QI | Why Do We Use QWERTY Keyboards?

7 January: On this day in 1714, the first typewriter patent was granted to Henry Mill.

This clip is from QI Series K, Episode 8, 'Keys' with Stephen Fry, Alan Davies, Bill Bailey, Tim Minchin and Isy Suttie.

[owenb]

`The fact that Stephen Fry could waste time typing out an entire book on a typewriter and still be able to become Stephen Fry gives me hope

[Pfisiar]

"Frozen Assets by P.G. Wodehouse" --- the most stephen fry answer to that question that could have been given. :D

[Koplod]

This video:
10% - learning why keyboards are arranged as QWERTY
90% - Bill Bailey roasting Stephen

[prplmnkydshwshr]

One of my favourite clips. The good-humoured banter between Bill and Stephen is simply wonderful!

[kisbie]

You know you must be weird when Bill Bailey thinks you are.

[TheTaterTotP]

Kids these days spending all their time on their typewriters, transcribing novels.

[wokeupinapanic]

Stephen Fry is a treasure to all of humanity, and I earnestly mean that

[angelacus]

He transcribed a novel for fun and now he reads them aloud for money, well spent youth for a good career I'd say

[tonyoldlock]

I just love how Bill ends with "you're a freak!" XD

[JaneAxon]

That's how I taught myself to type, learned which fingers go to which keys and typed out a book I was reading at the time (it was a long English winter in the early nineties...). I do remember being fascinated with the mechanics and feeling of the typewriter.

[Figureight]

Stephen would definitely be a mechanical keyboard enthusiast

[pillettadoinswartsh]

Tom Hanks loves typewriters too. He has a collection of antique ones. And he knows more than any of us about them.

[lexigrimhaive]

I LOVE typewriters!!! My sister bought me a vintage one for my birthday several years ago. It’s heavy as sin but I LOVE using it.

[hamisharnold]

I want "He's chiselled out War and Peace on the South Downs" on a t shirt!

[EleanorPeterson]

I taught myself to touch-type on a manual typewriter (from Woolworths) using a '10-day course', and I agree entirely with Stephen: it's a glorious thing to do. Once you get the speed, the process of writing is exhilarating. You feel so INVOLVED.

When I moved on to an electric typewriter/ word-processor - which had a floppy-disc for storage and an on-board memory capable of holding something like 100 pages of plain text (whee!), I missed the manual carriage returns and it took me a while to soften my touch, but the speed was great and I found I could type at fast dictation speed.

Writing on a computer keyboard is nice and quiet, but I do most of my internet stuff (like this) on a 10" tablet with a virtual keyboard, pecking away with one finger at a screen...

I really don't enjoy it much.

[Maphisto]

Stephen Fry would have made a nice secretary.

[Oie]

Bill Bailey and Tim Minchin need to do a collaboration concert someday. That I would pay to see

[williamjones]

I learned to type on an IBM Selectric in high school during the Summer. However I also took at the same time computer programming where we used teletypes. (For people under 40 teletype were electric tyepewriters hooked up to computers by phone lines. They could type at the blistering speed of 110 chatacters per minute. I couldn't type that fast but that was their top speed.) Because they were electromechanical they required much more force to operate. When you pushed down a key you had to really push it down. You were mechanically locked out from pushing down two keys at once. Both the Selelctric and the teletype had the QWERTY keyboard.

[XrGrimreaprX]

Went to see Bill Bailey at the Hexagon in Reading a few years back, was so funny, we were sat front row and he did pick on us a bit :D

[vahurjoa]

Teacher: "And what did you do over the weekend, Stephen?" 7 yo Stephen: "Um, you, wrote a novel. As one does ..."