h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Weren't Vic and Bob influenced by Eric and Ernie? I know they did that song with Tom Jones that Eric and Ernie had done previously... I don't remember what it was called though.

Under Vic's biography: how did James Moir become Vic Reeves?

Under Bob's biography: "helping people **whose** flats were infested".

Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased): 'Fast Show' isn't really part of Charlie Higson's name, is it? If not, put it in inverted commas.

Good point about Eric and Ernie - Vic is obviously heavily influenced by Eric Morecambe, even aping many of his trademark sight gags (e.g. business with the glasses, or the sudden and pointless turn-to-grin-at-camera)

"'Fast Show' isn't really part of Charlie Higson's name, is it? If not, put it in inverted commas."

Yes, sir! I've now put it in inverted commas but kept the italics. Thank you for pointing it out (I've also changed 'who's' to 'whose'). One thing though, Pete - is there any chance you can express your 'gripes' with a little more charm? The above sentence comes across as a bit, well... rude. What do you reckon?

All the best for now,

Sam.

I seem to recall that the connection between Vic and Eric went further as he was often seen departing the show in a flat cap, mack with a paper shopping bag - can't recall whether that was specifically "Big Night Out" or "Smell"?

I should have thought about this before writing, but another aspect worth mentioning from "Big Night Out" was Novelty Island, which lasted throughout the run of the show. I have side-splitting memories of Vic in his suit with clipboard in hand standing on the little white, picket fenced grassy island inviting various no-hope acts to do a "turn" - probably a memory of the awful clubs Vic played in. I believe Charlie Higson was amongst the run on extras in Big Night Out - certainly Smell.

And what about the fact that the Stott's appeared on Big Night and reappeared for Bang Bang?! Classic characters... and Marzipan (mind you, Marzipans personal... it's a private thing).

With hindsight, I agree about the Charlie Higson sentence. However, the "who's" thing is so obvious that somebody should have spotted it.

Perhaps I could send the complaints/corrections by email...

There are, as you can see, a few things adrift in this article at the moment. Hang in there and the additions that have been posted with be merged into the whole - forming something newer and more complete. That's the idea of the Guide, afterall - ever changing, ever expanding.

There's an unfortunate typo in the music section. Vic's hits included a version of "Abide With Me", the well-known hymn, not "Aide With Me" - although the latter does sound like the sort of song title Vic might come up with!

Also, I think it should be mentioned that "Dizzy" was a collaboration with the West Midlands indie-rock band The Wonder Stuff, who were then regular chart entrants in their own right. The combination of their name with Vic's must have helped the record's passage to number one. Likewise, "I'm A Believer" was a collaboration with another then-popular band, EMF.

I am, however, pleased to see that the usual clumsy h2g2 system of labelling on Entries seems to have been abandoned here - i.e. it's entitled "Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer", not "Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer - Comedians".

I do hope that policy has been dropped. I think there's something a bit silly about Entry titles like "The Beatles - The Band" (you know, just in case you might have thought it was about The Beatles, the landscape gardeners). I've been hoping that someone would write an entry on Bob Dylan's old collaborators The Band, so we could have "The Band - The Band".

Pete, I take your point about 'who's' and 'whose' but we are occasionally allowed to make mistakes. Aren't we? Actually, maybe not. (Mark's clearing my desk as I write this. ) There's no need to send emails; we're an open house, and a polite one at that.
I'll correct 'Aide With Me' but the rest of the info mentioned will have to sit in the threads for the time being, at least until we have a more sophisticated updating facility - we simply don't have time/resources here at the minute to constantly (manually) update entries.

As for Ormie's point re: 'Clumsy Labels' well... it's a fair point (and a fair cop) but we are going to change it now to 'Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer - Comedians'. Wait! Wait! There's method in our madness! Honest... Not *everyone* knows who the Beatles are (well, maybe they do - but it's possible an eight-year-old might not, and we do have eight-year-old Researchers). Not everyone knows who Adam Smith (the economist) is or Anne McCaffrey (author). It also helps if we have two different famous folk with the same name: Adam Clayton - Musician (bassist with U2); and Adam Clayton - Philosopher and Activist. Also, by having a wee (admittedly occasionally clumsy) descriptor after a title, it allows us a little extra scope on multiple entries on the same topic, ie, The Beatles - the Band, The Beatles - the Conspiracy, the Beatles - the Haircuts and so on....

Sam.

Also, when it mentioned 'Dizzy' I added the words 'sung alongside much-loved Black Country stompers, The Wonderstuff.'

Incidentally, the bassist, Paul Clifford went to my middle school in Halesowen and the whole band used to frequent a grotty little pub called The Swan in Stourbridge along with Clint from PWEI and members of Ned's Atomic Dustbin.

Them were the days, arrr!

Thanks, Sam - and I do take your points about the descriptors, awkward though they are sometimes. There's a great Entry currently in Peer Review that deals with both the book and film versions of the story "The Virgin Suicides", so it'll be interesting to see how that gets dealt with if it takes its deserved place in the Edited Guide!

Yes, there was a time when the Black Country was the hippest place around, wasn't there? Not just the Stuffies, but Pop Will Eat Itself, Ned's Atomic Dustbin... Stourbridge, home of the hits!

Not to mention the Wurzels.

Anyway, my reason for posting is to moan about the spelling of "Middlesbrough", which has had an extra "o" inserted throughout.