# The Museum of Curiosity

The Museum of Curiosity is a comedy talk show on BBC Radio 4 that was first broadcast on 20 February 2008. It is hosted by John Lloyd (Professor of Ignorance at the University of Buckingham, and later at Solent University). He acts as the head of the (fictional) titular museum, while a panel of three guests – typically a comedian, an author and an academic – each donate to the museum an 'object' that fascinates them. The radio medium ensures that the suggested exhibits can be absolutely anything, limited only by the guests' imaginations.
Each series has had a different co-host, under the title of curator of the museum. Bill Bailey acted as co-host of the programme in the first series, before leaving the show after deciding to "retire" from panel games. Sean Lock, Jon Richardson, Dave Gorman, Jimmy Carr, Humphrey Ker, Phill Jupitus, Sarah Millican, Noel Fielding, Jo Brand, Romesh Ranganathan, Sally Phillips, Lee Mack, Bridget Christie, Alice Levine, Holly Walsh and Anna Ptaszynski have all assumed the role for a series. Gorman also stood in for Richardson for one episode of the third series, after Richardson was stranded due to the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull. Ker also functioned as a stand-in, this time for Jimmy Carr, when Carr was unable to attend one episode in series 5.
The programme has often been compared to the television panel game QI. Both were co-created by Lloyd, several of the Museum's 'curators' and comic guests have appeared regularly on QI, and the QI Elves (QI's research team, who provide hosts Stephen Fry and Sandi Toksvig with live information as required during the programme) provide the research. As a result, some critics consider the radio show to be a spin-off of the TV programme, and some have further ventured that The Museum of Curiosity is not as good as its forerunner. Most reviews of The Museum of Curiosity, however, are positive.

## Format

In series one, the programme began with Bailey introducing the show and playing its theme tune, which he performed in a slightly different way in each episode. In subsequent series, the theme tune was, instead, performed by House of Strange Studios of East London. The host/professor and the curator/sidekick introduce themselves. They then give a short guide to the museum, followed by the introduction of the "advisory committee", a guest panel made up of celebrities and academic experts, during which Lloyd reads their CVs aloud. This introductory section takes up about half the programme.
Then, each member of the "committee" donates something to the museum. The donation can be anything, regardless of its size, cost, tangibility, or even existence. Examples of donations include a yeti, the Battle of Waterloo, and absolutely nothing. Lloyd and the curator then decide what form the exhibit could take and where in the museum it could be displayed. In series one, the programme ended either with Lloyd and Bailey reading audience suggestions for additional exhibits or asking the audience curious questions. Bailey ended the show by giving a humorous comment on a Bertrand Russell quote. Both of these ideas were dropped in series two.
From series two onward, the show has maintained a standard format. It is presented in two halves; in the first half, Lloyd and the curator introduce the three guests, provide an explanation of who they are, and the five engage in a general discussion. In the second half, the curator declares the Museum open for donations, and each guest explains what they wish to "donate" to the museum (again, as the museum is fictional, nothing is actually exchanged, though guests occasionally bring real objects to discuss). Questioning of all three guests ensures that everyone says something about each donation.

## Production

The programme's pilot episode was recorded on 16 April 2007 and was entitled The Professor of Curiosity. The guests for this episode were Alastair Fothergill, Victoria Finlay and Simon Munnery. This pilot, recorded at the Rutherford Room at the institute of Physics, has not been broadcast. The first series was recorded at the Pleasance Theatre in Islington and, since then, the show has been recorded at the BBC Radio Theatre, with occasional recordings at other venues, such as the Shaw Theatre and RADA Studios (formerly The Drill Hall), all in London. The series was created by Lloyd, Richard Turner and Dan Schreiber. The show is produced by Anne Miller. The show's researchers are Mike Turner, Lydia Mizon and Emily Jupitus of QI.
A live version of the show was staged at the Natural History Museum, London on 9 November 2012 for charity. The guests for this edition were Terry Pratchett, Dave Gorman, Alan West, Baron West of Spithead, Helen Keen, Richard Fortey and Erica McAlister. The show was hosted by John Lloyd, with Producer Dan Schreiber taking the role of curator.
Further live shows were staged at the 2014 Edinburgh Fringe featuring a number of top comedians and other guests.
Series 15 and Series 16 were recorded remotely during 2020 and 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

