A Housefly Buzzes in the Key of F cover art

A Housefly Buzzes in the Key of F

Fascinating Facts on All Things Flora and Fauna

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A Housefly Buzzes in the Key of F

By: BBC Studios, Simon Nicholls
Narrated by: Simon Nicholls
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About this listen

FROM THE TEAM BEHIND BBC RADIO 4'S AWARD-WINNING NATURE AND COMEDY SERIES NATURE TABLE

Did You Know That...

A housefly buzzes in the key of F?

A cockroach can live for a week without its head, before dying of starvation?

Slugs have four noses? So, if you thought that couldn't get slimier, now imagine them with a cold ...

The fingerprints of a koala are so indistinguishable from humans that they've been confused at a crime scene?

During its lifetime, a cow can produce nearly 200,000 glasses of milk? Which is extraordinary, because where is it getting all those glasses?

The natural world is an amazing, compelling and funny place: a place where fact is always more staggering - and often funnier - than fiction. Based on BBC Radio 4's hit science and comedy series Nature Table, and with a foreword from the show's presenter, Sue Perkins, A Housefly Buzzes in the Key of F is a celebration of the astonishing everyday occurrences that happen right under our noses. With fascinating facts from the programme's expert guests along with big jokes, witty anecdotes and fun games, this bumper collection showcases our planet's flora and fauna in all its remarkable and surprising glory.

©2023 BBC Studios and Simon Nicholls (P)2023 Bonnier Books UK Animals Biological Sciences Biology Botany & Plants Outdoors & Nature Science
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Whilst the authour has put his immense effort in making its content and performance highly entertaining, I find it rather infuriating that he should quote an ANCIENT ritual of my culture in which women giving birth would hold seahorses - YES, it was ANCIENT NOT CURRENT, ie NOT ANY MORE - without so much as referencing the historical period nor the specific regions in ANCIENT CHINA; and in quick succession, he immediately followed that statement with seahorses being endangered due to people purchasing; any sane person would notice the insinuation of MY people being ACTIVELY AND CURRENTLY detrimental to THEIR precious animal protection cause.

I have experienced both cultures and have grown SO DISGUSTED of certain westerners on high horses blindly yet tirelessly smearing our culture for hundreds of years - case in point, “Chinese heroine” was coined despite of two opium wars inflicted onto us by the oh-so-great British Empire. But wait, what about whales actually being ACTIVELY AND CURRENTLY hunted down for food by the Japanese, the one who invaded us 90 years ago, NEVER APOLOGISED but continue to rewrite their history of invasions as aid and help discredit my country?

Enough discrediting Chinese culture

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