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Well, an unusual episode of QI. First of all, it's a little bit quiet in here and that's

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because there is no audience. There is no audience because we are shooting this in

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March 2020 during the coronavirus outbreak. We don't know how that's all going to turn

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out. So for safety's sake, we don't have 600 people in here. And I can't give a

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hug as I usually do to the entire crew. Joining me tonight in a show, well, it's

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all about rubbish. Ah, kicking up a sting, Johnny Vegas. Down in the dump, it's Bridget

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Christie. There's something fishy about Holly Walsh. Just going to put it out there.

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And we're not sure what it is, but we found it down the back of the fridge.

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It's Alan Davis. And their buzzers actually serve a purpose, OK? They're

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literally repulsive. They are used to repel something. And I want you to tell

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me what they repel. So let's start with Johnny.

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What do you reckon? What does it sound like? An angry boar driven away. Yes, it's

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OK. But it's got snorting. It's got snorting. Is that another animal? Is there

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more than one animal? There is more than one animal. So you get a deer

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snorting, OK, followed by a dog barking. And it is something that the

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Japan Railway Technical Research Institute came up with. They were

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trying to prevent collisions with deer. So they do the deer snorting to

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attract the attention of the deer and then the dog barking to make them go

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away. It was to stop them getting hit by a truck. While they're going along,

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they're doing that. Yeah. The bullet train's at 200 miles an hour.

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There's a deer going, what the hell was that? It's optimistic. I mean,

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a cyclist, maybe. Yeah. But who came up with that? Who went into work

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and went, I've had a hell of an idea. Yeah. Just going to put it out

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there. I think it's somebody who's done a bit too much sarky, don't

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you? Yeah. Are you allowed to drink and drive trains? No. What's the

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deal with that? No. Oh, right, it was the person who invented it?

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Yeah. Did you think just because it's on a track, it's OK to carry

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on having alcohol? Yeah, I was wondering. It's really not. OK,

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fine. Yeah. You could have told me this two years ago. Anyway.

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You're not allowed to fly planes either. Johnny, what about...

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No, but with the crisis right now, I'm having a go.

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I want to drive a train. OK, I want to drive one of those big

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articulated lorries. You know the ones where you have to get a

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ladder? Have you ever been to Diggerland? No. It's incredible.

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So basically, it's an entire theme park... Yeah. ..based around...

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It's all diggers. ..JCB diggers and whatnot. OK. They let

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two-year-olds drive them, and I'm not even joking. I had to go

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to court a long time ago for speeding in my car, and while I

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was in the court, there were two other people up before me, and

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they said, you are charged with taking a bus. And I thought

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they'd bunk the fare, but what they'd done was they'd taken a

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bus. And then they talked in a very serious, courtly way about

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the route they took through the town and the carnage they wrought,

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and they really had to try and stand there and keep a straight

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face, and obviously the best night of their lives was being

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recounted. We got drunk, me and my friend, and climbed under a

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covered carousel and slept on the top deck of obviously a

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miniature bus. How did you get in it? The tiny little opening?

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I didn't go up the stairs. It was so small, I just climbed

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up the stairs and I was like, I've done it like Godzilla. Were

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you woken by them testing it in the morning? The guy was

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telling us how much trouble we was in, and you're going, for

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what? Sleeping on a tiny bus. And somehow wishing we were

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bigger. Did you get in trouble? No, we just walked up and

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left him. I love that, you have also taken a bus. Well, why

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don't you pull the tiny police car off and follow us? The best

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chaser ever. Go round and round. Fly away in the little

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helicopter. I love a merry-go-round, I'd like to sleep on

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a merry-go-round. It's great. I've never been more at

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peace. People sleep on roller coasters when they're

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breaking records. Do they? I've heard of that, they go,

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how many days can you last on a roller coaster? And you're

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allowed off five minutes every hour to have a... No, you

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should have to do all your ablutions off the side of it,

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that should be part of it. Well, that's a health safety

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issue for miles around. No, girls are not going to stick

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their bottoms out over the edge of a roller coaster. Well,

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we've all done a motorway moonie. We haven't all done a

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motorway moonie, Holly Walsh. Have you done a motorway

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moonie? No. Please say no. You're backing me up here. It

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was in France, it wasn't here. Oh, that doesn't count. An

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auto-route bootie. I thought no-one will know it's me. No, I

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was on my own, I wouldn't take my trousers off in front

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of... You were on your own? Were you driving? How does that

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work? I'm a very talented driver. I was being taught how

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to drive a tractor once by a farmer. Right. And I hadn't

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realised that the farmer had jumped off. How could you not

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notice? There's not doors or anything. He was stood on the

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outside and we were talking and I thought, oh, he's been quiet

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for a while. He'd fallen to his death. We had gone quite a

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long way and he hadn't yet taught me how to stop it. Oh,

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my God, what happened? I had to crash into a barn. You began

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this story by saying, I have many skills, and then the

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first thing you say is you drove a tractor into a barn.

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Johnny, can you play us the buzzer again so we can hear

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it now that we know what it is? I'm not getting the dog

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woof. Oh, there it is. Yeah. I think of all the things on it,

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the dog woof was the clearest, if I'm honest. Does it sound like

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there's a car driving away in the middle of it? Yeah. That's

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a deer reversing. It's a deer doing an impression of a

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reversing car. No, it's her farmer jumping off. Right,

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let's move on. Bridget, let's have a listen to yours.

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That's a swarm. It's a swarm of bees. Why should we have

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a sound? What would it repel buzzing bees? Wasps. Gang

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warfare. You think, oh, like shark to the jet in West Side

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Story, just like that. I do think it might be not a human.

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Yes, it's something huge. Elephants. Elephants is exactly

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right. It's elephants, yeah. Elephants are terrified of bees.

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You get a point. Let me up this moment. Do the bees go up

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the trunks? Yes, that's a problem. They can't penetrate

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the thick hides, but they can go... Up the nose, up the

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arse. Up the arse? I would imagine. But elephants don't

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have huge arse holes, do they? Let's not focus on the

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arse holes. Can't they blow them out? So in Kenya and in

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Tanzania, some farmers have a problem with elephants

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trampling on the agriculture. They enclose the land with

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beehive fences, so they've got hives doshed all the way

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along them. And the elephants try to enter the fields, it

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bumps into a wire, it disturbs the bees and they swarm. And

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elephants are so bee-averse that they make a specific

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rumbling sound to warn each other that bees are in the

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area. Wow. Yeah. Have you ever seen the bees in that

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documentary that got a taste for beer and broke into the

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brewery? Yes. I saw a deer that ate some fermented apples

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and fell into a tree. Oh, the monkeys want to eat the

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fermented fruit and they just go... And you shouldn't find

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that funny, should you? Honestly, a Labrador and a bowl

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of champagne is hilarious. If flies or anything ever fly into

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my alcoholic drink, I always sober them up. You drop them in

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a coffee. I don't know why everyone's laughing. A humane

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thing to do. What do you do? I always get them a series

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of bitumen to see. A barocca. Dry them out and give them a

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back story. Holly, let's have a listen to your one. It's your

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best single, I think. Thank you. What would... I mean, it

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repels me. Stan at the Comedy Store, he used to be the

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stage manager there, he would play Ace of Spades by

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Motorhead at the end of the late show at 2am. To just get

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rid of everyone? Get rid of everyone. Yeah. Just sort them

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out. It worked. That would send me out. Didn't they play

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heavy metal outside General Noriega's house when they

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were trying to force him to come out? Yes, they did. But

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that would certainly send me out, but it's something even

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smaller than me. It's cricket. Oh. So there was a tiny

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community in Nevada, and the crickets used to invade this

