Search results for ""Author John Mitchinson""

Welcome to QI: The Book of the Dead, a biographical dictionary with a twist - one where only the most interesting people made it in!QI have got together six dozen of the happiest, saddest, maddest and most successful men and women from history. Celebrate their wisdom, learn from their mistakes and marvel at their bad taste in clothes. Hans Christian Anderson was terrified of naked women, Florence Nightingale spent her last fifty years in bed, Sigmund Freud smoked twenty cigars a day, Catherine de Medici applied a daily face mask made of pigeon dung, Rembrandt van Rijn died penniless and Madame Mao banned cicadas, rustling noises and pianos. Carefully collected and ordered by the QI team into themed chapters with thought-provoking titles such as 'There's Nothing Like a Bad Start in Life', 'Man Cannot Live by Bread Alone'. Each chapter reveals hilarious insights into the true nature of the most interesting people who ever lived, including Isaac Newton, Genghis Khan, Sigmund Freud, Florence Nightingale and Karl Marx. From the bestselling authors of The Book of General Ignorance and 1,277 Facts to Knock Your Socks Off, comes a fun and inspirational biographical dictionary, with motivational stories about the famous and the obscure.

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EVERYTHING TO PLAY FOR - A NEW BOOK BY QI ELVES JAMES HARKIN AND ANNA PTASZYNSKI - IS AVAILABLE FOR PREORDER NOWAn indispensable compendium of popular misconceptions, misunderstandings and common mistakes culled from the hit BBC show, QI. From the bestselling authors of The Book of General Ignorance comes a noticeably stouter edition, with 26% extra facts and figures perfect for trivia, pub quiz and general knowledge enthusiasts. The QI team sets out again to show you that a lot of what you think you know is wrong. If, like Alan Davies, you still think the Henry VIII had six wives, the earth has only one moon, that George Washington was the first president of the USA, that Bangkok is the capital of Thailand, that the largest living thing is a blue whale, that Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, that whisky and bagpipes come from Scotland or that Mount Everest is the world's tallest mountain, then there are at least 200 reasons why this is the book for you. The researchers at QI have written many bestselling books including such titles as The QI Book of General Ignorance and 1,277 Facts To Blow Your Socks Off. They now present a noticeably stouter edition, an indispensable handbook for trivia lovers, pub quiz enthusiasts and general knowledge experts alike. And remember - everything you think you know is still wrong.

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The ultimate compendium of crisp one-liners, knockout jokes, droll asides and universal truths collected over the years by the creators of QI. 'You know 'that look' women get when they want sex? Me neither.' Steve Martin 'You cannot prevent the birds of sorrow from flying over your head, but you can prevent them from nesting in your hair.' Chinese proverb 'The Beatles are dying in the wrong order.' Victor Lewis-Smith 'Cauliflower is nothing but a cabbage with a college education.' Mark Twain 'Depend on the rabbit's foot if you will, but remember: it didn't work for the rabbit.' R.E. Shay'If it were not for quotations, conversation between gentlemen would be an endless series of 'what-ho's!'' P.G.Wodehouse

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Just when you thought it was safe to start showing off again, the bestselling authors of The Book of General Ignorance and 1,277 QI Facts To Blow Your Socks Off are back. With a foreword by Stephen Fry, this parcel of unimaginable information is here to solve a few common misconceptions, mistakes and misunderstandings. Octopuses have six legs, oranges aren't orange, bats aren't blind, napoleon wasn't short, vikings didn't wear horned helmets, there is no such thing as a fish. QI: The Second Book of General Ignorance is the essential set text for everyone who's proud to admit that they don't know everything, and an ideal stick with which to beat people who think they do. John Lloyd and John Mitchinson are the bestselling authors of QI: The Book of General Ignorance and 1,277 QI Facts To Blow Your Socks Off. Here they present a wonderful collection of astonishingly interesting facts, perfect for pub quiz lovers, trivia buffs and general knowledge experts alike.

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The QI Annuals are the nearest things to having the hit BBC1 TV show live in your living room. Top comedians and brainiacs, from Stephen Fry and Alan Davies to guests such as Phill Jupitus, Jo Brand, Clive Anderson, Jeremy Clarkson and Rowan Atkinson, have joined top cartoonists and illustrators, and the estimiable QI elves themselves in the first three QI Annuals, covering the letters E, F and G (starting at A is so overrated). Collected by the writers of the BBC show, QI, and authors of the worldwide bestsellers The Book of General Ignorance and 1,227 QI Facts To Blow Your Socks Off, here is a hilarious and informative selection of the QI team's fun facts. Featuring the likes of Stephen Fry, Alan Davies and many other QI guests, this bumper paperback edition is the perfect Christmas gift for pub quiz experts, fans of Guinness World Records and lovers of all things QI.

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EVERYTHING TO PLAY FOR - A NEW BOOK BY QI ELVES JAMES HARKIN AND ANNA PTASZYNSKI - IS AVAILABLE FOR PREORDER NOW'I love these books ... the best books ever. Brilliant' Chris Evans1,399 QI Facts To Make Your Jaw Drop by John Lloyd, John Mitchinson and James Harkin is packed with even more fascinating facts.Whilst you're bending over to grab your socks following the succes of 1,227 QI Facts to Blow Your Socks Off, don't forget pick up your jaw as the QI team returns with a fresh stack of facts to astonish and enlighten.Did you know that:Pigs suffer from anorexia.It is impossible to whistle in a spacesuit.The first computer mouse was made of wood.Rugby School's first official rugby kit in 1871 included a bow tie.Lord Kitchener had four spaniels called Shot, Bang, Miss and Damn.J. K Rowling has no middle name.If there are any facts you don't believe, or if you want to know more about them, all the sources can be found on QI's website.

