1. Woh!
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2. Goo-oo-oo-ood evening, good evening,
good evening, good evening,
good evening,
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3. and welcome to QI. Tonight, we are
quite interested in engineering
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4. and so we've come equipped with four
of the sharpest tools in the box.
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5. The steely Jimmy Carr!
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6. And the power-driven Rob Brydon.
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7. Here's the well-oiled Bill Bailey!
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8. And... the spanner in the works,
Alan Davies!
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9. So let's hear
your precision-engineered sounds.
Bill goes...
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10. Jimmy goes...
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11. And Rob goes...
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12. And Alan goes...
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13. Aw!
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14. Now, although tonight's manly menu
mainly means engineering matters,
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15. don't forget our Elephant
In The Room bonus...
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16. .. for predicting the arrival of one
or more elephants on the programme.
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17. There it is.
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18. Be ready.
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19. First question.
Who built Britain's railways?
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20. Look out!
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21. Oh, Jesus! I say.
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22. By the way,
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23. I have my own train here.
Look at that.
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24. Isn't that fun?
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25. And I have... I have sweets
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26. which I can load on and deliver
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27. to any particularly interesting
answers this evening,
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28. so there's an extra incentive.
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29. However... This is turning into
my perfect house.
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30. More toast, please!
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31. Like Wallace and Gromit! Yes.
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32. But you have first to address the
question of who built our railways.
Richard Branson.
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33. No... It's not elephants.
Large creatures
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34. were trained to trample down areas
of Britain to be very, very, flat.
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35. The railway mouse!
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36. Well, you're right, actually.
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37. They...
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38. Sweet!
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39. You're right, actually, COMMA,
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40. in saying... In saying words?
In saying...
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41. that railways had to be flat
when they were built in Britain,
which were the very earliest days
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42. because we were the country
invented the steam locomotive
and the railway system,
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43. and they weren't powerful enough
engines to go up hills
or even round bends,
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44. so they had to be straight and flat.
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45. Were they built by the wrong type
of builder? Well, at the time,
they were the much-mocked navvy.
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46. They were called navvies,
were mostly Irish,
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47. and were an extraordinary example
of man-muscle. They really were.
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48. It took a year to train a navvy.
You fed them on meat and beer.
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49. No Dagenham smiles there.
Very tightly done trousers.
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50. And they, er...
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51. A Dagenham smile?
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52. The Birmingham to London track
took five years to build
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53. and was the equivalent in work
of building one and a half
great pyramids.
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54. It was an astonishing feat.
Astonishing.
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55. These people were incredible.
As I say, it took a year
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56. to train them, they lived on beer
and meat,
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57. and they could out-perform
any other manual labourer.
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58. Farm workers would be exhausted
after a quarter of a navvy's day.
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59. Did I hear once that
the Trans-Siberian Railway,
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60. which was meant to be
a straight line...
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61. The Tsar got a ruler and he said,
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62. "I want the railway
perfectly straight."
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63. He got the ruler,
drew a line like that
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64. but his fingers were over the edge...
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65. .. and in a couple of places,
it did a big sort of detour.
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66. And he went, "Build me that!
Go away!"
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67. And they went, "Better build it
like he said," so they had to build
curves in it.
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68. That's a lovely thought, again.
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69. A lovely thought. Sweet!
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70. I always assumed that
the first railways... Oh, very well.
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71. You can have a sweet.
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72. Ohh! Oh, God!
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73. Let's get someone on the scene
and go straight there
to see what's happening.
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74. - It's absolute pandemonium, Stephen.
- Wait! Have you had your sweet? No.
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75. Oh, I'm not very good at being
the Fat Controller. It stopped
at the right place.
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76. Can't be a Virgin train, then.
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77. Why, for a sweet and a point,
are they called navvies?
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78. Navigational engineers.
Oh, very good, very good.
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79. I'm so impressed. Is that right?
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80. Yes.
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81. They were responsible
for digging what was called
the internal navigation system
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82. which was the canals.
They first came over to dig canals
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83. and, when the railway arrived,
they did all the embankments
and the tunnels
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84. and the extraordinary
earth movement involved.
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85. Horses were used, but only
for taking away the soil.
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86. Elephants as well. No elephants...
There were some. .. on the railways.
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87. There were. Just little ones.
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88. So London to Birmingham
was the equivalent
of one and a half pyramids?
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89. One and a half great pyramids. If
only we'd put that to a vote, we'd
have had one and a half pyramids.
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90. What do you mean,
just a half pyramid?
We just thought we'd leave it.
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91. Can we have the top half
of the pyramid?