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community place called Tuscarora every year, destroying the

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crops and swarming houses and clogging out the roads and

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so on. So in 2006, they discovered if they played

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Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones at full volume, it

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stopped the insects in their tracks. Have they thought of

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growing sweet corn instead? Do you think the crickets

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wouldn't like that? Good point. Bridget knows some farmers or

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knew some farmers until they died. You knew a farmer? The one

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who fell off the tractor. Was he OK, by the way? Oh, he was

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just, like, waving from two fields away. Did you hurt

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yourself when you went into the barn, or did you come out

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the other side with a cow on the run? It was the worst three

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days of my life. The worst three days? You were driving

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it round for three days? Three days you couldn't find the

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brakes! Go round and round that fathered town. No, I thought

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there was more to life than working in an office, so I

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thought, oh, I'll be a farmer. Just drive for three days? No,

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that was the job on the second day, but I'd already had to

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milk cows with my hand and... Did you do the third day for

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being a farmer? I said, I'm not cut out for this, I'm

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really sorry. Say one that made you milk a cow. They

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thought you had to drive but not stop a tractor. What was

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the third one? They were like, there's a haystack,

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somewhere in it's a needle. I've just remembered the

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worst thing. There's more? Yeah, when I was milking the

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cows, they know from your touch if you're new. You're in

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like a swimming pool that doesn't have water in it, they

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don't make you swim and milk them at the same time. It's

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just so you're on the level with their feet and you're

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here going, oh, come on. And the cow's tail went up and

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it pooed all over me because it was new. Why were you

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behind it? No, I was underneath it. No, but listen,

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that's not the worst bit. That's still not the worst bit.

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The worst bit is that the farmer made me stand in the

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courtyard while he hosed me down with a hose. That's

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abuse. That's what I thought. Oh, I'm sure it's all

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off now. Alan. Yeah. What is your buzzer?

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When you're in bed and you can hear a mosquito in the

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room. That is exactly it. It is a mosquito alarm. Does that

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warn you that there's a mosquito nearby? Actually, we

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did it so that you can hear it here in the studio. But

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when it is at the correct level, it can only be heard by

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young people. Can we play that? Only be heard by young

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people. I've seen this in one of those silent shows at

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Edinburgh and they go higher frequencies and they say sit

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down if you can't hear it. So gradually we also sit down

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and then there's a few children left and then they

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say, right, sit down and then the last one they do and

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they're not playing anything. The bit of the ear that

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detects higher frequencies. So the bone in the inner ear is

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susceptible to wear and tear and it gets worse as you get

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older. So this noise can really only be heard by very

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very young people. Now we did it so you could hear it but

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have a listen to what it ought to sound like. Anybody?

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Yes, I can hear it. It's playing now. Can anybody hear

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it? Okay, over in the corner we have young Anna. Can

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you hear it? I can hear it, yes. Wow, we hate you. How

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old are you Anna? 23. Don't play it backwards because it

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just says killing your parents. It's going on a loop at

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the moment and can you hear that? Yeah, I can absolutely

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hear that. Wow, it is the weirdest thing. It was invented

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by a guy called Howard Stapleton in 2005. He used

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his children as test subjects. Does this stop like youths

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hanging out outside Burger King? Yeah, so Burger King,

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7-Eleven, Transport for London have used it. They

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also find now that classical music or folk music is

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another thing that makes young people. Well, I think

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folk music probably keeps most people away doesn't it? I

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love folk music. We've changed your buzzer to something a

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bit better. Let's see if it makes Anna go away. Oh yeah,

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she's yeah, she's off. She's leaving. It was not a cool

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thing. At Brixton station, they were playing classical

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music, but it was to like stop people from getting

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violent and aggressive, I guess. Where? Brixton. I got

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my teeth knocked out outside Brixton Tube station. What?

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It was an angry farmer who'd been searching for you. I

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came out of the tube and a man said, oh, give us all your

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money and I said, oh, I haven't gotten it and then. He punched

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you. Yes. I'm glad I've known you in the better years

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because, you know, before, it's not gone well for you.

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Your agricultural years, your Brixton years. How old were

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you when things started to go right? And how long do you

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think that will last?

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From repelling sounds to repulsive tastes, what's

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brown and sicky? Oh, the taste of vomit. Well, it is

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something that has a chemical in it that is also in vomit.

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It's American chocolate. It is American chocolate. You're

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absolutely right. So if you buy American chocolate, it

224
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tastes, I don't know, more tangy and bitter than European

225
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chocolate. Do you know why? Yes, milk. They use UHT,

226
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don't they, or dried milk or something. The chocolate

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factories in the United States are further from the

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dairy farms than in the UK, obviously, so you've got to

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remove the milk for a bit longer. And so they have a

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chemical process which extends the shelf life. And it

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produces something called butyric acid. And that is the

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same stuff that you get in Parmesan cheese. Yes. And in

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vomit. So even chocolate brands that don't use that

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process sometimes add that acid anyway, just to mimic

235
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the taste because the Americans have got used to

236
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it. So if you think actually it tastes a bit

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sicky, it's because it's the same acid as in sick. But

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the American chocolate has a lot more sugar in it and it

239
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has fewer cocoa solids. 20% in the UK, 10% in American

240
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chocolate. That's the fact coming to the surface. You know

241
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when you get chocolate and it goes white if you leave it

242
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too long? When you find it in the back of a drawer.

243
00:14:50,409 --> 00:14:54,970
Yeah. It's the fat comes out of it, it rises out of it.

244
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I was doing a play once in the West End, and this is

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in 2003, I think, and an elderly lady came to see it,

246
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I think, four times. And on the fourth time she gave me

247
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a Kit Kat. I said, oh, that's very kind. And the

248
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next day, I ate the Kit Kat and it tasted exactly like

249
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an old lady's cupboard. It's not a euphemism.

250
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And I looked on the cell by day and it was 1998. It was a

251
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five-year-old Kit Kat. I mean, it may have been more.

252
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I don't know how long they last. She bought it five years

253
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ago and thought, I'm saving this. She found it in a

254
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cupboard and thought, I'll give that to that bloke who's

255
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boring me shitless every night at that play.

256
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She saw it and it caught her eye. She thought, I know

257
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who'll like that. Alan, I have to build up his trust over

258
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a number of years and then I'll be able to give it to him and

259
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he'll definitely eat it because he'll trust me. But the

260
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odour of the old lady's cupboard was unmistakable.

261
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I think we're being very mean. OK. You'll be an old

262
00:15:48,409 --> 00:15:53,529
lady-ish soon. We'll all be saying that you smell like

263
00:15:53,529 --> 00:15:56,330
that, but they don't at the moment. You smell of

264
00:15:56,330 --> 00:16:01,129
old lady's cupboard. I've never been less insulted

265
00:16:01,129 --> 00:16:04,809
in my life. Hershey's have a history of making

266
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chocolate with a bitter taste. In the 1930s, they

267
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developed a special bar. It was for the American

268
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military and they wanted it to be deliberately

269
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unappealing. Why do you think they might do that?

270
00:16:13,769 --> 00:16:17,129
Wartime brides. They made shit chocolate and stockings

271
00:16:17,129 --> 00:16:21,049
with holes in them. In order to lure the British brides?

272
00:16:21,049 --> 00:16:24,169
No, to keep them away from American soldiers.

