1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:09,200 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio, 2 00:00:09,840 --> 00:00:13,800 Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, a 3 00:00:13,920 --> 00:00:16,920 Speaker 1: show that hitches a ride through history one day at 4 00:00:16,920 --> 00:00:21,439 Speaker 1: a time. I'm Gabe Bluesier, and today we're celebrating the 5 00:00:21,600 --> 00:00:26,640 Speaker 1: forward thinking, cutting satire, and madcap hilarity of The Hitchhiker's 6 00:00:26,720 --> 00:00:35,839 Speaker 1: Guide to the Galaxy. The day was October twelfth, nineteen 7 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:41,199 Speaker 1: seventy nine, Douglas Adams published his comedic sci fi masterpiece, 8 00:00:41,479 --> 00:00:45,160 Speaker 1: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The British author would 9 00:00:45,200 --> 00:00:47,920 Speaker 1: go on to write four sequel novels over the next 10 00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:51,880 Speaker 1: thirteen years, a five book series which he jokingly referred 11 00:00:51,920 --> 00:00:56,400 Speaker 1: to as the Hitchhiker's Trilogy. The story of The Hitchhiker's 12 00:00:56,440 --> 00:01:01,080 Speaker 1: Guide begins thusly, far out in the uncharged backwaters of 13 00:01:01,120 --> 00:01:04,840 Speaker 1: the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the galaxy, 14 00:01:05,200 --> 00:01:09,560 Speaker 1: lies a small, unregarded yellow sun. Orbiting this at a 15 00:01:09,600 --> 00:01:14,120 Speaker 1: distance of roughly ninety two million miles is an utterly insignificant, 16 00:01:14,240 --> 00:01:18,160 Speaker 1: little blue, green planet, whose ape descended life forms are 17 00:01:18,240 --> 00:01:22,120 Speaker 1: so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are 18 00:01:22,160 --> 00:01:25,959 Speaker 1: a pretty neat idea with that place, setting out of 19 00:01:25,959 --> 00:01:29,400 Speaker 1: the way, the book introduces us to our hapless protagonist, 20 00:01:29,720 --> 00:01:34,080 Speaker 1: a profoundly ordinary Englishman named Arthur Dent, who wakes up 21 00:01:34,120 --> 00:01:36,679 Speaker 1: to learn that Earth is about to be demolished to 22 00:01:36,760 --> 00:01:41,000 Speaker 1: make way for a hyperspace highway. At the last possible moment, 23 00:01:41,360 --> 00:01:44,679 Speaker 1: Dent is saved from the planet's senseless destruction by his 24 00:01:44,760 --> 00:01:48,160 Speaker 1: good friend Ford Prefect, a man who seems to have 25 00:01:48,200 --> 00:01:51,840 Speaker 1: been named after a popular British car of the nineteen seventies. 26 00:01:52,520 --> 00:01:55,840 Speaker 1: As it turns out, though, Prefect is actually an alien 27 00:01:55,880 --> 00:01:59,480 Speaker 1: travel writer for something called The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, 28 00:01:59,880 --> 00:02:04,960 Speaker 1: a digital guidebook slash encyclopedia that provides information and advice 29 00:02:05,120 --> 00:02:09,520 Speaker 1: for interstellar travelers. After an unpleasant encounter with a race 30 00:02:09,600 --> 00:02:14,080 Speaker 1: of poetically challenged aliens called the Vogans, Dent and Prefect 31 00:02:14,320 --> 00:02:18,040 Speaker 1: wind up hitching a ride on an experimental starship that's 32 00:02:18,080 --> 00:02:22,160 Speaker 1: been stolen by the President of the Galaxy, Zeyfod Beeplebrocks. 33 00:02:22,919 --> 00:02:26,760 Speaker 1: Along with a human astrophysicist named Trillion an a chronically 34 00:02:26,800 --> 00:02:30,840 Speaker 1: depressed robot named Marvin, the crew wander the stars from 35 00:02:30,880 --> 00:02:34,760 Speaker 1: one surreal, whimsical adventure to the next. Poking fun at 36 00:02:34,840 --> 00:02:40,280 Speaker 1: science fiction, tropes and modern society, all the while. Fittingly enough, 37 00:02:40,480 --> 00:02:44,799 Speaker 1: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was inspired by actual hitchhiking. 