## Episodes
### Series 1

| Episode | Air date | Advisory committee | Exhibits donated |
| 1 | 20 February 2008 | Richard Fortey Brian Blessed Sean Lock | The giant hornet of Chang Jiang. (Fortey) Curators of the Natural History Museum. (Fortey) A yeti or Sasquatch. (Blessed) The modern scarf knot, or the "Sean Lock neck knot". (Lock) |
| 2 | 27 February 2008 | Fran Beauman Gary Sheffield Ben Elton | A pineapple (Beauman) Anderson Shelters (Sheffield) Privacy (Elton) |
| 3 | 5 March 2008 | Arthur Smith Frank Close Ronald Hutton | Arthur Cravan (Smith) Nothing (Close) Father Christmas (Hutton) |
| 4 | 12 March 2008 | Victoria Finlay Kevin Day Alastair Fothergill | Pliny the Elder (Finlay) The Battle of Waterloo (Day) A hairy anglerfish (Fothergill) |
| 5 | 19 March 2008 | Jonathan Miller Philip Ball Marcus du Sautoy | The Nottingham Alabasters (Miller) Phlogiston (Ball) The Monster (du Sautoy) |
| 6 | 26 March 2008 | John Gribbin Alan Davies Martha Reeves | The Big Bang (Gribbin) Epping Forest (Davies) Silence (Reeves) |

### Series 2

| Episode | Air date | Advisory committee | Exhibits donated |
| 1 | 4 May 2009 | Chris Donald Brian Eno Dave Gorman | A British Railways bridge plate (Donald) Grímsvötn (Eno) The urge to press red buttons that you know you shouldn't press (Gorman) |
| 2 | 11 May 2009 | Gavin Pretor-Pinney Simon Singh Tim FitzHigham | A Kelvin–Helmholtz cloud (Pretor-Pinney) The Holmdel Horn Antenna (Singh) Don Quixote (FitzHigham) |
| 3 | 18 May 2009 | Bettany Hughes Chris Addison Rupert Sheldrake | Helen of Troy (Hughes) Alan Shepard's six iron (Addison) A sheep rolling over a cattlegrid (Sheldrake) |
| 4 | 25 May 2009 | Charlotte Uhlenbroek John Hodgman Oliver James | A chimpanzee rain dance (Uhlenbroek) Complete world knowledge (Hodgman) Matt Ridley's nameplate from his office door at Northern Rock (James) |
| 5 | 1 June 2009 | Kate Adie Jon Richardson Roger Law | The Holy Grail (Adie) Hannah Hauxwell (Richardson) The perfect English Spot rabbit (Law) |
| 6 | 8 June 2009 | Clive James Tim Minchin Philip Pullman | A P-51 Mustang (James) Tempting fate (Minchin) Inventions being used for things they were not designed for (Pullman) |

### Series 3

| Episode | Air date | Advisory committee | Exhibits donated |
| 1 | 10 May 2010 | Marcus Chown Terry Pratchett Shappi Khorsandi | The Omega Point (Chown) A procrastinator (Pratchett) Charlie Chaplin (Khorsandi) |
| 2 | 17 May 2010 | Suggs Ruth Padel Leigh Francis | The Great Exhibition (Suggs) 10,000 tigers (Padel) Spider-Man (Francis) |
| 3 | 24 May 2010 | Richard Wiseman Kevin Eldon Jon Ronson | The Milgram Experiment (Wiseman) The ten worlds (Eldon) A gay bomb (Ronson) |
| 4 | 31 May 2010 | Michael Welland Sarah Bakewell Simon Evans | Singing sand dunes (Welland) Michel de Montaigne's medallion (Bakewell) A total eclipse (Evans) |
| 5 | 7 June 2010 | Ronni Ancona Daniel Tammet Robin Hanbury-Tenison | Barry Marshall (Ancona) Humphry Davy (Ancona) Saul Bellow (Tammet) Nyapun, a Penan hunter-gatherer (Hanbury-Tenison) |
| 6 | 14 June 2010 | Sarah Millican David Eagleman Neil Gaiman | Pictures of animals in clothes (Millican) International Ignorance Day (Eagleman) Jack Benny's vault (Gaiman) |