273
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OK. Why would they make deliberately unpleasant

274
00:16:26,730 --> 00:16:29,529
chocolate? Have bromide in it. No, it's meant as an

275
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emergency ration, so you don't want the soldiers going,

276
00:16:32,250 --> 00:16:35,610
oh, lovely chocolate and eating it. I was in CCF at

277
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school and we had a combined cadet forces. I was in that as

278
00:16:39,049 --> 00:16:44,409
well. Which were you? Army. I was RAF. Did you say that like it

279
00:16:44,409 --> 00:16:49,690
was better? That's what they were like. They had this thing

280
00:16:49,690 --> 00:16:52,169
called 24-hour ration kit which we had to have. We did

281
00:16:52,169 --> 00:16:56,490
do like an overnight, you know... Manoeuvre. Yeah, in like

282
00:16:56,490 --> 00:17:03,370
Iraq or something. We did RAF Odeon. Did you? Yeah. You

283
00:17:03,370 --> 00:17:06,890
did it in the cinema? No, Odeon. Oh, sorry, I thought you said

284
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Odeon. I did too. A whole different thing.

285
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And we had those things and they were supposed to sort of

286
00:17:17,690 --> 00:17:20,089
have enough calories in it to last you 24 hours and they

287
00:17:20,089 --> 00:17:22,650
packed into a tiny thing and they did exactly that. It meant

288
00:17:22,650 --> 00:17:24,009
you didn't want to eat the chocolate first. No, you

289
00:17:24,009 --> 00:17:25,609
didn't want to eat it. It's called a derash and it was

290
00:17:25,609 --> 00:17:27,930
also known as a Logan bar. It was named after the colonel

291
00:17:27,930 --> 00:17:30,569
who first ordered their manufacturer. So it was about

292
00:17:30,569 --> 00:17:34,329
high energy content, could withstand high temperatures, but

293
00:17:34,329 --> 00:17:37,609
frankly, barely any better than a boiled potato. Oh, a boiled

294
00:17:37,609 --> 00:17:41,529
potato. A cold boiled potato. Any temperature. Yeah. No, not

295
00:17:41,529 --> 00:17:43,690
one that would burn your mouth. But there it is, look,

296
00:17:43,690 --> 00:17:48,089
and in the... In the Second World War, they upgraded it

297
00:17:48,089 --> 00:17:51,849
to be poison gas proof and so they packaged every single

298
00:17:51,849 --> 00:17:54,089
bar in sort of thick heat-sealed cellophane. Then

299
00:17:54,089 --> 00:17:56,490
they inserted it into a cardboard carton that was glued

300
00:17:56,490 --> 00:17:58,890
shut. They covered it in a wax carton that was then

301
00:17:58,890 --> 00:18:01,769
placed in a master carton and all of this was put in a wooden

302
00:18:01,769 --> 00:18:05,450
case and nailed shut and kept with steel strips around it and

303
00:18:05,450 --> 00:18:08,089
it was often thrown away unopened because the soldiers

304
00:18:08,089 --> 00:18:10,970
hated it so much. They used to call it Hitler's secret

305
00:18:10,970 --> 00:18:14,650
weapon because it made them ill. There's definitely been

306
00:18:14,650 --> 00:18:16,890
nights I would just have eaten it. It wrought havoc with

307
00:18:16,890 --> 00:18:18,970
their teeth and intestines. I know, but even then there's

308
00:18:18,970 --> 00:18:21,130
been nights where I've just been craving chocolate so

309
00:18:21,130 --> 00:18:23,289
badly. I'd have just eaten it. Just gone for it anyway.

310
00:18:23,289 --> 00:18:25,769
Yeah. American chocolate tastes like sick, but don't

311
00:18:25,769 --> 00:18:29,609
worry, it's supposed to. From rubbish tastes to tasty rubbish.

312
00:18:29,609 --> 00:18:32,009
Why did the Romans put their dinner on the floor?

313
00:18:32,009 --> 00:18:34,250
Is it because they were thinking, what would archaeologists

314
00:18:34,250 --> 00:18:37,130
like to dig up in the future? Did they stamp it in because

315
00:18:37,130 --> 00:18:40,650
they wanted really cheap tiling? Well, they did kind of

316
00:18:40,650 --> 00:18:43,609
stamp it in. What they did was they decorated dining room

317
00:18:43,609 --> 00:18:47,130
floors with a mosaic of fake litter. It's kind of an

318
00:18:47,130 --> 00:18:49,609
early humble brag, if you like. It's called

319
00:18:49,609 --> 00:18:54,009
acerotis oikros or unswept room. Basically, the ancient

320
00:18:54,009 --> 00:18:57,369
Greeks did it first and it's discarded leftovers of opulent

321
00:18:57,369 --> 00:19:00,890
feasts so that it looks as though you are incredibly

322
00:19:00,890 --> 00:19:03,130
wealthy. So you'd have grapes and chicken legs and seafood

323
00:19:03,130 --> 00:19:06,170
shells and stray nuts and olive pits and all that kind of

324
00:19:06,170 --> 00:19:09,130
things. That's so weird. So that's basically like their

325
00:19:09,130 --> 00:19:12,730
equivalent of like topstiles flooring was just

326
00:19:12,730 --> 00:19:14,890
putting loads of rubbish on the floor. Well, if you were

327
00:19:14,890 --> 00:19:17,529
rich, so you're saying I'm so rich I could have thrown

328
00:19:17,529 --> 00:19:20,009
all of this stuff on the floor. It's like the

329
00:19:20,009 --> 00:19:22,650
equivalent of getting gold teeth for no reason. I've got a

330
00:19:22,650 --> 00:19:26,410
gold tooth. Do you want to see it? Yeah. Oh, that's very

331
00:19:26,410 --> 00:19:28,250
impressive. If you had it back there wouldn't you have a

332
00:19:28,250 --> 00:19:33,369
little window put in there? So everyone could see it.

333
00:19:33,369 --> 00:19:36,569
When you walk past gas converters there's your jaw drawn to it.

334
00:19:36,569 --> 00:19:40,569
Let's go back to Raymond Ravish. I did see a lad in gas

335
00:19:40,569 --> 00:19:43,769
converters once. He couldn't have been 15 and he

336
00:19:43,769 --> 00:19:46,490
had a sewing machine and they were, what's your reason for

337
00:19:46,490 --> 00:19:50,410
selling it? And he went, unwanted gift.

338
00:19:52,250 --> 00:19:55,049
Right, we're going to go to Rome. So we've already covered the fact

339
00:19:55,049 --> 00:19:58,089
that Rome's built not on seven hills but on eight. We did

340
00:19:58,089 --> 00:20:01,609
that in a previous series. But that's not counting Monte

341
00:20:01,609 --> 00:20:05,049
Testacchio which is a fantastic. So look at this

342
00:20:05,049 --> 00:20:09,369
hill. This hill is 150 foot height in the centre of Rome.

343
00:20:09,369 --> 00:20:12,809
It is actually an ancient rubbish dump. It's made from an

344
00:20:12,809 --> 00:20:19,049
estimated 25 million shards of amphorae. So all the stuff that

345
00:20:19,049 --> 00:20:22,650
they kept oil and wine in. Why do you think they dumped it?

346
00:20:22,650 --> 00:20:25,930
Why would you not use it over and over again? Plague?

347
00:20:25,930 --> 00:20:28,890
No, it would get spoiled if you used it too often is the

348
00:20:28,890 --> 00:20:31,130
problem. And so they had to get rid of them. They

349
00:20:31,130 --> 00:20:35,369
accumulated over three centuries. Well earthen was porous.

