"QI" - Series A, Episode 2 Trivia Quiz

Answer: A question that no one ever asked

Stephen's introduction always contains a witty remark. Self-humor, of course, is one of his finest qualities.

Answer: The number of toilet-related injuries in the United States in 1996

43,687 Americans suffered some kind of toilet-related injuries in 1996 - quite a staggering statistic! By comparison, only around 2200 people have been attacked by sharks since 1580 (at least, on record). Perhaps people should be less afraid of sharks and more afraid of toilets?

Apologies to Stephen Fry's mother, who would've preferred the use of the word "Lavatory".

Answer: "It's 9pm"

Rich's buzzer noise is a loud bell tolling. Rich is a quick thinker, and would display the ability to use his buzzer creatively several more times during the course of the show (and even this episode!). Given his particular style of comedy, he was actually just as likely to have said any of the answers to this question.

Rich is one of several Americans to appear on the show during the years, and definitely holds the record for most appearances by an American.

Answer: A tiger

According to Fry, the noise is known as "Fuffing". The sound of tigers fuffing is supposedly remarkably similar to that made by weasels. Tigers do not roar when they attack, only when warning off other tigers. Alan Davies says that they roar to tell one another where the "Frosties" are.

By the way, very few of the modern Croatian coats of arms actually contain any weasels in them. When they do, they often appear at the bottom of the shield. Most Croatian coats of arms tend to feature eagles, and the current coat of arms features a small weasel and a small goat. Bailey wins 5 points for this semi-fallacy.

Answer: Yes

Polar bear fur is in fact translucent. Light refracting off the individual hairs returns white. Unfortunately for Alan, his explanation for it is somewhat inaccurate and confusing, and as a result none of the others believe him, and he doesn't get points for being quite interesting.

Answer: Stephen Fry's "Hello, hello, hello, hello, hello, hello ... and welcome to QI!"

In the first episode of QI, the large screens behind the contestants were used only to show a picture of Michelangelo's ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, and were left with a video of swimming fish for the rest of the episode. Forfeits were only shown by Stephen Fry holding a card with the forfeit text printed on it. Bill Bailey also appears for the first time in this second episode.

Fry's "Hello, hello, hello [ad nauseum]" or "Good evening, good evening, good evening" intro began being used in the first episode of series B. In Series A, he said just one hello every episode.

Answer: Stephen Hawking

Stephen usually ends the show with a funny, witty or otherwise interesting quote. During the first series, he also spent a larger proportion of the show's time quoting various historical figures and sharing completely unrelated anecdotes. As the show's format evolved, more time was given to questions and to the panelists' antics.

Answer: The nipples

Stephen poses a question about how best to defend against an alligator using one of five household objects. Bill Bailey suggests an elaborate strategy involving a popped paper bag as well as clamping alligator clips on its nipples. It's Rich Hall that points out the absurdity of clamping anything on an alligator's nipples when it doesn't actually have any. Alligators are reptiles, not mammals, and therefore do not lactate and do not require nipples for any other reason.

Answer: A wooden horse

As Stephen Fry recounts from the Daily Telegraph, a man reported that he had driven by a one-eared, three-legged horse tied to a pole so short that it couldn't even reach down to chew the grass. As it turns out, the horse was a wooden advertisement for a nearby riding school.

Answer: 2

The second moon he is referring to is "Cruithne", pronounced "Cru-ee-nia", a small object whose orbit goes mainly around the sun but is strongly influenced by Earth's gravity. At the time of this show's airing, the scientific community was actually divided on whether to classify it as one of Earth's moons.

Later on, several more such objects were discovered by astronomers, and it was decided not to classify them as moons, leaving us again with only one moon. The question "how many moons does the Earth have?" was then asked again in a later episode, as a trap to anyone who would answer "two". Alan Davies fell for it.

Answer: Strange and foreign-sounding words

He mentions this in passing when talking about IKEA and its custom of naming products with all sorts of funny foreign-sounding names like "Lublick" and "Lunebar". He also claims that IKEA outlets never have any windows, so that customers would not be able to tell how much time they spend shopping there. He's actually spot on, with both assumptions!

Answer: Under his desk

Approximately 90% of the universe is made of Dark Matter, a theoretical form of matter that scientists believe is undetectable by us at our present technological level. In fact, many astrophysicists now believe that there is also a similar "Dark Energy" which is also undetectable, and is causing the universe to expand faster and faster.

The Large Hadron Collider may someday be able to reveal these elements of nature, and hopefully propel our understanding of the universe forward, assuming it doesn't destroy the planet in the process.

Answer: Gay Whisper

Stephen asks "what is the color of the universe", to which Jeremy Hardy correctly answers "beige". Fry then admits that he thought it was more like "Gay Whisper", the shade used for his make-up base. Alan Davies asks if "Gay Whisper" was anything like "Chinese Whispers" (the child's game), and Stephen replies "Yes, but more fun". Stephen is a proud homosexual, and does not refrain from making jokes about the issue every few episodes, for great comedic effect.

Answer: False

In fact, "Bangkok" isn't even the proper name for the capital of Thailand. The city is called Krung Thep in the Thai language. Stephen Fry claims that this means "City of Angels", similar to Los Angeles, though in truth it is actually closer to meaning "City of the God(s)". The origin of the name "Bangkok" is not entirely clear.

Answer: Jeremy Hardy and Rich Hall

Jeremy and Rich scored 20 points each. In the early days of "QI", high scores such as this were not uncommon. As the show evolved however, penalties were handed out much more "generously", and most players (even the winner) usually reached the end of the show with negative scores.