The Unbelievable Truth

David Mitchell is joined by Holly Walsh, Henning Wehn, Zoe Lyons and Richard Osman as they lie on the subjects of insects, words, parties, and supermarkets.

The Truths

Holly Walsh - Insects

- Most insects are deaf. Of the 30 major insect orders, only nine contain species capable of hearing. Of the 350,000 species of beetle, almost all are deaf. Found by Richard.

- You can use a species of cricket to tell the temperature. In you count the number of chirps the snowy tree cricket, aka the temperature cricket, makes in 14 seconds and add 40, you get the temperature in Fahrenheit. Found by Henning.

- The praying mantis is the only species with one ear. It has one giant ear located deep in the centre of its thorax. Found by Zoe.

- Over recent years, insect footsteps have got quieter. Found by Zoe.

- Bugs suck. The word "bug" is not slang for insect, but the name given to a particular order of insects which have specialised mouth parts, like straws, that allow them to suck fluids. All bugs are insects, but not all insects are bugs. Successfully smuggled.

Henning Wehn - Words

- The word "mafia" never appears in The Godfather films, despite appearing constantly in the original novels. Producer Al Ruddy removed all mentions of "mafia" and "cosa nostra" due to pressure by the Italian-American Civil Rights League, a pressure group set up Joseph Colombo, the head of a minor New York crime family, to improve the image of mobsters and deny the existence of the mafia. Found by Holly.

- Scottish Gaelic originally contained no words for "yes" or "no". Found by Zoe.

- Latin has no word for "interesting". Successfully smuggled.

- French has no word for "shrug". Successfully smuggled.

- English has no word for "bruchbude", a word meaning "substandard accommodation". The closest English get to it is probably: "hovel". Successfully smuggled.

Zoe Lyons - Parties

- The phrase: "There is a party in my pants and you're all invited", comes from a tradition where boys would have a party when given their first pair of long trousers. Called "breaching parties", they were common in Britain between the 16th and early 20th centuries in well-off families. In early childhood, boys and girls dressed alike at first, until the boy came of age and was given their trousers. Found by Holly.

- In 1694, Admiral Edward Russell had a punch bowl so large that it had to be attended by staff rowing around inside it in canoes. It was actually a fountain in Alicante. The staff worked in 15 minute shifts to avoid passing out from the fumes. Found by Richard.

- Guests at Edward VII's weekend house parties were weighed on arrival and departure to make sure his generous hospitality had caused them to put on weight. It is rumoured that the Royal Family continue this tradition today, before and after Christmas dinner. Found by Henning.

- In Ireland, you can hire Pope John Paul II's popemobile for stag and hen parties. You can hire the 15-seater vehicle from the Dublin Wax Museum for €300 per hour plus VAT. Found by Henning.

- Bear Grylls is frightened of cocktail parties. Successfully smuggled.

Richard Osman - Supermarket

- Also the shop Iceland has no branches in the country Iceland, they tried to stop the country from using the word "Iceland" in an advert. In 2014, the shop secured the trademark for the word "Iceland", which began a five-year-long dispute between the shop and the country. In 2019, after the shop tried to block the country from using the slogan, "Inspired by Iceland" in a tourism advert, the Icelandic government took action and the Intellectual Property Office invalidated the shop's trademark in Europe. Found by Holly.

- Asda's milk bottles have the phrase: "Contains milk", written on them. Since 2009, this has been part of the allergy advice. Found by Holly.

- The first supermarket was called Piggly Wiggly. It now has over 530 branches across 17 US states. Successfully smuggled.

- In January 2018, Nutella riots took place in France. When Intermaché offered 70% discounts on the spread, 1kg jars were being sold at €1.40 each, and customers started fighting each other to get them. Successfully smuggled.

- In 2018, Waitrose laid on yoga classes for customers. Successfully smuggled.

Scores

- Richard Osman: 1 point
- Holly Walsh and Zoe Lyons: 0 points
- Henning Wehn: -5 points