Three-way tie
Even though each week welcomes two guest panellists, HIGNFY's owes much of its success to the three regulars. In immaculate suits, host Angus Deayton pours out the cunning sarcasm, while Private Eye editor Ian Hislop launches the kind of venomous attacks that you come to expect from his satirical mag. Meanwhile, Paul Merton provides the ridiculous, surreal diversions. On their own they could easily outstay their welcome but together they have become every politician's nightmare.

Handbags at dawn
Those who are brave enough to venture onto HIGNFY are shown absolutely no mercy. In one classic episode, Hislop needles away mercilessly at the late Paula Yates, provoking accusations that he was the "spawn of the devil". There's clearly no way any guest is going to win this fight. Those that survive do so by going with the flow and taking the mickey out of themselves before the hosts do it for them.

It's a fix?
It has come to light quite recently that the players are shown the clips and the questions (but not the answers) before the show. Punch magazine (strangely enough the main rival of Private Eye) once released excerpts of the "scripts" for HIGNFY. They were astonishing mostly for the intense level of detail that goes into the show's planning. Nearly every factual point about each question has an optional gag Angus Deayton can throw in, but the best gags are usually the ad libs that come fast and thick during filming.

Courting controversy
HIGNFY's lawyers must have strong hearts and nerves of steel, as the programme comes up with some controversial stuff. As editor of Private Eye, Hislop has been sued for libel more times than there are Starbucks coffee houses. And, as most people now know, Angus Deayton's, erm, less-than-saintly personal life got him sacked from the show in 2002.

Musical chairs
Since Deayton's departure HIGNFY has been soldiering on with guest hosts, including Stephen Fry, conservative oddity Boris Johnson, and rather bizarrely, that kiddie opera singer, Charlotte Church. Merton even tried his hand at the tiller. The results were mostly hilarious, but we all know that it's yet to achieve that old Angus magic.