- 2 months ago
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00:30Hello and welcome to QI, but tonight we'll be taking a walking tour of the weird and the wonderful.
00:37Let me welcome, weirdly, the washable Melanie Bracewell.
00:43The windproof Roisin Conaty.
00:48The well-oiled Patrick Kilty.
00:53And our own Mr Whippy, Alan Davis.
01:00There goes as our wonderful Melanie goes.
01:04What a wonderful world.
01:07Roisin goes.
01:09The wonders of me.
01:12Patrick goes.
01:14Do a wonderful world tonight.
01:18And Alan goes.
01:21Wonder Woman.
01:22Wonder Woman.
01:23I love that little one.
01:27Right, now that we've all warmed up, for question one, let's have a jolly good wink.
01:36OK.
01:37So my question is, how does that make you feel if I wink at you?
01:40I felt many things inside when you winked at me, Sandy.
01:42OK.
01:43I was mainly thinking that maybe in uni it wasn't a phase.
01:45But, um...
01:46LAUGHTER
01:47LAUGHTER
01:48No, no, straight away, two points.
01:51That's absolutely...
01:51LAUGHTER
01:52It depends how long the wink lasts.
01:56A quick wink, and you think, oh, I'm enjoying that.
01:58But a slow, long wink.
02:01Yeah, you're going to get killed.
02:03A quick wink just sort of says, it's a sort of like, how you doing?
02:07It's like a kiss on the cheek as opposed to a Frenchie.
02:10LAUGHTER
02:10It depends who's doing the wink.
02:12I mean, you're winking at me.
02:14Now, that kind of makes me feel that you mightn't really be a lesbian.
02:18LAUGHTER
02:19OK.
02:21I'm doing well on both sides, yeah.
02:23LAUGHTER
02:24They did a study on this, right?
02:26So, in 1999, the researchers approached different strangers,
02:28asked them what time it was, and then thanked them with a wink.
02:30And they interviewed them afterwards.
02:32And strangers usually had positive feelings towards the winker
02:36as long as they were of the opposite sex.
02:38What I liked is, so, 11% thought the researcher fancied them,
02:426% thought the poor person had something wrong with their eye.
02:45LAUGHTER
02:46I always think you're getting sort of a bargain at the market.
02:50You just pay full price, but they wink at you and you feel like,
02:52I must have got some sort of bargain.
02:53Some deal.
02:54It just means that it's stolen goods.
02:56LAUGHTER
02:57But how would that work with the time?
03:00So, someone goes, it's 3.30, then you think,
03:03they've given me an extra couple of minutes.
03:05LAUGHTER
03:05I didn't realise I was quite a good winker,
03:09um, until...
03:12And it happens to me quite a lot.
03:14Whenever you walk down the street,
03:15there's quite a lot of people from the other side of the street
03:17shout,
03:17Oi, keelty!
03:19Winker.
03:19LAUGHTER
03:20I think...
03:21I think that's what they're saying.
03:23Yeah, no.
03:24Can you show me your wink?
03:26OK.
03:26Do you normally wink with the right eye?
03:28The right one is, is the more,
03:30and then the left one is more,
03:32you are the weakest link.
03:34Bye-bye.
03:35OK, see, so people have a dominant and a non-dominant eye,
03:38and usually, you leave the dominant eye open,
03:41and you wink with the other eye,
03:43and two-thirds of us are right eye dominant,
03:45so we wink with the left.
03:46What about you?
03:47I've got very good winking skills.
03:49To scare my sister as a child,
03:51I just go like that.
03:52LAUGHTER
03:53So I could do...
03:57And that's not with the wink,
03:58and you do need to scrunch.
04:00Yeah.
04:00The wink has to have the scrunch,
04:02like, of a...
04:02That means you're not getting killed.
04:04That's just...
04:05Paddy was putting...
04:06Paddy was putting it in a bit of a nod.
04:08Yeah.
04:08And a scrunch.
04:09What if you do one with a back,
04:11and you go...
04:12LAUGHTER
04:13That honestly looks like a stroke, yeah.
04:15LAUGHTER
04:16And having a stroke and having a wink
04:21can sometimes be the same thing.
04:23But your dominant eye and your dominant hand,
04:27they're often linked together,
04:28so if you write with your left,
04:29you probably wink with your right.
04:31A tiny proportion of people cannot wink at all.
04:33Is there anybody in the audience who cannot wink?
04:36There's one person there.
04:38What happens when you try?
04:39Look like an idiot.
04:40You look like an idiot.
04:42Come and join the panel.
04:43LAUGHTER
04:43So if you can't wink at all,
04:47there may be a problem with your orbicularis oculi muscles,
04:51so that's the bit that helps your eyelids to close.
04:52It doesn't matter, in the least.
04:55So that's winking in real life,
04:57but what's the point of the winking emoji?
05:01It kind of depends what comes after the winking emoji,
05:05you know, because if it's winking emoji with thumbs up...
05:08Right.
05:08Yeah.