38 00:02:45,200 --> 00:02:48,639 Speaker 1: In nineteen seventy one, when Douglas Adams was just nineteen 39 00:02:48,720 --> 00:02:52,160 Speaker 1: years old, he was hitchhiking across Europe, trying to make 40 00:02:52,200 --> 00:02:55,960 Speaker 1: his way from London to Istanbul. He was quite poor 41 00:02:56,080 --> 00:02:58,760 Speaker 1: at the time and relied on a stolen copy of 42 00:02:58,840 --> 00:03:02,320 Speaker 1: Ken Welsh's hitch Hiker's Guide to Europe to make his way. 43 00:03:03,280 --> 00:03:05,920 Speaker 1: One night, while on the road, Adams got drunk in 44 00:03:05,960 --> 00:03:09,600 Speaker 1: a field in Innsbruck, Austria, and while looking up at 45 00:03:09,639 --> 00:03:13,760 Speaker 1: the stars, he had an epiphany. I got frantically depressed 46 00:03:13,800 --> 00:03:17,080 Speaker 1: in Innsbruck, he later wrote, and when the stars came out, 47 00:03:17,280 --> 00:03:19,799 Speaker 1: I thought that someone ought to write a Hitchhiker's Guide 48 00:03:19,800 --> 00:03:22,960 Speaker 1: to the Galaxy, because it looked a lot more attractive 49 00:03:22,960 --> 00:03:26,920 Speaker 1: out there than it did around me. Adams made it 50 00:03:26,960 --> 00:03:30,160 Speaker 1: safely to Istanbul and then returned to England, where he 51 00:03:30,200 --> 00:03:33,360 Speaker 1: spent the next three years as an underachieving student and 52 00:03:33,440 --> 00:03:37,440 Speaker 1: comedy writer at Cambridge. He eventually found a job writing 53 00:03:37,480 --> 00:03:40,920 Speaker 1: for radio series such as The Burkis Way, but he 54 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:43,520 Speaker 1: kept coming back to the idea he had that night 55 00:03:43,600 --> 00:03:47,720 Speaker 1: in an alpine meadow. Although The Hitchhiker's Guide is most 56 00:03:47,760 --> 00:03:50,760 Speaker 1: well known as a book, it actually began life as 57 00:03:50,800 --> 00:03:55,400 Speaker 1: a six part series on BBC Radio in nineteen seventy eight. 58 00:03:55,720 --> 00:03:59,200 Speaker 1: Adams convinced producer Simon Brett to take a chance on 59 00:03:59,280 --> 00:04:03,200 Speaker 1: the high concert accept comedy. The team employed a groundbreaking 60 00:04:03,320 --> 00:04:06,360 Speaker 1: use of sound effects and voice techniques to bring Adam's 61 00:04:06,400 --> 00:04:09,480 Speaker 1: absurd vision of the universe to life, and the show 62 00:04:09,600 --> 00:04:12,840 Speaker 1: proved so popular that a second series was commissioned for 63 00:04:12,920 --> 00:04:16,320 Speaker 1: the following year. One of the earliest fans of the 64 00:04:16,400 --> 00:04:20,719 Speaker 1: radio series was Nick Webb, an editor for Pan Books. 65 00:04:20,760 --> 00:04:23,919 Speaker 1: He approached Adams about writing a novelization of the show, 66 00:04:24,400 --> 00:04:27,120 Speaker 1: a turn of events which the author later described as 67 00:04:27,279 --> 00:04:31,560 Speaker 1: quote a very good way of breaking into publishing. The 68 00:04:31,600 --> 00:04:34,919 Speaker 1: BBC was offered the chance to publish the novel itself, 69 00:04:35,120 --> 00:04:38,159 Speaker 1: but ultimately passed on the project, clearing the way for 70 00:04:38,240 --> 00:04:42,560 Speaker 1: Pan Books. The novelization hit store shelves the following year 71 00:04:42,760 --> 00:04:46,960 Speaker 1: on October twelfth, nineteen seventy nine. It sold two hundred 72 00:04:47,040 --> 00:04:50,039 Speaker 1: and fifty thousand copies in the first three months alone, 73 00:04:50,480 --> 00:04:53,400 Speaker 1: and together with its sequels. The series has since sold 74 00:04:53,440 --> 00:04:57,240 Speaker 1: more than fifteen million copies. To date. The series has 75 00:04:57,279 --> 00:05:01,200 Speaker 1: been translated into numerous languages and ad for just about 76 00:05:01,240 --> 00:05:04,880 Speaker 1: any medium you can think of, including television, comic books, 77 00:05:05,080 --> 00:05:08,560 Speaker 1: live theater productions, a movie, and even a computer game. 78 00:05:09,200 --> 00:05:13,000 Speaker 1: The majority of those adaptations were written by Adams himself, 79 00:05:13,320 --> 00:05:17,279 Speaker 1: with some details characters and events changed each time to 80 00:05:17,360 --> 00:05:22,039 Speaker 1: make every version feel unique by most fans, reckoning. None 81 00:05:22,040 --> 00:05:24,919 Speaker 1: of the sequels or remakes quite lived up to the 82 00:05:24,960 --> 00:05:29,159 Speaker 1: original book, and Adams himself expressed