50 Fun Facts About The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

In which year was Douglas Adams born?

He was born in Cambridge and liked to joke that he was DNA in Cambridge nine months before Crick and Watson published on DNA.

In what medium did The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy first appear?

The first episode went out at 10:30 pm on Wednesday 8 March 1978 with little fanfare and got a huge audience response.

Why is the Earth demolished at the start of the story?

Arthur Dent had spent the morning lying in front of a bulldozer to stop his own house being knocked down for a local bypass.

What is the name of the alien who rescues Arthur Dent from the destruction of Earth?

He is a roving researcher for the Guide who has been stuck on Earth for years.

Which race of bureaucratic aliens destroys the Earth?

They are described as not actually evil, just bad-tempered, bureaucratic, officious and callous.

What is the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything?

Deep Thought took eons to compute it, then had to design a bigger computer to work out what the Question was.

What is the name of the supercomputer that calculated the Answer?

Its creators then had it design an even greater computer, which turned out to be the Earth.

What was Trillian's name before she left Earth?

Arthur once met her at a party in Islington before Zaphod whisked her away.

What is the name of the spaceship Zaphod Beeblebrox steals?

It is powered by the Infinite Improbability Drive, which passes through every point in the universe at once.

Which physical peculiarity does Zaphod Beeblebrox have in every version of the story?

The explanations for the extra appendages differ between versions; the film has him hiding the second head under a scarf.

Which company built Marvin as a prototype of its Genuine People Personalities technology?

He was constructed, he insists, much against his own wishes.

Marvin complains that he has a brain the size of what?

He is seldom, if ever, given the chance to use it, which does nothing for his depression.

Who voiced Marvin in the original radio and television series?

Broadbent took over for the sixth radio series, and Rickman voiced the film version in 2005.

Which comedy actor narrated the original radio series as The Book?

He was cast after a three-month search in which at least three actors, including Palin, turned the part down.

The episodes of the radio series are called "Fits", borrowing from which Lewis Carroll poem?

Adams later suggested calling the first six Fits the Primary Phase and the next six the Secondary Phase.

The theme tune "Journey of the Sorcerer" was originally recorded by which band?

Adams reportedly chose it partly because the banjo gave it an on-the-road, hitch-hiking feel.

The Hitchhiker's Guide radio series was the first comedy series to be produced in what format?

Adams wanted the production to sound like a modern rock album, and much of the budget went on sound effects.

How is the Hitchhiker's book series jokingly described?

The US edition of the fifth book was sold as "the fifth book in the increasingly inaccurately named Hitchhiker's Trilogy".

Which publisher issued the first Hitchhiker's novel in 1979 after BBC Publishing turned it down?

It hit number one in its second week and sold more than 250,000 copies in three months, a decision the BBC came to regret.

What is the title of the second novel, published in 1980?

Adams considered it the best of his five Hitchhiker's novels.

What is the name of the eatery that gives the second novel its title?

It sits on the ruins of Frogstar World B inside a time bubble, and Marvin phones the diners from its car park.

When Arthur pulls Scrabble tiles from his subconscious, what does the Ultimate Question turn out to be?

The Golgafrinchans' arrival on prehistoric Earth had corrupted the planet's programming, so the question no longer matched the answer.

What wiped out the Golgafrinchans who stayed behind on their homeworld?

They had shipped off their telephone sanitisers with the rest of the "useless" third of the population.

Which London sports venue do Ford and Arthur land at in Life, the Universe and Everything?

They meet Slartibartfast there and are recruited to stop the people of Krikkit escaping their prison planet.

Life, the Universe and Everything was based on a treatment Adams had written for which television series?

Adams had been script editor on the show's 17th season, and the Doctor's role was split between Slartibartfast, Trillian and Arthur.

In So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish, who provided the replacement Earth that Arthur returns to?

It was part of their Save the Humans campaign; the title is their parting message.

What is the name of the girl Arthur falls in love with in the fourth novel?

Jane Horrocks played her in the later radio series.

What job does Arthur settle into on Lamuella in Mostly Harmless?

He is perfectly happy there until his daughter Random turns up with the Guide Mark II.

What is the full name of Arthur and Trillian's daughter?

Trillian conceived her using DNA that Arthur had donated for travelling money.

Which author wrote the sixth Hitchhiker's novel, And Another Thing..., in 2009?

The Artemis Fowl author had the backing of Adams's widow Jane Belson.

Which company released the best-selling 1984 Hitchhiker's text adventure game?

Adams co-designed it with Steve Meretzky, and the box included pocket fluff and cardboard peril-sensitive sunglasses.

Who played Arthur Dent in the 2005 film?

He also recorded unabridged audiobooks of books two to five for Random House Audio.

Who provided the voice of Marvin in the 2005 film?

Warwick Davis wore the costume, and Stephen Fry voiced the Guide itself.

Who directed the 2005 film adaptation?

Filming began on 19 April 2004, a quarter of a century after the first novel appeared.

Which actor played Slartibartfast in the 2005 film?

Vernon played the fjord-designer in the original radio series and Griffiths took over on radio after Vernon's death.

On what date is Towel Day celebrated?

Fans carry a towel all day in tribute to Adams, who died on 11 May 2001; the first celebration came two weeks later.

According to the Guide, why has it outsold the Encyclopedia Galactica?

The words are printed in large, friendly letters, despite the book's many glaring and occasionally fatal inaccuracies.

What is the Babel fish?

It feeds on brainwaves, and it lent its name to the first free online translator in 1997.

How do the aliens who capture Arthur and Ford torture them before ejecting the pair from an airlock?

Vogon verse is officially only the third worst in the universe.

According to the story, which species was really the most intelligent on Earth?

They were pan-dimensional beings running experiments on humans while pretending to be experimented on.

Which world is home to the ancient industry of building custom-made worlds?

Slartibartfast shows Arthur its planet construction facility, where he once designed Norway's fjords.

How much did Harmony Books charge for the illustrated 1994 edition of the first novel in the US?

The edition also introduced the 42 Puzzle, designed by Adams himself.

At which Cambridge college was the author a student and member of Footlights?

He won an exhibition to read English on the strength of an essay on religious poetry that discussed the Beatles and William Blake.

A writing partnership with which Monty Python member earned Adams a 1974 Flying Circus credit?

Adams had idolised Cleese and interviewed him for the student paper Varsity in 1972.

In which city did the author die of a heart attack in May 2001?

He collapsed while resting after a workout at a private gym; his ashes were later interred in Highgate Cemetery.

Which conservation charity was Adams a founder patron of, climbing Kilimanjaro for it?

Since 2003 the charity has held the annual Douglas Adams Memorial Lectures.

What was written on the dashboard of the Tesla Roadster launched into space in 2018?

It flew on the maiden flight of the Falcon Heavy rocket.

Near which Austrian city was Adams lying drunk in a field in 1971 when he had the idea for the title?

He had a copy of the Hitch-hiker's Guide to Europe and thought someone should write one for the galaxy.

Which physicist voiced The Guide Mark II in the 2018 Hexagonal Phase radio series?

He introduced himself with the line 'I have been quite popular in my time. Some even read my books.'

Where did the first Hitchhiker's novel rank in the BBC's Big Read poll?

The novels had been translated into more than 30 languages by 2005.