350
00:20:35,369 --> 00:20:38,410
Yes, so it can't last forever and it smells. They just used

351
00:20:38,410 --> 00:20:41,450
one time and then got rid of. That was the Roman

352
00:20:41,450 --> 00:20:45,369
equivalent of Starbucks car park. Yeah. When they're empty

353
00:20:45,369 --> 00:20:48,329
they weigh about 30 kilograms. When they're full they weigh

354
00:20:48,329 --> 00:20:50,970
more than 100 kilograms. So somewhat heavier than the

355
00:20:50,970 --> 00:20:54,329
average British adult male. They didn't actually dump them in

356
00:20:54,329 --> 00:20:56,170
the sense that they didn't just chuck them there. There were

357
00:20:56,170 --> 00:20:58,730
people in charge. They were carefully smashed and stacked

358
00:20:58,730 --> 00:21:01,049
and some of them were left holes. They were like pillars

359
00:21:01,049 --> 00:21:03,130
because they didn't want to have landslides. And then they

360
00:21:03,130 --> 00:21:06,250
would sprinkle lime on top of them because the rancid oil

361
00:21:06,250 --> 00:21:08,650
had a terrible smell. And it's an astonishing hill. There's

362
00:21:08,650 --> 00:21:10,809
even a restaurant dug into the side of it. There are caves dug

363
00:21:10,809 --> 00:21:14,730
into the side of it. But it's 25 million shards. Years ago I

364
00:21:14,730 --> 00:21:18,809
did a film with Roger Law, you know, that created Spitting

365
00:21:18,809 --> 00:21:25,450
Image. And in one scene I had to smash £25,000 worth of

366
00:21:25,450 --> 00:21:28,410
ceramics donated by contemporary ceramicists. So they were

367
00:21:28,410 --> 00:21:31,369
genuine. They're not props? No, no, no. They were all

368
00:21:31,369 --> 00:21:34,730
donated pieces. But there was a couple there. And I'd love

369
00:21:34,730 --> 00:21:38,089
to see what they've done with them. Somebody somewhere

370
00:21:38,089 --> 00:21:40,569
will have the most amazing mosaic. Oh, wouldn't it be

371
00:21:40,569 --> 00:21:43,450
fantastic? Of contemporary ceramics. Oh, wow. Yeah. Because

372
00:21:43,450 --> 00:21:45,930
it would be like the park, like Gaudi Park in Barcelona,

373
00:21:45,930 --> 00:21:47,529
which is all made of bits and pieces. Have you ever

374
00:21:47,529 --> 00:21:50,250
listened to The Butterfly Effect by Jim Watson? And he

375
00:21:50,250 --> 00:21:54,410
talks about people with really specific fetishes. So like

376
00:21:54,410 --> 00:21:59,529
one of them was that they sent their stamp collection to

377
00:21:59,529 --> 00:22:04,250
two porn stars and they just had to burn it on camera. It

378
00:22:04,250 --> 00:22:07,130
was like a 40-year collection of stamps. And that's all

379
00:22:07,130 --> 00:22:09,369
he wanted. But that was his fetish. And I was just

380
00:22:09,369 --> 00:22:12,250
thinking, I think that's my fetish, watching you smash up

381
00:22:12,250 --> 00:22:15,210
some vases. How does anybody discover that that's their

382
00:22:15,210 --> 00:22:18,569
particular fetish? Yeah, weird, isn't it? There's everything

383
00:22:18,569 --> 00:22:22,089
online. I was looking something up about something

384
00:22:22,089 --> 00:22:28,329
and... Yeah. Traxar and barn. Yeah. I think it was cheese

385
00:22:28,329 --> 00:22:30,970
and teeth or something. No, I came back from Thailand

386
00:22:30,970 --> 00:22:32,890
where I had discovered a vegetable that I liked very

387
00:22:32,890 --> 00:22:34,730
much called Morning Glory. And I thought, I wonder where

388
00:22:34,730 --> 00:22:40,009
you buy that in London? Well, turns out all over. My ex used

389
00:22:40,009 --> 00:22:44,250
to... Well, he asked me to go cross-eyed just before he

390
00:22:44,250 --> 00:22:52,809
ejaculated. Do you know... What, for a target? In the world of

391
00:22:52,809 --> 00:22:55,450
too much information, Bridget, that's right up there on my

392
00:22:55,450 --> 00:22:58,890
list. Were you on the phone at the time? I didn't see him

393
00:22:58,890 --> 00:23:01,450
after that. Well, not if your eyes are like that. I

394
00:23:01,690 --> 00:23:06,329
didn't see anything. He just wanted to pretend he had a twin.

395
00:23:06,329 --> 00:23:09,529
How did he get that fetish? I don't know. He just went, oh,

396
00:23:09,529 --> 00:23:14,329
go cross-eyed, William, love. Oh, can you imagine him falling

397
00:23:14,329 --> 00:23:19,450
in love online and meeting a cyclops? He'd be gutted.

398
00:23:19,450 --> 00:23:23,849
We're talking rubbish and a similar discovery was made in

399
00:23:23,849 --> 00:23:26,250
1897 by these two rather marvellous Victorian

400
00:23:26,250 --> 00:23:29,450
archaeologists, Bernard Grenfell and Arthur Hunt. I

401
00:23:29,450 --> 00:23:31,130
mean, how can't they look? They're rather marvellous,

402
00:23:31,130 --> 00:23:34,009
aren't they? David Beckham on the right. Not remotely cross-eyed.

403
00:23:34,009 --> 00:23:38,089
They do nothing. They're great. They dug into a sand dune

404
00:23:38,089 --> 00:23:41,049
about 120 miles south of modern Cairo and they found this

405
00:23:41,049 --> 00:23:44,890
astonishing rubbish dump, more than half a million fragments

406
00:23:44,890 --> 00:23:48,890
of papyrus generated by an ancient city called Oxyrenchus

407
00:23:48,890 --> 00:23:51,849
and it's an incredible collection. The manuscripts date

408
00:23:51,849 --> 00:23:55,210
from roughly the third century BC through to the Muslim conquest

409
00:23:55,210 --> 00:23:59,049
of Egypt in 640 AD. All the fragments were taken to the

410
00:23:59,049 --> 00:24:02,490
Ashmolean in Oxford. I mean, obviously that's the right

411
00:24:02,490 --> 00:24:05,690
place for them. Clearly there. Culturally appropriate. But

412
00:24:05,690 --> 00:24:08,170
for more than 100 years they were trying to analyse them

413
00:24:08,170 --> 00:24:12,089
and they managed to transcribe just 5,000 and then in 2014

414
00:24:12,089 --> 00:24:14,970
the whole collection was made digital and algorithms were

415
00:24:14,970 --> 00:24:17,769
used to cross-reference and so on and since then more than

416
00:24:17,769 --> 00:24:21,369
200,000 fragments have been translated. What date were they?

417
00:24:21,369 --> 00:24:25,690
From the third century BC right through to 640 AD. So it was

418
00:24:25,690 --> 00:24:28,009
like a library of ancient manuscripts. Well, it's

419
00:24:28,009 --> 00:24:30,569
everything. There's a third century doctor's report but

420
00:24:30,569 --> 00:24:32,970
there's also literature. They discovered an extract from

421
00:24:32,970 --> 00:24:35,769
Andromeda, The Lost Tragedy by Euripides. I mean, it's

422
00:24:35,769 --> 00:24:39,690
it is the most fabulous and astonishing collection but

423
00:24:39,690 --> 00:24:41,849
effectively it was a rubbish dump and it had all been

424
00:24:41,849 --> 00:24:44,890
thrown away. It does look like an audit and a third

425
00:24:44,890 --> 00:24:48,809
century attempt at shredding. Yeah, it's yes, we're like

426
00:24:48,809 --> 00:24:51,769
just we've done this. Let's get rid of it. Yeah. What's the

427
00:24:51,769 --> 00:24:55,130
little square they've drawn? The three squares. I don't

428
00:24:55,289 --> 00:24:58,170
know whether that's marginalia from the time or

429
00:24:58,170 --> 00:25:00,730
it's a kitchen they're looking into building a side return.