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92. That's a pyramid, the top half.
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93. If it's the bottom half...
That's what I would choose.
..it's an odd platform.
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94. So just keep slicing the pyramids.
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95. You can have a sweet.
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96. There you are.
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97. No!
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98. Thank you very much.
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99. Curses!
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100. The credit may have gone
to engineers, of course,
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101. like Stephenson and Brunel, but it
was thousands of anonymous navvies
who did the actual work.
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102. Here's a big question -
what happened when the Americans
went off the rails?
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103. Jesus!
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104. This is during
the Carter administration,
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105. when they tried to bring in a
different form. Instead of rail...
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106. Because Jimmy Carter
was a Southern president,
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107. and in the Deep South,
fried food is very, very popular,
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108. and they were hoping to build
carriages with holes in the bottom.
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109. People would take
their trousers down and,
after eating a lot of fried food,
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110. they would fart it,
and it would rise
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111. on a bed of noxious bottom gas.
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112. Then, behind,
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113. people would open balloons and let
the air... And if there were enough
of the balloons...
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114. I mean, it never worked! Obviously.
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115. We would've heard of it.
A fool could've predicted it,
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116. but they didn't have a fool in the...
For the first time in history? Yeah.
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117. Can you take the sweet off him?
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118. Is the question "when did America
go OFF the rails"?
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119. No, when a locomotive went off the
rails in America, what did they do?
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120. They picked it up, put it back on?
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121. Is the right answer.
It's as simple as that.
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122. They deliberately made the
locomotive very small and light.
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123. Those were the days!
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124. They have no cladding
so they're as light as possible,
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125. and the passengers had to get out,
pick it up and put it back on.
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126. The potato blight brought over lots
of Irishmen to be their navvies
in America as well,
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127. at just the right time.
They're navigational engineers.
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128. Yes. Thank you for that. I don't
think you should call them navvies
any more, now that we know
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129. their full title.
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130. The... the... micks were...
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131. .. taken over
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132. to do the deed,
and did it brilliantly.
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133. They tended to do it in the east
coast, and who did it in the west?
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134. The Chinese. And they met
in the middle,
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135. the Irish and the Chinese,
when they completed
the entire link across America.
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136. There was a couple of brothers
called Casement
who devised a system
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137. where the track was laid
as fast as a man could walk.
Not as fast as Gromit.
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138. No. That...
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139. He was probably inspired
by the Casement brothers.
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140. They'd have a train
on the existing track... Exactly.
Going ahead like that!
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141. And they'd push off the one
when it had emptied itself
of its rails and sleepers
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142. and there would be one behind,
and they'd carry on.
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143. I suspect that they're standing
evenly apart
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144. for balance. Why would you stand
like that, unless you were
five individuals
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145. who have bought single tickets?
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146. If you'd gone along
with four friends on a train,
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147. you might stand closer and chat.
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148. perhaps are with them...
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149. You may be right.
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150. I think it's top hats off
for that sort of thing.
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151. Why didn't they build the railway
at Slough?
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152. At Slough? Why not?
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153. The town where I grew up? Mm-hm.
Is there no station in Slough?
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154. There is now, I suspect. Is there?
Yes. Yes, there is.
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155. But there's no railway?
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156. It's a start. When the railway was
being built through that particular
part of Buckinghamshire,
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157. they were told they couldn't build
a station at Slough.
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158. In fact, what happened was
they'd disregard it by stopping
and people getting on and off,
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159. and they'd sell tickets in the pub.
But who said no to a station?
What school is nearby?
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160. Oh!
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161. Ohh! Um...
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162. I do know it. It's Eton.
Eton College of course is there.
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163. Yes, they thought the boys
would be tempted to go into London.
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164. And take drugs? Well,
visit prostitutes and so on.
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165. That's the first thing they'd do.
"A train! Prostitutes!"
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166. I'd like a prostitute supersaver,
please.
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167. This prostitute
seems to be a woman!
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168. Oh, bloody hell, that shirt's
seriously on fire.
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169. No, come on, Ashley.
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170. What am I to do with these?
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171. There was a traveller's handbook
that advised women to put pins
in their mouth
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172. when trains went into a tunnel
so men didn't kiss them!
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173. To protect themselves
from unwanted kissing,
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174. they put a pin in their mouth.
It's very sweet, though,
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175. to think that kissing would be
the first thing that men would...
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176. They're coming out the tunnel and
the bloke's got a pin in his cock.
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177. It's a very direct approach
you've got to courting, isn't it?
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178. I'll just pop this in her mouth.
She'll come round, I'm sure.