### Series 4

| Episode | Air date | Advisory committee | Exhibits donated |
| 1 | 3 October 2011 | Francesca Stavrakopoulou Alex Bellos Jimmy Carr | God (Stavrakopoulou) A Curta calculator (Bellos) A book containing all the jokes in the world (Carr) |
| 2 | 10 October 2011 | Graham Linehan Helen Scales Rory Sutherland | A cassette tape (Linehan) A tank full of seahorses (Scales) A single Shreddie shown from angle of 45° (Sutherland) |
| 3 | 17 October 2011 | Roger Highfield Robin Ince Gareth Edwards | An invisibility cloak (Highfield) The essential trifle (Ince) The first story ever told (Edwards) |
| 4 | 24 October 2011 | David McCandless Natalie Haynes David Crystal | The super-ego (McCandless) TV detectives (Haynes) A waffle generator (Crystal) |
| 5 | 31 October 2011 | Alain de Botton Sara Wheeler Alex Horne | A High Street psychotherapist (de Botton) A carved walrus baculum (Wheeler) The word "dord" (Horne) |
| 6 | 7 November 2011 | Lucie Green Harry Enfield Alan West | An invisible coronal mass ejection (Green) A stupid German (Enfield) A tot of rum (West) |

### Series 5

| Episode | Air date | Advisory committee | Exhibits donated |
| 1 | 1 October 2012 | Erica McAlister Al Murray Jan Bondeson | A cow pat (McAlister) A travellator (Murray) A security coffin (Bondeson) |
| 2 | 8 October 2012 | Stuart Clark Tom Hart Dyke Jo Brand | Johannes Kepler's drink dispenser (Clark) Puya raimondii (Hart Dyke) Childhood, represented by a badly knitted jumper made by your nan. (Brand) |
| 3 | 15 October 2012 | Humphrey Ker Dr. Pamela Stephenson-Connolly Prof. Sir Andre Geim | Chrétien de Troyes, inventor of chivalry (Ker) The object of desire (Stephenson-Connolly) The ghost of curiosity (Geim) |
| 4 | 22 October 2012 | Frank Cottrell Boyce Dr. Alice Roberts Andy Nyman | St. Columba's Psalter (Cottrell Boyce) The love child of a modern human and a Neanderthal (Roberts) Friday the 13th Part III 3-D (Nyman) |
| 5 | 29 October 2012 | Dr. Helen Czerski Irving Finkel Sean Hughes | A bubble (Czerski) An authentic portrait of Jane Austen (Finkel) A tab of LSD (Hughes) |
| 6 | 5 November 2012 | Dr. Buzz Aldrin Marc Abrahams Sara Pascoe | Aldrin Mars cycler (Aldrin) The reports of Professor John Trinkaus on his pet peeves (Abrahams) User-friendly poisons, such as Botox (Pascoe) |

### Series 6

| Episode | Air date | Advisory committee | Exhibits donated |
| 1 | 30 September 2013 | John Blashford-Snell Mark Watson Joann Fletcher | Henry Morton Stanley's compass (Blashford-Snell) Mark Watson's glasses (Watson) A silver denarius struck to celebrate the Battle of Actium found in Barnsley. (Fletcher) |
| 2 | 7 October 2013 | Andrew O'Neill Amanda Palmer Volker Sommer | A third class ticket on the London Necropolis Railway (O'Neill) A living statue (Palmer) A dozen defecated ant heads. (Sommer) |
| 3 | 14 October 2013 | Howard Stringer Jane Bussmann Richard Ingrams | A sandbag (Stringer) A funnyometer (Bussmann) A machine to give judges electric shocks if they slept in court (Ingrams) |
| 4 | 21 October 2013 | Richard Herring Kristen Lippincott Christofer Clemente | Grigori Rasputin (Herring) A eureka moment (Lippincott) A lizard popping a wheelie (Clemente) |
| 5 | 28 October 2013 | Robert Llewellyn Cleo Rocos Kevin Warwick | An elm tree. (Llewellyn) A field of agave plants. (Rocos) A thinking machine (Warwick) |
| 6 | 4 November 2013 | Paul Sinha Maggie Aderin-Pocock David Frost | C. B. Fry's mantelpiece (Sinha) The Prospero satellite (Aderin-Pocock) The Nixon Interviews (Frost) |

