The Museum Of Curiosity: Series 13-16

Four more series of the popular panel show, in which celebrity guests donate an exhibit of their choice to an infinite imaginary museum 
 
Join eminent Professor of Ignorance John Lloyd and distinguished Curators Lee Mack, Bridget Christie, Alice Levine and Holly Walsh, as they source more strange and wondrous objects to fill Galleries 13 to 16 of the ever-expanding comedy edifice. 
 
Adding to the display cases and plumping up the plinths are a host of illustrious guests, among them Lucy Beaumont, Shaun Keaveny, Graeme Le Saux, Nina Conti, Celia Imrie, Philippa Perry, Danny Wallace, Helen Fielding, Eddie Izzard, Dr Eugenia Cheng and Ade Adepitan. All come bearing donations, including the cheapest item on a wedding list, a 1980s Sony Walkman, Test Match Cricket, a cabbage, a land grant to a place that doesn't exist, a half-burned candle, Agatha Christie's favourite mug, the equals sign, the Starship Enterprise and a wildflower meadow. 
 
Also included is a special bonus episode, Annual Stocktake, in which John Lloyd invites former curators Sally Phillips, Lee Mack, Jo Brand and Jimmy Carr to review the Museum's exhibits, and attempts to squeeze a new donation out of each of them. In the process, he finds out what smell is worth $100,000 Australian dollars more than that of some dirty socks, which chart places Cameron Diaz one place higher than Jimmy Carr, why there is nothing particularly special about Ordnance Survey square SE830220, and what's so good about things that are not so good. 
 
 
Production credits 
Presented by John Lloyd 
Curators: Lee Mack, Bridget Christie, Alice Levine and Holly Walsh 
Annual Stocktake curated by Sally Phillips, Lee Mack, Jo Brand and Jimmy Carr 
Produced by Richard Turner, Anne Miller and Victoria Lloyd 
Exhibits catalogued by Mike Shephard, Mike Turner, Emily Jupitus and Lydia Mizon of QI 
Exec Producer:Victoria Lloyd 
Production Coordinator: Mabel Wright 
Edited by Andrew Smilie and David Thomas 
 
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
(p) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

John Llloyd is a well known comedy writer and producer, with credits including The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Not the Nine O'Clock News, Blackadder, Spitting Image and QI. He has also co-authored twenty books.

Four more series of the popular panel show, in which celebrity guests donate an exhibit of their choice to an infinite imaginary museum 
 
Join eminent Professor of Ignorance John Lloyd and distinguished Curators Lee Mack, Bridget Christie, Alice Levine and Holly Walsh,as they source more strange and wondrous objects to fill Galleries 13 to 16 of the ever-expanding comedy edifice. 
 
Adding to the display cases and plumping up the plinths are a host of illustrious guests, among them Lucy Beaumont, Shaun Keaveny, Graeme Le Saux, Nina Conti, Celia Imrie, Philippa Perry, Danny Wallace, Helen Fielding, Eddie Izzard, Dr Eugenia Cheng and Ade Adepitan. All come bearing donations, including the cheapest item on a wedding list, a 1980s Sony Walkman, Test Match Cricket, a cabbage, a land grant to a place that doesn't exist, a half-burned candle, Agatha Christie's favourite mug, the equals sign, the Starship Enterprise and a wildflower meadow. 
 
Also included is a special bonus episode, Annual Stocktake, in which John Lloyd invites former curators Sally Phillips, Lee Mack, Jo Brand and Jimmy Carr to review the Museum's exhibits, and attempts to squeeze a new donation out of each of them. In the process, he finds out what smell is worth $100,000 Australian dollars more than that of some dirty socks, which chart places Cameron Diaz one place higher than Jimmy Carr, why there is nothing particularly special about Ordnance Survey square SE830220, and what's so good about things that are not so good. 
 
 
Production credits 
Presented by John Lloyd 
Curators: Lee Mack, Bridget Christie, Alice Levine and Holly Walsh 
Annual Stocktake curated by Sally Phillips, Lee Mack, Jo Brand and Jimmy Carr 
Produced by Richard Turner, Anne Miller and Victoria Lloyd 
Exhibits catalogued by Mike Shephard, Mike Turner, Emily Jupitus and Lydia Mizon of QI 
Exec Producer:Victoria Lloyd 
Production Coordinator: Mabel Wright 
Edited by Andrew Smilie and David Thomas 
 
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
(p) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

The Collected Comedy Albums

Not the Nine O’Clock News

BBC Audio presents all three original albums from the ground-breaking comedy series that launched the careers of Rowan Atkinson, Mel Smith, Pamela Stephenson and Griff Rhys-Jones. 
 
