QI

11 Things You Didn't Know From The 'Book Of The Dead'

Two things strike you when you spend time among the dead. The first is just how many of them there are (about 90 billion humans have lived and died over the past 100,000 years). The second is how similar were the challenges they each faced -- and how staggeringly varied and resourceful the responses.

Along with Stephen Fry's quiz questions on the letter H tonight, it would be quite interesting to find out why the erudite Gyles Brandreth has taken seven years to make his second appearance on this show as a panellist. Also risking the blare of the klaxons for only the second time is comedienne Sue Perkins, who appeared earlier this year. Bill Bailey completes the trio of promising guests lined up to discuss esoterica with Fry and Alan Davies.

Tonight one of QI's infrequent female panellists, Sue Perkins, fresh from dusting the flour off her dainty hands in The Great British Bake Off, joins the boys. She's sparky and funny and will be more than capable of holding her own with those noisy, competitive lads. They are, of course, question master Stephen Fry and genial regular Alan Davies, here with Gyles Brandreth (so garrulous he never knowingly uses two words when he can use 20) and frequent panellist Bill Bailey, who is always good value as he dallies with the esoteric, the surreal and the downright daft.

Stories Of The Dead And Famous. And Just The Dead.

Catherine the Great wasn't really named Catherine, and she hated being called "Great." These and more intriguing facts about the dead are unearthed in John Lloyd and John Michinson's new book, The Book of the Dead.

H is for hero - which is what Stephen Fry has become to millions of TV viewers and Twitterers who hang on his every tweet. And it's also the letter that'll be the theme of the brand new series eight.

Regular panellist Alan Davies - who admits the endless repeats of this show on Dave even get up his nose - resumes his role of The Thudding Voice Of Ignorance. And he'll be joined by Phill Jupitus, Jack Dee and Ross Noble who'll all be aiming to come up with Quite Interesting answers to the show's posers.

But QI would be nothing without its genial headmaster Fry who sits atop this mountain of knowledge like an erudite genie. His trivia lessons often end up being quite a lot more interesting than the brave stabs at comedy.

Stephen Fry fans, prepare to hug yourselves with glee - RT's cover star is going to be everywhere this autumn and winter. The second, eagerly anticipated volume of his memoirs, The Fry Chronicles, is published this week (it's been too long since Moab Is My Washpot in 1997), he's doing gigs at the Royal Albert Hall and elsewhere and, of course, he's hosting this new series of QI. At last! We no longer have to survive on endless re-runs on Dave, so endless that we devotees know all the questions and all the correct answers and aren't caught out by the klaxon any more. So let's welcome the newness. As always, expect an erudite, if occasionally unnecessarily smutty delight, as we reach the letter "H". Genial perpetual QI loser Alan Davies returns, along with another regular, the cheery Phill Jupitus. Making up the quartet are the dolorous Jack Dee and Geordie comic Ross Noble, wild of hair and even wilder of imagination.

Top QI Facts

We take a look back at some of the quirky facts with which the quiz show has filled our brains.

The closest you'll ever be to diving into an encyclopaedia and then surface, drenched in knowledge and needing to wipe facts about the Periodic Table from the corners of your eyes, is by watching this still-spiffing comedy panel show. Tonight Stephen Fry will set Alan Davies, Ross Noble, Jack Dee, and Phill Jupitus questions relating to the letter H, which means obscure questions on hacky sacks, the Roman soldier Horatio, and H out of Steps.

Who is tvBite's least favourite person on QI this week? Alan Davies? KLAXON NOISE. Why, this week it's Phill Jupitus. Phil's 25th appearance on the show brings him level with Jo Brand as most-used guest. He moves above Alan as most annoying person because of that book where he claims to have invented great radio, despite presenting one of the most irritating shows ever. Maybe DJs should be allowed to choose their own music but they should also SHUT UP and not carry on in an annoying nasal whine. Even more annoying, Phill shouldn't have even been on the show but Sean Lock was stranded on the Isle Of Man.

Anyway, that's by the by. We like QI, in general and it is back with series H. (By the way, prepare yourself for an autumn of wistful mellow fruitiness because Stephen Fry will be everywhere. He has a book to flog and a live Albert Hall show to publicise). The episode is titled Hodge Podge, the other guests are Jack Dee, Ross Noble and over all there are many worse ways to begin your weekend.

QI: Quite Interesting facts about bubbles

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