05:09..that's kind of, see you later.
05:11Yeah.
05:11I mean, if it's winking emoji with aubergine emoji after it's...
05:16Yeah.
05:16I was just trying to tell you I was excited about the moussaka
05:19we're going to have later.
05:20LAUGHTER
05:21I think it means it's a joke.
05:25Yeah.
05:25It's universally understood in Latin America, China,
05:28as to mean sarcasm,
05:29and apparently it's something young people use
05:30with the older generation,
05:32because as people become older,
05:34they are less good at detecting sarcasm,
05:37what's known as decoding non-literal language,
05:39and so it's quite a good idea to go,
05:41I was just kidding.
05:42Do you two, Mel and Rasheen,
05:45know what I mean when I talk about mascara face?
05:47Yeah, I know.
05:48Yeah, what is that?
05:50Yeah.
05:50Open your mouth.
05:51Do you not open your mouth?
05:52Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
05:54How many women open their mouth when they apply mascara?
05:58Yeah.
05:58Yeah.
05:58It's just a weird thing.
06:00You're just, you're putting on mascara,
06:02your face is perfectly normal,
06:03and you suddenly go...
06:04LAUGHTER
06:05Like that.
06:06Lots of people do it.
06:07Nobody's really sure why.
06:10It's possible that the nerves that control
06:12our eye and our jaw muscles
06:14are rooted very close together in the brain
06:15so that when one fires,
06:16the other one goes off.
06:17I always felt like it was the shock
06:18of seeing yourself put things near your eyes.
06:21Your mouth goes,
06:21what are you doing?
06:23LAUGHTER
06:23Here's a weird thing.
06:25Did you know that our anus is wink?
06:28No-one saw that coming.
06:31LAUGHTER
06:31If you had told me a few years ago,
06:34Melanie, you're going to come on QI,
06:35and Sandy Toxford is going to ask you
06:37if your anus winks,
06:38I don't know if I would have believed.
06:39LAUGHTER
06:40Is it to denote sarcasm?
06:42LAUGHTER
06:43I'm doing it, nothing's happening.
06:46Nothing's happening.
06:46LAUGHTER
06:47I've done ten on the bounce.
06:49LAUGHTER
06:50Just making your jaw move, though.
06:53LAUGHTER
06:54Mascara has appeared on my eyes.
06:58LAUGHTER
06:59Apparently, when your anal sphincter is touched,
07:03it contracts, and that is anal winking.
07:05Is anyone else clenching hearing moustache?
07:07LAUGHTER
07:08I think I can actually...
07:10There's so many people in this room,
07:11I think I can actually hear anuses really.
07:14LAUGHTER
07:15Like, it's quite...
07:16I'm like, what's that noise?
07:17Oh, it's everyone trying to wink their anus, at the same time.
07:19LAUGHTER
07:20It's worth paying attention to,
07:22cos if you have a weak anal wink...
07:23Yes.
07:24..you could have a spinal injury.
07:25I think if you had a spinal injury,
07:26I don't think you'd be diagnosed by looking at your anus, would it?
07:29LAUGHTER
07:35If Ellen and I do it at the same time, is there an anal blink?
07:40LAUGHTER
07:41OK, if you do it at the same time, I'll give you £10.
07:44LAUGHTER
07:45We're both doing it right now.
07:47We're both doing it right now.
07:48Right, you've got some objects under your desk.
07:51How can they help you survive in the wild?
07:55You've got a pair of trousers.
07:56I've found a watch.
07:57Patrick, you've got some condoms.
07:59But never mind that, what's his object?
08:01LAUGHTER
08:03This was not on my bingo list for QI.
08:06Sandy, I don't have my condoms.
08:08LAUGHTER
08:09In my whole life, I've never helped a boy look for condoms.
08:12LAUGHTER
08:18See this, darling?
08:20That's a condom.
08:21Oh.
08:22LAUGHTER
08:24That was brought-up Irish Catholic.
08:27LAUGHTER
08:29Is that a QI-branded condom?
08:32I know, is that cute?
08:33It's so exciting.
08:34Am I allowed to open this room?
08:35Do you want to open it? Yes, sure.
08:36I don't know, I was like, you've only got one saving!
08:38OK.
08:39LAUGHTER
08:40That is an impressive one to put out!
08:44The QI one!
08:46All of the following tricks, they're in the wilderness survival guides, OK?
08:49As we had such a fuss with the condom, let's start with that.
08:52Yes?
08:53What do you think that might be useful?
08:55If you are stuck in the wild, you're on a desert island.
08:57When you say the wild, you mean, like, a remote forest,
08:59not a night out in Newcastle?
09:01No, no.
09:02If you buy yourself in some remote place...
09:04Yes.
09:05..and you find you've got just that condom in your pocket,
09:07how useful would it be?
09:08You could carry water in it.
09:10That is the correct answer.
09:12Oh!
09:13APPLAUSE
09:15That's what I normally do.
09:19That sounds like someone who went into the wild very optimistic
09:25and then went, no, no, it's just for water, actually.
