That's probability drives for you.

Best. Comment. Ever.

It's alright I'm turning Into a penguin

Aaaaaahhhh!

Stephen had shaken hands with someone (can't remember who he said it was), and that someone had shaken hands with Bertrand Russell, whose aunt had danced with Napoleon.

I met a fellow who died just a few years ago (2012), who's father fought in the First Battle of Bull Run ( US Civil War in 1861)

His facial features kinda remind me of Stephen Fry.

About ten years ago my dad met John Tyler's (10th U.S. President) grandson. Tyler had children well into his 70s as did one of his sons.

Phireo Appropriate then that Stephen played Wellington when he appeared in Blackadder.

“NONSENSE!! I barely touched the man!!”

Funnily enough, BBC themselves might not have the rights to do that.

+Baiko True dat. Hope whoever owns the rights gets with the times, tho :)

I remember John Lloyd saying one of the issues was acquiring the distribution rights of the images on the screens for each country they want to broadcast it in...

@@stephenmitchell8665 other countries have agreements to allow them to show qi in their territories... paying them willy nilly on KZfaq would disrupt that

@@stephenmitchell8665 Actually, their podcast are funded in part by ads outside the UK. bbc.co.uk has no ads but if you check the website outside the UK you will sent to bbc.com that has ads too. So all they would need would be to make the episodes unavaillable in the UK on KZfaq (just have them on BBC iPlayer).

That is why you should never do lines of it.

@@titanuranus3095 STOP IT

Even better, Jeremy wasn't far off! They would often give laudanum(opium) to babies to calm them down.

Sarah Kinsey I came for QI but stayed for your profile pic of The Division Bell :D

that's a myth. there's very few photos that are actually real because actually propping up a dead person was ridiculously difficult

Lauren G it's not a myth. There are loads of them, they would be propped against other people or furniture. It wasn't that hard

@@laureng9364 Try looking some of these up on the internet. Some are indeed alive, but a significant number are clearly deceased. The concept was called "Momento Mori" which is Latin for "memory of the dead" The "level of difficulty" had nothing to do with it, as someone who is dead couldn't feel anything.

Lucy P staples!

It's more likely that the nanny was the one under the blanket.

itsudesuka it ruins the photo

@** yes the point was to have the children photographed on their own. Much like we so now with babies?

@@vorbo01 Now young mother's quickly snap a photo on their phones to show on Facebook, and go on with their Facebook. Not sure which baby was luckier.

Childhood death rates were very high at the time, so parents liked to have an image of just the child as a keep sake in case of death. To immortalise the child as it were. Children were often depicted as cherubs and angels for this reason, so many early photographs are actually of nude children dressed with wings and such.

I'm pretty sure QI has debunked the propped up dead people in Victorian photos idea in another episode.

Dad called them chesterfields. thx.. now I have something to hunt while I watch the game. "why chesterfield" Ive heard davenport too quite a bit years ago. is it a two seat?

@@00BillyTorontoBill I believe that “Chesterfield” is a style of sofa, so I wonder if it became a more common word for a sofa, rather as “Hoover” became a common word for a vacuum cleaner despite it being a brand.

@@sarahjones8396 Never did actually look it up. but did now. "Why is a sofa called a Chesterfield? it is said that the style was originally commissioned by Lord Philip Stanhope, the fourth Earl of Chesterfield (1694-1773), from whom the sofa got its name. ...

@@00BillyTorontoBill Ooh, thank you for the update! I do like to know where these things originate. Now I must look up Davenport, because I thought that was a style of desk, rather than something to sit on! We live and learn...

@@00BillyTorontoBill Call me someone with too much time on my hands (I really haven’t, I’ve loads to do!), but I’ve found out: The name Davenport comes from a 19th century Massachusetts furniture maker, A.H. Davenport and Company. This is the origin of the Davenport sofa, but there is also a style of desk, also named a Davenport.

He was the first. And don't call me Shirley.

It's a title, like being the Governor of Idaho.

He was the first and most famous, so when someone says 'the Duke of Wellington' it is presumed that they are referring to Arthur Wellesley, unless they specifically say they are talking about another Duke of Wellington.

Joe Kennally The

Arthur Wellesley was the Famous one to hold the title. The others are not remembered.

Lolicon Loyalty because it would ruin the idea of having a picture if your child on their own

Why not?

@@jameshughes9234 It could be seen as criticising Islam. That's strictly forbidden at the BBC.

@@ClarinoI criticising elements of the Qur'an or Islam itself would be fine. Discriminatory language against Muslims would not be fine. I bet I know which of those YOU'D like to see on the BBC

@@davidb5173 You would lose your bet.

@@ClarinoI It *was* actually broadcast on BBC, which goes to show that what you think of BBC is just in your imagination.

Chick Norton You’re thinking of Mark Lawrenson.

True. It is like saying to the Protestants of Northern Ireland that "you are Irish!". You would certainly get severe telling off if you did! Welllington was certainly more English, or British say, than Napoleon was French. He was from, until recently at that point, an independent Italian speaking and cultured island, nothing to do with France.

@@leod-sigefast umm u can call northern Irish unionists Irish and wellington was Irish his family were in Ireland 300 years at the time of his birth