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179. It's dark. She won't even know
it was me.
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180. Magnet! Magnet! Anyone, a magnet!
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181. So there you are. When 19th-century
American trains came off the rails,
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182. passengers got out
and lifted them back on.
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183. Now, what did
Isambard Kingdom Brunel get
for 18 birthdays in a row?
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184. For the first time ever,
simultaneously... An elephant!
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185. How annoyed would you be as well?
You got me one of these last year!
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186. Did I? Yeah, look!
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187. How could you miss that?
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188. Absolutely slaughtered. Plastered.
Couldn't remember where he lived.
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189. A socket set.
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190. Did he get a copy of
A Bridge Over Troubled Water?
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191. No. Jane's Fighting Ships.
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192. A book by Jeremy Clarkson.
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193. If this book was a book...
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194. ..it would be a book!
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195. There. That'll do, won't it?
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196. Yeah! What did he do?
Let's think about what
Isambard Kingdom Brunel did.
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197. Tunnels, bridges... Tunnels was
the first thing you said.
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198. No.
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199. Which is the biggest tunnel...?
The Box Tunnel? Under Box Hill.
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200. You're absolutely right.
Two miles long. There it is.
Or the opening of it. It's huge.
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201. It created so much earthworks,
the making of it -
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202. it was the biggest tunnel
in the world at the time...
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203. That they built Wales with it.
Well, no, there were all these...
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204. There are vast holes down there
that are linked by other tunnels.
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205. There are 80 miles of tunnels
under there.
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206. Between 1935 and 1940,
the military took over
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207. and they built this extraordinary
system of underground...
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208. 3,000 square feet of office space,
with a lift, as an ammunition dump.
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209. And of course a lot of people
believe now that it's got
an alien spaceship in it...
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210. There's a lot of local folklore.
I grew up in Bath, you see,
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211. very near the Box Tunnel.
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212. IN that tunnel? In the tunnel, yes.
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213. That explains a great deal.
It's the creature of the tunnel!
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214. Dare ye go in the Box Tunnel?
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215. Did they tell you anything
about the way Brunel designed it?
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216. Um... A special effect that could be
got from it once a year.
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217. Does the light shine through it
once a year? Yeah, go on.
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218. Have your sweetie!
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219. Yes, on his birthday,
which is the 9th of April -
he was born in 1806...
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220. Ah, there it is. There's the sun
shining through on his birthday.
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221. Our QI field researchers
wanted to stand there and check it
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222. but they weren't allowed to.
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223. That is one of the problems.
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224. Apparently it is a straight tunnel
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225. and the light will shine through,
but it's usually full of dust
and smoke.
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226. So to explosions.
Where's the best place to be
when a nuclear bomb goes off?
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227. Extraordinary!
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228. I would've gone for downtown
Nagasaki. What are the chances
of that happening again?
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229. You've got to weigh the odds.
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230. and I'm not sure
what that distance is.
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231. You have to be close enough
to get some of the radiation,
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232. and if you're in the right spot,
you will become a superhero.
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233. But, you know,
experts are divided on...
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234. what the distance is,
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235. and if you get it wrong... Woh!
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236. .. behind an elephant?
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237. It's a thought.
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238. Well, when I say the best place,
if you wanted to WATCH it and...
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239. Oh, I know! You've got to have a bit
of card with a pinhole through it...
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240. and then you can be
as close as you like.
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241. It actually can't hurt you.
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242. Where did the most nuclear bombs
go off in history?
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243. South Pacific? There were
quite a few in the Pacific,
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244. but on land there were a thousand
in the 1950s and early '60s.
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245. Nevada. Nevada. In the early-ish
'50s, when they were practising
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246. bomb techniques, and setting one off
just about once every three weeks,
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247. there was a town which was a no-good
town at all in the early '50s.
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248. It was of no interest... Vegas.
Las Vegas.
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249. It called itself
the "up-and-atom" town
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250. and it advertises itself as a place
to watch nuclear bombs going off.
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251. It's 65 miles away. They thought
that was nice and safe.
They'd have pool-side parties
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252. in the few hotels there.
So the lights of Vegas
have nothing to do with lights?
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253. That is just an afterglow of people
going, "Ohh, I don't feel well!"
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254. Well, over 10,000 people,
known as "down-winders",
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255. have successfully claimed
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256. half a billion dollars from the US
government for the effects of it.
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257. The Japanese emperor Hirohito
made a radio announcement
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258. after Hiroshima...
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259. It may be one of the great
understatements of all time.
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260. He said, "The war has developed,
not necessarily to our advantage."