09:28Yeah.
09:29Darling, you can carry four litres of water.
09:31Oh!
09:32Oh, my God!
09:33Oh, my God, he's doing it.
09:34OK.
09:35There we go.
09:36Yes, so you can carry a lot of water in a condom
09:38and it is very...
09:39I mean, don't get the lubricated kind.
09:41LAUGHTER
09:42It's also very good for waterproofing.
09:43You could use it to store Tinder or electronics.
09:46Oh, my God.
09:47Are you going to throw that?
09:48I've got a horrible...
09:49I mean...
09:50Oh, sorry, sorry.
09:51We have a six-year-old and a nine-year-old at home,
09:52so I think we know where this is going, Alan.
09:54LAUGHTER
09:55Oh, my God, I'm nervous, I'm nervous!
09:56Oh, oh, oh, oh!
09:57Oh!
09:58Oh!
09:59APPLAUSE
10:01Whoo!
10:03High five.
10:04Oh, it's turning into semen.
10:06LAUGHTER
10:07LAUGHTER
10:08LAUGHTER
10:09LAUGHTER
10:11LAUGHTER
10:12LAUGHTER
10:13LAUGHTER
10:15LAUGHTER
10:16What else can you do?
10:17What else in the wilderness might you do apart from water?
10:20Is it, um, if you are, like, one of the last people on Earth
10:24and you're supposed to...
10:25LAUGHTER
10:27I mean, there's your TikTok right there.
10:29LAUGHTER
10:30I don't know why that's...
10:32LAUGHTER
10:33Sorry, Mel.
10:34I'm sorry, Mel.
10:35No.
10:36But is it, like, if you're one of the last people on Earth
10:38and you need to repopulate,
10:39but the first person you meet is a bit of a munter?
10:43LAUGHTER
10:45Oh, so they make great fire lighters.
10:47Oh!
10:48Once set on fire, they should burn for a few minutes.
10:49And...
10:50Hopefully not with friction.
10:51LAUGHTER
10:52Get the water filled one!
10:53Get the water filled one!
10:54Get the water filled one!
10:55Get the water filled one!
10:56LAUGHTER
10:57That's the episode of Cast Away for Tom, Hanks, we all want to see.
10:58LAUGHTER
10:59COCKS ON FIRE! COCKS ON FIRE!
11:00The other thing, of course, you can use for fire lighter in the wilderness is tortilla chips.
11:14They have so much fat in them that they make very, very good fire lighters.
11:17Where do you get them in the wilderness?
11:19Well, you've got to be lucky enough to have them about your person.
11:22Take your own Doritos.
11:23I think that's right.
11:24Let's move on to your one, Alan.
11:25A watch.
11:26What might you do in the wilderness to save yourself with a watch?
11:29Well, obviously the time's very important.
11:33LAUGHTER
11:36Any thought what you might do?
11:38You could use it to direct sunlight.
11:42Yes.
11:43And burn ants.
11:45LAUGHTER
11:47Like a fire, like that.
11:49Well, you could.
11:50You'd have to take the convex lens cover off and use it to direct sunlight to create some fire, you could.
11:55OK.
11:56It has to be an analogue watch and not a digital one.
11:58But the main thing that you can do is use it as a compass.
12:01Oh, can you?
12:02Yes.
12:03So, if you point the hour hand at the sun in the northern hemis...
12:07LAUGHTER
12:08Imagine that's the sun right there, darling.
12:12Right there.
12:13OK, so you point the hour hand at the sun and we are in the northern hemisphere.
12:16The point between the hour hand and 12 o'clock roughly faces south.
12:20In the southern hemisphere it roughly faces north.
12:22Oh, wow.
12:23Doesn't that depend what time it is?
12:25LAUGHTER
12:27LAUGHTER
12:28You can use the metal back as a reflector to try and attract attention.
12:35I still think my idea is best, using it to tell what time it is.
12:39Just tell what time it is.
12:40LAUGHTER
12:41Rasheen, what have you got?
12:44I've got some trousers.
12:46Trying to save your life with a pair of trousers.
12:48How might I do that?
12:49Save my life?
12:50Mmm.
12:51You could make a hammock out of them.
12:53Ooh!
12:54And then you could be in the trees, while below you, poisonous snakes and insects were looking
12:59up and, oh, shit.
13:01I've got a trouser hammock.
13:03Anyone who knows what the time is.
13:06Watch out for burning condom, arsehole.
13:11What time are my Doritos turning up?
13:15Imagine that you are on an island.
13:18Say your ship has gone down and you want to get to the island in the first place,
13:22the trousers might be very useful.
13:24A sail?
13:25You make a sail?
13:26Do you inflate it like a life jacket?
13:28That is correct and you get five points.
13:29Oh!
13:30Oh!
13:31Yes, absolutely correct.
13:32APPLAUSE
13:33So...
13:36You need to make them wet, first of all, right?
13:38OK.
13:39Then you need to trap the air, so swing the waist over like that.