430
00:25:00,730 --> 00:25:03,130
Oh, yes, I can see that. Yeah, I love it. I think it's

431
00:25:03,130 --> 00:25:05,849
so fascinating what else they can discover in there

432
00:25:05,849 --> 00:25:08,170
because not even half of it has been analyzed yet. I

433
00:25:08,170 --> 00:25:11,529
think it's amazing. Now for a question on recycling

434
00:25:11,529 --> 00:25:14,250
material. Alan, what's the point of all this blue whale

435
00:25:14,250 --> 00:25:19,130
shit? What they you can use it. It is vital to the

436
00:25:19,130 --> 00:25:22,329
planet. Is it? Well, it's unbelievably important for

437
00:25:22,329 --> 00:25:25,289
the entire ocean so they don't defecate at depth

438
00:25:25,289 --> 00:25:27,130
because you wouldn't really, would you? Hang on, wouldn't

439
00:25:27,130 --> 00:25:30,329
you? Get to the surface and do it. They do the long

440
00:25:30,329 --> 00:25:33,210
really long stringy ones like a goldfish. 40 miles. Well,

441
00:25:33,210 --> 00:25:35,450
this is this is actually whale poo right here. This is

442
00:25:35,450 --> 00:25:38,009
what it looks like. Who has taken that photograph? I do

443
00:25:38,009 --> 00:25:41,529
not. Well, the whale I presume and then Instagram. Just

444
00:25:41,529 --> 00:25:43,930
out of shit.

445
00:25:44,890 --> 00:25:47,450
Well, people do do that, don't they? Really? A friend of

446
00:25:47,450 --> 00:25:50,890
mine told me Bridget does it. If you were a dietitian

447
00:25:51,210 --> 00:25:55,769
you'd want a more solid stool. If I do two days on cider,

448
00:25:55,769 --> 00:25:59,930
that's what I do. If I stick to me five a day. What cider? It's

449
00:25:59,930 --> 00:26:03,930
a bit more compacted, isn't it? Yes. You take from that

450
00:26:03,930 --> 00:26:07,289
sentence, what cider?

451
00:26:08,569 --> 00:26:12,809
I once went to a swimming pool in Bracknell.

452
00:26:12,809 --> 00:26:15,049
It was basically like with all the flumes and stuff like

453
00:26:15,049 --> 00:26:18,890
that and me and my brother were in the tidal wave

454
00:26:18,890 --> 00:26:22,410
going round and round and round and a turn followed us the

455
00:26:22,410 --> 00:26:26,730
whole way and they couldn't get us out to get the turd out so

456
00:26:26,730 --> 00:26:28,809
they turned it off and we just kept going. So you were chased

457
00:26:28,809 --> 00:26:31,450
by a turn? Yeah, but because we were going round we were

458
00:26:31,450 --> 00:26:33,690
quite small so we were in the current and the poo was

459
00:26:33,690 --> 00:26:35,849
coming so when even when they turned it off you had to

460
00:26:35,849 --> 00:26:38,089
wait for the current to die down and me and my brother

461
00:26:38,089 --> 00:26:41,609
kept having to basically slow down and down and down then

462
00:26:41,609 --> 00:26:43,690
they emptied the pool everyone had to get out. Where

463
00:26:43,690 --> 00:26:46,329
was the person who had done the poo? Were they at the

464
00:26:49,849 --> 00:26:52,730
well? Wales need to conserve oxygen so they shut down lots of

465
00:26:52,730 --> 00:26:55,609
processes when they are down at depth and that includes

466
00:26:55,609 --> 00:26:58,250
digestion and when they get to the surface they release what

467
00:26:58,250 --> 00:27:01,210
can only be described as a fecal plume of a buoyant

468
00:27:01,210 --> 00:27:04,730
excrement but it is incredibly nutrient rich. It's absolutely

469
00:27:04,730 --> 00:27:07,769
full of iron. It's a concentration 10 million times

470
00:27:07,769 --> 00:27:10,490
higher than the surrounding water and this acts as

471
00:27:10,490 --> 00:27:14,170
fertilizer of phytoplankton which photosynthesizes and in

472
00:27:14,170 --> 00:27:18,089
doing so it absorbs enormous amounts of CO2 and it

473
00:27:18,089 --> 00:27:22,170
produces between half and 90 percent of the earth's

474
00:27:22,170 --> 00:27:25,289
oxygen so most of the oxygen that we are breathing

475
00:27:25,289 --> 00:27:29,210
is made by plankton and the plankton need

476
00:27:29,210 --> 00:27:32,730
whale poo. Have we got enough blue whales? We don't have enough blue whales

477
00:27:32,730 --> 00:27:35,769
the IMF has actually put a figure on them and one of the reasons

478
00:27:35,769 --> 00:27:39,529
it's not just the poo that they accumulate carbon in their bodies

479
00:27:39,529 --> 00:27:42,329
and when they die they sink down to the bottom of the ocean and they

480
00:27:42,329 --> 00:27:46,809
take up to 33 tons of stored carbon with

481
00:27:46,809 --> 00:27:49,289
them so that's the equivalent of 600 trees

482
00:27:49,289 --> 00:27:52,329
photosynthesizing for an entire decade and that's locked up in the corpse on

483
00:27:52,329 --> 00:27:55,450
the ocean bed for hundreds of years so the IMF did

484
00:27:55,450 --> 00:27:58,650
this thing they had a look at how much are they worth to us

485
00:27:58,650 --> 00:28:02,410
and each whale is worth about two million American dollars so the

486
00:28:02,410 --> 00:28:07,049
current stock of whales is valued at a trillion US dollars but it's

487
00:28:07,049 --> 00:28:09,609
so interesting how it works within the ecosystem

488
00:28:09,609 --> 00:28:12,809
for each bowel movement they excrete about 200

489
00:28:13,289 --> 00:28:17,609
they should really put it in a little bag it is enough to fill two bathtubs i

490
00:28:17,609 --> 00:28:21,130
don't know it'd be quite a big bag also as they sink to the bottom they

491
00:28:21,130 --> 00:28:25,609
feed almost everything that's in the ocean is there not an argument then

492
00:28:25,609 --> 00:28:29,529
to like dispose of um human bodies that like that

493
00:28:29,529 --> 00:28:32,569
what just chuck them in the sea take everyone who's died out to mariana

494
00:28:32,569 --> 00:28:35,690
trench and just sink them let them be eaten by all the you know

495
00:28:35,690 --> 00:28:38,490
whatever's right and then all the co2 we just

496
00:28:38,490 --> 00:28:41,369
do all that yeah i don't know how we would sell this in the funeral parlor

497
00:28:41,369 --> 00:28:43,690
on the corner of the high street as a as a plan

498
00:28:43,690 --> 00:28:47,690
oh i'm up for it okay uh now for a different kind of repulsion

499
00:28:47,690 --> 00:28:51,930
i want you to point please i'm going to throw this to you too

500
00:28:51,930 --> 00:28:55,369
uh please can you point to the earth's magnetic north pole

501
00:28:55,369 --> 00:29:00,650
on this globe tread carefully

502
00:29:00,650 --> 00:29:03,609
it's not going to be the bit where you blow it up so the magnetic north

503
00:29:03,609 --> 00:29:06,089
pole look we're going to get wrong for

504
00:29:06,650 --> 00:29:11,369
trick sounds like a trick i'll tell you what i'm going to spin it you close

505
00:29:11,369 --> 00:29:13,690
your eyes put your finger on it okay

506
00:29:13,690 --> 00:29:19,339
you ready like okay up there

507
00:29:19,339 --> 00:29:25,900
right oh i'm not pointing now now yeah still not right nowhere still not

