Questions, Questions - 23/12/2010

Stewart Henderson returns to Radio 4 with a sparkling new series of Questions Questions - the programme which offers answers to those intriguing questions of every day life, inspired by current events and popular culture. Now in its eighteenth series, QQ has become something of an institution on Radio 4 providing informed and ingenious answers to questions such as, How do you know when a volcano is extinct? When was the conventional heart icon first drawn? How do woodpeckers keep their beaks sharp? What is a Siamese Blood Chit? Each programme is compiled directly from the well-informed and inquisitive Radio 4 audience, who bring their unrivalled collective brain to bear on these puzzlers every week. In this richly informative programme all manner of questions are looked into. Some recent enquiries that sparked particularly large responses included: What happened to all the wrought iron fencing that was collected during the Second World War? Is it possible to create one sound, which completely cancels out another sound? How was the direction of writing originally established? Producer: Kevin Dawson A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4.