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261. Traffic and travel next.
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262. Not that much travel. No.
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263. Fortunately, the Americans' search
for amusing new bombs to entertain
the public never ceases.
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264. How does the "love bomb" work?
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265. I turn up and I get on with it.
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266. Oh, hell!
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267. Is a love bomb a bottom noise that
can be made whilst you're making...?
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268. You know, sometimes
you're enjoying yourself and...
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269. The man's obsessed!
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270. You know it's a bit awkward
and you pretend you haven't heard it.
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271. Ooh! Rob... Rob, can I remind you
of something?
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272. Your father is in the audience.
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273. He's out there going,
"That's my boy!
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274. "You're putting Wales on the map,
Robert!" With this sophisticated
humour. You're quite right.
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275. So... love bomb.
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276. Does it let off something that
makes everyone... feel loved-up?
A big ecstasy bomb.
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277. You're right. In 1994,
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278. the Americans worked on the idea
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279. of a bomb that contained
an aphrodisiac.
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280. I quote - it was declassified
two years ago.
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281. "One distasteful but completely
non-lethal example would be
strong aphrodisiacs,
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282. "especially if the chemical
also caused homosexual behaviour."
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283. The idea was to make troops...
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284. The best example we could find.
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285. Homosexual behaviour! What have you
been putting in my tea, then?
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286. The idea was that they'd all start
loving each other
instead of fighting.
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287. Now, what could you make
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288. with an ultrasound rectal probe,
a light-emitting tube,
bicycle helmets,
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289. protective clothing, a huge tub
of Vaseline and a wheelbarrow?
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290. Ooh!
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291. That could make you
the happiest man alive.
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292. Oh, oh, oh,
elephant in the room.
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293. Yes. Is this something to do with a
medical examination of an elephant?
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294. You get the points, yes. It's how
you test pregnancy in elephants.
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295. No, it's how you MAKE pregnancy
in elephants. That's what I meant.
How you make elephants pregnant.
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296. Artificial insemination
of elephants. That's it, yes.
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297. You need a safety helmet for
safety reasons, as you can imagine,
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298. you need the bucket,
or wheelbarrow in this case,
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299. to collect the elephant droppings
cos you need to give an elephant
an enema first.
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300. Ohh, are you making an elephant porn
film or what?
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301. And you need hours of preparation
for this. A couple of Germans,
surprisingly,
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302. are the experts at this.
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303. Doctors Thomas Hildebrandt
and Frank Goeritz.
Oh, there's the doctor now.
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304. They've made 12 baby elephants.
By hours of preparation, do you
mean "getting her in the mood"?
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305. Do you take her out to dinner?
Do you compliment her? You only
have to compliment her once
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306. cos she never forgets.
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307. An ultrasound probe
into the elephant's rectum
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308. while feeding a light-emitting tube
into what is rather pleasingly
called her vestibule.
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309. Into the rectum? Yeah.
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310. I'm pretty sure that's not how it's
done. You have to do that first...
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311. That's what I've been telling her!
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312. Finally, she'll pay attention now.
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313. Why not just get
a big boy elephant?
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314. Well, in the circumstances,
it's impossible.
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315. Artificial insemination happens
with other animals.
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316. Getting animals to mate
in captivity
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317. is very difficult,
especially with each other. Yes.
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318. Anyway, all those exciting objects,
with luck, could make you
a baby elephant.
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319. They are the tools used by
artificial inseminators. So...
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320. the wheel turns full circle,
gentlemen, and plunges us
back into the oily sump
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321. of general ignorance.
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322. So fingers on buzzers, please.
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323. Where are you most likely
to get bitten by a vampire?
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324. A 19th-century novel.
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325. Pinewood Studios. Good.
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326. Good answer. Outside your own house.
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327. Where on the body?
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328. Well, it would have to be some sort
of protrusion where blood gathers
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329. and is easily accessible through
the bed clothes, probably the elbow.
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330. In a dark tunnel.
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331. It is a protuberance
as Jimmy pointed out.
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332. Big toe.
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333. Big toe? A vampire would bite you
on the big toe?
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334. There are a number of misconceptions
about vampire bats, obviously.
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335. Oh, he's a nasty-looking one,
isn't he?
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336. That is really ugly. That Gary
Oldman is a hell of an actor.
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337. He really transforms, doesn't he?
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338. If you're a vampire bat,
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339. is he regarded
as a bit of a looker? If Yoda
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340. had accepted the Dark Side...
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341. .. that's how he would've looked.
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342. That's a very suave-looking bat.
