QI The Book of the Dead

Anthony Pye-Jeary and Bob King at DeWynters and Eleanor Crow at Faber.

    Our special thanks are due to Sarah Lloyd and Rachael Kerr. This book is dedicated to our children, Harry, Claudia, Caitlin, Stella, George, Hamish and Rory, for reminding us daily that life really is the thing.

About the Authors
     
     
    John Lloyd has a broadcasting background. As a radio producer he devised The News Quiz and To the Manor Born before moving to television to start Not the Nine O’Clock News, Spitting Image and Blackadder . Like the philosopher William James, he thinks there are only three important things in life: ‘The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be kind.’
     
     
    John Mitchinson is from the world of books. The original Marketing Director of Waterstone’s, he became Managing Director of Cassell, where he published The Beatles, Michael Palin and Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable . He’s with Einstein: ‘There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.’

Also by John Lloyd and John Mitchinson
     
     
    THE BOOK OF GENERAL IGNORANCE
     
     
    THE BOOK OF ANIMAL IGNORANCE
     
     
    ADVANCED BANTER: THE QI BOOK OF QUOTATIONS
     
     
    THE QI ‘E’ ANNUAL
     
     
    THE QI ‘F’ ANNUAL
     
     
    THE QI ‘G’ ANNUAL
     
     
    Also by John Lloyd (with Douglas Adams)
     
     
    THE MEANING OF LIFF
     
     
    THE DEEPER MEANING OF LIFF

Copyright
     
     
    First published in 2009
by Faber and Faber Ltd
Bloomsbury House
74–77 Great Russell Street
London WC1B 3DA
This ebook edition first published in 2009
     
    All rights reserved
© QI Ltd, 2009
     
    The right of QI Ltd to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
     
    This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly
     
    ISBN 978–0–571–25555–9