QI

QI: how to receive a letter from Shakespeare's Juliet

A quietly intriguing column from the brains behind QI, the BBC quiz show. This week: QI puts its hand up in the name of volunteering.

One of tonight's quite interesting facts is that all the guest celebs in Stephen Fry's quizzing kaleidoscope are female, with Radio 4 presenter Susan Calman, TV perennial Liza Tarbuck and actor/comedian/antiques buff Sandi Toksvig ready to subject themselves to a surreal grilling. Will regular Alan Davies be able to keep his end up as the only male on the receiving end of tonight's posers? Of course he will, with bells on.

Radio Times review

The QI arena is buzzing tonight. Sometimes you get the feeling everyone on the panel is simply enjoying themselves and the show's lovely meandering jollity quickly becomes infectious. On the panel we have Radio 4 regular Susan Calman, Sandi Toksvig and Liza Tarbuck, plus an in-form Alan Davies, who breaks into even more of those whimsical little mimes he likes doing than usual - a randy spider, a kayak being surprised by a trawler, and so on.

But there's fascination aplenty too as we learn about the tall tales of cinnamon salesmen, ultra-hot chillies and female weightlifters. Plus the urgent and surreal question: why would German soldiers have abnormally large breasts?

QI: why do we put salt on our icy roads?

A quietly intriguing column from the brains behind QI, the BBC quiz show. This week: QI is worth its salt.

QI: why milk is more of a food than tomatoes

A quietly intriguing column from the brains behind QI, the BBC quiz show. This week: QI got milk.

QI: some quite interesting facts about Auld Lang Syne

From Jimi Hendrix to the Maldivian national anthem, a quietly intriguing history of the most famous New Year's Eve singalong.

QI: some quite interesting facts about Christmas carols

A quietly intriguing column from the brains behind QI, the BBC quiz show. This week: QI wassails in the sunset.

Quizmaster Stephen Fry, resplendent in a deep red, Noël Coward-ish dressing gown, hosts a sparkly QI Christmas special with guests, Mrs Brown's alter ego Brendan O'Carroll, Phill Jupitus, Jo Brand and Alan Davies. It's the Feast of Stephen, of course, and Fry introduces a young lady who's invented what she describes as an "unknitting machine" which is operated behind the scenes in the studio by her brother, much to everyone's ribald delight.

Fry, a man who loves gadgets, is thrilled as the machine unravels Alan Davies's festive scarf. Meanwhile, the guests wonder what presents we can expect from the Queen, and why Father Christmas is no longer on a Rich List.

QI: quite interesting facts about A Christmas Carol

A quietly intriguing column from the brains behind QI, the BBC quiz show. This week: QI's Christmas Carol.

Richard Osman's head is stuffed full of Pointless knowledge, as any fan of BBC One's excellent early evening quiz will know. This should mean the presenter will wipe the floor with the opposition as he joins Victoria Wood, Jason Manford and Alan Davies to field Fry's questions.

Still, there are no guarantees in the QI world, which not so long ago revealed the quite interesting fact that many of its former facts are now considered to be fiction. Sometimes you just can't win.