A "QI" Quiz

Answer: Made the crew unemployed with no wages

White Star Line immediately stopped their employees' wages the moment the Titanic sank. Basically the company decided that once the ship had sunk, there was no ship to work on, so the crew became unemployed.

Answer: She watched the "Queen's Speech"

After the festivities of Christmas dinner, at 3pm the royal family has traditionally come together around the TV to watch "The Queen's Speech".

Answer: Nothing bigger than a grapefruit

Surprisingly, a blue whale's throat is very small and it cannot stretch very wide. In fact, its throat is roughly the same size as a grapefruit. A blue whale's tongue, however, is as heavy as an elephant.

Answer: It dies

The two halves may thrash around and wriggle for quite a while. Eventually, though, the worm just dies.

Answer: Acquitted

It was claimed that around five million women in Europe were either burned or hanged for practising witchcraft, though this is likely an exaggeration. In England it was thought that about 500 were hanged, but none were burned as many stories of witches and warlocks would have us believe.

Answer: A fighting gamecock

In the 18th century, most English villages would have a cockpit. People would go to cockpits to participate in one of England's national sports--cock fighting.

Since the 19th century, cock fighting has been banned in many countries, including England, but the custard pile breed is still a favorite with poultry fanciers who show them off as ornamental fowl in competitions.

Answer: Horses

H. Cecil Booth, an English engineer, and Murray Spangler from America were both trying to invent electric powered vacuums at around the same time. The first one to be patented was by H. Cecil Booth who, after noticing a device that was used on trains blowing dust off chairs, thought that it would be better to have a device that sucked dust in instead. Experimenting with his own mouth to suck dust off of a chair, he decided it might work. He built a large horse drawn vacuum cleaner that was positioned outside the building and tubes were put through the windows to suck up the dirt.

Alas, he didn't have much success with it. Neither did Murray Spangler, who made his from a pillow case, a fan and a box, and then decided to sell his idea to his cousins' Hoover Harness and Leather Goods Factory.

Answer: Happy Birthday to You

The song was written by sisters Patty and Mildred Hill. Mildred composed the melody, while Patty wrote the lyrics. It was originally titled "Good Morning to All", a classroom greeting song. In an Irving Berlin 1933 musical, the words "Happy Birthday to You" were added, but not by the sisters. Nobody knows who wrote them.

The sisters sued and won, retaining the copyright. In theory, if you sing this song in a restaurant or any other public place you will owe Warner Brothers money.

Answer: Henry Campbell-Bannerman

The term "Prime Minister" was officially used for the first time five days after Henry Campbell-Bannerman was elected in 1905. Prior to 1905, the title was First Lord of The Treasury.

Answer: Tweed jackets

The members who mainly sat in House of Lords were very rich and loved nothing more than to wear their tweed jackets. Tweed was popular due to its durability and strength. By fixing the material using stale urine in many different shades of yellow, they were able to personalise the patterns and plaids.

In a downpour of rain, the jackets got damp and gave off the smell of urine. Later, chemicals were introduced for fixing the material, and most of the gentry were removed from the House, so the odour almost vanished.