WW2 On QI! Interesting Facts You Didn't Know!

My grandad always said "Carrots are good for your eyesight. Or have you ever seen a rabbit wearing glasses?"

First segment: Stephen getting the story right, but the invasion wrong- The Man Who Never Was was misdirection between Sicily and Greece in the Mediterranean theatre.

There was a shortage of silk during WW2. I remember my Mum telling me about gravy browning and drawing seams on legs. When my Grandad was demobbed from the RAF, he brought back a pilots escape map - it was made of silk and quite colourful. So Mum could use it as a headscarf. Still have it to remember them both by...

I was very privileged to have as a very good friend a man named Peter Martin who was the son of Major (Captain) William Martin who worked with Ian Fleming during WWII, and was the given name of the deceased Welsh man. William agreed to his name being used to add significant weight to the subterfuge. William was actually sent to the US under another name while his name was being used in the subterfuge. To make things even more convincing, William's wife, mother of Peter who was a young boy, was informed of the death of William. Peter said: "When the war ended, my father returned and had a lot of explaining to do to his mother."

The gravestone of "Major William Martin RM" in Huelva was changed to read "Glyndwr Michael. Served as Major William Martin RM" after the British Government identified him in 1998.

The Man Who Never Was, was a diversion tactic for the Sicily landings, not D-Day

Point to note:- if you baste carrots in butter & roast them in foil, they’re very sweet & tasty. Boiling them does no justice. (Also, onions are sweet too)

Victoria's comment on Bill clicking his fingers!!! I wonder what "bad things" she was thinking of committing!

Pretty sure that the poor fellow dropped at the coast of Gibralta, was before the invasion of Sicily. So the Germans thought the landing would be in Greece.

"Cat's eyes Cunningham" was in fact a Beaufighter night fighter pilot, not a bomber pilot.

Fun fact: the flat where Alois and Bridgette Hitler lived was destroyed in the last German air raid on Liverpool of the war, and the buildings were never rebuilt - it's an open field. If you want to look it up, it's the junction of Upper Stanhope Street and Carter Street, Liverpool. For some reason there's a high density of religious buildings in the immediate area, including a huge synagogue

Don't mention the War.

Sadly, Fry got his facts wrong on carrots. Cunningham flew his nightfighter over Britain, not Germany, and the propaganda was nothing to do with bombers, just nightfighters (the propaganda preceded the use of radar in bombers).

Quite interesting fact: Operation Mincemeat so named because it was part of a big pork pie.

"Dead person ringing" has already happened. Numbers used to be recycled after 6 months; after an incident with a young person, two decades ago, it was extended to 2 years.

There is a German verb "eichen" meaning to gauge, to adjust or to calibrate. So the name Eichmann could also be a profession surname like smith or taylor. But I'm no expert in etymology...🤔

What's the difference between a rock musician and a jazz musician? A rock musician plays three chords to a thousand people and a jazz musician plays a thousand chords to three people. 😝

Middle Wallop, did my basic tech training on helicopters there, also my upgraders. Home of 70 Ac Wksp and D & T Sqn. Also home of the AAC. nearby are Nether Wallop and Over Wallop. It was also, I believe, the largest grass airfield in WWII.

Reading about bigot etc. It says that you could'nt tell the French, including DeGaulle anything, and have it kept secret

Oh dear, Alan: the high trouser was to make sure that your shirt didn't show beneath your waistcoat in a 3-piece suit. It also kept your tummy and back warm in chilly England.