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Ford Prefect (character)
Ford Prefect (also called Ix) is a fictional character in ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' by the British author Douglas Adams. His role as Arthur Dent's friend – and rescuer, when the Earth is unexpectedly demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass at the start of the story – is often expository, as Ford is an experienced galactic hitch-hiker and explains that he is actually an alien journalist, a field researcher for the titular ''Guide'' itself, and not an out-of-work actor from Guildford as he had hitherto claimed. Name Although Ford had taken great care to blend into Earth society, he had "skimped a bit on his preparatory research," and thought that the name "Ford Prefect" would be "nicely inconspicuous." The Ford Prefect was a popular British car manufactured from 1938 to 1961, and Adams later clarified in an interview that Ford "had simply mistaken the dominant life form" of Earth. This was expanded on somewhat in the film version, where Ford is almost run ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Dixon
David Dixon (born 28 October 1947) is an English actor and screenwriter. He was born at the Nightingale Maternity Home in Derby, near his father's shop in London Road, and brought up there before the family moved to Normanton in 1959. Dixon's most notable role was in the 1981 BBC TV series ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'', in which he starred as Ford Prefect. He also received critical acclaim for his portrayal of Ariel in the 1980 BBC version of '' The Tempest'' (directed by John Gorrie). He would later rejoin the ''Hitchhiker's Guide'' by lending his voice to the "Ecological Man" and the "Zirzla Leader" in Fit the Twentieth of the radio series, while Geoffrey McGivern, who had originally played the character on radio, returned to the role of Ford. Despite a relatively sparse TV and film career, David Dixon has over the years acquired a loyal fan following online who call themselves "Dixonites". Filmography * ''A Family at War'' (1970) (TV series) – Robert Ashton ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ford Consul
The Ford Consul is a car that was manufactured by Ford of Britain from 1951 until 1962. The name was later revived for a model produced by Ford in both the UK and in Germany from 1972 until 1975. Between 1951 and 1962, the Consul was the four-cylinder base model of the three-model Ford Zephyr range, comprising Consul, Zephyr, and Zephyr Zodiac. In 1956, the line was restyled. In 1962, the Consul was replaced by the Zephyr 4, the mid-range Zephyr model becoming the Zephyr 6, and the top-of-the-range Zephyr Zodiac just being called the Zodiac. At this point, Consul became a range of smaller cars in its own right, initially the Consul Classic and Consul Capri, shortly joined by the even smaller Consul Cortina. The Consul Classic was only made for two years (August 1961 - March 1963), before being replaced by the Consul Corsair. The Consul Capri was made from October 1961 until August 1964. The Consul Classic, the Consul Capri, and the Consul Corsair (made from 1963 until 1970) w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Hope (actor)
Richard Hope is a British actor who gained recognition from ''Brideshead Revisited'' as the doltish junior officer, Hooper, under Jeremy Irons charge. He is best known for playing Harris Pascoe in the UK TV drama ''Poldark''. His theatre career includes in 1996, when he played Pierre Bezukhov in ''War and Peace'' at the Royal National Theatre having starred in another Tolstoy adaptation by Helen Edmundson, playing Levin in ''Anna Karenina''. In 2015, he played Hector in '' The History Boys''. In 2018–2019, he starred in the West End production ''The Woman in Black'' as Arthur Kipps. Career In 1978, Laurence Olivier gave him his first main professional TV part in '' Laurence Olivier Presents'' ''Saturday, Sunday, Monday'' by Eduardo de Filippo. He worked with him again in 1981 when he appeared in the first and last episodes of ''Brideshead Revisited'' in which he played Lieutenant Hooper. He played Ford Prefect in the first stage production of Douglas Adams ''The Hitchhike ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy (film)
''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' is a 2005 science fiction comedy film directed by Garth Jennings, based upon previous works in the media franchise of the same name, created by Douglas Adams. It stars Martin Freeman, Sam Rockwell, Mos Def, Zooey Deschanel, Bill Nighy, Anna Chancellor, John Malkovich, and the voices of Stephen Fry, Helen Mirren, Thomas Lennon, Richard Griffiths, Ian McNeice, Bill Bailey and Alan Rickman. Adams co-wrote the screenplay with Karey Kirkpatrick but died in 2001, before production began; the film is dedicated to Adams. The film received positive reviews from critics and grossed over $100 million worldwide. Plot One Thursday morning, Arthur Dent discovers that his house is to be immediately demolished to make way for a bypass. He tries delaying the bulldozers by lying down in front of them. Ford Prefect, a friend of Arthur's, convinces him to go to a pub with him. Over several pints of beer, Ford explains that he is an alien from the v ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy (radio Series)
''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' is a science fiction comedy radio series primarily written by Douglas Adams. It was originally broadcast in the United Kingdom by BBC Radio 4 in 1978, and afterwards the BBC World Service, National Public Radio in the US and CBC Radio in Canada. The series was the first radio comedy programme to be produced in stereo, and was innovative in its use of music and sound effects, winning a number of awards. The series follows the adventures of hapless Englishman Arthur Dent and his friend Ford Prefect, an alien who writes for ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'', a pan-galactic encyclopaedia and travel guide. After Earth is destroyed in the first episode, Arthur and Ford find themselves aboard a stolen spaceship piloted by Zaphod Beeblebrox (Ford's semi-cousin and Galactic President), depressed robot Marvin, and Trillian, the only other human survivor of Earth's destruction. A pilot programme was commissioned in March 1977, and was reco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe
