Colette Owen-Rafferty writes:
QI has claimed that matches were invented by the scots. I would like to point out that matches were invented by a guy from Stockton-on-Tees! There is even a statue of a box of matches in his honour in the centre of a roundabout - you can't that away from us!
An Elf replies:
This is without doubt a quibble that we are going to have to hold our hands up to, but with a few notes.
Our error was that we credited Isaac Holden with the invention of the match; though in our defence, Holden actually believed that he was the inventor of the friction match - he independently came up with the idea a couple of years after Stockton's own John Walker.
However, the history gets even more murky.
The Chinese invented the match (as they seem to have done everything else) in the 6th century - their version had a sulphur tip, but they needed another fire source in order to light them; by the 15th century, these primitive devices had made their way to Europe.
The first European match was patented in 1805, 21 years before Walker, by a french chemist called Chancel, he sold a kit of wooden splints with one end tipped in potassium chlorate and sulphur - the match was lit by touching the chemical end with acid. Then came Walker and Holden.
So to sum up, we were definitely wrong to say that matches were a Scots invention, they were a Chinese one, or a French one, or - if you're talking about a match lit by striking it on a rough surface - an invention from Stockton-on-Tees.
Quibble Qualified
Do you have a bone to pick with QI? E-mail us here: elves@qi.com
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QI has claimed that matches were invented by the scots. I would like to point out that matches were invented by a guy from Stockton-on-Tees! There is even a statue of a box of matches in his honour in the centre of a roundabout - you can't that away from us!
An Elf replies:
This is without doubt a quibble that we are going to have to hold our hands up to, but with a few notes.
Our error was that we credited Isaac Holden with the invention of the match; though in our defence, Holden actually believed that he was the inventor of the friction match - he independently came up with the idea a couple of years after Stockton's own John Walker.
However, the history gets even more murky.
The Chinese invented the match (as they seem to have done everything else) in the 6th century - their version had a sulphur tip, but they needed another fire source in order to light them; by the 15th century, these primitive devices had made their way to Europe.
The first European match was patented in 1805, 21 years before Walker, by a french chemist called Chancel, he sold a kit of wooden splints with one end tipped in potassium chlorate and sulphur - the match was lit by touching the chemical end with acid. Then came Walker and Holden.
So to sum up, we were definitely wrong to say that matches were a Scots invention, they were a Chinese one, or a French one, or - if you're talking about a match lit by striking it on a rough surface - an invention from Stockton-on-Tees.
Quibble Qualified
Do you have a bone to pick with QI? E-mail us here: elves@qi.com
Or watch us tweet at http://twitter.com/qikipedia
Nice to see my hometown getting some more recognition, although it should be pointed out that the statue is no longer there.
Matches, like so much else we assume are modern European inventions, were Chinese inventions from before the Norman invasion.
Round about 577 A.D. if memory serves.
Apologies - I see you have (s)elf-corrected....
Didn't notice the end of the quibble at first.
John Walker, the inventor of the friction match, had a 'square' in the town of Stockton-on-Tees named after him. There was a statue of him there to highlight the point. 'John Walker Square' is still there in name, but the it now has an "Everything for a pound" type shop built on it. The statue can still be seen in the entrance to the nearby shopping centre although i do believe it was discovered a few years ago that the John Walker depicted in the statue is not the same JW who invented the match. Just another JW for about the same time... easy mistake to make!
do you mean 'cant take that away from me'?
or did stockton-on-tees invent illiteracy as well as friction matches
We may not have invented matches, but at least we Scots deserve an intitial capital...
John McCormick "Round about 577 A.D. if memory serves."
That must be a good memory, John, if you can go back that far, I have trouble remembering where I put the car keys.
Sandra. (Australia)
John McCormick "Round about 577 A.D. if memory serves."
That must be a good memory, John, if you can go back that far, I have trouble remembering where I put the car keys.
Sandra. (Australia)
Well, Anonymous, they did take 'take'.
Pot Kettle Black eh? Surely one who highlights illiteracy should use punctuation?
So the friction match was invented in Stockton-on-Tees which makes sense as presumably he was trying to burn the place down.
Its actually SAFETY matches were invented at stockton- on -tees as it says on that monument thing.
Matches and typos. Having read some of "The Hobbit", I remembered how his name was spelled.
Then on reading this on QI, I wondered.
QI Fact of the Day
JRR Tolkein worked on the letter 'P' for the original edition of the Oxford English Dictionary.
The safety match however, was invented in Jonkoping, Sweden. Just thought I would share....
Anonymous | April 20, 2009 6:26 PM | Reply
do you mean 'cant take that away from me'?
or did stockton-on-tees invent illiteracy as well as friction matches
Well, that should be 'us' rather than 'me' shouldnt it my anonymous compadre?
Only if we are being really pedantic about other peoples posts and minor typos of course! x
The Safety Match was invented by those careful Swedes, the citizens of Stockton-On-Tees are a much less cautious breed, inventing the Phosphorous Match.