The QI ElvesVerified account

Traditional parsnip varieties include Arrow, Archer, Dagger, Javelin, Lancer, Gladiator, Tender & True and The Student.

American apple varieties include Pixie Crunch, Pink Sparkle, American Mother, Westfield Seek-no-further, Sops in Wine and Nonnetit Bastard.

Old English apples include Greasy Butcher, Hog’s Snout, Slack-ma-girdle, Broxwood Foxwhelp, Cummy Norman and Fran's Flushed Red Mystery.

If you cut an apple in half horizontally rather than vertically, the core makes the shape of a perfect five pointed star.

The Hispaniolan solenodon is the only mammal in the world to have a nose bone - or an os proboscidis. It uses it to wiggle its snout.

The Greek philosopher Damosthenes used to try and improve his stammer by putting pebbles in his mouth and shouting at the sea.

According to her neighbour, Harper Lee wrote a third book which she drunkenly set fire to.

For the birth of their twins, Beyonce and Jay Z built a $1m maternity ward, including a neonatal wing, at their hollywood mansion.

Tourists tossed around 1.4 million Euros into the Trevi fountain last year.

Although harmless, the pain of a tarantula hawk wasp sting is so extreme that scientists advise the best thing to do is lie down and scream.

A 2014 study showed that people who booked their holiday while at work, paid more for it & enjoyed it less than those who did it from home.

A sea squirt larva floats through the sea to find a rock to cling to. When it finds one, it no longer needs its brain, so it digests it.

Dentistry is a very old profession. Nine adults from a 7500–9000 year old graveyard in Pakistan were found with drilled molars.

There is more stupidity than hydrogen in the Universe, and it has a longer shelf life. – FRANK ZAPPA

Word of the day: BOBBLEHEADING - mass nodding by staff in a meeting when the boss says something that no one understands.

There are three classes of people. Those who see; those who see when they are shown; those who do not see. – LEONARDO DA VINCI