''The Restaurant at the End of the Universe'' is the second book in the ''Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' comedy science fiction "trilogy" by Douglas Adams, and is a sequel. It was originally published by Pan Books as a paperback in 1980. The book was inspired by the song " Grand Hotel" by British rock band Procol Harum. The book title refers to ''Milliways'', the Restaurant at the End of the Universe, one of the settings of the book. Elements of it are adapted from the radio series, primarily the Secondary Phase, although Milliways itself, Arthur and Ford's final fate come from Fits the Fifth and Sixth of the Primary Phase. Plot summary Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, Trillian, and Zaphod Beeblebrox leave the planet Magrathea on the ''Heart of Gold''. A Vogon ship bribed by Gag Halfrunt and a group of psychiatrists, fearful that the discovery of the Ultimate Question will end their profession, intercepts and fires at them. Meanwhile, Arthur gets frustrated that the ship i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mostly Harmless
''Mostly Harmless'' is a 1992 novel by Douglas Adams and the fifth book in the ''Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' series. It is described on the cover of the first edition as "The fifth book in the increasingly inaccurately named Hitchhikers Trilogy". It was the last ''Hitchhiker's'' book written by Adams and his final book released in his lifetime. Title The title derives from a joke early in the series, when Arthur Dent discovers that the entry for Earth in ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' consists, in its entirety, of the word "Harmless". His friend Ford Prefect, a contributor to the ''Guide'', assures him that the next edition will contain the article on Earth that Ford has spent the last 15 years researching — somewhat cut due to space restrictions, but still an improvement. The revised article, he eventually admits, will simply read "''Mostly'' harmless". Ford had written an extensive entry covering life and recreation on Earth, but the ''Guide'' editors cut i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vogon
The Vogons are a fictional alien race from the planet Vogsphere in ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''—initially a BBC Radio series by Douglas Adams—who are responsible for the destruction of the Earth, in order to facilitate an intergalactic highway construction project for a hyperspace express route. Vogons are slug-like but vaguely humanoid, are bulkier than humans, and have green skin. Vogons are described as "one of the most unpleasant races in the galaxy—not actually evil, but bad-tempered, bureaucratic, officious and callous", and having "as much sex appeal as a road accident" as well as being the authors of "the third worst poetry in the universe". They are employed as the galactic government's bureaucrats. According to Marvin the Paranoid Android, they are also the worst marksmen in the galaxy. Description Appearance and personality Guide Description: Vogons are roughly human-sized, although much bulkier, with green or grey skin. Their noses are above t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marks And Spencer
Marks and Spencer Group plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks's or Marks & Sparks) is a major British multinational retailer with headquarters in Paddington, London that specialises in selling clothing, beauty, home products and food products. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index; it had previously been in the FTSE 100 Index from its creation until 2019. M&S was founded in 1884 by Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer in Leeds. M&S currently has 959 stores across the UK, including 615 that only sell food products and through its television advertising, asserts the exclusive nature and luxury of its food and beverages. It also offers an online food delivery service through a joint venture with Ocado. In 1998, the company became the first British retailer to make a pre-tax profit of over £1 billion, although it then went into a sudden slump taking the company and its stakeholders by surprise. In Novemb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
UFO Sightings
This is a partial list by date of sightings of alleged unidentified flying objects (UFOs), including reports of close encounters and alien abductions. Second millennium BCE Classical antiquity 8th century 16th–17th centuries 19th century 20th century 1909–1948 1950–1974 1975–2000 21st century By location See also * List of alleged extraterrestrial beings * List of unexplained explosion events * Space jellyfish A space jellyfish (or ''jellyfish UFO''; also ''rocket jellyfish'') is a rocket launch-related phenomenon caused by sunlight reflecting off the high altitude rocket plume gases emitted by a launching rocket during morning or evening twilight. The ..., a type of UFO also containing a list of sightings. * Table of reports during the 1947 flying disc craze * UFO sightings in outer space Notes and references {{DEFAULTSORT:Sightings, List Of Ufo UFO-related lists ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marvin The Paranoid Android
Marvin the Paranoid Android is a fictional character in ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' series by Douglas Adams. Marvin is the ship's robot aboard the starship ''Heart of Gold''. Originally built as one of many failed prototypes of Sirius Cybernetics Corporation's ''GPP'' (Genuine People Personalities) technology, Marvin is afflicted with severe depression and boredom, in part because he has a "brain the size of a planet" which he is seldom, if ever, given the chance to use. Instead, the crew request him merely to carry out mundane jobs such as "opening the door". Indeed, the true horror of Marvin's existence is that no task he could be given would occupy even the tiniest fraction of his vast intellect. Marvin claims he is 50,000 times more intelligent than a human (or 30 billion times more intelligent than a live mattress), though this is, if anything, an underestimation. When kidnapped by the bellicose Krikkit robots and tied to the interfaces of their intelligent wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trillian (character)
Tricia Marie McMillan, also known as Trillian Astra, is a fictional character from Douglas Adams' series ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''. She is most commonly referred to simply as "Trillian", a modification of her birth name, which she adopted because it sounded more "space-like". According to the movie version, her middle name is Marie. Physically, she is described as "a slim, darkish humanoid, with long waves of black hair, a full mouth, an odd little knob of a nose and ridiculously brown eyes," looking "vaguely Arabic." Biography Tricia McMillan is a mathematician and astrophysicist whom Arthur Dent attempted to talk to at a party in Islington. She and Arthur next meet six months later on the spaceship Heart of Gold, shortly after the Earth has been destroyed to make way for a hyperspace bypass. The trilogy later reveals that Trillian eventually left the party with Zaphod Beeblebrox, who, according to the Quintessential Phase, is directly responsible for her nic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
