The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - 40th Anniversary

BBC Radio 4 ^ | BBC Radio 4

[Da_Shrimp]

"I always think that the chances of finding out what really is going on are so absurdly remote that the only thing to do is to say "Hang the sense of it" and just keep yourself occupied.

- Slartibartfast, The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy"

[Da_Shrimp]

It was the 40th Anniversary of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'. I was 15. Where does the time go?

"As Douglas Adams's epic returns to radio four decades after it all began, we trace the cult of h2g2 - from radio to books to stage to TV to film and all the way back again..."

How we got to where we are tomorrow

[Trillian]

“You know,” said Arthur, “it’s at times like this, when I’m trapped in a Vogon airlock with a man from Betelgeuse, and about to die of asphyxiation in deep space that I really wish I’d listened to what my mother told me when I was young.”
“Why, what did she tell you?”
“I don’t know, I didn’t listen.”

[DannyTN]

Wow. I still remember my brother's reaction after reading my copy of the books....

"What was that guy taking when he wrote those?"

[robroys woman]

I have all five volumes, read by the author, on my phone as mp3 files.

[Da_Shrimp]

[Da_Shrimp]

Hey you, sass that hoopy robroys woman? There's a frood who really knows where his towel is!

[JPJones]

“Wow what’s this thing coming towards me so fast, I think I’ll call it Ground.” -The whale.

[KarlInOhio]

The President in particular is very much a figurehead - he wields no real power whatsoever. He is apparently chosen by the government, but the qualities he is required to display are not those of leadership but those of finely judged outrage. For this reason the President is always a controversial choice, always an infuriating but fascinating character. His job is not to wield power but to draw attention away from it.

[GunHoardingCapitalist]

Keep calm and always carry a towel!

[Trillian]

[wally_bert]

I have this pain in all the diodes in my left side.

Life? Don’t talk to me about life.

[robroys woman]

What’s kinda funny is that 42 IS the meaning of life, the universe and everything. It is the number of generations listed on Mary’s side of Jesus’ family tree in Matthew. :)

[wally_bert]

Learn something new here just about every day.

[mykroar]

Infinite Improbability Drive

[KarlInOhio]

I prefer a finite improbability generator.

The principle of generating small amounts of finite improbability by simply hooking the logic circuits of a Bambleweeny 57 Sub-Meson Brain to an atomic vector plotter suspended in a strong Brownian Motion producer (say a nice hot cup of tea) were of course well understood — and such generators were often used to break the ice at parties by making all the molecules in the hostess's undergarments leap simultaneously one foot to the left, in accordance with the theory of indeterminacy.

Many respectable physicists said that they weren't going to stand for this, partly because it was a debasement of science, but mostly because they didn't get invited to those sorts of parties.

[wally_bert]

I never got invited to those sort of parties.

[robroys woman]

You gotta love Slartibartfast’s fjords. :)

[JPJones]

“I wonder if it’ll be my friend?”

[wally_bert]

Oh no, not again!

[Conan the Librarian]

My Mom and I would communicate using Arthur Dent.

When I was in college out of town, she always asked me to call and tell her that I arrived safe. I would call “Collect” if all was well and ask to speak to Arthur Dent. As long as all was well, that was enough.

“Do you want me to sit in a corner and rust, or, fall apart where I’m standing?”