508
00:29:25,900 --> 00:29:29,180
right so let's have it back uh how about you

509
00:29:29,180 --> 00:29:33,579
guys well now look has it because i know it can

510
00:29:33,579 --> 00:29:37,180
yeah has it flipped no it's not on the bottom

511
00:29:37,180 --> 00:29:40,220
well it might be but it hasn't flipped it hasn't

512
00:29:40,220 --> 00:29:44,059
because magnetic north yeah can sometimes flip and be south for a

513
00:29:44,059 --> 00:29:47,420
while what we do know is that uh it drifts

514
00:29:47,420 --> 00:29:50,539
the magnetic pole it drifts well then her feeling up the thing was

515
00:29:50,539 --> 00:29:53,420
the right well unless she's completely in the wrong part of the

516
00:29:53,420 --> 00:29:55,259
globe you are right about drifting and

517
00:29:55,259 --> 00:29:58,859
flipping but we are not talking about that i think it's slightly

518
00:29:58,859 --> 00:30:05,819
off north the top of the globe as it were no is the answer slightly off

519
00:30:05,819 --> 00:30:09,579
the bottom can we have it back so it has flipped uh no it's that we

520
00:30:09,579 --> 00:30:12,140
refer to it as the wrong thing so if you think about it the earth is

521
00:30:12,140 --> 00:30:15,980
basically one big magnet and that is why

522
00:30:15,980 --> 00:30:20,220
compasses work so a compass is another

523
00:30:20,220 --> 00:30:23,660
magnet and the earth and the compasses are attracted

524
00:30:23,660 --> 00:30:26,859
to each other okay let us imagine that you have got two

525
00:30:26,859 --> 00:30:33,259
magnets uh i've got the marked here so i've got two magnets marked north

526
00:30:33,259 --> 00:30:37,420
and south okay if i take the north bit of this

527
00:30:37,420 --> 00:30:40,779
magnet which bit of the magnet i'm just worried because your kitchen

528
00:30:40,779 --> 00:30:43,660
cupboards are all flopping over now which bit of the magnet is it going to

529
00:30:43,660 --> 00:30:47,339
be attracted to the opposite it's going to be south it's

530
00:30:47,339 --> 00:30:50,700
going to be like that so that the north is attracted to the

531
00:30:50,700 --> 00:30:52,779
south right uh it's the opposite ends of the

532
00:30:52,779 --> 00:30:56,779
magnet which attract each other so if you've got the north end

533
00:30:56,859 --> 00:31:02,220
of a compass which is a magnet which end of another magnet will it

534
00:31:02,220 --> 00:31:05,420
point to oh it's got to the rubbish tip

535
00:31:05,420 --> 00:31:08,220
we'll find that in a million years yeah just through the world in the

536
00:31:08,220 --> 00:31:13,579
okay so just to finish

537
00:31:13,579 --> 00:31:17,579
compasses are magnets their north end points to the Arctic so therefore

538
00:31:17,579 --> 00:31:21,259
even though we call that end the north pole it must be

539
00:31:21,259 --> 00:31:25,420
the magnetic south pole oh i get it yeah uh the very first person to

540
00:31:25,500 --> 00:31:28,779
realize that the earth had a magnetic field was Elizabeth the first physician

541
00:31:28,779 --> 00:31:32,220
a guy called William Gilbert he was a 16th century

542
00:31:32,220 --> 00:31:35,579
scientist and at the time people believed that magnets had souls

543
00:31:35,579 --> 00:31:40,140
he called it an astral magnetic mind uh for him it explained why the

544
00:31:40,140 --> 00:31:43,019
earth rotated so the earth got too hot when she was in the sun

545
00:31:43,019 --> 00:31:46,140
and then she needed to cool down and so she rotated but it's to do

546
00:31:46,140 --> 00:31:49,180
a bit like a sunbathe turning over when they're too hot

547
00:31:49,180 --> 00:31:53,420
or a don of kebab or a don of kebab exactly exactly that

548
00:31:53,500 --> 00:31:57,099
when we talk about explorers like Scott and Amazon going to the poles they of

549
00:31:57,099 --> 00:31:58,859
course depended on the earth's magnetic

550
00:31:58,859 --> 00:32:01,819
field in order to navigate Amazon delivers all the way to the

551
00:32:01,819 --> 00:32:05,740
north pole Amundsen oh Amundsen but yes they would

552
00:32:05,740 --> 00:32:09,579
rolled Amundsen the Norwegian uh well he rather famously beat Scott to the

553
00:32:09,579 --> 00:32:12,220
south pole oh right yes i didn't but he was supposed to be going to the

554
00:32:12,220 --> 00:32:16,220
north pole at the time right it was in 1909 and news

555
00:32:16,220 --> 00:32:18,859
reached him that the American Robert Peary had reached the north

556
00:32:18,859 --> 00:32:21,660
pole and all of his funding and his the

557
00:32:21,660 --> 00:32:24,220
loan of his ship was all tied to him going to the north pole but he didn't

558
00:32:24,220 --> 00:32:26,940
want to be second so while he was at sea he turned the

559
00:32:26,940 --> 00:32:30,220
ship around and sailed south and he what i like is he didn't tell the crew

560
00:32:30,220 --> 00:32:34,140
his plan for over a month and nobody seemed to notice that they

561
00:32:34,140 --> 00:32:37,099
were heading in the wrong direction and when they started getting

562
00:32:37,099 --> 00:32:39,180
suspicious he said he was just taking a detour

563
00:32:39,180 --> 00:32:42,779
on the way to the north pole but he did become the very first person

564
00:32:42,779 --> 00:32:46,619
to get uh to the south pole uh right a question on a different

565
00:32:46,619 --> 00:32:49,180
sort of attraction the romantic kind what

566
00:32:49,180 --> 00:32:56,380
Danish trick gets English pulses racing this is a long time ago

567
00:32:56,380 --> 00:33:00,220
so who were the Danes that first came to the UK

568
00:33:00,220 --> 00:33:04,619
invaded Vikings okay so we're talking 11th century

569
00:33:04,619 --> 00:33:09,500
and they seduced English women using the power of cleanliness

570
00:33:09,500 --> 00:33:14,700
no yes they washed they washed the great washed met the great unwashed

571
00:33:14,700 --> 00:33:17,980
yeah so when they came and you know they invaded and established the

572
00:33:18,940 --> 00:33:22,460
they tended to come without women they married English women and this upset

573
00:33:22,460 --> 00:33:26,059
the locals very much but according to a monk called John

574
00:33:26,059 --> 00:33:30,380
of Wallingford the Danes cheated by washing this is a new idea

575
00:33:30,380 --> 00:33:33,259
the Danes made themselves too acceptable to English women by their

576
00:33:33,259 --> 00:33:35,339
elegant manners and their care of their person

577
00:33:35,339 --> 00:33:38,779
they combed their hair daily and took a bath every Saturday and even

578
00:33:38,779 --> 00:33:42,859
changed their clothes frequently by which means they undermined the

579
00:33:42,859 --> 00:33:45,900
chastity of the wives which is a totally

580
00:33:45,900 --> 00:33:49,259
different story to all the rape and pillage thing yes yeah no

581
00:33:49,259 --> 00:33:52,940
uh so so there is a theory that all of that was written down by

582
00:33:52,940 --> 00:33:55,819
Englishmen who'd had their wives taken that it was rape and pillage

583
00:33:55,819 --> 00:33:59,740
and there is another theory that in fact they turned up unbelievably good