### Series 7

| Episode | Air date | Advisory committee | Exhibits donated |
| 1 | 6 October 2014 | Jimmy Wales Helen Keen Kees Moeliker | A mobile phone in 2019 that will cost £10 to buy in Kenya (Wales) The Jack Parsons Moon crater (Keen) A single pubic louse (Moeliker) |
| 2 | 13 October 2014 | Kevin Dutton Sandra Knapp Richard Osman | A smile (Dutton) Chuño (Knapp) A bar of Cadbury's Dairy Milk (Osman) |
| 3 | 20 October 2014 | Sandi Toksvig Will Storr Lieven Scheire | The alphabet (Toksvig) Some type of tiny wasps (Storr) A parasitic wasp (Scheire) |
| 4 | 27 October 2014 | Rich Hall Anna Keay Henry Marsh | The front porch (Hall) St. Edward's Crown (Keay) A sea squirt's brain (Marsh) |
| 5 | 3 November 2014 | Clive Anderson Anne Dudley Richard Williams | The Old Bailey (Anderson) The Woolsack (Dudley) A Disney desk (Williams) |
| 6 | 10 November 2014 | Neil Innes Bradley Garrett Isabel Behncke Izquierdo | The Institute of Cognitive Stupidity (Innes) London's hidden rivers (Garrett) A laughing tree (Behncke Izquierdo) |

### Coding Special

| Air date | Advisory committee | Exhibits donated |
| 10 September 2015 | Sydney Padua Eben Upton Matt Parker | The Analytical Engine (Padua) A BBC Micro (Upton) A Williams–Kilburn tube (Parker) |

### Series 8

| Episode | Air date | Advisory committee | Exhibits donated |
| 1 | 11 January 2016 | Holly Walsh David Bramwell Stephen J. Dubner | The Vows of the Peacock (Walsh) Part of a time machine made by the Federation of Damanhur (Bramwell) A microchip implanted into a human brain that could read all thoughts (Dubner) |
| 2 | 18 January 2016 | Greg Jenner Hannah Fry Ken Dodd | The Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (Jenner) The equation for the perfect marriage (Fry) William Shakespeare's chucklemuscle (Dodd) |
| 3 | 25 January 2016 | Henry Blofeld Helen Sharman Felicity Ward | P. G. Wodehouse (Blofeld) The Deep Space Climate Observatory (Sharman) A toilet (Ward) |
| 4 | 1 February 2016 | Tim Smit Doris Vickers Rufus Hound | The New Emperor's new clothes, which change colour when you lie (Smit) A star clock (Vickers) The monkey mirror (Hound) |
| 5 | 8 February 2016 | William Hartston Sophie Scott Matt Lucas | A black pawn on top of an entire of pile of chess pieces balancing on top of a rook (Hartston) A human tongue (Scott) A fart (Lucas) |
| 6 | 15 February 2016 | Lucy Cooke Adam Lowe Susan Calman | A pygmy sloth (Cooke) A Lucida 3D laser scanner (Lowe) Fifty Shades of Grey (Calman) |

### Series 9

| Episode | Air date | Advisory committee | Exhibits donated |
| 1 | 29 July 2016 | Howard Goodall Rachel Armstrong Nish Kumar | A pantalon (Goodall) A witch bottle (Armstrong) Blonde on Blonde (Kumar) |
| 2 | 5 August 2016 | Janey Godley Milton Wainwright Corey Taylor | Some random dogs that wandered the streets in the 1970s (Godley) A box used to detect microscopic alien life in the stratosphere. (Wainwright) A deep fried wing of the Museum. (Taylor) |
| 3 | 12 August 2016 | Susie Dent Mike Shanahan Ross Noble | A fly on the wall in a meeting between Francis Grose and Samuel Johnson (Dent). Some wild fig trees (Shanahan). Rarajipari (Noble). |
| 4 | 19 August 2016 | Tristram Wyatt Vic Reeves Kate Williams | A voucher for the as-yet-undiscovered human pheromone. (Wyatt) An albino lapwing used by Sir Mick Jagger in 1966. (Reeves) A Cottingley fairy. (Williams) |
| 5 | 26 August 2016 | Janina Ramirez Peter Frankopan Jenny Colgan | Hildegard of Bingen. (Ramirez) A retro 1970s spice rack. (Frankopan) Narnia red. (Colgan) |
| 6 | 2 September 2016 | George Monbiot Katie Birkwood Craig Brown | A short-faced bear (Monbiot) A Treatise on Astronomy by Gerolamo Cardano. (Birkwood) Crossroads Motel. (Brown) |

