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

I eagerly await Spring, and would welcome a rhinoceros with roses.

I watched an old "Hollywood squares" episode in which one question ran, "What part of a rhino is matted hair?"

Answer: The horn.

35 million years ago. The transition to dry, grass-covered plains. Grasses started to really thrive 30 million years ago, so this may have been a stage along that route.

Hello! Well a rhinoceros with roses? I might be able to arrange that ...

What was Hollywood Squares exactly?

A television show in which celebrities sitting at desks helped contestants play 'tic tac toe' (noughts and crosses) by answering questions correctly or incorrectly. A correct identification of celebrity accuracy got you your nought or cross, winning the usual 'fabulous prizes'.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bjjuq3ftfLw

I've seen that episode a couple of times.

I looked up game shows of the 1950s, and was amused to see how many of them were sponsored by cigarettes. Dancers wearing large cigarette boxes would prance about the stage. Times were different....

Heh heh I actually watched that, what a lot of materialism there!

Yeah a different time ...

And for me a different place, too.

We had TV game shows in South Africa. Generally they were very stupid ...

There were some that weren't that stupid, like quiz shows where you actually had to have a decent amount of general knowledge. There was 'Flinkdink' and a few others. My dad actually took part in one, and he did well! It was about the same time as the episode you linked, Dmitri, late nineteen seventies (TV only came to South Africa in the mid-seventies). And what he won was actually not bad. He won several encyclopedias! Suited him fine, he being a librarian. And one of them is a book I'm still using a lot, a big encyclopedia about Life on Earth.

That's .

You know, I'm now wondering if that quiz show was on TV or on the radio. I checked in the encyclopedias and my dad won them in 1976. In South Africa, TV only first started in 1976. And while I have a memory of seeing my dad on TV, it might be a false memory, just personal make-believe. In 1976 I would have been four years old. Well not that young, I do have other memories from around that time ... but still, it makes it a bit iffy. While I can remember the quiz show 'Flinkdink', I can't remember 'Kennisbou' (the show my dad did well in) ever having been on TV. So maybe radio?

My favorite game show is "What's my line," which lasted from 1950 to2000. The best run was the one from 1950 t0 1968.

Wow that's a long-running show! I've seen the episode with Salvador Dali.