13:41Is that man alone?
13:42Or is that somebody else's legs round his neck?
13:45LAUGHTER
13:46I mean, I wouldn't need these because, I mean, I just blew up me condom.
13:50Yeah, there is that.
13:51There is that.
13:52Trap air in the trousers by swinging the waist overhead.
13:54Pop your head through the hole of the two trouser legs and it should...
13:57Have you ever had that where you've got, like, togs and then somehow there's been air in it and you look like you've got massive testicles?
14:05No-one's had that before?
14:06Yes, I've had that.
14:07LAUGHTER
14:082019, it saved a sailor's life.
14:10His boat's boom knocked him off the boat off the coast of New Zealand and he remembered seeing this thing.
14:15And he floated for four hours in his life jacket trousers until he was rescued.
14:19So it is a thing.
14:21You set about using it for a hammock.
14:23You can tear it apart, of course, for the fabric.
14:25But mainly if you were saving your life on an island, you might use it as a tourniquet.
14:28Use one of these as a tourniquet as well, by the way.
14:31Yes.
14:32LAUGHTER
14:33I don't know which bit of your body is that small.
14:36LAUGHTER
14:38You've got a nasty cut on your finger.
14:40Oh!
14:41100% wasn't what I was thinking.
14:43Erm...
14:45That's so unsettling to just have that left out on the...
14:50It's really creepy, isn't it?
14:52It's like a little stress toy, isn't it?
14:54Argh!
14:55Argh!
14:56Argh!
14:57I don't know why I'm wincing.
14:59LAUGHTER
15:01Right, Mel, what about your bubble wrap?
15:02How stressed are you?
15:03Oh, my gosh.
15:04Ah, bubble wrap, bubble wrap.
15:06Oh, it's quite just fun to play with, isn't it?
15:08What would you use it for in the wilderness?
15:09OK.
15:10Bubble wrap is it if the condom breaks, you can MacGyver another one.
15:14Erm...
15:15Wow!
15:16Can you imagine using bubble wrap?
15:18That would be just...
15:19Like, in the actual moment of its use, it's just here.
15:22Boop, boop, boop, boop, boop!
15:26Keep you warm, you could wrap up in it.
15:28Is the correct answer.
15:29Oh!
15:30OK.
15:31APPLAUSE
15:34That's also how they store Alan in between series.
15:39So, used to ward off hypothermia, and lots of people do it,
15:42the air ambulance service, sometimes wrap patients in bubble wrap
15:45on the way to hospital.
15:46Then they'll be fine if they accidentally drop them.
15:48Yes.
15:49Yes!
15:50That's a very good point.
15:51Although, they have now done scientific studies on this,
15:54because I think people presume the trapped air is going to provide
15:56some kind of insulation, and you might as well put people in a blanket.
16:00Apparently, it doesn't make any difference whatsoever.
16:02But...
16:03Sorry.
16:04That's OK.
16:05People who collect bubble wrap for the air ambulance,
16:07get them a blanket.
16:08Wrap artists.
16:09You're not exactly pulling your weight, you know.
16:10LAUGHTER
16:11If you're heading into the bush, don't forget to bring a condom.
16:24Wow.
16:25I literally just realised what I said.
16:27LAUGHTER
16:28Right.
16:29Describe a normal working day for Amy, the human fly.
16:34Woke up, took a shit in the marmalade,
16:37ate the shit in the marmalade,
16:40flew into the window, hurt my head, went to sleep again.
16:43You should keep, sort of, heading against a window
16:46and then realising it's the glass ceiling.
16:48Is it that?
16:49Oh, no, I like that.
16:50That's very good.
16:51That's very good.
16:52It's political.
16:53APPLAUSE
16:54Why don't you avoid Dave the human spider?
16:57LAUGHTER
16:58So it was a real person, which was a novelty act.
17:01OK, so there were special shoes invented that enabled her
17:05to walk on the ceiling.
17:07Oh!
17:08With suckers?
17:09Well, so at first nobody knew and it was a secret as to how
17:11it worked, but she would walk upside down up to 90 feet in the air.
17:15So there she is, ceiling walker, Mademoiselle Amy,
17:18surnamed the human fly.
17:20She was from London, but apparently sold more tickets
17:23to an Australian novelty.
17:24Oh, that's so classic.
17:25Australian and she's upside down.
17:27Upside down.
17:28Yeah.
17:29That's exactly right.
17:30Anyway, 1887, she's doing her act and she got stuck to the ceiling
17:34because the suction on her shoes proved too strong.
17:37So how did they get her down?
17:39It was a real problem.
17:40She's very high up in the theatre.
17:41Light spray.
17:42LAUGHTER
17:47How long was she up there for?
17:48Do we know?
17:49She was up there for several hours and they couldn't get a ladder to her.
17:51She had to take her shoe off.
17:52She took her shoes off.
17:53I mean, it's so simple.
17:54LAUGHTER
17:55She fell into the safety net.
17:56Duh!