### Series 10

| Episode | Air date | Advisory committee | Exhibits donated |
| 1 | 9 January 2017 | Helen Arney Thomas Thwaites Aseem Hashmi | The 4 newest chemical elements: Nh, Mc, Ts, Og (Arney) A history book published in 2222AD (Thwaites) A ship's anchor (Hasmi) |
| 2 | 16 January 2017 | Lucy Porter Mark Forsyth Dave Trott | Lycra (Porter) A wayzgoose (Forsyth) A ploughman's lunch (Trott) |
| 3 | 23 January 2017 | Amber Butchart Jack Waley-Cohen Jimeoin | The colour mauve (Butchart) A book of Tom Swifties (Waley-Cohen) The speed of cheese (Jimeoin) |
| 4 | 30 January 2017 | Sofie Hagen Jon Ablett Kate Fox | The manifesto for the rules of Dogme 95 (Hagen) A snail glued to a board (Ablett) Stone age selfies (Fox) |
| 5 | 6 February 2017 | Deborah Frances-White Dave Goulson Tony Robinson | Emilia Lanier (Frances-White) A pair of virgin deathwatch beetles (Goulson) A war memorial depicting the finale of Blackadder Goes Forth (Robinson) |
| 6 | 13 February 2017 | Henry Eliot Bee Wilson Michelle Wolf | Longplayer (Eliot) The smell of coffee (Wilson) CNN (Wolf) |

### Series 11

| Episode | Air date | Advisory committee | Exhibits donated |
| 1 | 28 July 2017 | Cally Beaton Sally Phillips Suzy Lishman | The population of The Netherlands. (Beaton) A knitted tea cosy to cover the museum. (Phillips) An exact replica of the foot bones of Richard III. (Lishman) |
| 2 | 4 August 2017 | Phill Jupitus Roger Graef Prue Leith | A Siouxsie and the Banshees concert at Chelmsford Odeon on Sunday 26 July 1981. (Jupitus) The theory of deterrence (Graef) Alexis Soyer (Leith) |
| 3 | 11 August 2017 | Rainer Hersch Beth Healey Kaffe Fassett | A descant recorder (Hersch) The International Space Station (Healey) The Watts Towers (Fassett) |
| 4 | 18 August 2017 | Cariad Lloyd Amanda Owen Gyles Brandreth | A Moomin (Lloyd) A shepherd's whistle (Owen) A button from the actor Donald Wolfit's King Lear costume (Brandreth) |
| 5 | 25 August 2017 | Clive Oppenheimer Penny Rose Francis Wheen | A small tin of magma (Oppenheimer) A skirt lifter (Rose) A much-misinterpreted letter from Darwin to Marx (Wheen) |
| 6 | 1 September 2017 | Andy Miller Kathy Lette Stephen Fry | A burst balloon and an empty honey pot (Miller) The maternal instinct (Lette) A bunch of grapes (Fry) |

### Series 12

| Episode | Air date | Advisory committee | Exhibits donated |
| 1 | 8 January 2018 | Nikki Bedi Pete Brown Rory Bremner | Ganesha (Bedi) The Moon Under Water (Brown) "Mad Jack" Churchill (Bremner) |
| 2 | 15 January 2018 | Joe Lycett Tom Shakespeare Konnie Huq | A half-folded towel (Lycett) Georges Couthon's rolling chair / wheelchair (Shakespeare) A Blue Peter badge (Huq) |
| 3 | 22 January 2018 | Stephen K. Amos Victoria Hislop Suze Kundu | Tooting Broadway tube station (Amos) The mati (Hislop) Kevlar (Kundu) |
| 4 | 29 January 2018 | Sindhu Vee Paul Nurse Rowan Pelling | The concept of hygge (Vee) The Large Hadron Collider (Nurse) A saucy limerick (Pelling) |
| 5 | 5 February 2018 | Ella Al-Shamahi Dillie Keane Richard Curtis | The perfect cave (Al-Shamahi) Her own homemade, slow-made chutney (Keane) The Australian word googies, meaning "eggs" (Curtis) |
| 6 | 12 February 2018 | Robert Twigger Suzanne Williams Jack Carroll | The attentionometer (Twigger) The bus seat that Rosa Parks refused to give up (Williams) Football Manager (Carroll) |

