I come to say “Bloody big congrats, Kevin!”, not to blubber. It seemed wrong somehow to say nothing to mark the passing on of the Hitchhiker baton, as it were – as if the Adams legacy meant nothing to me, and I had nothing to say on the matter, a decade on. So here we are.

This week sees the publication of the first significant and official Douglas Adams-related book in precisely nine years, since The Frood enjoyed its oh-so-brief time in the sun – up on stage at the Cheltenham Literary Festival with Clive Anderson, Douglas’ brother James Thrift and the ceaselessly missed Terry Jones, plus giving my Arthur Dent in completely brain-boggling, totally ‘unseen’ extracts from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, exclusively gleaned from the Adams Archive in Cambridge.

I’ve supported the new book, ’42’, since first announcement, you’ll find my name proudly there on the long list of pledgers. With a topic like the Douglas Adams universe, no matter how public consciousness of his work may go up and down, it would be laughable to ever expect to have the last word, after all.

The exciting epic story of The Frood’s creation was one of the life developments which inspired this sporadic wee blog in the first place – me, fresh from Blackadder chronicling, feeling particularly keen to involve as much of the H2G2 fanbase during composition as possible from scratch this time – and the saga’s many instalments can be pored over afresh right here: from FIT THE FIRST to the SECOND, THIRD, FOURTH, FIFTH, the ironically named FINAL, and just five years ago, this 40th anniversary FIT – so, technically this entry should be Fit the Eighth, but in honour of the new release, edited by Kevin Jon Davies, let’s go with 42nd.

First of all, if you didn’t already pledge to get it made, DIGITALLY RUN OUT AND GRAB THE BOOK NOW! I hope it breaks the dwindling pattern of Adams-related publication sales, and really zooms Douglas back to the top of the book charts where he belongs. The Frood made me no money, and the stories of the ‘And Another Thing’ pulpings are the stuff of authors’ nightmares.

Anyway, a flick through the above crusty old memories from the magical world of ten years ago, when I was first asked by Preface Publishing and the Douglas Adams estate to become the great giant’s official biographer, show that the emphasis for the book quickly became the excitement of this being the first biography to make use of the Adams Archive at St. John’s College, Cambridge, and I wrote or spoke about this honour in numerous places, from Rolling Stone and the New York Times to The Independent. And even Highgate Cemetery (to living people, I recall).

Therefore, this subsequent exploration entirely centred on the contents of the archive, now more fully explored by editor Kevin, has been a quite complicated thing for daft old me to watch unfold in real time, as the poor sod has been squished through the Unbound wringer to make the book exist.

Seeing pages and pages of my treasured 2013 research being recycled for a new project, no longer anything to do with me, was always going to trigger the odd tug of ennui. Some of the (to me at least) iconic images of ‘The Frood’, like Douglas’ orange exercise book cover, are obviously not mine to covet, but when any such specifically already published material is described in 2023 as ‘unpublished’, just logically, any author is liable to start muttering about chopped liver and eating worms, one way or another. Kevin tells me my book does get a mention in ’42’, so I look forward to finding out how this early foray into the archives is contextualised. Obviously when you’ve worked very hard to create something, you don’t want to see it downplayed unduly.

But I’ve been very lucky, really. Ordinarily in this kind of situation, when it becomes time to take a step back in the queue of people to have written about a popular subject, an outmoded ‘expert’ in a field tends to have their rusty sheriff’s badge – for want of a better term – picked up from the dirt by some hot, arrogant new historian, and has to concede their place in the pantheon of authors, authorised or not, who have written books on the topic in question. Certainly, when I was writing The Frood, the acknowledged H2G2 sage Mike Simpson was courteous but understandably a little frosty when I got in touch to thank him for any pointers from his ‘Hitchhiker’ which came in useful, while previous official biographer Nick Webb had recently passed on – and Neil Gaiman’s ‘Don’t Panic’ has only ever functioned as a narrative of its time, exploring Adams’ ongoing career long before it ended, so it really doesn’t count.