584
00:33:59,740 --> 00:34:01,900
looking they just rode across the North Sea

585
00:34:01,900 --> 00:34:05,819
had a bath and went on the pool yeah i i that guy

586
00:34:05,819 --> 00:34:09,099
i mean he could pull me he's looking at his

587
00:34:09,099 --> 00:34:12,139
i'd service a man you know have you gone what's that stuff you use it's

588
00:34:12,139 --> 00:34:15,579
a little that was a very little gesture

589
00:34:15,579 --> 00:34:19,420
i would service the man you would almost imperceptibly service the man

590
00:34:19,420 --> 00:34:22,940
just a little bit under the arms please come on Jeff

591
00:34:22,940 --> 00:34:26,780
sure ensure a life um but they did they did wash

592
00:34:26,780 --> 00:34:30,539
and it was a sort of secret weapon so there are some experts who suggest

593
00:34:30,539 --> 00:34:31,980
that we're not much better than the vikings

594
00:34:31,980 --> 00:34:35,820
uh really uh in our washing habits they did a study in 2018 it was the

595
00:34:35,820 --> 00:34:38,619
U.S. Center for Hygiene and Health in Boston and they claim that

596
00:34:38,619 --> 00:34:41,179
modern day bath tubs i don't know whether you guys are

597
00:34:41,179 --> 00:34:44,860
are bathers or showers um a hundred times as much bacteria in a

598
00:34:44,860 --> 00:34:47,900
normal bath as in a rubbish bin apparently they recommend if you are

599
00:34:47,900 --> 00:34:50,300
going to take a bath do it in a rubbish bin well

600
00:34:50,300 --> 00:34:54,219
that or shower before and after i've had a water meter fitted so i just

601
00:34:54,219 --> 00:34:58,059
swim it canal what did you just say he's had a water

602
00:34:58,059 --> 00:35:01,340
meter fitted so now he just swims in the canal

603
00:35:01,340 --> 00:35:08,139
i'm sorry i'm from gilford so why might why might a bath be good for

604
00:35:08,139 --> 00:35:13,500
you even if it's full of bacteria i think it uh you get lighter in it

605
00:35:13,500 --> 00:35:17,260
and it takes stress off your joints and it's almost like being in space but

606
00:35:17,260 --> 00:35:19,900
for the shorter period it improves your circulation and it lowers

607
00:35:19,900 --> 00:35:22,300
your blood pressure which is what you were trying to say isn't it johnny

608
00:35:22,300 --> 00:35:26,300
no i was trying to say it's like being in space but thank you sandy

609
00:35:26,300 --> 00:35:29,099
well this is good news for anybody who doesn't like exercise they've done

610
00:35:29,099 --> 00:35:33,099
studies and people with depression it lifts your mood a bath more than

611
00:35:33,099 --> 00:35:36,699
physical exercise as long as you don't put a toaster in there too

612
00:35:36,699 --> 00:35:42,780
yeah don't do that now can you get these cans that you have beside you

613
00:35:42,780 --> 00:35:46,539
ready for recycling please get them ready to put them in the recycling what

614
00:35:46,539 --> 00:35:54,099
would you do i would normally crush mine okay

615
00:35:54,099 --> 00:35:58,019
we were told years ago by eddie is hard to crush them there were specific

616
00:35:58,019 --> 00:36:01,699
machines to crush yeah so since then there are newer

617
00:36:01,699 --> 00:36:04,179
machines which have become more automated

618
00:36:04,179 --> 00:36:07,219
um so they use the size and the shape of the object in order to

619
00:36:07,219 --> 00:36:11,460
identify them so if you crush the can it might not realize what it is

620
00:36:11,460 --> 00:36:13,539
and it might put it in the non-recycling

621
00:36:13,860 --> 00:36:17,539
i don't think a lot of people know that we're like an information service

622
00:36:17,539 --> 00:36:22,739
it really annoys me when recycling thing says not currently recyclable

623
00:36:22,739 --> 00:36:27,300
as though it's like we wish it was but the science hasn't kept up too

624
00:36:27,300 --> 00:36:29,860
much for it's not our fault but also the thing is

625
00:36:29,860 --> 00:36:33,619
all of the recycling facilities vary throughout the country

626
00:36:33,619 --> 00:36:36,820
so you do actually have to check with your borough the one where we

627
00:36:36,820 --> 00:36:40,260
are currently recording had we crushed them we couldn't recycle them

628
00:36:40,260 --> 00:36:43,780
it just really depends on what the item is so for example

629
00:36:43,780 --> 00:36:50,980
uh i have here paper uh this receipt for the cans that we got so which bin

630
00:36:50,980 --> 00:36:57,059
should these go in i mean i recycle cardboard shiny paper doesn't go in

631
00:36:57,059 --> 00:37:01,219
and magazines that doesn't go in why paper because it's it's got a

632
00:37:01,219 --> 00:37:04,980
the coating yeah about half of all receipts are non-recyclable

633
00:37:04,980 --> 00:37:07,860
that's bonkers like that's a responsibility but people don't know

634
00:37:07,860 --> 00:37:12,019
this though as well yeah but i think this should be like these are the 25

635
00:37:12,019 --> 00:37:14,980
things we recycle and these are the things we don't recycle it's this and

636
00:37:14,980 --> 00:37:18,420
if things like half one thing and half the other and i don't know i'm just

637
00:37:18,420 --> 00:37:22,980
i it's not that i want to give up but i just feel like they're making

638
00:37:22,980 --> 00:37:26,260
it very difficult it is very complicated these are printed on thermal paper

639
00:37:26,260 --> 00:37:28,659
it's the stuff you used to get in the early fax machines so it's coated

640
00:37:28,659 --> 00:37:32,099
in a kind of chemical and they cannot be recycled because you will

641
00:37:32,099 --> 00:37:35,619
release the chemical into the atmosphere uh it's actually a sort of

642
00:37:35,619 --> 00:37:39,619
weird stuff so it works by um the printing on it turns black when

643
00:37:39,619 --> 00:37:42,980
it's exposed to heat that's the way it works so it only heats up the parts

644
00:37:42,980 --> 00:37:46,420
that are written on if you take

645
00:37:52,860 --> 00:37:56,539
sandek sandek you haven't asked if it's going anywhere nice on its

646
00:37:56,539 --> 00:37:59,900
holidays no that's i should do sorry there you can see that it goes

647
00:37:59,900 --> 00:38:02,780
completely black if you it's the chemicals that are are

648
00:38:02,780 --> 00:38:06,059
doing that so don't recycle those but if you are struggling with your

649
00:38:06,059 --> 00:38:09,500
recycling you're not sure put it in your neighbors and let them

650
00:38:09,500 --> 00:38:13,099
solve it out uh time for a last rummage around the

651
00:38:13,099 --> 00:38:15,659
bottom of the bag for the sniff of bin juice that we call

652
00:38:15,659 --> 00:38:18,539
general ignorance fingers on buzzers please

653
00:38:18,539 --> 00:38:23,179
uh name the last commercial flight to fly faster than the speed of sound

654
00:38:23,179 --> 00:38:25,900
is it concord

655
00:38:30,150 --> 00:38:33,429
so officially concord is the only supersonic commercial service that ever

656
00:38:33,429 --> 00:38:36,070
existed but several flights have since then

657
00:38:36,070 --> 00:38:39,510
flown faster than the speed of sound on average a flight from new york to

658
00:38:39,510 --> 00:38:41,829
london takes six hours it's three and a half thousand

659
00:38:41,829 --> 00:38:45,989
nautical miles um but you get this jet stream that pushes you

660
00:38:45,989 --> 00:38:51,110
along so under normal conditions the speed of sand is 760 miles per hour

