The I.Q. Annual 'e' [Hardcover]

John Lloyd (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2007

Imagine an edition of "The Guinness Book of Records" selected by a panel of stand-up comedians..."The QI Annual 2008" is packed with original contributions from Stephen Fry, Alan Davies, Jo Brand, Bill Bailey and other regular guests on the show, with games to play at home, puzzles, cartoon strips, mini-encyclopaedias, how-to diagrams and masses of QI facts. If you want to read Julian Clary's poetry about the Queen, Roger Law's musings on flatulent kangaroos, or have often wondered how you might make a waterproof apron out of a whale's foreskin, your Christmas gift dilemma has just been solved. Warning: very silly indeed. Will offend dullards, whales and parents in no particular order.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

John Lloyd and John Mitchinson are the authors of the bestselling The Book of General Ignorance. John Lloyd was the co-author, with Douglas Adams, of the bestselling The Meaning of Liff, as well as producing Not the Nine O'Clock News, Blackadder and Spitting Image.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 96 pages
• Publisher: Faber & Faber (November 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0571237797
• ISBN-13: 978-0571237791
• Product Dimensions: 11.5 x 7.7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,581,774 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

John Lloyd is the founder of QI and the producer of some of Britain's best-loved TV shows. He is of the same opinion as Plato: unmitigated seriousness has no place in human affairs. On the other hand, he also likes A. N. Whitehead's assertion that it's more important for something to be interesting than true (although it's more likely to be interesting if it is true).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The first and fifth QI Annual, July 11, 2008

By 

Wodehouse Freak (LA CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The I.Q. Annual 'e' (Hardcover)

Wonder what I mean by first and fifth? Well, this is the first ever QI Annual, and it supplements Series 'E'. That's right, more QI wackiness they couldn't cram into 12 episodes! All pertaining to the letter E!

There's a foreword by Stephen Fry with a Message From the Editor John Lloyd, pictures galore from series E, and the typical fun randomness of annuals in general. There are segments presented by Alan Davies, Bill Bailey, Dara O'Briain, Rich Hall, Jo Brand, Phill Jupitus, etc. etc. There are puzzles for fun and the E-Quiz - a contest which has already concluded at the time of this review (which I did because no one else had). As you can imagine, the annual is every bit as cheeky as the TV series.

Ooh, how else can I describe this book? It's about 96 pages, crammed with fun facts, photos, and crude (in two senses) drawings. Even the inner cover is crammed with random facts as researched by the QI elves. Want to learn how to extract your own DNA? In what dish do people eat bird's dribble? What are 88 uses for sausages? Seriously, reading this book is a bit like reading the Uncle John books except without an index. It's a very, very long read for an annual, even with the illustrations and the two page 'Where's Johnny?' ('Where's Waldo?' but with Johnny Vegas, I think).

If you only know the Book of General Ignorance, shame on you. Not that I can blame you. There's an online petition trying to get the programme shown here. If it succeeds, this review will make a whole lot more sense, and more people will be greatly entertained.