top of page
QI
QI
​
The Team
The QI Elves are the team of writers, researchers and comedians behind QI's shows, books and podcasts. They spend their days uncovering the brilliant and the fascinating.
Researcher
Alexey was born in the city of Chelyabinsk (of the 2013 meteorite fame) and joined QI in 2018 after submitting 123 good facts and 5 bad puns (to show the whole range of relevant skills). Since then, he has been finding facts for @qikipedia and helping with research for the TV show. Apart from being a QI researcher, he is also a fact-checker, quiz-question writer, and the author of a blog about his work.
Senior Researcher and Audio Editor
Jack researches and writes for QI and @qikipedia, as well as editing audio for our podcasts and contributing to our books. Jack also researches and presents the Lunchbox Envy podcast. He maintains BlueWhale, our company database, and helps manage content on our websites for QI and No Such Thing As A Fish. On top of that, he is also the boring Elf behind Underwhelming Facts.
​
Researcher
​
Mandy has been a stage manager, a bookseller, a fiction reviewer for a national Sunday newspaper and a lecturer in biochemistry, all before becoming a QI Elf. She works as a researcher on our programmes and social media and contributes to QI’s books. Most recently, Mandy was a verifier for our BBC daytime quiz show, The Tournament.
Head of QI Research, No Such Thing As A Fish co-host
​
James is one fourth of No Such Thing As A Fish. He joined QI for the ‘C’ series, and has been a script editor for the last 6 years. He has contributed to all the QI books, co-authored The Book(s) of the Year series, and co-hosted BBC2's No Such Thing As The News. His latest book, co-written with Anna Ptaszynski, is A Load of Old Balls, published in paperback in June 2024.
Researcher and Producer
​
Leying researches and writes for QI, produced The Museum of Curiosity and is an audio and video editor for No Such Thing As A Fish. She is QI’s Crocheter-in-Residence, and enjoys rifling through scientific papers, interviewing actual experts and disturbing the depths of the internet, all in the name of research.
Senior Researcher and Writer; former The Museum of Curiosity Producer
Anne joined QI in 2011. She researches and writes for QI, and has produced our sister show, BBC Radio 4’s The Museum of Curiosity and worked on our fact book series. She was Editor-in-Chief for the book 222 QI Answers to Your Ingenious Questions. Anne is also the author of the children’s mystery series Mickey and the Animal Spies.
No Such Thing As A Fish co-host
Andrew co-hosts No Such Thing As A Fish and has written and researched for multiple QI series and books. He co-authored The Book(s) of the Year 2017, 2018 and 2019 and his debut novel, The Last Day, published in 2020, was a Sunday Times bestseller and one of the top 10 fiction debuts of that year. His second novel, The Sanctuary, was published in 2022, and is now available in paperback.
Head of Digital; Development Creative
​
A former Countdown champion and Eurovision correspondent, James leads our social media team and oversees content across all our social channels, as well as working on new unscripted TV formats for QITV. He recently co-created the BBC1 quiz show The Tournament, presented by Alex Scott and produced by QITV.
No Such Thing As A Fish co-host
Dan has done lots of co-ing. He co-created and co-produced seven series of BBC Radio 4’s The Museum of Curiosity. He also co-created and co-hosts No Such Thing As A Fish, and he co-authored its Book(s) of the Year series and spin-off BBC2 show No Such Thing As The News. His debut book, 2022's The Theory of Everything Else, is now available in paperback. His interview podcast We Can Be Weirdos launched in 2023.
Researcher and Website Wrangler
​
Miranda is a researcher and script writer for QI. She also contributes to QI's books, social media output and website content management. One of her favourite things about being a QI Elf is answering listeners' questions on BBC Radio 2's Why Workshop as part of The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show. She can often be found delving into historical records while wearing aggressively coloured knitwear.
Researcher
​Tara is a researcher and writer for QI. As well as contributing to the books, she is a key part of the editorial team across all our written and audio content, and is responsible for the social media output from No Such Thing As A Fish. She's usually found haunting the bookshelves of the QI offices.
Office Manager
​
Argentinian by birth, Italian by passport, and British by adoption, Maria keeps QI running smoothly, juggling HR and Finance with a steady hand (and a dash of wit). With experience across tech startups and multinationals, she’s tackled operational puzzles from Europe, to Asia and Latin America - keeping chaos at bay and the yerba mate close by.
Senior Researcher and Audio Editor
Manu is a researcher, writer and script editor in training for QI. She contributes to QI’s books and YouTube content, as well as audio editing for No Such Thing As A Fish. Manu and Jack present Lunchbox Envy and she keeps the QI office plants alive, too.
QI Founder; The Museum of Curiosity host
John created QI in 2000 and hosts BBC Radio 4’s The Museum of Curiosity. He is the founding producer of Blackadder, Not The Nine O'Clock News, Spitting Image, The News Quiz, Quote...Unquote, and To The Manor Born. He had a key role in the inception of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Mr Bean. Due to a strange anomaly, he's won more BAFTAs than anyone except Dame Judi Dench (10 each).
Researcher
​
Lydia started by providing facts for @qikipedia and now researches and writes for QI and The Museum of Curiosity. She has also worked as a question writer on The Tournament. She is an Only Connect champion and a distant descendant of Dick Turpin.
_JPG.jpg)
QI Script Editor, No Such Thing As A Fish co-host
​
Anna is a researcher, writer and script editor for QI and co-hosts No Such Thing As A Fish. She was the curator on the latest The Museum of Curiosity series on BBC Radio 4. She has contributed to multiple QI books and The Book(s) of the Year 2017, 2018 and 2019. She is the co-author of A Load of Old Balls with James Harkin.
​
​
Assistant Producer (QI), Creative and Researcher
Ethan has been an Assistant Producer on our flagship show QI since Series T, working as a creative and behind the camera in the QITV studio team. He also edits our podcasts, and creates content across social media and development.
bottom of page