This edition of the show that plays out like a pub quiz was a special with questions about many famous facts from recorded history since the dawn of man, a surprisingly factual and as usual funny show to watch and have fun with. Hosted by Jimmy Carr, with celebrity panellists in three teams: (slightly distanced due to COVID-19) Roisin Conaty and Richard Ayoade (C&A), Joanne McNally and Rob Beckett (The Serious Television Intelligence Squad (STIs)), and Mawaan Rizwan and Rosie Jones (PC Gone Mad). This quiz focused on all sorts of factual information from people, science and technology, film and TV, music, places, history, and pot luck (general knowledge) to answer about. These questions are asked as they are, with video and sound clips, with pictures (including Say What You See), and by celebrity and mystery guests on screen or in the studio, so it really does feel like a proper quiz that you can take part in. Events from history that were questioned and joked about, and mentioned (or pictured) included: the Lunch atop a Skyscraper photograph, famous landmarks (London Eye, Taj Mahal, Empire State Building), King Kong, Marilyn Monroe, Lassie, Indiana Jones, Beyoncé, superheroes (Superman, Captain Marvel, Batman, Wonder Woman), Barack and Michelle Obama, Lewis Hamilton, Serena Williams, Madonna, the Spice Girls, Mahatma Gandhi, Arnold Schwarzenegger bodybuilding, acting and being governor, Kim Kardashian, Playboy founded by Hugh Hefner in 1953, a man speaking on behalf of Geri Halliwell leaving the Spice Girls, Time magazine Person of the Year (Mark Zuckerberg, Wallis Simpson and Adolf Hitler), pseudonyms for Sir Elton John (Sir Binky Poodle Clip, Sir Horace Pussy, and Judas Fart), statues of famous people (footballer Mo Salah, William Wallace, Alfred Hitchcock, Melania Trump and Colin Firth), Eric Cantona Kungfu kicks, Steve Jobs launches iPhone, Beatles play rooftop gig, Ask Jeeves launched in 1996, the Walkman invented in 1979, the first home computer invented in 1974, the six colours of the human eye (blue, brown, green, hazel, grey, and amber), the Eiffel Tower growing six inches in summer and contracts six inches in winter, suggested cures for the flu, Robert Cornelius taking the first selfie photo in 1839, the Mentos in Diet Coke experiment (the nucleation of carbon dioxide) on YouTube, The Flintstones, Big Brother, how Marvel superheroes Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk and Captain America got their powers (bitten by a radioactive spider, absorbed gamma rays radiation, and injected with super soldier serum), Sean Bean has died over 25 times onscreen (they show The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, GoldenEye, and The Field = pushed over a cliff by cows), the famous people Forrest Gump met in the film (Elvis Presley, Paul "Bear" Bryant, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Abbie Hoffman, Dick Cavett, John Lennon, Richard Nixon), Supernanny (Jo Frost) and her trademark "naughty step" parenting advice, the houses of Westeros in Game of Thrones (Arryn, Baratheon, Greyjoy, Lannister, Martell, Stark, Tagaryen, Tully, Tyrell), iconic TV characters (Columbo, Scott Robinson from Neighbours, Hercule Poirot), Go Compare, The Proms which started in 1895, the opera, Take That, New Kids on the Block, "What a Wonderful World" by Sam Cooke, Oasis protesting miming on Top of the Pops with Liam and Noel Gallager swapping places in "Roll with It", sound effects in songs (boing in "Re-Rewind (The Crowd Say Bo Selecta)" by Arful Dodger feat. Craig David, an elephant trumpeting in "Work It" by Missy Elliott, a cash register in "Paper Planes" by MIA), a Bollywood film score sampled in "Toxic" by Britney Spears, Ringo Starr angrily announcing he would no longer be signing autographs after 2008, the names of male and female farm animals (pigs = boar/sow, geese = goose/gander, ducks = drake/hen, sheep = ram/ewe), things that can be seen from space (the Great Barrier Reef, the Pyramids of Giza), the Angel of the North statue near Gateshead, the fountain from Friends in Burbank, California, a local report about a petition to change a street name from "Bell End", Disney theme parks prohibiting people from pointing with one finger, saying the words "I don't know", and having the same name as another colleague, the Bermuda Triangle (having the wrecks of 50 ships, 20 planes, the gateway to the city of Atlantis, and a million horny eels), the Leaning Tower of Pisa, James Bond stunt doubles, Tutankhamun's tomb discovered in 1925, the first thing described as "the best thing since sliced bread" in 1952 being the television, Juliana the Great Dane awarded a Blue Cross medal for defusing a bomb by peeing on it, the Cottingley Fairies photos hoax, trepanning which involves perforating the head, a photograph of an emotional girl reacting to Elvis Presley, The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien, 50 Shades of Grey by EL James, Animal Farm by George Orwell, monkeys don't get jetlag, lobsters mate for life, the tin can invented in 1810 and the can opener invented in 1858, varieties of Lynx deodorant (Africa, Java, Voodoo, Apollo), the boomerang, five chillies from around the world ranked from mildest to hottest (in order: the Padron pepper, the jalapeno, the cayenne, the bird's eye, and the Scotch bonnet), the Beatie Boys creating the crimewave of stealing car badges (e.g. VW), Japan traditionally eating KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) on Christmas Day, and popstars (played by professional lookalikes in the studio) who spent the most weeks at Number One (in order: Diana Ross = 7 weeks, Stormzy = 10 weeks, Lady Gaga = 13 weeks, Sir Elton John = 24 weeks, and Ed Sheeran = 56 weeks). Other celebrity and special mystery guests in the show included the children of Mitchell Brook Primary School in Neasden who act out well known news stories, Charles Dance who reads online negative book reviews, Paralympian Hannah Cockroft, Caleb Cooper from Clarkson's Farm, Radio 1 DJ Annie Mac, Daniel Mays, Katie Piper, Paul Hollywood, Gemma Whelan (Game of Thrones), BMX Olympic silver medallist Kye White, and the mystery guests who were stunt doubles for Daniel Craig in James Bond films (Ben Cooke - Casino Royale, Bobby Hanton - Quantum of Solace, and Mark Higgins - Spectre). The jokes and the questions are what make this show so much fun, they chose the right celebrity panellists, and it also works as a funny way to find out and reflect on things you may or not know from history, a great comedy quiz show. Very good!
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
