New Book by Former QI Elf

Adam Jacot de Boinod, a QI elf during Series A who amongst other things revealed Albania's love of eyebrows, has written a third book about obscure words.

However, whilst his first two books, The Meaning of Tingo and Toujours Tingo were all about words that exist in other languages that do not exist in English ("Tingo" is a word in the Pascuense language of Easter Island meaning "to borrow things from a friend's house one by one until there's nothing left") his third book, The Wonder of Whiffling is collection of long-forgotten words in English.

Amongst the words included in this new book are:

* Fornale: To spend one's money before one has earned it.

* Cagg: A solemn vow or resolution not to get drunk for a certain time.

* Petrichor: The pleasent smell that accompanies the first rain after a dry spell.

* Bowerbird: A person who collects an astonishing array of - often useless - objects.

The Wonder of Whiffling is published by Particular Books and will go on sale on 24 September.

You can pre-order at Amazon and Play.

Series G - Sneak Preview

For those of you who cannot wait any longer without seeing something both new and quite interesting, the BBC has posted a preview clip of one of the episodes in Series G on its press office website.

In order to see it, click here, go to the carousel and click the QI entry.

Series G - General Guide

Yesterday saw the last episode of QI Series G being recorded, thus seeing the completion of the shows longest series yet, consisting of sixteen editions stuffed full of quite interesting G-related topics, not to mention good gags, glorious guests and General Ignorance.

As well as being the longest series, there are also some quite interesting guests. Nine new faces have appeared on the show. These include three women, two of whom are the first lesbians to appear on the show, our third American guest, our second Irish guest, our second Australian guest and our first Dane. It also sees a guest who has not appeared since Series A. This series also sees the first time where QI is played by more than four panellists.

Here is the list of episodes, in order of recording date:

1) G-Animals: Bill Bailey, Sean Lock, Sandi Toksvig and John Hodgman.

2) Gravity: Barry Humphries, Bill Bailey and Rich Hall.

3) Gothic: Jimmy Carr, Jack Dee and Sue Perkins.

4) Games: Phill Jupitus, Sean Lock and Liza Tarbuck.

5) Gifts: Clive Anderson, Jimmy Carr and Jan Ravens.

6) A Galimaufrey of Gingambobs: Phill Jupitus, Hugh Dennis and Andy Hamilton.

7) Green: Danny Baker, Bill Bailey and Jeremy Clarkson.

8) Greek: Phill Jupitus, Clive Anderson and Rich Hall.

9) Groovy (Christmas Special): Bill Bailey, Lee Mack and David Tennant.

10) Girls and Boys: Ronni Ancona, Sandi Toksvig and Jack Dee.

11) Geometry: Rob Brydon, Johnny Vegas and David Mitchell.

12) Genius: David Mitchell, Dara Ó Briain and Graham Norton.

13) Germany: Jo Brand, Rob Brydon and Sean Lock.

14) Geography: Jo Brand, Rob Brydon and Jimmy Carr.

15) Gardens and Groceries: Dara Ó Briain, Rob Brydon and David Mitchell.

16) Greats: Jo Brand, Sean Lock and David Mitchell.

It is expected that the series will start sometime in the autumn.

Products, Recordings and Other Updates

Quite a lot has been going on since the QI Talk blog has last been updated, so I thought it was time to give everyone the latest news.

Series G

QI's seventh series is currently being recorded. Out of the sixteen episodes to be made, seven have so far have been recorded. The details are written below in white so as not to spoil it for those waiting for them to be broadcast. Scroll over the text to read it.

Episode 1) G-Animals: With Bill Bailey, Sean Lock, Sandi Toksvig, and John Hodgman (that's right: four guests!)

Episode 2) Gravity: With Barry Humphries, Bill Bailey, and Rich Hall.

Episode 3) Gothic: With Jimmy Carr, Jack Dee and Sue Perkins.

Episode 4) Games: With Phill Jupitus, Sean Lock, and Liza Tarbuck.

Episode 5) Gifts: With Clive Anderson, Jimmy Carr, and Jan Ravens.

Episode 6) A Gallimaufry of Gingambobs: With Phill Jupitus, Hugh Dennis, and Andy Hamilton.