However, I never claimed to be the world’s greatest Adams expert, just a lover of his work who knows how to write comedy history effectively and entertainingly. If anyone has ever come to me seeking real detailed Adams knowledge off the bat, I have aways happily and sincerely doffed my cap to regular Adams walk leader David Haddock, and above all… the legendary Kevin Jon Davies! I bow to them both, at the depth of their retention of Adamsian ephemera.

I still smart from the time that John Lloyd texted me to ask the exact postal address he had shared with Douglas back in 1976 or whenever it was, and having to admit to my long-time supporter and comedy-producing hero that I was buggered if I knew details like that – but I could think of a couple of fellows who were far more intimate with that kind of minutiae than me. It’s never fun to disappoint those who clearly see you as an oracle – or, perhaps the flipside, a comedy anorak. I carefully researched and wrote a book on the subject and retain a good deal of information, but there are always those who know more, and remember more.

Kev has earned his rightful place at the top of the Hitchhiker knowledge tree over decades as an active part of the Hitchhiker’s Guide family, and indeed he’s inescapably part of the story himself, and the creator of the Illustrated H2G2 book. So it would be as illogical as it would be churlish to resent his editing of this new collection of rare material one iota. To cap it all, I know Kevin has had a truly awful time of it health-wise while putting the book together, so I’m one of many many friends and fellow Hitchhiker fans who are just glad that he’s still around at all to celebrate the publication of ’42’. It’s a hugely deserved season of achievement for the dear bloke, and I wish him every bit of success with it. 

Besides, obviously, as a fan, I’m looking forward to seeing some of the material that The Frood didn’t manage to turn up a decade ago. My book was bursting with incredible stuff for any fan of Adams’ work, but being the first raider of the not-all-that-lost archives, at the time I was working desperately against the clock before the archivist herself had fully had time to prepare the many many boxes of papery half-thoughts and rejected manuscripts Douglas left behind! It was pure ‘supermarket sweep’ time for me, a daring smash and grab raid, so although I was proud to have unearthed all I did, there was always going to be more for others to dig up, in a more leisurely manner.

This is before we even dare to consider Douglas Adams’ unquestionably vast digital archive – keeper Robbie Stamp refused to share any actual material from it, despite The Frood being an official biography, and only allowed me a rough vocal guide to what was hidden on that hard-drive over the phone, picking and choosing what he wished to tell me about as he pushed his cursor up and down. There’s going to be at least one book waiting right there, just anticipating the greenlight from the Adams estate, as it now stands. There will always be more crumbs for the most hardened fans to hoover up.

But I think the main reason I’m able to shake off those painful moments when it feels like my hard work of a decade ago might have been forgotten is that I remain steadfastly proud of The Frood. I think it’s a gloriously funny book, a loving tribute, packed with adventure, and I remain 100% confident I did a good job, and that I did fully honour the trust put in me by the likes of Ed Victor and Douglas’ wonderful Mum Janet – two figures no longer around to confer approval of what is done with their boy’s posthumous output. Speaking as a life-long Hitchhiker’s Guide and Dirk Gently fan, I still can’t help feeling that The Frood is the best Douglas Adams biography, more comprehensive than any previous attempts, still yet to be hopelessly out of date, and – dare I brag it with big swinging parts – it’s simply a bloody good read, right up to the last page (inclusive). Perhaps this paragraph is lacking a ‘so there’, but I feel like being honest.

Whenever any new info leaks out about Clue, Blackadder, Hitchhiker’s Guide, Fry & Laurie or The Beatles’ comedy, of course it’s a punch to the gut that I can’t just go back and make my books on those subject that bit more all-encompassing, but that’s the life of the non-fiction author. You do your best, then you have to step back, and hope nobody undoes all your good work too soon, and too badly. 

I have terrific faith that Kevin knows exactly what he’s doing, following in The Frood’s nine-year-old slipstream, and am currently staring impatiently at my doormat, waiting to tear open the Unbound-emblazoned envelope and get stuck in. But no matter what the fate of ’42’, The Frood still abides.