### Series 13

| Episode | Air date | Advisory committee | Exhibits donated |
| 1 | 1 October 2018 | Benjamin Zephaniah Kat Arney Lucy Beaumont | Tai chi (Zephaniah) A multi-coloured corn on the cob studied by Barbara McClintock (Arney) The smallest window in the world (Beaumont) |
| 2 | 8 October 2018 | Dolly Alderton Athena Kugblenu Professor Nigel Shadbolt | The world's worst wedding list (Alderton) A tin of corned beef (Kugblenu) Deep Blue (Shadbolt) |
| 3 | 15 October 2018 | Karen Dunbar Professor John Wood Shaun Keaveny | Side B, track 14 on disk 8 of a Pioneer LaserDisc karaoke machine (I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor) (Dunbar) A single atom of iron and an X-ray free-electron laser (Wood) An old-fashioned tube of toothpaste (Keaveny) |
| 4 | 22 October 2018 | Steve Mould Lucy Mangan Graeme Le Saux | Tomy the Talking Tutor (Mould) An amusement arcade penny pusher machine (Mangan) A 1980s Sony Walkman (Le Saux) |
| 5 | 29 October 2018 | Daisy Goodwin Lord Butler of Brockwell Nina Conti | Prince Albert (Goodwin) 30 Russian MiG jet fighters found buried in the sand (Butler) A set of false teeth (Conti) |
| 6 | 5 November 2018 | Andrea Wulf Vikram Jayanti Bridget Christie | A Labelling Machine (Wulf) A mirror showing unfinished masterpieces (Jayanti) A vial of her own tears (Christie) |

### Annual Stock Take (2018 Christmas Special)

| Air date | Advisory committee | Exhibits donated |
| 25 December 2018 | Lee Mack Sally Philips Jo Brand Jimmy Carr | Boredom (Mack) Things that are so mediocre they normally they wouldn't be remembered (Philips) The smell of an estate agent (Brand) Laughter (Carr) |

### Series 14

| Episode | Air date | Advisory committee | Exhibits donated |
| 1 | 30 September 2019 | Linda Agran Shini Somara Jessica Fostekew | Test cricket (Agran) A slotted screw (Somara) A sign saying "Live, Love, Laugh" (Fostekew) |
| 2 | 7 October 2019 | James Wong Sarah Kendall Sir Chris Evans | A terrarium (Wong) A ship in a bottle (Kendall) A cabbage (Evans) |
| 3 | 14 October 2019 | Bobby Acharya Fern Riddell Ahir Shah | The Extra Dimension Observatory (Acharya) The Fruits of Philosophy published by Annie Besant (Riddell) A tin of tobacco (Shah) |
| 4 | 21 October 2019 | Jen Brister Jason Hazeley Edward Brooke-Hitching | A microphone (Brister) Maurice Ravel's royalties (Hazeley) A land grant for 60 acres of land in the Poyais (Brooke-Hitching) |
| 5 | 28 October 2019 | Celia Imrie Lindsey Fitzharris Andrew Maxwell | A half-burnt candle (Imrie) A cemetery gun (Fitzharris) A scale model old-school gypsy caravan (Maxwell) |
| 6 | 4 November 2019 | Philippa Perry Carlo Ratti Doug Allan | A swarm of fruit flies (Perry) A bionic arm (Ratti) The feeling you get when a wild animal trusts you (Allan) |

### 2019 Christmas Special

| Air date | Advisory committee | Exhibits donated |
| 23 December 2019 | J. K. Rowling Glyn Johns Shazia Mirza | Inspiration (Rowling) A 3M M23 8 Track tape machine featuring a recording of Something by George Harrison. (Johns) A pair of real eyebrows. (Mirza) |