17:57I thought that you'd be in the audience going,
18:01just take your bloody shoes off.
18:02LAUGHTER
18:03But you're right, Mel, they were known as an antipodean apparatus
18:06because of the idea that you were upside down.
18:08They were invented by an American mechanical engineer called Walter Hunt
18:11and he tried to keep it secret but, I mean, fundamentally not difficult.
18:15Moistened leather suction caps.
18:18LAUGHTER
18:19Moistened leather suction cups.
18:20Can you say that again, please, for TikTok?
18:21Moistened leather suction cups, yeah.
18:23LAUGHTER
18:24I feel this whole show.
18:25Moistened leather suction cups.
18:26Oh, my gosh.
18:28I'll say that and you play with the condom.
18:30LAUGHTER
18:31You ready?
18:32Moistened leather suction cups.
18:33Whoa!
18:34APPLAUSE
18:35This is pornography for pensioners, isn't it?
18:36LAUGHTER
18:37Just say moistened and they go, woo-hoo!
18:38Woo-hoo!
18:39LAUGHTER
18:40That feels like you could make 500 million on OnlyFans with that clip.
18:41Really?
18:42No, I think I've got a good voice for porn, it's quite kind of...
18:44Oh, wow.
18:45And you've got the best hair in the world.
18:46She often says this, Roisin.
18:47Sandy needs to do an advert for her hair.
18:48She needs to tell us how to do it.
18:49She needs to do an advert for her hair.
18:50She needs to tell us how to do it.
18:51She needs to do it.
18:52She needs to do it.
18:53She needs to do it.
18:54She needs to do it.
18:55She needs to do it.
18:56She needs to do it.
18:57She needs to do it.
18:58Foer porn, it's quite kind of...
18:59Oh, wow!
19:00And you've got the best hair in the world.
19:02She often says this, Roisin.
19:03Sandy needs to do an advert for her hair.
19:05She needs to tell us how she got it
19:06and what she uses.
19:07LAUGHTER
19:08Isn't it?
19:09LAUGHTER
19:10Moistened leather suction!
19:12LAUGHTER
19:13Yeah, when you say it, it's just creepy.
19:16LAUGHTER
19:18It's creepy.
19:19So, Walter Hunt decided that he would teach people how to do this
19:22and one of the people who took him up on this offer
19:24was a guy called Richard Sands.
19:25He was an acrobat and circus owner.
19:26This is him at Drury Lane.
19:27elaine using the human flying shoes and then this is a really sad story so 1861 he was in
19:34massachusetts he was at some civic event and somebody said could you just walk on a regular
19:38ceiling so here he is walking on a piece of polished marble right and he went absolutely
19:43and the shoes worked perfectly but the plaster on the ceiling gave way yeah that's a nightmare
19:49that was the end of him he died killed him yeah oh my god i thought you meant it's a bad story like
19:55he was embarrassed on stage nope and then people asked for their money back and did they sell the
20:02moistened leather suctions you can't say it enough one previous owner plenty of life in these
20:15gotta get them off the ceiling first he's a really interesting guy i always love this on qi's that
20:21you you go down a rabbit hole and then you find something more and more curious this guy walter
20:25hunt the one who invented the shoes for amy the human fly the killer the killer yeah he also invented
20:31all sorts of things he invented an ice breaking boat a street sweeper a pedal activated coach
20:35he invented a tight rope that snaps yes i have here his most successful invention of all time
20:44and it is this uh he is the guy that invented the safety pin wow i know he also invented a mechanical
20:52sewing machine but both his wife and daughter were seamstresses and said please don't put that out there
20:56because we'll be put out of work and later sewing machine inventors uh made millions and he didn't
21:02make any money but he made one yeah but this may have uh water hunt to think i i just love the fact
21:08that that he killed someone fallen off the ceiling so he decided to put the word safety yes
21:16i feel like we're making him the villain i feel like the real villain is the plasterer yeah yeah
21:20yeah would you like to have a go i would have a go what i don't think i'm that agile okay and also
21:25i've got a massive head do you i think it's bigger than average like hats are a problem well you could
21:32get a moistened leather suction i'd hate to see that right what might you get up to on a bulgarian pleasure
21:45wheel what's a bulgarian pleasure wheel do you wear it or insert it no so it used to be another term
21:52for those big wheels that you see at the fairground that people ride on wheel yes that is right they
21:58were of course invented by billy ferris peter ferris peter ferris peter is his brother no billy ferris
22:04philly ferris no bade ferris nikki ferris pan ferris no no no i think they just claxon'd you then i think
22:19i'm very upset i think i just lost 10 points behind it this is very upsetting for me uh george ferris
22:30oh george ferris yeah but in fact they've been around for hundreds of years and there was a very
22:34famous one in a place called plovdiv in bulgaria about 1620 something like that and as a result
22:39until about the 1800s they were known as bulgarian pleasure wheels or bulgarian ride and that was the
22:44name for them in lots of countries around the world the very first sighting of one in england 1728 at the
22:49bartholomew fair in smithfield where it was called the ups and downs i don't really like them don't like
22:55why i don't like when you get stuck at the top when it's rocking a little bit and you feel like well
23:00this could go over surely this are we still talking about the ferris and i think it's a lot to call
23:08it a pleasure wheel i think you need to be getting like a massage a donut yeah it's an endurance wheel
23:14it's an endurance wheel you're absolutely right alan you know what we should call a pleasure wheel which i
23:19think has a harsh name a lazy susan that's a pleasure wheel i love a lazy susan yeah many a meal i've gone
