The Hitchhiker's History
So, I was talking to a friend of mine to whom I have not spoken in years and who says she still loves me and is my friend in spite of our mutual bad communication habits ... (Okay, in spite of my bad communication habits. Sheesh!) ... and I was telling her that I had just been listening to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
This confused her. Had there been a radio show? Did I have a bootleg of the movie? I informed her that, indeed, there had been a radio show and that I had a copy of it recorded off of Cincinnati public radio years and years ago. (Not by me, though. Mine is a copy of someone else's recording. But that's another story.) And then I went on to say that I believed that the phenomenom most popularly known as Hitchhiker's started as a BBC radio play. And since I was -- as I am when all things are good and right with the world -- sitting at the end of a high-speed Internet connection at the time, I checked my assertion.
Turns out there were two radio series with the first book written between them. This information and more is to be found ... with the BBC. Check it out. It's interesting reading. Turns out I have both radio shows that were broadcast together by that constant purveyor of English entertainment, WGBH - Boston and then, I guess, licensed out to other NPR stations.
(I know the English state-owned entertainment complex has its problems, but let's think back on how many times an American network site has provided us with any useful information about a show. Hmmm.)
posted by - caj at 12:17 AM
3 Comments:
In fairness, it does take two. I told S____ that you called me during the blackout and were going to call me back but didn't, and her reaction was, "And you just COULDN'T call HIM back, because HE was supposed to call YOU - how old are you?!" (She says this sort of thing in a teasing manner that gets the point across without sounding critical.)
Carolyn and I just got the audio book (HHG read by Adams) from the library so that Carolyn can get to know the "real" thing before we see the movie. My first exposure to it was the radio series.
I enjoy much of the radio story genre. Tales from Lake Wobegone is far and away my favorite part of PHC. I have a few tapes about he who "knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men" -- the shadow! I particularly enjoyed Ruby, the galactic gumshoe which I think I shared with you. There's nothing like a good story combined with a vivid imagination!
Shadow:
http://members.iquest.net/~drivers/shadow.html
Ruby:
http://zbs.org/Ruby/
(PS, congrats on reunion with a long-not-communicated-with friend. Those can be a real pleasure!)
(I know the English state-owned entertainment complex has its problems, but let's think back on how many times an American network site has provided us with any useful information about a show. Hmmm.)
lewrockwell.com/block/block55.html
"All I can say is that the narrowly selfish and short-run part of me hopes that this strike lasts for a long, long time. I am now listening to Vivaldi’s the "Four Seasons" and the irrational part me wants to say that no institution providing this sort of thing can be all bad. Of course, my rational persona kicks in and says something to the effect that if government were not directly commandeering half of our GDP, and regulating away a goodly part of the rest of it, we would have wealth aplenty to provide all the baroque music anyone could want."
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