Not the Nine O'Clock News is one of the great classics of British television comedy. The show ran from 1979 to 1982 on BBC2, and was irreverent, outrageous, innovative, and rude. Originally shown as a comedy alternative to the Nine O'Clock News on BBC1, it featured satirical sketches, parody songs and spoofs of TV formats, and quickly became a trailblazing smash hit, running for four series. 
 
This collectible compilation includes the three albums that were released during the show's run on TV: Not the Nine O'Clock News, Hedgehog Sandwich and The Memory Kinda Lingers. 
 
Among the many much-loved sketches included in this collection are 'The Gorilla Interview', 'Points of View', 'The General Synod's "Life of Python"', 'Constable Savage', 'University Challenge', 'Hi-Fi Shop', 'Not the Parrot Sketch', 'Open Marriage', 'Question Time', 'Game For a Laugh', 'Two Ninnies Song', 'McEnroe's Breakfast', 'What a Load of Willies!' and 'The Pope's Visit', plus the live Drury Lane Theatre show Not in Front of the Audience. 
 
Produced and devised by John Lloyd and Sean Hardie, Not the Nine O'clock News won a Silver Rose at the Montreux festival and a BAFTA for Best light Entertainment programme. Its writing team included such future greats of TV comedy as Richard Curtis, David Renwick, Andrew Marshall, Guy Jenkin, Laurie Rowley, John Lloyd and Andy Hamilton. 
 
Warning: contains strong language and adult humour which reflects the era in which it was first broadcast. 
 
©2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

BBC Audio presents all three original albums from the ground-breaking comedy series that launched the careers of Rowan Atkinson, Mel Smith, Pamela Stephenson and Griff Rhys-Jones. 
 
Not the Nine O'Clock News is one of the great classics of British television comedy. The show ran from 1979 to 1982 on BBC2, and was irreverent, outrageous, innovative, and rude. Originally shown as a comedy alternative to the Nine O'Clock News on BBC1, it featured satirical sketches, parody songs and spoofs of TV formats, and quickly became a trailblazing smash hit, running for four series. 
 
This collectible compilation includes the three albums that were released during the show's run on TV: Not the Nine O'Clock News, Hedgehog Sandwich and The Memory Kinda Lingers. 
 
Among the many much-loved sketches included in this collection are 'The Gorilla Interview', 'Points of View', 'The General Synod's "Life of Python"', 'Constable Savage', 'University Challenge', 'Hi-Fi Shop', 'Not the Parrot Sketch', 'Open Marriage', 'Question Time', 'Game For a Laugh', 'Two Ninnies Song', 'McEnroe's Breakfast', 'What a Load of Willies!' and 'The Pope's Visit', plus the live Drury Lane Theatre show Not in Front of the Audience. 
 
 Produced and devised by John Lloyd and Sean Hardie, Not the Nine O'clock News won a Silver Rose at the Montreux festival and a BAFTA for Best light Entertainment programme. Its writing team included such future greats of TV comedy as Richard Curtis, David Renwick, Andrew Marshall, Guy Jenkin, Laurie Rowley, John Lloyd and Andy Hamilton. 
 
Warning: contains strong language and adult humour which reflects the era in which it was first broadcast. 
 
©2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

The BBC Radio 4 comedy series

The Museum of Curiosity: Series 9-12

Join Professor John Lloyd and Curators Noel Fielding, Jo Brand and Romesh Ranganathan in a search for the universe's most mind-boggling oddnesses.

John Lloyd (Author) John Llloyd is a well known comedy writer and producer, with credits including The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Not the Nine O'Clock News, Blackadder, Spitting Image and QI. He has also co-authored twenty books. John Lloyd (Reader) John Lloyd, CBE is a British television producer and writer best known for his work on such comedy television programmes as Not the Nine O'Clock News, Spitting Image, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Blackadder and QI.He is currently the presenter of BBC Radio 4's The Museum of Curiosity, a spin-off of QI. Romesh Ranganathan (Reader) Romesh Ranganathan is a comedian, actor and writer. A former maths teacher, he is now known for his award-winning series The Misadventures of Romesh Ranganathan, his weekly topical show The Ranganation, his sitcom The Reluctant Landlord and the BAFTA nominated Asian Provocateur, which features Romesh's mum. 
 