23:27round on one of those were you wearing moistened leather suction you think i stayed off
23:37faster faster faster
23:43clinging onto the soy sauce george ferris built a huge one for the 1893 world colombian exposition in
23:50chicago but he wasn't even the person to propose it as an idea and ferris later admitted he'd already
23:56ridden such a wheel in atlantic city uh one that was built by a man called william summers and he called
24:01it an observation roundabout why do you think they wanted a ferris wheel at the chicago exposition
24:08what else had been built recently that they thought actually let's try and rival that and show what
24:12an amazing engineering feat we can create empire state building no the empire state building is a bit
24:17later on statue of liberty so we're going french oh eiffel tower eiffel tower exactly right so what
24:22were they saying they were saying that if you went up in the wheel in chicago you could see the eiffel
24:26tower in paris well they did have all sorts of ideas of creating a tower for it
24:31the idea was to create a tower one of the proposals that was nine times as high as the eiffel tower and
24:37that it had rails at the top right that slipped gradually downwards for hundreds of miles and
24:42connected this tall tower to distant cities which i just think is a fantastic idea of course never
24:49happened but i i think it's a wonderful idea so the idea that you would you'd go up into this tower
24:54and then take some kind of toboggan home um you know if you lived in milwaukee you could just you
24:59could walk down with the moisten leather suction cups right there there are also people who suggested
25:03having cars connected to a very large tower on rubber bands that could then shoot out and come back
25:08again wow the ferris wheel suddenly looking quite insane i like the london eye do you i would think
25:15it's the best thing in london actually do you why it's a really good view you can see everything you
25:21said i hate ferris wheels yeah but you love the london eye but why would it be okay to hate ferris
25:27wheels and love the london eye brexit it's not a ferris wheel oh oh okay yeah it's not a ferris wheel
25:37it's an observation wheel okay because the pods are all fixed on the outside of the rim on a ferris
25:42wheel they're fixed into the rim as you go around i mean it's a subtle distinction and you sit with
25:47strangers in those little pods for a romantic moment you can book out a whole pod which i have
25:51done but say you just want to be on your own can you pretend you're having a romantic moment
26:01i took my then four-year-old stepdaughter for the very first time and when we got to the very
26:05top i said are you enjoying the london eye and she looked out she went where's it gone
26:17oh my god okay just before we move on um we've glossed over your buying out a pod for a romantic
26:26encounter i want to know what happened reader i married her oh did you propose on the wheel no
26:33she proposed to me in the bath um you took a bath i took a bath
26:43one was built in earl's court in 1895 a rather aptly named the great wheel uh it was the largest
26:51wheel in the world the tallest structure in london at the time other than i think st paul's cathedral
26:55380 feet tall one occasion 70 people were stuck in it overnight and they were compensated five oh are you
27:01okay i don't want to be stuck in it overnight so what happened was the people who got stuck in it
27:05overnight were compensated five pounds which was a huge sum of money in 1895 and so people
27:11rode it even more hoping it would break how do they have a wee can you open the window
27:18i'm going to need a wee i'm up twice a night needing a wee you really want to get stuck at the top of
27:24the wheel then don't you you don't want a bit at the bottom like hold it in you know there are people
27:29who go on who live their retirement years on cruise ships because it's cheaper than living in a flat
27:34what could you get a pod on the london eyes you're just living it
27:43living it for the rest of your life going round and round you've got your bed in there you've got your
27:47tv obviously you've got curtains okay you can't use that one who lives in that
27:52but maybe probably if you get struck by lightning that would be a shocker wouldn't it
27:56could you get me a pint
28:02these are the sort of conversations you can enjoy if you're trapped with ellen on the london eyes
28:09okay moving along um what are these birds trying to achieve anybody know what the bird is it's an
28:17american wading bird anybody know what what do you think they're doing they're all doing it are they
28:22eating or trying to have intercourse they're hunting by whirling is what they do it's called a wilson's
28:28phalarope swim around around on the water in really tight fast circles and what it does is it makes
28:33like a whirlpool and it sucks up insects and small crustaceans from underneath it's so effective that
28:39they eat so much sometimes they double in size and then can't fly off they've all been to that buffet
28:47yeah it's a one duck lazy susan yeah absolutely they're very unusual amongst birds in that the
28:54females are more aggressive and more striking vibrant colors and that is because the females are
29:00polyandrous so they take multiple male partners and their role is to compete and to attract multiple
29:05males they lay up to four clutches of eggs per breeding season with different fathers and they
29:11abandon the eggs as soon as they find another male oh man i'd love to see that spin off of bumma mia
29:18they leave the males to look after the eggs and to incubate the chicks and they just go off and
29:22find another partner what do the men do look after the babies that is good stuff yeah i'm keen on
