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No Such Thing As A Fish

No Such Thing As A Pastronaut

28 May 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?

0.824 - 25.954 Anna Tyshinsky

Hi, everyone. Welcome to this week's episode of No Such Thing As A Fish. I have some very exciting news for you, especially if you're the kind of person who likes live podcasts, because that's right, we're going to do some live podcasts. They will be on the 21st, 22nd, 23rd and 25th of July at the Royal Institution in London.

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25.934 - 39.755 Anna Tyshinsky

We'll be performing at the Lecture Theatre, which is the home of the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures. It's an extremely venerable place. Not sure quite why they're letting us go there, but they are. And the shows will be a whole lot of fun, I am sure.

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Chapter 2: What exciting news is shared about live podcasts?

40.236 - 61.862 Anna Tyshinsky

Now, the reason I'm telling you today is because exclusive presale has begun for Clubfish members. So if you want to guarantee your tickets... you will have to go to patreon.com slash clubfish and join now. That will get you access to the pre-sale for the next seven days. And if there are any tickets left, they will go on sale on Friday the 5th of June. It's not a very big theatre.

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61.963 - 83.346 Anna Tyshinsky

It's a lot smaller than the venues we normally play. So... It's up to you if you want to push your luck or not. But one more good thing to say is that on the 21st of July show, there will be online live stream tickets available. So if you don't get tickets or if you live somewhere that is way too far from London for you to get tickets, then you will be able to get tickets back.

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83.326 - 103.427 Anna Tyshinsky

there so anyway all the information for this is available now for patreon members at patreon.com slash club fish and the information will be available for everyone else next friday so listen up there now before we get on with the podcast i do believe dan and anna wanted to tell you something very exciting that has been happening at qihq

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103.407 - 116.521 Andrew Hunter-Murray

That's right. So QI has created self-guided walking tours of London, not just any walking tours, walking tours full of amazing, weird QI facts and narrated by none other than an up and coming talent, Stephen Fry.

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116.782 - 133.38 James Harkin

That's right. Stephen will be taking on a tour around Westminster and that tour begins at Big Ben. There's the tour of the city and Bankside, which starts at St. Paul's Cathedral. And it is just rampacked with the kind of facts that QI is the best and only place really to go to for.

133.36 - 148.753 Andrew Hunter-Murray

That's right, so if you want to find out why Londoners used to take baths with geese or how John Cleese pranked Michael Palin at the Globe Theatre, then look up Voice Map on the App Store. It's a GPS-activated app that lets you explore at your own pace and accompanies you with these facts.

148.784 - 171.11 James Harkin

That's right. And also, it will take in your phone's location. So if you happen to be in a spot that's relevant to the tour, Stephen will just start talking to you from your phone. It's absolutely brilliant. Who doesn't want that? Injections of fry into your daily life. Get it now. As Anna says, it's on the App Store or go to voicemap.me slash QI. OK. On with the show.

176.496 - 181.913

MUSIC PLAYS I'm going to take a bath automatically. For the bath,

187.613 - 208.51 James Harkin

Hello and welcome to another episode of No Such Thing as a Fish, a weekly podcast coming to you from the QI offices in Hoburn. My name is Dan Schreiber. I am sitting here with Anna Tyshinsky, Andrew Hunter-Murray, and James Harkin. And once again, we have gathered around the microphones with our four favorite facts from the last seven days. And in no particular order, here we go.

Chapter 3: What unique walking tours are being introduced by QI?

392.67 - 410.892 James Harkin

Van Halen, that was it. Bernays, single-handedly probably is responsible for the reason the hairnet industry is back. But the reason it almost toppled was because of one person as well, which was Irene Castle, who was this big dancer. She did the Foxtrot. She was very famous for it. And 1915, she got her haircut into a bob.

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411.232 - 416.779 James Harkin

And by 1918, it was being reported that 20,000 women weekly were adopting this new hairstyle.

