Hitchhikers Guide material to get its first airing

Details of the previously unseen Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy material to be exclusively performed at Chortle's comedy book festival have been revealed.

Writer Jem Roberts has unearthed reams of previously undiscovered archive material from Douglas Adams as part of his research for a new biography, The Frood. Among them is the rare photo of Adams above from one of his famous Partially Unplugged parties, courtesy of the Thrift family,

Roberts's stash includes unfinished drafts of a second Hitchhiker TV series that never got made, reams of printed notes for an abandoned Dirk Gently book, A Spoon Too Short, and numerous abandoned chapters for Mostly Harmless.

But the cornerstone of the performance at the Chortle Comedy Book Festival next week will be a chapter from Life The Universe & Everything that was ditched before publication. In the extract, Angst In Space, Zaphod Beeblebrox faces a court interrogation.

Roberts will present the lost chapter with Toby Longworth, who played Slartibartfast in the last Hitchhikers Guide stage tour. Longworth also used to be in the Rubber Bishops comedy double act with a pre-fame Bill Bailey.

Roberts said: 'I'll be in Arthur gear, and we're doing a combination of favourite extracts and rare scenes, either solo or as full performances, In Between bits of chat about The Frood and the archives.'

The event takes place at the London Irish Centre on November 10, as part of the book festival that also includes appearances from Monty Python legend Terry Jones, The Thick Of It star Rebecca Front and stand-ups Omid Djalili, Lucy Porter, Jenny Eclair and more.

For tickets and full details visit comedybookfest.com

Published: 3 Nov 2014