29:29a wilson's palero geese also whirl i don't have ever seen this this is one of those amazing things
29:34so when they're in flight they sometimes spin their whole body around to fly upside down
29:40and keep their heads the right way up and what it does is it causes their altitude to drop really
29:46suddenly so if you suddenly wanted to duck out of the way of a predator it is called whittling but
29:52i love that it's clever alternative b is stop flapping your wings yeah oh i want to descend oh yeah
30:04but it's interesting the whole thing about whirling so they did a study of gorillas and chimps and
30:08orangutans and so on in 2023 at warwick university and they do this a lot right they do it round and
30:15round and round and what they've now decided is they're just wanting to get dizzy and it's a bit
30:21like taking a mind-altering substance oh wow kids do that yeah kids would get on the swing and then twist
30:28it and twist it and twist it and then let go oh they love that but or they just go in the living room and go
30:33round and round and round and round and round until they fall into the fireplace and crack the heads off
30:38do you think the the monkeys do the same thing where they they spin around and they get dizzy and then
30:43they text their ex we talked about bulgarian wheels in the last question what was the dutch whimsy
30:51does it involve sticking a finger in a dike
31:03there used to be frost fairs certainly they had them in london 17th to the 19th century when the
31:19thames used to freeze over um and what they would do is they would get a boat or a sledge or something
31:25and tie it to a pole and then they would spin it round and round around and it was called a dutch
31:29whimsy um yeah it was a popular ice-based activity oh sometimes you think oh kids have got too much
31:36time on the internet and then you see they think yeah they needed the internet yeah now what's the
31:41most fun you can have with a wok you can spin in a wok yes kind of yeah there used to be one in the
31:50park it's like a walk you put the kids in it and then you spin it round and round and they can't stop
31:55it okay so we are heading in the right direction i don't know if there's big enough for my bottom
32:09but oh you can go down a mountain in it yes yes yes you can walk racing oh oh my god yes yes it's a
32:19winter sport wow it looks like he knows that's a bad idea look at his expression i'll go for those
32:25two died by the way so it's a proper sport there's a world championships and everything so they've got a
32:32bit of padding around the edge but that is basically just a kitchen quality chinese walk it started as a
32:37joke in 2003 so the guy on the right is a german comedian called stefan arab and he was on a game
32:44show called wanna bet and he quipped that he would do this idea there have been 15 world championships
32:51since then the most successful walk racer is the guy on the left he's a three-time olympic gold
32:56medalist at the luge and he's called gail cattle but he is a phenomenal walk racer he's got little
33:03walks on his feet look they're ladles they're ladles yes
33:11individual races can reach 60 miles an hour wow and then they also have a four-person walk
33:18sled where they have four walks in a row connected with by wood and they get up to 75 miles oh my gosh
33:25they do run a proper luge run well of course i mean obviously you would wouldn't you yeah you
33:31wouldn't do it down a high street no i mean if you do the race and at the end it shouldn't end when
33:37they get over the line they don't have to cook a stir fry on it so you sit on a stir fry by the time
33:43you get to the bottom that's cooked well let's get on to the cooking because we've got the walk here
33:50does anybody know what is the best way to toss a walk you go down you go down and then up down and
33:58up it's a down and up motion okay but it's i don't know it's not like that not like that it'll go
34:02everywhere you've got to go up like that right it's really heavy can i just say so this is a proper
34:07professional one so have a go darling because it is really a heavy thing
34:10oh god my my anus just winked
34:24take me to your leader
34:27it is heavy though isn't it no it's not heavy sandy okay it's not heavy at all just so like that you
34:33go down and up and then it goes i'm imagining it they're just going up okay so the cantonese they
34:38have a term called wok a and it means the breath of the wok about 550 degrees celsius it's phenomenally
34:44hot and if you just left it at that high heat these incredibly intense temperatures it would burn
34:49so that's why you toss it anyway cool it down by sticking your arse in it and going down a snow mountain
34:54would you use it as a hat would that work oh fuck
35:12i feel you've been as stupid as you can be
35:19and then something happens it means it's not as deep as you think
35:40oh this is weird when you're like when you're in it it echoes your voice it's real
35:52i think we've answered the question of the most fun thing to do with a wok is to give it to alan
35:58somebody did a scientific study the physics of tossing fry
36:01and it's 2.7 times per second that you're supposed to be doing the tossing and two-thirds of all
36:09professional chefs chinese chefs uh have chronic shoulder pain yeah you all right well i think i'll be
36:15all right i mean i might get a lump you know
36:17so you won't remember any of it
36:28i'm getting sky sports i'll talk to you later you look like a real old-fashioned photographer oh yeah
36:38this way marilyn can i just say it's all right for you three because you go home after this i stay here
36:44with him we live together in the london eye
36:56and now we wade into the whirligig that we call general ignorance fingers on buzzers please
37:00what is in this dish
37:06seaweed