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343. Would you mind awfully
if I nipped you on the toe?
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344. I'm having a few friends over. Would
you, er... Would you like a liqueur?
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345. How do they ingest their blood?
What do they do?
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346. They bite and sniff it up?
Swallow it, lick it, slurp it,
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347. hide it, store it, draw it up
and decant it.
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348. Decant it!
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349. Decant it. Lay it down
for a couple of years.
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350. They use a syringe.
They're quite hygienic animals.
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351. Small bit of cotton wool, syringe,
then you get a cup of tea
and a biscuit.
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352. Tiny little plaster.
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353. You're right in one sense. They do
an anticoagulant and a painkiller,
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354. so you're unlikely to know
you've been bitten.
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355. They open the skin and the vein,
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356. then they lap at it like a cat.
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357. Like that.
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358. I don't want to alarm you all,
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359. but I think a love bomb
may have gone off.
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360. Stephen doesn't need a love bomb
to behave like that, you know.
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361. Is it getting hot in here?
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362. Yes, the most likely place
to get bitten by a vampire
is in the big toe.
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363. And finally, what's the biggest
load of rubbish in the world?
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364. France!
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365. We got France!
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366. That's a lovely picture of France
there.
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367. This show is sponsored
by the British Tourist Board.
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368. Don't leave. It's horrible
over there.
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369. Somewhere in America probably.
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370. Hang on, there was a thing in
the QI book about the biggest load
of rubbish in the world,
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371. the biggest manmade thing, and it
was a rubbish dump in New York.
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372. Fresh kills.
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373. No. What?
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374. That is the largest... Thanks
for taking that bullet, Bill.
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375. Lord knows I appreciate that.
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376. I'll set 'em up, you knock 'em over.
I don't know
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377. many rubbish dumps, funnily enough.
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378. There's Wandsworth tip.
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379. I don't know the biggest one
but there's a very good one
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380. for the Richmond area where they
have separate stuff for plastics
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381. and cardboard and textiles. Yeah.
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382. That's the one in Wandsworth.
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383. I did clearly say Richmond.
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384. But you can do all that
in Wandsworth as well.
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385. You don't have to go to Richmond to
get that!
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386. But we're talking about Richmond.
What was the original question?
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387. That is a very big part of rubbish.
It's the biggest manmade structure
in the world,
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388. but we're in
the Northern Pacific gyre.
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389. It's an area where...
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390. Come with me into the swirling
vortex that is the Northern Pacific
gyre. That's not a photo, is it?
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391. No, that's not a photo.
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392. All the currents swirl and
everything tends towards making
this huge maelstrom. They grab
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393. all the driftwood and rubbish.
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394. In the old days, all the rubbish
would go there, but it would be
broken down by micro-organisms,
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395. but today,
since the invention of plastic,
plastic doesn't biodegrade.
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396. It photo-degrades but doesn't
biodegrade, so it lasts
for a very long time.
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397. All that in an area
the size of Texas. It's colossal.
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398. For every pound of plankton,
there's six pounds...
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399. Is it just on the surface
or where is it?
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400. It's on the surface, it gets eaten
by the poor animals, you know.
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401. You find jellyfish with
coloured plastic inside them.
Remarkable. At the Richmond tip,
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402. there's a section...
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403. there's a section
for fluorescent tubes.
We've got that
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404. in Wandsworth, and we've got...
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405. AND we've got one there
that's for fridges and...
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406. Fridges, tellies, computers,
everything you want.
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407. Keyboards, things you don't need
any more.
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408. I want to check it out.
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409. Not telling.
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410. We can decide all this later
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411. because the fact is the biggest
collection of rubbish in the world
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412. is floating in the North Pacific
gyre, otherwise known
as the Pacific trash vortex.
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413. Speaking of rubbish,
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414. it's time for the scores.
And first out of the tunnel,
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415. with a full eleven points,
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416. is Rob Brydon. Does that mean
I'm fourth?
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417. You've won!
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418. But, mirabile dictu,
in second place,
perhaps for the first time ever,
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419. with plus four points, Alan Davies!
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420. And in third place with minus two,
it's Jimmy Carr!
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421. Face! Which means...
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422. which means that trailing behind
in one of those funny little
up-and-down things
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423. that you take along
on a railway line,
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424. with minus 18 points, Bill Bailey!
What?
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425. So that's all from Jimmy, Rob,
Bill, Alan and me,
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426. but here's one last question
for you at home.
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427. How do you know that God
is a civil engineer?
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428. Because when he designed
the human body,
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429. he put the recreation area
right next to the sewage outflow.
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430. Good night.
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