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: Jonathan Ross and Nish Kumar (The British Asians), Claudia Winkleman and Miranda Hart (Ladies Who Lunch, Breakfast, Dinner, Snack and Tea), and Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer (Strike Force One). This quiz focused on all sorts of factual information from history, music, film and TV, science and technology, people, geography, pot luck (general knowledge) and sport 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: knowledge of the Ancient Egyptians from historians, archaeologists, and The Bangles; Elizabeth I being the Virgin Queen, King Henry VIII introducing a beard tax (including a joke about Jimmy's tax avoidance scandal), inflatable tanks used to deceive the enemy during World War II, World chess champion Garry Kasparov beaten by chess computer Deep Blue in 1997, the BBC Radio News bulletin in 1930 reporting "there is no news", 157 accidents occurring when cars in Sweden started driving on the right side of the road in 1967, Victorian era freak shows having a shaved bear posing as a bearded lady; Mozart, Bach and Beethoven featured in adverts, Beethoven becoming a recluse after he went deaf, Metallica being the first and only band to have performed on all seven continents, the lyrics of "That Don't Impress Me Much" by Shania Twain, Village People recruited by an advert reading "Macho types wanted. Must have moustache", "Achy Breaky Heart" by Billie Ray Cyrus; Dr. Spin, who is actually Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber, reaching #6 with a cover of the Tetris theme, the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album sleeve featuring many famous people (including Karl Marx, Laurel & Hardy, Marilyn Monroe, W. C. Fields, Fred Astaire and many more), Parallel Lines by Blondie, No Jacket Required by Phil Collins, ...Baby One More Time by Britney Spears, Muffin the Mule being the first children's television programme in Britain; People fainting, vomiting and leaving the cinema when watching The Exorcist, the suggestive names of girls in James Bond films (Pussy Galore, Holly Goodhead, Xenia Onatopp, Dr. Molly Warmflash); Sir Cliff Richard, Prince Charles, Cilla Black, Sir Patrick Stewart and Sarah Harding appearing in Coronation Street; the magic words of Adam, Prince of Eternia to transform into He-Man ("By the power of Grayskull. I have the power!"), in the early days of Channel 4 some programmes were broadcast with a red triangle (Special Discretion Required) to warn of adult material, Happy Feet, Iron Man, The Jungle Book; Charles Babbage, Alan Turning and Tim Berners-Lee making leaps in the world of computing, Thomas Edison inventing the light bulb in 1878, the first ever telephone call by Alexander Graham Bell speaking to his assistant Thomas Watson saying "Mr. Watson, come here. I want to see you.", Google Image Search being created in 2000 after Jennifer Lopez wore a revealing dress at the Grammys, the kilogram weight, a person would be 3% taller going into outer space, water present on Mars, Newton discovers gravity, the Wright Brothers first manned flight, the cause of death of Tutankhamun being unknown, Steve Jobs and the invention of the iPhone, Victoria Beckham awarded an OBE for services to fashion, theatre critic Kenneth Tynan was the first man to say the "F" word on television in 1965, Mary Sawyer famously in the nursery rhyme "Mary Had a Little Lamb" after taking her pet lamb to school as a young girl, the supernatural powers of Count Dracula (hypnosis, telepathy, shapeshifting, immortality, super strength), 4-year-old Bruno Mars performing as Elvis Presley, three famous faces merged together (Harry Styles, Bill Gates and Abraham Lincoln), the temperature of the North Pole can drop to minus 40 degrees; in Nepalese, Mount Everest is called "Saga Matha"; nail clippers, an astrologer's ashes, 2 golf balls, 96 bags of urine, faeces and vomit, and several improvised javelins can be found on the Moon; in Queensland, Australia it is illegal to own a rabbit, unless you are a scientist or a magician, the Loch Ness Monster, Tashirojima having a 500% increase in tourism, following a viral video, it is famous as the "island of cats", Ordnance Survey symbols, chicken nuggets come in four shapes (the bell, the ball, the bot and the bone), Velcro being a hook and loop fastener, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, a funeral for dead Tamagotchi toys in Ponts Mill, Cornwall; Monopoly game pieces (including a rubber duck, a Scottie dog, a cat, a penguin, a T-rex, a top hat, a car, and a battleship), Betty Hill and her husband Barney were the first people to go public about their alien abduction, the American sign language for "I love you", and football mascots (West Ham - Hammerhead; Scunthorpe - Scunny Bunny; West Bromwich Albion, aka the Baggies - Baggy Bird; Arsenal, aka the Gunners - Gunnersaurus Rex; and Partick Thistle in Glasglow - Kingsley). 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, Jon Snow who reads news related to lyrics from songs of history and dances to it, Charles Dance who reads online negative film reviews, Ore Aduba, Reverend Kate Bottley (from Gogglebox), Dynamo, Luke Evans, Judy Murray, Christian Slater (star of Glengarry Glen Ross in the West End), and the mystery guests were actors who played the Milkybar Kid in various adverts (John Cornelius 1974-1978, Anthony Eden 1988-1991, and Robbie Humphries 1983-1986). 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!
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