37:06is it the remains of what was in the walk after you go down the mountain
37:19is it cabbage well kale is kind of cabbage spring greens or kale different types of cabbage cut into
37:24thin strands it's never seaweed no it's never seaweed what what are you telling me here sandy
37:29why do they call it seaweed it was originally algae specifically called tai chow which is kind of like
37:37a seaweed but in this country it is typically kale or or spring greens and salt and sugar and chinese
37:43five spice so i could make it yes so what are we saying are we saying crispy duck is chicken
37:50all the same it seems to be pretty much a british chinese invention so i love it as well i think it's
37:56absolutely fantastic the port of ningbo which is on the very sort of eastern part of the chinese
38:00mainland there was a dish that was rather similar which was peanuts and this algae so is the stuff
38:05that your sushi is wrapped in seaweed or is that something else that is seaweed oh okay okay but
38:10there's a lot of stuff where we eat stuff that we think is very chinese and it isn't crispy aromatic
38:15duck with pancakes there's another thing they don't they don't have oh wow they have a different menu
38:19there was a chinese restaurant we used to go to a lot downstairs there was karaoke and there were a lot of
38:25chinese people and upstairs it was all that's eating stuff like that and i said what are they eating
38:30down there she goes chinese menu i said what's on it she said i i don't want to tell you because you
38:35would never eat here again it's prepared in a very different way the chef first of all hits himself
38:40over the head now the benin bronzes are a group of sculptures found in museums around the world can you name
38:51either the modern day country of origin or the material that most of them are made from are they bronze
39:01well i'm going to give you i'm going to give you that because you said are they bright it was a
39:05question was it yes i didn't say it okay but you said bronze sandy another five points off you
39:12made from brass and not bronze but where are they from benin bronzes i mean does it really matter
39:18they're probably stolen and they're here in london a little irish joke for you there folks try
39:25i think buddy that's a really good answer um because they were of course looted by british
39:29colonial troops in 1897 so i'm going to give you five points for that
39:39nigeria yes we've got a distinction here between the kingdom of benin and the republic of benin
39:46so there was this kingdom starts about 900 and then goes on to the late 19th century when the british
39:52bring an end to it then the bit of water around that curve is the bite of benin and then the republic
40:00of benin was named after the bite of benin but it's about 5 000 artworks made by the edo people of
40:07nigeria uh mostly in the 15th 16th century they're extraordinary and they ought to be where
40:11in a museum in london no nowadays it's very important that antiquities are spread throughout
40:18the united kingdom not just
40:27can i just say i'm sorry he's been hit on the head
40:31here's a history question king ethelred wasn't someone say i'm not saying it touching himself
40:41he looks like he's just stuck above the top of the wheel and he just sat there for the night
40:50that hat is definitely a moist and leather suction
40:55it's a tension in the ceiling
40:58with the walk are you wanting ready is that what you wanted
41:02so what do we think it means he was known as ethelred the unready what does it mean
41:11it has nothing to do with being ready okay he couldn't read uh no he's unready
41:17actually the walk has made him smarter i will say that that was a good gift that was good yeah
41:22he was ill-advised is the thing that's actually what it means he wasn't readied that's what i say when i'm
41:27late so i was ill-advised the time word raid meant council or advice so if you were unraid you had no
41:34council or you had bad advice he ruled england from 978 to 1013 and then again from 1014 to 1016
41:41from 980 the danish viking i feel i should apologize at this point um the danish vikings regularly raided
41:49the english shores and his first thing to do was he paid the danes loads of money to stay away and that
41:54didn't work then he tried massacring danish settlers and then he lost his throne to denmark's swine
42:00fork beard um we thought it was a perfectly sensible name he doesn't look very smart if you're the
42:10king and then someone shows you that as your painting yeah and you don't go are you joking yeah
42:17it's not going to go well on a coin is it so it's about 150 years after he died he was first called
42:22unready but it just means bad advice red is advice so for example ethelred the unready
42:28translates as noble council no council so the red in alfred has the same root and so alfred means elf
42:35council another obsolete meaning of the word unready is to get naked i'd say i'm unready when
42:41i'm naked not ready at all all right i'm unready unready come in whenever i end up naked i normally
42:51say i'm ill-advised when you turn away with embarrassment in your ass winks it's very it's all
42:59which brings us to the weird and wonderful matter of the scores let's take a look in last place i mean
43:04blinkin useless with minus 21 it's got no brains left it's alan
43:13in third place marginally better than a poke in the eye with two whole points mel
43:20and in short first place nudge nudge wink wink say no more it's paddy and roisin
43:34well that's it for this edition of qi thanks to roisin patrick mel and alan and i
43:41leave you with this reflection from the writer gene kerr i feel about aeroplanes the way i feel about
43:46diets it seems to me they are wonderful things for other people to go on good night
44:04you
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