Episode 7) Green: With Danny Baker, Bill Bailey, and Jeremy Clarkson.

The other recordings will take place on May 26th, 28th, 29th, June 2nd, 4th, 5th, 9th, 11th, and 12th.

You can find out more information from the QI Forums and the British Comedy Guide.

The Museum of Curiosity

The second gallery of The Museum of Curiosity is currently open. The radio "spin-off" to QI, hosted by QI's creator John Lloyd (Professor of Ignorance at the University of Buckingham), now has a new curator, Sean Lock. Three episodes have been broadcast and the series is currently on the BBC iPlayer.

The Museum is also planning to expand. The people behind the show are to open a new website of the series soon, which will include a forum and podcasts, and will even allow users to donate their own exhibits.

You can listen to the new series on BBC Radio 4 on Monday evenings at 18:30, with repeats on Sundays at noon. You can follow the show on The Museum's Blog or at the British Comedy Guide.

Quite Interesting Products

Some new QI goodies are soon to be made available.

The QI Pocket Book of Animals - Following on from the pocket version of The Book of General Ignorance, a new pocket version of QI's second book, The Book of Animal Ignorance has just come out. You can buy it from Amazon and Play.

Advanced Banter (Paperback) - The paperback version of QI's book of quotations is to be published on 3 September 2009, according to Amazon and Play.

QI: The Book of the Dead - The new, fourth book published by the people behind QI to be published on 1 October 2009. Split into 42 chapters, The Book of the Dead will contain sections such as "People who died Penniless", "The One-Legged", "Only Children", "People who failed at School", "Those only Remembered by a Single Quotation" and "The Last People to Know Everything". You can pre-order the book from Amazon.

Secret Britain: The Hidden Bits of Our History: Written by Question Wrangler Justin Pollard, this is a follow up to his previous books The Interesting Bits and Charge! which look at all the quite interesting bits in the history of Britain. The book is listed on Amazon and will be released on 1 October 2009.

The QI Annual 2010: The third QI annual is currently in the making, and will feature a range of G-related topics. Contributions will come from Stephen Fry, Alan Davies, Rowan Atkinson, Jeremy Clarkson, Bill Bailey, Jo Brand, Phill Jupitus, Jimmy Carr and many more. To be released on 5th November, 2009. Per-order from Amazon.

My Favourite People, 1978-1988: Alan's first book! QI's resident panellist and stud muffin has written a memoir of his life growing up in the 1980s. You can find more information about the book here.

QI is also hoping that to make a game for the Nintendo DS, but it is not known if and when it will come out. Sadly, no details are yet known concerning DVDs of any more QI series; Series D is the next one that should be due for release.

Twitter

QI, along with several other related shows and people, is now on Twitter. For those wanting to know information about the shows as they are recorded, these links will let you know live from the scene. He is a list of some quite interesting tweets you may wish to follow.

QI - @qikipedia

The Museum of Curiosity - @Curiositwitty

QI Telegraph - @QITelegraph

Stephen Fry - @stephenfry

Alan Davies - @alandavies1

John Mitchinson - @Tewlop

Justin Pollard - @JustinPollard

Katie Scott - @katiescottscott

Dan Schreiber - @Schreiberland

Jonathan Paul Green - @jpgdesign

QI & MoC Recordings

We can announce that the G series of QI is to be extended beyond the normal run of 12 episodes to a minimum of 16. Recordings of Qi are currently scheduled to take place on the following dates at the London Studios:

May 8th, 9th, 14th, 15th, 19th, 21st, 22nd, 26th, 28th, & 29th
June 2nd, 4th, 5th, 9th, 11th & 12th

Bookings for tickets can be made via www.applausestore.com as tickets are made available.

Meanwhile the Museum of Curiosities, presented by the creator of QI John Lloyd on BBC Radio 4 will be returning for a new series later this year. John Lloyd will be joined by Sean Locke who will be tacking over from Bill Bailey as the series' co-presenter and the museum's curator. Recordings will be taking place at the BBC's Broadcasting House on Oxford Circus on the following dates:

March 30th & 31st
April 6th & 13th
May 4th & 19th

Tickets can be booked online here or by ringing 0370 901 1227.