25:55

and I think it'll be rather interesting.

0:25:550:25:57

We're just talking about ordinary AA batteries here,

0:25:570:26:00

whether or not they're charged or...

0:26:000:26:02

They have a thumb thing on them now, don't they?

0:26:020:26:04

-I would, I would use...

-Well, but they did the thumb thing,

0:26:040:26:07

but they've got rid of that, haven't they?

0:26:070:26:08

They never quite worked.

0:26:080:26:10

It was supposed to shine a... go green or something.

0:26:100:26:12

Yeah, yeah, go green and there was like a press thing.

0:26:120:26:14

I would attach it to my nipple clamps

0:26:140:26:16

and see if it gives me a buzz that I need.

0:26:160:26:18

Here are two batteries.

0:26:180:26:19

How can you tell which one is flat, as it were,

0:26:190:26:22

which one is drained of power

0:26:220:26:23

-and which one is still powerful?

-Try it on you.

0:26:230:26:25

-Some magnetic thing.

-It's nothing to do with magnetism.

0:26:250:26:28

I'm going to slip them through these copper sleeves

0:26:280:26:30

so that they're both facing the right direction

0:26:300:26:32

and should both fall at the same time.

0:26:320:26:34

So you can count me down from three, two, one and drop, all right?

0:26:340:26:37

The whole audience can join in.

0:26:370:26:39

-ALL:

-Three, two, one, drop!

0:26:390:26:42

All right, let's have a look at that.

0:26:430:26:45

In theory, an empty battery should bounce more.

0:26:450:26:48

-AUDIENCE MURMURS

-Oh!

0:26:500:26:51

And that is the case that this is the one which has been drained.

0:26:510:26:54

It's to do with the gel inside the batteries.

0:26:540:26:56

And when they're drained, it's hardened and so it bounces more.

0:26:560:26:59

Should we do an apology now for people breaking their mobile phones?

0:26:590:27:02

Presumably someone is at home going, "Is this charged?"

0:27:030:27:06

-You could try it with that.

-Seems all right.

0:27:060:27:08

There you are, isn't that good?

0:27:080:27:09

-Couldn't you just buy new batteries?

-LAUGHTER

0:27:090:27:11

I just didn't think of that.

0:27:190:27:23

Right. Yes, the best time to charge your phone

0:27:230:27:25

is any time you can find a power socket.

0:27:250:27:27

All of which brings us charging towards a battery

0:27:270:27:30

of very extraordinary scores, which will amaze and astonish you.

0:27:300:27:35

Not.

0:27:350:27:36

So, in first place, what an extraordinary debut,

0:27:360:27:39

Danny Bhoy on ten points. CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

0:27:390:27:43

In second place,

0:27:480:27:51

half as good, but still brilliant,

0:27:510:27:53

five points to Jimmy Carr.

0:27:530:27:54

I'm happy with that. I'll take that all day.

0:27:540:27:56

-CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

-Five?!

0:27:560:27:58

That's good.

0:27:580:28:00

In third place, with -7,

0:28:000:28:03

it's Aisling Bea.

0:28:030:28:04

-CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

-Yeah!

0:28:040:28:07

Who does that leave us, I wonder?

0:28:090:28:11

Well...

0:28:110:28:13

-44 for Alan Davies! CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

0:28:130:28:16

Well, that's all from Aisling, Jimmy, Danny, Alan and me.

0:28:230:28:27

And I leave you with these wise words

0:28:270:28:28

from Pulitzer Prize winner, Anna Quindlen.

0:28:280:28:32

"Life is not so much about beginnings and endings

0:28:320:28:34

"as it is about going on and on and on.

0:28:340:28:37

"It's about muddling through the middle,"

0:28:370:28:39

which I hope we've done this evening.

0:28:390:28:40

Goodnight. APPLAUSE

0:28:400:28:43

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