### Series 15

| Episode | Air date | Advisory committee | Exhibits donated |
| 1 | 7 September 2020 | Georgia Lewis Anderson (broadcaster and tech expert) | A mobile phone inside a crystal ball |
| 1 | 7 September 2020 | James Prichard (great-grandson of Agatha Christie) | Agatha Christie's 900ml mug inscribed "Don't Be Greedy", from which she drank cream |
| 1 | 7 September 2020 | Danny Wallace | A giant balloon for transportation |
| 2 | 14 September 2020 | Helen Fielding | The African plant Welwitschia mirabilis |
| 2 | 14 September 2020 | Ainsley Harriott | The Victoria Falls |
| 2 | 14 September 2020 | Suzi Ruffell | A Dutch upright bicycle |
| 3 | 21 September 2020 | Roopa Farooki | A virtual patient |
| 3 | 21 September 2020 | Eddie Izzard | The centre of the universe |
| 3 | 21 September 2020 | Miranda Lowe | A moon jellyfish |
| 4 | 28 September 2020 | Ian Hislop | All the printed material in the world |
| 4 | 28 September 2020 | Josh Widdicombe | Bowerman's Nose |
| 4 | 28 September 2020 | Eugenia Cheng | An equals sign |
| 5 | 5 October 2020 | Jo Frost | A bottle of Mount Gay Rum |
| 5 | 5 October 2020 | Ken Cheng | The Starship Enterprise |
| 5 | 5 October 2020 | Theo Fennell | The perfect after dinner singsong |
| 6 | 12 October 2020 | Hannah Gadsby | A tardigrade |
| 6 | 12 October 2020 | Sarah Beynon | A wildflower meadow |
| 6 | 12 October 2020 | Ade Adepitan | A headtorch |

### Series 16

| Episode | Air date | Advisory committee | Exhibits donated |
| 1 | 18 October 2021 | Jamie MacDonald | A Blue Badge |
| 1 | 18 October 2021 | Jennifer Higgie | A Self Portrait of Catharina van Hemessen |
| 1 | 18 October 2021 | Francis Hamel | Hieronymus Bosch's painting The Garden of Earthly Delights |
| 2 | 25 October 2021 | Evelyn Mok | Dragon Gate in Sweden |
| 2 | 25 October 2021 | Alun Withey | A mechanical beard |
| 2 | 25 October 2021 | Allan Scott | The Biggles books |
| 3 | 1 November 2021 | Jon Culshaw | The view from the surface of an alien planet |
| 3 | 1 November 2021 | Rosie Jones | The missing piece of the jigsaw |
| 3 | 1 November 2021 | Elisabeth Robinson | The high seas. |
| 4 | 8 November 2021 | Mary Roach | NASA's faecal simulant |
| 4 | 8 November 2021 | Griff Rhys Jones | The River Lea. |
| 4 | 8 November 2021 | Lemn Sissay | A button which when pressed tells you your talent. |
| 5 | 15 November 2021 | Catherine Bohart | A perfect soft-boiled egg |
| 5 | 15 November 2021 | Elizabeth Day | A red apple and a discarded hair extension, referencing The Real Housewives of New York |
| 5 | 15 November 2021 | Bruce Dickinson | A bible with a history |
| 6 | 22 November 2021 | Daliso Chaponda | A church of laughter |
| 6 | 22 November 2021 | Sabrina Cohen-Hatton | A pack of Xoloitzcuintle dogs |
| 6 | 22 November 2021 | Kevin Fong | The sunrise after a night shift |

### Series 17

| Episode | Air date | Advisory committee | Exhibits donated |
| 1 | 20 February 2023 | Bill Liao | Drosophila melanogaster |
| 1 | 20 February 2023 | Miriam Margolyes | Charles Dickens and all his works |
| 1 | 20 February 2023 | Chris McCausland | A Vinyl record |
| 2 | 27 February 2023 | Rosie Holt | The unwritten second half of Coleridge's Kubla Khan |
| 2 | 27 February 2023 | Olivia Potts | A jar of marmalade |
| 2 | 27 February 2023 | Carlo Rovelli | A white hole |
| 3 | 6 March 2023 | Polly Morgan | A hognose snake in a tupperware box |
| 3 | 6 March 2023 | Randall Munroe | 10$^{39}$ litres of soup |
| 3 | 6 March 2023 | Steve Nallon | His own larynx, posthumously |
| 4 | 13 March 2023 | Alasdair Beckett-King | The Red Book of Appin |
| 4 | 13 March 2023 | Sarah Storey | A map of the world |
| 4 | 13 March 2023 | Hannah Rose Thomas | The idea of getting lost |
| 5 | 20 March 2023 | Isabel Hardman | A bee orchid, Ophrys apifera |
| 5 | 20 March 2023 | Alfie Moore | A Chis (covert human intelligence source) |
| 5 | 20 March 2023 | Jess Wade | A Raman spectrometer |
| 6 | 27 March 2023 | Sikisa Bostwick-Barnes | A Game Boy Color |
| 6 | 27 March 2023 | Bridget Nicholls | A termite mound |
| 6 | 27 March 2023 | Levison Wood | A megalodon tooth |