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416.759 - 423.467 Andrew Hunter-Murray

Yeah, and it was called the Castle Bob initially. And it was a very liberating thing for women. Society was afraid because women loved it.

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423.487 - 434.36 Anna Tyshinsky

Bernays said of that, hairnet makers are in a state of panic. Hairpin manufacturers are laying off workers and the hair comb industry is in disarray. Right.

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434.44 - 436.322 Andrew Hunter-Murray

The entire economy was about to plummet.

437.824 - 448.7 Dan Schreiber

I found the most valuable hairnet... Ever? Oh, yeah. Well, this is the most valuable one I've been able to find. Of course. Okay. Any guesses as to the value in pound sterling? You're going to have to tell us more about it.

449.221 - 451.164 James Harkin

Is it like Marilyn Monroe's hairnet?

451.244 - 458.556 Dan Schreiber

It's a celebrity's hairnet. It was sold at auction in 2003. I'm not going to say who wore it, though. I just want a bit of a blind punt.

458.576 - 464.265 James Harkin

2003. I want a blind punt on this of the value. Beyonce, and it went for 400,000. Okay.

Chapter 4: What connection exists between baking soda and ocean chemistry?

640.867 - 641.208 Andrew Hunter-Murray

Oh, well.

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641.528 - 645.998 Anna Tyshinsky

Oh, that's completely normal then. But there was a big mirror at the side of the factory.

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0

647.558 - 650.903 Andrew Hunter-Murray

There was a shortage of nurses in China as a result. I'm not surprised.

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651.665 - 661.641 James Harkin

I'm not surprised. And what was the controversy with this? Because that does sound above board. It's guys cutting off their hair. It was being made into hairnets. Was it that Germany was palming it off as if they were making it?

661.661 - 669.293 Andrew Hunter-Murray

Yeah, Germany was claiming they were making it, but they were actually exploiting cheap Chinese labor, which thank God we don't do anymore, in order to import.

669.354 - 672.018 James Harkin

Agreed. When I say what's the problem, that wasn't part of what I meant.

672.038 - 690.037 Dan Schreiber

No. it's just capitalism guys i'll give you a hairnet controversy just while we're still on those um in 2000 a british celebrity did not wear one wow and it led to led to controversy i'm gonna say enemy of the podcast who's that greg wallace Not Greg Wallace.

690.057 - 695.233 Anna Tyshinsky

I thought it might be an unhursute man who doesn't really need one, but they wanted them to wear it.

Chapter 5: How did hairnets become a kitchen hygiene standard?

699.065 - 704.193 Dan Schreiber

He's not with us anymore. Dan does an incredible impression of him. Oh, that could be anyone.

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704.233 - 704.894 Andrew Hunter-Murray

Oh, Prince Philip.

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705.215 - 721.759 Dan Schreiber

Prince Philip. Prince Philip was visiting a factory in an Australian place called Wagga, which we've talked about before because it's spelt Wagga Wagga, but it's pronounced Wagga once. Just that? Yeah.

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721.899 - 723.101 Andrew Hunter-Murray

And you only say one Wagga?

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723.381 - 723.561 Dan Schreiber

Yeah.

724.022 - 724.422 Andrew Hunter-Murray

That's wild.

724.442 - 725.724 Dan Schreiber

It's got a silent Wagga.

725.744 - 728.308 Andrew Hunter-Murray

It's got a silent Wagga.

728.288 - 747.127 Dan Schreiber

That's extraordinary. If you've ever been to Wagamama, that's where it's from. It's a misconception. Anyway, Prince Philip was in Wagga and he was visiting a cheese factory, but there were shots of him released to the public that showed him surrounded by people wearing hairnets and he was leaning over a big vat of cheese.

Chapter 6: How do identical twins perceive their own images?

810.323 - 829.703 Andrew Hunter-Murray

She was literally, she was the first member of her family born out of slavery, born into complete poverty, orphaned, married at 14, widowed at 20 with two kids, became a millionaire. She used to sell sulfur and she was a very good marketer because I don't know if it worked to actually do much good to her. It just stank like sulfur. But she made herself a millionaire from it.