disappointment with the bleak 83 00:05:29,360 --> 00:05:32,840 Speaker 1: ending he concocted for the series. In fact, he even 84 00:05:32,920 --> 00:05:36,080 Speaker 1: intended to correct that mistake by penning a sixth and 85 00:05:36,279 --> 00:05:40,960 Speaker 1: final entry, but sadly he never got the chance. Douglas 86 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:43,440 Speaker 1: Adams died of a heart attack in two thousand and 87 00:05:43,440 --> 00:05:47,200 Speaker 1: one at the age of forty nine. Surprisingly, though, the 88 00:05:47,279 --> 00:05:51,240 Speaker 1: Hitchhiker series didn't die with him, and after receiving permission 89 00:05:51,240 --> 00:05:55,360 Speaker 1: from Adam's widow, a sixth tale written by acclaimed children's 90 00:05:55,360 --> 00:05:58,880 Speaker 1: author he Owned Calfer, was published in two thousand and nine. 91 00:05:59,560 --> 00:06:02,440 Speaker 1: Although not the same as the original series, the book 92 00:06:02,440 --> 00:06:05,600 Speaker 1: provided a welcome sense of closure that Adams likely would 93 00:06:05,600 --> 00:06:09,440 Speaker 1: have appreciated, because, as he said before his passing quote, 94 00:06:09,760 --> 00:06:12,440 Speaker 1: I would love to finish Hitchhiker on a slightly more 95 00:06:12,520 --> 00:06:15,760 Speaker 1: upbeat note. So five seems to be a wrong kind 96 00:06:15,800 --> 00:06:19,680 Speaker 1: of number. Six is a better kind of number, And 97 00:06:19,760 --> 00:06:23,240 Speaker 1: of course Douglas Adams knew a thing or two about numbers. 98 00:06:23,720 --> 00:06:26,680 Speaker 1: One of the most famous gags in the entire Hitchhiker 99 00:06:26,760 --> 00:06:31,760 Speaker 1: series involves a giant supercomputer called deep Thought. It spends 100 00:06:31,960 --> 00:06:35,599 Speaker 1: seven and a half million years pondering the ultimate question 101 00:06:35,800 --> 00:06:40,400 Speaker 1: of life, the universe, and everything, before finally and solemnly 102 00:06:40,440 --> 00:06:44,760 Speaker 1: announcing that the answer is forty two. It's a solution 103 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:49,039 Speaker 1: that doesn't offer much clarity or comfort to humanity, but 104 00:06:49,560 --> 00:06:52,440 Speaker 1: it's one that's perfectly in keeping with Adam's conception of 105 00:06:52,480 --> 00:06:56,320 Speaker 1: the universe. For, as he puts it quote, the chances 106 00:06:56,400 --> 00:06:59,360 Speaker 1: of finding out what's really going on in the universe 107 00:06:59,560 --> 00:07:02,360 Speaker 1: are so remote the only thing to do is hang 108 00:07:02,440 --> 00:07:06,320 Speaker 1: the sense of it and keep yourself occupied. Reading The 109 00:07:06,400 --> 00:07:09,560 Speaker 1: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, or listening to it or 110 00:07:09,680 --> 00:07:12,320 Speaker 1: watching it would be a great way to do just that. 111 00:07:13,160 --> 00:07:16,080 Speaker 1: You could even pair it with a pangalactic gargle blaster 112 00:07:16,520 --> 00:07:19,360 Speaker 1: or a nice cup of hot tea, depending on your preference. 113 00:07:19,760 --> 00:07:22,600 Speaker 1: But whatever you do to keep yourself occupied, and no 114 00:07:22,680 --> 00:07:25,680 Speaker 1: matter to which corner of the universe your journey may take, you, 115 00:07:26,160 --> 00:07:31,560 Speaker 1: be sure to remember to bring your twel I'm Gabelusier 116 00:07:31,880 --> 00:07:34,840 Speaker 1: and hopefully you now know a little more about history 117 00:07:34,920 --> 00:07:39,200 Speaker 1: today than you did yesterday. If you enjoyed today's episode, 118 00:07:39,440 --> 00:07:43,600 Speaker 1: consider following us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at TDI 119 00:07:44,040 --> 00:07:47,880 Speaker 1: HC Show, and if you have any comments or suggestions, 120 00:07:48,040 --> 00:07:50,520 Speaker 1: feel free to pass them along by writing to this 121 00:07:50,680 --> 00:07:55,040 Speaker 1: Day at iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays for 122 00:07:55,080 --> 00:07:58,120 Speaker 1: producing the show, and thank you for listening. I'll see 123 00:07:58,160 --> 00:08:13,720 Speaker 1: you back here again tomorrow for another day in History class.