 Amongst all of this, he still manages to squeeze in time to record his award-winning podcast 'Hip Hop Saved My Life', to write his regular Midlife Crisis column for the Guardian, and to pen his bestselling autobiography, Straight Outta Crawley. DJ Muffin drops the Mic is his first children's book and gave him an excuse to write about two of his favourite things - hip hop and cake. Jo Brand (Reader) Long established as one of the UK’s best comics, Jo Brand is the star and writer of Getting On, the BBC’s BAFTA award-winning series set on a hospital’s geriatric ward, which was partly inspired by her earlier career in nursing. Other television credits include, hosting nine series of Great British Bake Off: Extra Slice (BBC), Taskmaster (Dave), Have I Got News for You (BBC One), Would I Lie to You (BBC One), Jo Brand’s Hot Potatoes (BBC One) and the award-winning Through the Cakehole (Channel 4). 
Jo has written several highly acclaimed best-selling books Can’t Stand Up For Sitting Down, Look Back In Hunger, Born Lippy and The More You Ignore Me which was made into a feature film and released in 2018. She also co-wrote and starred in the sitcom Damned on Channel 4.

Join Professor John Lloyd and Curators Noel Fielding, Jo Brand, Romesh Ranganathan and Sally Phillips as they plunge down the badger hole of ignorance in a search for the universe's most mind-boggling oddnesses. 
 
The Museum of Curiosity is BBC Radio 4's monumental comedy edifice, and the only one with gargoyles in the foyer. It allows nothing inside that doesn’t make you scratch your head, stroke your chin or, at the very least, go ‘Hmm’. Fortunately, helping to fill its almost vacant plinths is a gathering of the world’s most original minds. 
 
The guests bearing donations to the museum in this collection include Howard Goodall, Corey Taylor, Vic Reeves, Ross Noble, George Monbiot, Lucy Porter, Deborah Frances-White, Stephen K Amos, Konnie Huq, Rory Bremner and Phil Jupitus.

24 episodes of the popular BBC Radio 4 comedy panel game

The Museum of Curiosity: Series 1-4

Join Professor John Lloyd and Curators Bill Bailey, Sean Lock, Jon Richardson &amp; Dave Gorman as they plunge down the badger hole of ignorance in a search for the universe's most mind-boggling oddnesses

The Museum of Curiosity is BBC Radio 4's monumental comedy edifice, and the only one with gargoyles in the foyer. It allows nothing inside that doesn’t make you scratch your head, stroke your chin or, at the very least, go 'Hmm'. Fortunately, helping to fill its vacant plinths is a gathering of the world's most original minds. 
 
Among the guests bearing donations to the museum in these 25 episodes are Neil Gaiman, Sarah Millican, Clive James, Kate Adie, Sir Terry Pratchett, Ronni Ancona, Jon Ronson, Bettany Hughes, Ben Elton, Francesca Stavrakopoulou, Alain de Botton, Charlotte Uhlenbroek, Alistair Fothergill, Ruth Padel, Jonathan Miller, Lucie Green, Marcus du Sautoy, Sara Wheeler, Brian Eno, Shappi Khorsandi, John Hodgman, Chris Addison, Roger Law, Tim Minchin, Philip Pullman, Richard Wiseman, Victoria Finlay, Simon Singh, Jimmy Carr, Graham Linehan, Sarah Bakewell, Robin Ince, David Eagleman, Natalie Haynes, Brian Blessed, Alan Davies, Gareth Edwards, Martha Reeves, Harry Enfield, Helen Scales, Admiral Alan West &amp; many more. 
 
In addition to all the episodes from the first four series, a previously unbroadcast pilot episode, The Professor of Curiosity, is also included. Running time: 12 hours approx.

Hordes Of The Things

Paul Eddington, Simon Callow, Patrick Magee, Frank Middlemass, Christian Rodska and Maggie Steed all star in the complete comedy fantasy series - as heard on BBC Radio 4.