661
00:38:51,110 --> 00:38:55,510
but it doesn't cause a sonic boom because couldn't afford it

662
00:38:55,510 --> 00:38:59,030
no relative to the air that you are moving in you are traveling under the

663
00:38:59,030 --> 00:39:01,670
speed of sound but if you are in a plane that's

664
00:39:01,670 --> 00:39:05,190
being pushed by the jet stream you are traveling according to your

665
00:39:05,190 --> 00:39:08,949
speed across the ground faster than the speed of sound it's

666
00:39:08,949 --> 00:39:13,429
rather like a man on a train running so the man on the train uh appears

667
00:39:13,429 --> 00:39:15,670
to the rest of us to maybe be doing 100 miles an hour

668
00:39:15,670 --> 00:39:18,949
but in fact he's just running at a perfectly normal speed alan you've

669
00:39:18,949 --> 00:39:22,070
been on the concord haven't you i have been on the concord yeah

670
00:39:22,070 --> 00:39:27,909
you look a bit like a concord in profile what what was it like

671
00:39:27,909 --> 00:39:31,590
that's a compliment unbelievable what it's a compliment yeah

672
00:39:31,590 --> 00:39:35,349
i didn't say you look like a virgin pendolino you look like a great

673
00:39:35,349 --> 00:39:39,989
piece of engineering from the despicable me film

674
00:39:39,989 --> 00:39:44,550
uh new york to london the fastest ba concord flight in 1996 two hours 52

675
00:39:44,550 --> 00:39:49,190
minutes and 59 seconds it hit a top speed of 1350

676
00:39:49,190 --> 00:39:52,949
i used to fly over i used to play cricket in wandsworth

677
00:39:52,949 --> 00:39:57,269
and they flew over wandsworth common and it was loud

678
00:39:57,269 --> 00:40:01,590
but they weren't allowed to really turn the engines on till they'd cleared

679
00:40:02,550 --> 00:40:06,789
why do you think it's spelled uh with an e which is the french version

680
00:40:06,789 --> 00:40:09,989
is it because it was a medieval plane what like

681
00:40:09,989 --> 00:40:15,110
oldie england oldie england no oldie plane the oldie concordie

682
00:40:15,110 --> 00:40:18,869
the argument about whether to spell concord with an e caused an absolute

683
00:40:18,869 --> 00:40:21,989
nationalist uproar in britain uh which rather

684
00:40:21,989 --> 00:40:26,469
pre-echoed the brexit convulsions i'm surprised i know that people

685
00:40:26,469 --> 00:40:30,550
thought concord mean in english it's an you know it's peace it's a

686
00:40:30,550 --> 00:40:35,190
sort of concord i thought that was a i thought that was a french word anyway

687
00:40:35,190 --> 00:40:38,869
concord is a french word it's spelt it without an e in english but it's the

688
00:40:38,869 --> 00:40:42,469
way in which we spell it caused trouble uh the taury government in 1962 when

689
00:40:42,469 --> 00:40:44,389
they made the first agreement said we'll spell it

690
00:40:44,389 --> 00:40:49,110
concord without an e and then tony ben came in 1967 into government

691
00:40:49,110 --> 00:40:52,309
and he said oh who cares we'll spell it with an e but it caused an

692
00:40:52,309 --> 00:40:55,750
absolute uproar uh right look around you and point to a

693
00:40:55,750 --> 00:40:59,989
symbol you can see on the set that tells you you can recycle

694
00:41:00,070 --> 00:41:05,590
something alan pick one uh the one right in the middle of the

695
00:41:11,670 --> 00:41:15,030
so that's a very common symbol uh the interlocking two green arrows it

696
00:41:15,030 --> 00:41:19,510
doesn't mean packaging can be recycled or even uh it has ever been part of

697
00:41:19,510 --> 00:41:23,750
the recycling process it means the manufacturer has made a financial

698
00:41:23,750 --> 00:41:27,670
contribution to recovery and recycling of packaging in europe

699
00:41:27,750 --> 00:41:31,750
but every time i see that i chuck it in the recycling yeah it doesn't mean

700
00:41:31,750 --> 00:41:34,949
that what about that one yes the white arrow pointing to its tail it's

701
00:41:34,949 --> 00:41:39,030
that means um the product is widely recycled by 75 percent

702
00:41:39,030 --> 00:41:42,630
or more of local authorities what about that one and the three

703
00:41:42,630 --> 00:41:46,949
folded arrows uh the product is theoretically recyclable

704
00:41:46,949 --> 00:41:50,869
but there's no guarantee that your borough will take it

705
00:41:50,869 --> 00:41:53,829
definitely you can't assume that it can go in the recycling

706
00:41:53,829 --> 00:41:58,389
i mean it is really complicated it should it should just say this is

707
00:41:58,389 --> 00:42:02,710
recite put this in the recycling bin don't yeah don't exactly uh we produce

708
00:42:02,710 --> 00:42:07,110
in the uk over 44 000 metric tons of non-recycled waste

709
00:42:07,110 --> 00:42:10,469
every single day and if you look at the rubbish that's on the set

710
00:42:10,469 --> 00:42:14,630
around here this is the uk average for the amount produced by one

711
00:42:14,630 --> 00:42:18,710
person per year at home so it's about 35 bin bags

712
00:42:18,710 --> 00:42:23,110
worth uh 222 kilograms i mean this is obviously just household waste this

713
00:42:23,110 --> 00:42:25,909
doesn't count as commercial or industrial waste that we

714
00:42:25,909 --> 00:42:29,110
uh produce as a by-product of the things that we and the things that we

715
00:42:29,110 --> 00:42:34,230
buy um this is my favorite rubbish list uh 2016 uh the waste clearance

716
00:42:34,230 --> 00:42:37,269
company enviro waste compiled a list of the most

717
00:42:37,269 --> 00:42:42,949
unusual things it had discovered in waste in london a dead stuffed

718
00:42:42,949 --> 00:42:46,710
cat dressed in a baby's onesie

719
00:42:47,190 --> 00:42:52,230
a nude painting of albert einstein a shoe box filled with dozens of mouse

720
00:42:52,230 --> 00:42:57,510
skeletons a sealed box full of maggots a bone of st clement of rome the fourth

721
00:42:57,510 --> 00:42:59,989
pope a super soaker full of urine and a

722
00:42:59,989 --> 00:43:03,190
victorian dildo which brings us to the dirty matter of

723
00:43:03,190 --> 00:43:07,590
the scores where there's a definite whiff of corruption uh in first place

724
00:43:07,590 --> 00:43:12,469
with seven points it's holly

725
00:43:12,469 --> 00:43:15,670
congratulations in second place with four

726
00:43:15,670 --> 00:43:24,059
johnny and with minus four in third place bridget

727
00:43:24,940 --> 00:43:30,780
alan fourth place minus 26 well done

728
00:43:37,320 --> 00:43:41,000
thanks to bridget and johnny holly and alan and i leave you with this rubbish

729
00:43:41,000 --> 00:43:45,639
remark from film actor richard burton if you're going to make rubbish be the

730
00:43:45,639 --> 00:43:54,760
best rubbish in it good night

731
00:43:54,760 --> 00:43:58,360
the show you've just seen was one of two episodes of qi which were recorded

732
00:43:58,360 --> 00:44:01,400
without an audience because of social distancing rules

733
00:44:01,400 --> 00:44:04,599
if you enjoyed the novelty i've got some good news for you there's another

734
00:44:04,599 --> 00:44:07,800
one next week if not don't worry week after that

735
00:44:07,800 --> 00:44:11,079
we're back to normal either way we'll see you next time

736
00:44:11,079 --> 00:44:14,199
stay safe