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829.723 - 854.21 Anna Tyshinsky

Good for her. Hygiene in kitchens. Yeah. Probably we can say, Kerem did it a little bit, but Escoffier is the main one. We mentioned the Scoffier a little bit in the past. He's like a big, famous old chef who worked at the Savoy in the late 19th century, I think. But he basically got into the Savoy kitchen and other ones and just saw that they were really horrible places to work.

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854.23 - 873.295 Anna Tyshinsky

You know, lots of smoke. People weren't really doing any hygiene, any sanitation, anything like that. If you had any hydration at all, it came in the form of wine. You just drink a load of wine. So he kind of invented the idea of the tall hat that they wear, the neckerchief that you have to kind of keep all the sweat in.

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873.916 - 882.73 Anna Tyshinsky

And he also commissioned the French doctor to develop a special barley drink that he would give to all of his chefs so they could keep hydrated without drinking any wine.

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884.492 - 886.275 Andrew Hunter-Murray

Sounds like it was just beer.

886.255 - 887.699 Anna Tyshinsky

It could have been.

887.759 - 890.265 Dan Schreiber

Barley water. It could have been barley water, like you have at Wimbledon.

Chapter 7: What role did Edward Bernays play in the hairnet industry?

891.608 - 892.891 Dan Schreiber

I like a bit of barley water.

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892.911 - 903.156 Anna Tyshinsky

You do surprise me, Andy. We've been to the pub enough times. Okay, a glass of wine, a pint of Ruddles for Dan, and Andy? Oh, another barley water, okay.

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903.176 - 910.91 James Harkin

Yeah, a small. I love that. I hadn't clocked that the chef's outfit would largely be to keep you out of the food that you were making.

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910.95 - 918.142 Anna Tyshinsky

Yeah, kind of. And the white bit was from Karem who came before him and that was to show off if there's any stains and stuff. So if you can see.

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918.162 - 921.789 Andrew Hunter-Murray

And if there are stains, is it good or bad? Like it's good because it shows that you've been near the food?

921.869 - 929.121 Anna Tyshinsky

No, it's bad. And it shows that once there's so many stains that your shirt is no longer white, you probably need to swap it for a white one. Yeah.

929.101 - 930.684 Andrew Hunter-Murray

Yeah, fair enough.

Chapter 8: What are the implications of the NASA twin study?

930.704 - 934.31 Andrew Hunter-Murray

No, just checking because I'd be suspicious that you're not the real cook.

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934.33 - 939.057 Dan Schreiber

Oh, like never trust a skinny cook, that kind of thing. Same with your bed sheets, for instance.

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939.077 - 945.989 Anna Tyshinsky

You don't want white bed sheets because they're suspicious. No one's ever slept in them. Exactly. I need to know. You can tell a few stains off.

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946.229 - 950.675 Andrew Hunter-Murray

They need to be tried and tested. I want to be the 10th or the 11th user.

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950.735 - 954.66 Anna Tyshinsky

Whenever you visit a travel lodge, you're like, there'd have to be a few stains on this at least. Yeah.

955.08 - 958.144 Andrew Hunter-Murray

And you do the quick, the hand test to make sure it's a bit damp.

958.164 - 975.343 Dan Schreiber

Yeah. I've signed up to Food Safety Magazine off the back of this research. They haven't asked me for any money, but I am willing to pay. It's an American publication and they do a, well, as it sounds, it's Food Safety Magazine. Yeah. They've got their own podcast. Do they? Yeah. Any nuggets from them?

975.703 - 988.439 Dan Schreiber

I only got as far as the initial sponsorship advert, which is by... They're sponsored by IFC Chlorine Dioxide Treatments. Okay. Guys, we're available to advertise Chlorine Dioxide Treatments.

988.599 - 996.148 James Harkin

Is all your research time now taken up with memberships? Membership forums. Managing memberships mostly.

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