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1,411 Quite Interesting Facts to Knock You Sideways is a gold mine of wide-ranging, eye-opening, brain-bursting nuggets of trivia that's impossible to put down, another "treasure trove of factoids" (National Public Radio, Weekend Edition). Did you know? Orchids can get jet lag Lizards can't walk and breathe at the same time Frank Sinatra took a shower 12 times a day Ladybug orgasms last for 30 minutes There are 177,147 ways to tie a tie Traffic lights existed before cars The soil in your garden is 2 million years old

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1,339 Quite Interesting Facts to Make Your Jaw Drop is bursting with mindboggling morsels of trivia—informative, hilarious, sometimes arcane or utterly useless, but always entertaining. Did you know? • Wagner only ever wore pink silk underwear. • There are 34,000 statues of Kim Il Sung in North Korea. • There is a cult in Malaysia that worships a giant teapot. • Earthworms have five hearts. • Your eyebrows renew themselves every 64 days. • Charles Darwin's tortoise Harriet died in 2006 at the age of 176. Every fact in this magnificent little volume has been researched with punctilious care in order to bring you the truth in its purest form.

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'I love these books ... the best books ever. Brilliant' Chris EvansThis is an astonishing trove of the strangest, funniest, and most improbable tidbits of knowledge from the clever lot at the hugely popular BBC quiz show QI.The sock-blasting, jaw-dropping, side-swiping phenomenon that is QI serves up a sparkling new selection of 1,342 facts to leave you flabbergasted.Did you know that:Trees sleep at night.Google searches for 'How to put on a condom' peak at 10.28pm.There is no word for time in any Aboriginal language.Scotland has 421 words for snow.Emoji is the fastest growing language in history.Astronauts wear belts to stop their trousers falling up.The name Donald means 'ruler of the world'.Tanks are exempt from London's Congestion charge.The world's only Cornish pasty museum is in Mexico.When you blush so does the lining of your stomach.A group of unicorns is called a blessing.If there are any facts you don't believe, or if you want to know more about them, all the sources can be found on www.qi.com

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Join QI's expedition into the animal kingdom to encounter 100 of its most remarkable subjects. Marvel at the elephants that walk on tiptoe, pigs that shine in the dark, and the woodlouse that drinks through its bottom.Albatrosses can fly non-stop for ten years without touching the ground Box jellyfish have twenty-four eyes Geese mourn their dead Koalas don't drinkMonkeys pay to look at porn Lobsters live for a century Mice sing while having sex Spiders can fly

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QI is the smartest comedy show on television. Over the last seven years, the QI team have blown your socks off, made your jaw drop and knocked you sideways with their astonishing fact books. Now they are going to tickle you pink with this terrific treasury of 10,000 QI facts, which collects all seven books in the series. This brilliant box set includes: 1,227 QI Facts, 1,339 QI Facts, 1,411 QI Facts, 1,234 QI Facts, 1,342 QI Facts, 1,432 QI Facts, and 2,024 QI Facts.Together they form one of the largest collections of interesting one-line facts in the history of the human race. Get stuck in and you too can appear to be a genius in just three months, for less than the price of a taxi ride from Piccadilly Circus to Heathrow airport.

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Did you know? • Cows moo in regional accents. • The international dialing code for Russia is 007. • The water in the mouth of a blue whale weighs more than its body. • Pants are responsible for twice as many accidents as chain saws. • Saddam Hussein's bunker was designed by the grandson of the woman who built Hitler's bunker. • Heroin was originally sold as cough medicine. 1,227 Quite Interesting Facts to Blow Your Socks Off is a trove of the strangest, funniest, and most improbable tidbits of knowledge—all painstakingly researched and distilled to a brilliant and shocking clarity.

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The Third Book of General Ignorance gathers together 180 questions, both new and previously featured on the BBC TV programme's popular 'General Ignorance' round, and show why, when it comes to general knowledge, none of us knows anything at all.Who invented the sandwich? What was the best thing before sliced bread? Who first ate frogs' legs? Which cat never changes its spots? What did Lady Godiva do? What can you legally do if you come across a Welshman in Chester after sunset?

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'I love these books ... the best books ever. Brilliant' Chris EvansQI is the smartest comedy show on British television, but few people know that we're also a major legal hit in Australia, New Zealand, Israel and Africa and an illegal one on BitTorrent. We also write books and newspaper columns; run some (frankly thriving, if we do say so ourselves) social media pages; and some of us appear on The Zoe Ball Breakfast Showon BBC Radio 2 every week to answer your questions. At the core of what we do is the astonishing fact - painstakingly researched and distilled to a brilliant and shocking clarity. In Einstein's words: 'Everything should be as simple as possible, but not simpler.'Did you know that: Cows moo in regional accents.The entire internet weighs less than a grain of sand.Tintin is called Tantan in Japanese because TinTin is pronounced 'Chin chin' and means penis.The water in the mouth of a blue whale weighs more than its body.Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981, it is explicitly illegal in Britain to use a machinegun to kill a hedgehog.1,227 QI Facts To Blow Your Socks Off will make you look at the universe (and your socks) in an alarming new way.

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