Some of the names that appear in Douglas’ books have their real-life counterparts, as does (for example) the cafè in Rickmansworth mentioned in HHGG, which was the Cafè Suisse in Bury Lane, on account of the fact it’s the only one there was at the time…
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Hotblack and Desiato were (are?) Estate Agents in the Islington area.
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Chris Paulin said this in the alt.fan.douglas-adams newsgroup:
: “Recently I described a new species of fish from Fiordland, New Zealand and gave it the scientific name ‘fiordichthys slartibartfasti’, and a second new species from Northern New Zealand as ‘bidenichthys beeblebroxi’.”
So, it seems that Douglas’ works will live on… as a fish.
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Zaphod Beeblebrox, meanwhile, is alive and well and living in Sydney, Australia. A consultation of the Sydney White Pages lists one “Beeblebrox, Z.” Stop in and see him next time you’re passing through, he’d surely enjoy the company.
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Paul Neil Milne Johnston has his own page