... plenty of comedy and action but enough reverence for its source material to ensure ardent fans are left smiling not fuming

For fans of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and ElvenQuest, this is the epic fantasy series first heard on BBC Radio 4 in 1980 that wonderfully parodies J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. The kingdom of Albion is under threat from The Evil One, and the wizard Radox The Green has found a hero to save the land: Agar, Son of Athar (who has a minotaur called Stephen). Written by Andrew Marshall (writer of 2point4 Children) and John Lloyd (creator of QI), here are all four episodes of the classic radio series - now available for the first time. Starring Patrick Magee as the Chronicler, Paul Eddington as King Yulfric, Simon Callow as Prince Veganin, Christian Rodska as Agar, Frank Middlemass as Radox the Green, Maggie Steed as Queen Elfreda and Jonathan Lynn (co-creator of Yes, Minister) as the dwarf Golin Longshanks.

The News Quiz: Hold The Front Page

Four of the best episodes of the comedy news show, including an appearance by the late Linda Smith, as well as Simon Hoggart's final edition as Chairman.

The News Quiz, one of Britain's funniest and quirkiest panel games, has been providing headlines and punchlines since it first aired in 1977. In these four episodes, among the panellists offering wit and wisdom on both national and parochial events are Alan Coren, Andy Hamilton, Jeremy Hardy, Fred MacAulay and Francis Wheen. Together with guest stars including Phill Jupitus, Linda Smith, Sandi Toksvig and Fi Glover, they wade through the biggest news stories (and some of the smallest) and face questions on topics as diverse as David Cameron, giant Japanese jellyfish, loans for peerages, Blue Peter badges and rollerblading policemen. Chairman Simon Hoggart presides over the proceedings, whilst newsreaders Harriet Cass and Peter Donaldson read a selection of the funniest cuttings. Now you can enjoy the highlights of 2005 and 2006 from the finest topical comedy game show known to radio, distilled by the very best and wittiest panellists.

The News Quiz: The Best Of 2005

A fourth volume of annual highlights from The News Quiz, presented by chairman Simon Hoggart.

John Lloyd (Author) John Llloyd is a well known comedy writer and producer, with credits including The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Not the Nine O'Clock News, Blackadder, Spitting Image and QI. He has also co-authored twenty books. Simon Hoggart (Reader) Simon Hoggart is widely regarded as the sharpest, wisest and wittiest of all parliamentary sketchwriters - and certainly the longest serving.

Since 1977, BBC Radio 4's funniest and quirkiest game show has been answering questions and offering wit and wisdom on global happenings, national news and quite frankly pathetic parochial events.    In this annual highlights edition, a selection of 2005's most entertaining news stories and current events are given a satirical twist by top comedians and journalists.   Panellists include Alan Coren, Andy Hamilton, Jeremy Hardy, Armando Iannucci, Linda Smith and Francis Wheen.   'The cleverest, wittiest, best programme in any medium in the story of the world ever' - Chris Campling, The Times.

John Lloyd

Anna Ptaszynski

Miriam Margolyes

Chris McCausland

Carlo Rovelli

Alfie Moore

Sarah Storey

Various

The BBC Radio Comedy Panel Show

The seventeenth series of the much-loved panel show, in which a cast of curious minds and comic voices donate extraordinary exhibits to an ever-expanding imaginary museum. 
 
Join Professor of Ignorance John Lloyd and curator Anna Ptaszynski as they open the doors once again to a collection of the strange, the surprising and the delightfully unclassifiable. Across six episodes, a distinguished line-up of guests – including Miriam Margolyes, Chris McCausland, Rosie Holt, Carlo Rovelli, Dame Sarah Storey and Alfie Moore – present their chosen additions, sparking conversations that roam from science and history to culture, philosophy and the outright absurd. 
 
Among the proposed exhibits: a fruit fly that could save your life; a wonder of the ancient world alongside a relic of 1990s nostalgia; the never was, the may be, …and a jar of marmalade. Each donation opens a rich seam of insight and humour, as the panel explore life’s oddities with wit, intelligence and a sense of the unexpected. 
 
As ever, the Museum’s galleries are filled not with objects you can see, but ideas you won’t forget – brought to life by some of the most engaging voices in comedy, science and the arts. 
 
Production credits 
Presented by John Lloyd 
Curated by Anna Ptaszynski 
Exhibits catalogued by Mike Turner, Mandy Fenton and Lydia Mizon of QI 
Executive Producer: James Robinson 
Produced by Sam Holmes and Leying Lee 
Production Co-ordinator: Sarah Nicholls 
Sound: David Thomas 
A BBC Studios production 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 20 February - 27 March 2023 
 
©2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

John Lloyd

Books by John Lloyd

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter