The Book of General Ignoranceby John Lloyd & John Mitchinson
DG and trivia fans May have not Heard of this Book in The US (It has been published in the US) It comes from a BBC UK TV quiz called QI (Quite Interesting) which is Hosted by Stephen Fry (who is an actor comedian) But there is a Website with more books.DVDs and other bits www.qi.com/tv/
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The Book of General Ignorance is a comprehensive and humiliating catalogue of all the misconceptions, mistakes and misunderstandings in 'common knowledge', which will make you wonder why anyone ever bothers to go to school. If you still think that Henry VIII had six wives, that the earth has only one moon, and that Mount Everest is the world's tallest mountain, then you need this book. Urgently.
This gently sparkling font of knowledge refreshes the one question which has obsessed philosophers, scientists and men in pubs for most of history: what is truth and what is total hogwash?
Thomas Edison stated that we know less than one millionth of one percent about anything; Mark Twain thought it would take 8 million years to master mathematics alone; Woody Allen said that some drink deeply from the river of knowledge, but others only gargle.
And that show has NOT been put on BBC World or America for you to see ! There are some DVD's (of the earlier seasons)(Region 2 only?) Is about to start shooting Season 5 in I think June There are several clips of the show on YouTube/Google Video)
Posts: 13302 | Location: 6 miles west of Wigan UK | Registered: 06-05-02
Shh, Bedstor !Where do you think I get my best trivia questions from? What's so good about the book, and the programme, is that the answers given are deeply researched and come complete with impeccable references that even DG would accept !
Maybe you better check out things before you ask, Fred. I looked at the clip, which stated that rabbits are the only mammal that can't vomit. I think that is incorrect.
Some rat facts include:
* Their lifespan is between 1-3 years; * They have no gallbladder; * Rats have a bellybutton; * Rats can’t vomit;
For one thing, rats can't vomit or burp, and fizzy drinks can lead to a build up of gas in their digestive systems, which can cause a lot of discomfort and can even be lethal. - http://ratplanet.0catch.com/feeding.htm
Don't know about rats but since 'everyone (everyone in Newmarket, the home of horseracing, anyway) knows' that horses can't vomit , I'd expect to find that this 'everyone knows' turns out to be incorrect for some wonderfully obscure but technical reason. That's the very nature of QI (Or, obviously Stephen Fry said 'rats, not 'rabbits'. We all know that Americans can't understand 'posh' English accents )
Originally posted by FredPuli: We all know that Americans can't understand 'posh' English accents )
I'm not American, but he seems to me to have a perfectly ordinary Buckinghamshire accent. I had never encountered this show, 'QI', but I must say, its very interesting. I've been watching all the clips from the link Bedstor posted. Thank you. I particularly liked: Christmas, Christianity and Mithras
quote:
Shh, Bedstor !Where do you think I get my best trivia questions from?
Oh ! And there was I assuming all your gems of wisdom came from
Originally posted by DorianGreyed: Maybe you better check out things before you ask, Fred. I looked at the clip, which stated that rabbits are the only mammal that can't vomit. I think that is incorrect.
I couldn't open the link on the QI site, but I found the clip on Youtube. DG,I can't believe you watched that clip and the only thing you could say was that the fact the woman stated was incorrect !!! That was the funniest thing i've seen for a long time I think you are missing the point here,that was just a trail for the programme, nothing to do with the actual format of the show and obviously done jokingly (given the content of the clip,I doubt whether this was ever shown on TV).The woman uses the fact to get out of an embarrassing situation,there is nothing to say the fact is correct or not,and she does say "apparently". Maybe it's just english humour I don't think I should give a direct link to the clip as it does contain (as they say on DVD covers ) strong language and sexual references,but it can be found on youtube under QI teaser.
Originally posted by VivienneHa: DG,I can't believe you watched that clip and the only thing you could say was that the fact the woman stated was incorrect !!! That was the funniest thing i've seen for a long time I think you are missing the point here,that was just a trail for the programme, nothing to do with the actual format of the show and obviously done jokingly (given the content of the clip,I doubt whether this was ever shown on TV).The woman uses the fact to get out of an embarrassing situation,there is nothing to say the fact is correct or not,and she does say "apparently".
I completely agree, and couldn't have put it better, Viv. I'll add one small thing: DG, you are being WAY too anal, and missing the fun. Please look at the clips on YouTube, it's a very funny and informative show. QI on YouTube
No, DG..not like Benny Hill. Like Blackadder and French and Saunders. Now, go and watch those clips of QI, and report back to us. There will be a test.
Stephen Fry's Usual screen Partner is Hugh Laurie (Who plays House) Their Jeeves and Wooster is absolutely Perfect Lauries real voice matches Fry's. His "American" is Immaculate
Posts: 13302 | Location: 6 miles west of Wigan UK | Registered: 06-05-02
Originally posted by DorianGreyed: Bedstor's first clip had a woman saying that rabbits were the only mammals that can't vomit. It appeared to be a commercial for the show.
Oh dear.
The woman is a genteel lady who is embarrassed. She desperately tries to think of something to change the subject. So she picks a piece of trivia, perhaps invented, out of the air and, to avoid controversy, to be polite, to announce the fact that it is NOT proven fact but merely a conversational ploy (goodness, why do find myself explaining a one line joke at such length?); she says "apparently......" (Very British) . The other part of the humour lies in the inappropriate choice of subject, as far as possible from parrots and human relations, but not exactly the kind of subject which she'd choose for a teatime chat.That points up the desperation and embarrassment, and adds to the effect.
This is the comedy of embarrassment
It is a standard gambit in conversations here to say 'How interesting'. The correct reply to this statement would be that.The tone of voice tells the speaker whether to elaborate or to stop and try something else. If the reply comes 'That's quite interesting'it suggests that the original trivial remark is to be topped by 'but did you know...'
[The programme is called QI for 'Quite Interesting' (Hint)]
Accent:Stephen Fry was born in Hampstead (where else?), the family moving to Norfolk when he was young. Not that makes any difference: he was at boarding school from age 8, first at Stout's Hill, a preparatory school in the Cotswolds, then at Uppingham (in Rutland).Quite right too. Children should not be exposed to either their parents or to the accents of ordinary people in Norfolk but should be segregated and incarcerated with others like themselves. He must have got an Uppingham School accent.
Gems of wisdom? Mine are, indeed, derived from books we keep by the lavatories. The books are, I notice, gradually thinner after each visit....
Ah, but he moved from Chesham in Buckinghamshire when he was young, so don't you think I could have a point? Of course the other dominant Bucks accent is Bangladeshi.
My own children had English accents until they started school. The English prep school system can be brutal on children. My nieces and nephews were sent away to school at around 10 years of age, but some of their classmates went at five years old.
I think, from DG's reply, we are on an uphill struggle to get Americans to appreciate British humour.
I think, from DG's reply, we are on an uphill struggle to get Americans to appreciate British humour.
An anthropologist who spent a few years studying the English, as she would any alien tribe or society, decided that the key for an outsider was to understand that nothing whatsoever said here was to be taken literally or seriously.Americans mean their words literally. The English never do.It doesn't matter what it is, it isn't what it sounds like. Which makes the oft heard American, bemused, response to an English statement in conversation, "Oh....it was a joke, right ?" difficult to answer because 'it' was usually not a joke but simply our usual way of talking (and it was serious).
That's a bit of a handicap. If you can't distinguish between an ordinary statement which is expressed in humorous terms (using irony,understatement,self-deprecation exaggeration,false comparisons and so on) from a humorous statement you'll have a difficulty with the nuances of the humour, let alone spot it.
That may be why Benny Hill is, and was for many years, the only British comedian any American (or the world) ever heard of. His jokes were sight gags and double meanings, like a Donald McGill postcard come to life.The shows still play in France and worldwide too. His career as a regular performer on British TV ended around 1970 but he financed and directed his own shows thereafter, which he sold worldwide. He earned far more abroad than he ever did from British sales and TV
Originally posted by FredPuli: That may be why Benny Hill is, and was for many years, the only British comedian any American (or the world) ever heard of.
Yes, that, and "Are you Being Served" I still hear comments about Americans loving British comedy, and those are the only two shows they have seen.
I love the way in QI the members of the panel take the p*** (not an American expression, btw) out of Stephen Fry about his upbringing. In one of the clips he mentions the school tailor's shop when he was at elementary school. The panel falls about laughing, and there is a comment along the lines of, "On which side do you dress, young sir? Oh, it doesn't matter."
One other comment, why do you think it is that so many of these brilliant comediens suffer from severe depression, and in Fry's case, manic depression?
Tony Hancock,Mike Yarwood,Les Dennis,Even Benny Hill had Depression...Many more besides. Though Les Dawsons stage Act was Depressing Jokes (Very funny) worth Googling The Comedians TV show Which Launched many big Name Comedians...Bernard Manning(who was larger than Life) Had His own Club and appeared Just about every Day there up to when he died www.bernardmanning.com/ PS He did Play Vegas DG? Listen to the Sound bites off this Guy is he offensive? Some of the Guys here have the same way of Expressing themselves(You are included) So in My mind the difference is Nothing http://tinyurl.com/4gbvku (Lots of Clips here)
Posts: 13302 | Location: 6 miles west of Wigan UK | Registered: 06-05-02
Originally posted by bedstor: DG? Listen to the Sound bites off this Guy is he offensive? Some of the Guys here have the same way of Expressing themselves(You are included) So in My mind the difference is Nothing
Am I misunderstanding what you are trying to say? You think that people here, DG included, express themselves in the same way as this loud mouthed, racist, idiot did? I think you've got your sites mixed up, Bedstor. I always thought Bernard Manning was offensive, and never appreciated his sense of humour, sorry. Besides, I very much doubt Americans will be able to decipher even a modicum of English in that accent. Where is he from, btw?
Also how did we manage to get from British humour at it's best to British humourat it's worst in such a short time ? Bernard Manning -just not funny. dg,he's from Manchester.
AnswerPool.com 
There are some DVD's (of the earlier seasons)(Region 2 only?) 
What's so good about the book, and the programme, is that the answers given are deeply researched and come complete with impeccable references that even DG would accept !
