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Little Fish: It's Not Shaped Like A Hobnob

January 25, 2026·28 min·2 clips

The hosts tried to set a cheese-eating world record but failed so badly they didn't even qualify for a record that had never been set.

This episode of Little Fish features hosts Dan Schreiber, James Harkin, and Andy Murray sharing listener-submitted facts. The show is a spin-off of the popular podcast No Such Thing As A Fish, where the creators of QI explore unusual trivia. The episode begins with a fact about the Schreiber scale, a test developed by Schreiber Foods to measure cheese meltability. The company provides cheese slices to 17 of the top 20 US hamburger chains and generates $7 billion in sales annually. The hosts recall a failed attempt to set a Guinness World Record for eating cheese slices, where the editor-in-chief ate the un-awarded certificate. Another fact reveals that Ben Nevis, the highest point in the British Isles, has namesakes in New Zealand that are taller, including one over 2000 meters. A grand piano was found near Ben Nevis's summit in 2006, with a biscuit wrapper dated 1986 inside. The inch was standardized internationally in 1959 to exactly 25.4 millimeters, resolving minor discrepancies between the US and UK definitions. New Zealand mountaineer Mark Inglis became the first double amputee to summit Mount Everest, repairing a broken prosthetic with duct tape during the climb. An 82-year-old Greek monk named Mihailo Tolatos, who lived on women-excluded Mount Athos, reportedly never saw a woman, car, plane, or film in his lifetime. In the 1952 Texas gubernatorial election, candidate Alan Shivers ran and won as both a Democratic and Republican nominee to aid Dwight Eisenhower's presidential campaign. Canadian scientists are collecting thousands of toenail clippings to study radon exposure, a gas present in 20% of Canadian homes that can cause lung cancer. Alexander the Great banned beards in battle to prevent beard-pulling among Macedonian soldiers. Research indicates psychopaths do not experience contagious yawning, a topic discussed by Professor Kevin Dutton, who also consulted with former SAS soldier Andy McNabb to train England's football squad on penalty kicks. The Big Bang is estimated to have been 120 decibels, quieter than a Motörhead concert at 126 decibels. Pixar accidentally deleted most of Toy Story 2 during production, recovering it from an employee's home computer during her maternity leave. President Calvin Coolidge would ring a bell to summon bodyguards and then hide under his desk when bored. Until 2011, the sun was only theoretically a sphere until confirmed by twin space probes. Sociable weaver birds build communal nests containing over 100 rooms, weighing up to 1,000 kilograms and sometimes collapsing trees. The struggling South Korean baseball team Hanwha Eagles, nicknamed the "Hanwha Chickens," once used robot supporters on screens to fill stadiums. The tone is lighthearted, conversational, and filled with humorous tangents and personal anecdotes. The style is informal and collaborative, with hosts playfully building on each other's facts and stories. Listeners who enjoy quirky trivia, comedic banter, and surprising historical anecdotes will love this episode. Those seeking a structured, single-topic narrative or serious scientific analysis might prefer to skip it.

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