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No Such Thing As Meat And Greet

January 8, 2026·55 min·5 clips

Van Gogh gave a doctor a portrait that ended up plugging a chicken coop for a decade.

This episode of No Such Thing As A Fish features hosts Dan Schreiber, Andrew Hunter Murray, and James Harkin alongside comedian and QI regular Lou Sanders. They share unusual facts discovered over the previous week, focusing on topics related to hearing, local history, and scientific recognition. The conversation is a freewheeling exploration of trivia, blending personal anecdotes with historical and scientific oddities. Lou Sanders presents research on "right ear dominance," citing a study in Italian nightclubs where requests for cigarettes were more successful when spoken into a person's right ear. The hosts discuss how women generally have better hearing than men, referencing the book "Invisible Women" and historical instances of appliances designed by men emitting high-frequency hums only women could hear. James Harkin notes a German study finding city dwellers have better hearing than those in quiet villages, with East Asian villages cited for having particularly poor hearing due to intermittent loud fireworks. The story of Vincent van Gogh gifting a portrait to his ear doctor, Dr. Felix Ray, is shared, revealing the painting was used to patch a chicken coop for a decade before being valued at around £50 million. The hosts recall the 1997 "Vacanti mouse" experiment where a human-shaped ear was grown on a rodent's back, though they note no such ear has ever been successfully transplanted to a human. Andrew Hunter Murray shares the story of immunologist Fred Ramsdell, who won a Nobel Prize but remained unaware for nearly a day while off-grid on a hike in Wyoming; his wife discovered the news through 200 text messages. Other Nobel laureates who were difficult to reach are mentioned, including Richard Ernst, who was informed via airplane radio in 1991, and Abdulrazak Gurnah, who initially hung up on the committee. The discussion turns to the meaning of "off-grid," differentiating between simply being disconnected and true self-sufficiency. A YouTuber named Chris Dole is cited for building a power wall from 500 discarded vape batteries. The writer Lee Child is identified as a famous off-grid resident, with a mailbox ten miles from his Wyoming home. James Harkin explains the town name Ramsgate likely derives from the Old English for "raven's gate," though Daniel Defoe mistakenly believed it referenced Romans. The Kent seaside town is noted for its historical tunnels, which could shelter 60,000 people during World War II bombings, and for housing the world's largest Wetherspoons pub. A local chainmail maker, Nick Checksfield, can allegedly determine if a historical maker was right- or left-handed by examining their work. The episode also touches on "mystery worshippers" who secretly review churches, with one critiquing the pew comfort in Ramsgate's tiny Sailor's Church. Jane Austen's disparaging mentions of Ramsgate in "Pride and Prejudice" are also highlighted. The tone is consistently conversational, humorous, and digressive, with the hosts and guest frequently interrupting each other with tangents and personal stories. The style is educational yet informal, driven by curiosity and the playful exchange of bizarre facts. Listeners who enjoy quirky trivia, British humor, and meandering discussions about history, science, and pop culture will love this episode. Those preferring tightly structured, single-topic narratives or who are averse to coarse humor might want to skip it.

As heard by us

A brisk Fish episode where mystery worshippers, church trivia, and Jane Austen all stay in play.

Fish brings Lou Sanders into a fast-moving stretch of conversation that ranges from mystery worshippers and church questionnaires to the smallest church in the world, maybe in Dover, before shifting on to Ramsgate, Jane Austen, and Pride and Prejudice.

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Why you'd press play

Lou Sanders drops into a Fish episode that stays loose, funny, and comfortably off the rails.

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