## Reception

Initial reaction to the series was mixed. Phil Daoust in The Guardian described the show as being "unusual" and "eclectic". Chris Campling, who wrote a preview of the first episode, highlighted it in his "Radio Choice" column for The Times. Gillian Reynolds highlighted the programme as one of her radio choices in the Daily Telegraph. Rosanna Chianta in Scotland on Sunday compared the show positively to QI, also created by Lloyd, while Frances Lass from the Radio Times said it was better, claiming it was, "QI with even more jokes. Made me bark with laughter", that, "Lord Reith would be so proud" and the programme was, "Pornography for the brain!"
Miranda Sawyer of The Observer criticised the show, saying that, "it's no QI, because the joy of that programme rests almost entirely in the host, Stephen Fry, and his subversion of the prissy, clever character we're familiar with (in QI, Fry is clever, but relaxed). The Museum of Curiosity is presented partly by Bill Bailey and mostly by John Lloyd, producer of QI (are you getting a theme?). Lloyd may well be a nice chap, but we haven't a clue who he is, and, on the evidence of this, he isn't a big or witty enough character for us to feel desperate to get to know him."
Nicholas Lezard in The Independent on Sunday was lukewarm about the show, saying that the combination of comedian and scientist guests "more or less worked", but he felt the show may not have been greenlit without Lloyd and Bailey's involvement.
Kate Chisholm in The Spectator found the show a welcome change from the "smutty jokes and banal innuendo" usually associated with the timeslot, and compared the series to Paul Merton's Room 101, "but without the ego".
Elisabeth Mahoney in The Guardian was critical of the second series. While praising the discussion between the guests as, "funny and flowing, and quite endearingly quirky", she found that the programme "fizzled away when it reached what ought to have been its crux: the donation of kooky items to the imaginary museum. Instead, we had a reminder of what they were, and then a sudden ending that was both limp and abrupt."
After appearing on the show in series 6, Richard Herring wrote on his blog: "What a delightful and fascinating programme this is (and one that I think might benefit from an extended podcast release – two hours of material is recorded for the 27-minute show and it's pretty much all gold!). At times I was so enjoying listening to the others talking that I almost forgot that I was meant to be taking part. It was a wide-ranging discussion taking in ants on stilts, pianists with crippling, mechanical little fingers, the changing meridian and okapi sex (can you guess what I contributed?). The show has a dedicated team of nerds behind it who have dug out amazing facts and I love the way it has a panel comprising comedians, scientists and experts and attempts to link each contribution to similar areas of the different disciplines. While most TV panel shows (including to some extent even QI) gravitate to putting in the same well-known comedy faces, you get a lot more interesting stuff by mixing it up a bit. The zoologist, Dr Christofer Clemente, came up with the funniest lines of the show. But would they book him on Mock The Week? It's intelligent and stimulating programming that is increasingly being edged out of TV and even radio, leaving a gaping open goal for independent internet productions to score in. I discussed this with one of the razor-minded team after the show. The TV companies insist on getting big names into all shows, which takes up all the budget and seems to ignore the fact that the pool of possible contributors gets smaller and more boring. But glad that a few shows designed to expand the mind rather than crush the spirit still exist."
On 13 September 2016, The Museum of Curiosity won the Rose d'Or in the radio talk show category.

## Footnotes

* ↑ Richardson was unable to attend the recording as he was stranded in Australia due to the air travel disruption after the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption. His role was taken over for the show by Dave Gorman.
* ↑ For this episode, the museum was looking for "new members of staff", so all the donations were curious people.
* ↑ This episode was broadcast after Frost's death on 31 August 2013.