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

In the new issue of Doctor Who Magazine they have a feature on the 1987 adventure 'Paradise Towers' in which they mention that one of the smaller roles, that of a young Caretaker who gets killed off early on, was played by a young actor called Joseph Young. They reveal that Joe Young is the son of one of the Kaye Sisters.

Now, the Kaye Sisters were like the Sugababes of the 1950s, and it just so happens that my second cousin, Michael Sangster, was at one time married to Shan (AKA Shirley), the youngest of the three Kaye sisters. It's her sister Carole that gave birth to young fella-me-lad from 'Paradise Towers'.

So my second cousin was his mum's brother-in-law.

A few pages on from this little revelation (not that it said all of
this in the archive - their researcher's good, but not *that* good), I read that a company called BBV have done an audio play about a knight who appeared in one of the old Doctor Who novels, 'Sanctuary', and he's played by someone called Joe Young.

Now I'm wondering if he's the same bloke as the one from 'Paradise Towers'?

Even though I have a pretty good knowledge of Doctor Who actors, I've never actually noticed this actor's name before (it was a VERY small part he played) and it's kind of funny to see the same name twice in an issue of Doctor Who Magazine a few weeks after you find out your second cousin was married to a celebrity in the '50s.

was that the first guy who was walking around then got ate up by that machine?

Now, if you're an actor, then you will more than likely be a member of Equity. And I know that Paul Merton changed his name from Paul Martin as there was already a member of Equity called Paul Martin. So perhaps it's safe to assume that two UK actors with the same name will be the same person.

Maybe.

I've had it confirmed that he is the same bloke. Weird.

.... and yes, spook, he's the caretaker who's walking around the corridors terrified and then gets [whatever]ed by the cleaners.

This reminds me of something that I discovered several months ago...

A very close friend of my mother's died. I knew the guy, but not well. He was a likeable one, though, and I felt bad for his passing. He was one of those with the really gruff exterior, but with a soft, marshmallowy center. He reminded me of my grandfather in that respect. I felt worse for the girlfriend he left behind, whom I know better than I knew him. A sweeter, kinder lady you'll never meet, nor one so comically absent-minded.

My mom went over to their house to help his girlfriend with her grief. My mom was helping her sort out his affairs and, they were going through his stuff when the phone rang. My mom answered the phone, and she spoke to actress Sharon Stone, who had called to express her condolences and to ask if there was anything that she could do. Through the course of the conversation, my mom learned that Sharon grew up in the same town in Pennsylvania that he had come from, and the two had been quite close. She had looked up to him quite a bit as a little girl.

A few days later, the punchline occured to me (hey, maybe I'm twisted, but I think everything in life has a punchline, if you look for it): I knew my mom's friend, who was a friend to Sharon Stone in her childhood, who was in "He Said, She Said" with Kevin Bacon.

At the risk of being inappropriate ...

A genuine 'Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon'!

I know I can do this, being such a meeja whore, but let's see. To be a real 'Six Degrees' it has to have six exact moves, so...

1] I'm friends with a writer called Steven Moffat.
2] Steven has written a script called 'Me Again', which is being filmed at the mo with Bruce Willis in the starring role.
3] Bruce Willis was in '12 Monkeys' with Brad Pitt.
4] Avoiding an easier shortcut I could make with his wife, Brad Pitt was in 'Friends' as an old schoolfriend of Courtney Cox's.
5] Courtney Cox was in 'Scream' with Neve Campbell.
6] Neve Campbell starred in 'Wild Things' alongside... Kevin Bacon!

It's easy to make that kind of connection when you work in the media, but to have Sharon Stone call you out of the blue is so randomly weird, you definitely win on 'Cool points' there.

hey - if you can work out a five for you, then I can have a 'six degrees of Kevin Bacon' too (I lack the media knowledge to work one out for myself, ignorant and lazy child that I am)

Easy - just cut straight from Brad Pitt to Jenifer Anniston (his missus), and then link Jen to Kevin B via their 1997 movie 'Picture Perfect'.

Steven Moffat is a handy mate to have for this game. I know his producer from 'Press Gang' days, Sandra Hastie (I wrote my first book on the series, and I know that makes me sound like a horrific bragger, for which I apologise) who (and this is where it gets a bit spooky) has been friends of our exec producer at h2g2, Richard Creasey, since his old days at Central TV. She also worked with Mel Gibson at one point, which gives us loads of 'Six Degrees' points, and of course she gave Julia Sawalha her big casting break which links us to anyone who was ever a guest star in Ab-fab, or worked with Kenneth Branagh. Lindy Layton (the voice of Beats International) appeared in an episode of Press Gang (and so links us to Norman Cooke/Fat Boy Slim) and Sadie Frost was in two episodes of the series, which links us to Keanu Reaves, Winona Ryder and everyone else who appeared in Francis Coppola's Dracula (which in turn links us to anyone who worked with Robert De Niro, which is a mega-handy link). And Lucy Benjamin went from Press Gang to EastEnders, playing Phil Mitchell's on-off girlfriend Lisa, which links us to... everyone in British TV!

Six Degrees of Jimster's horrendous name-dropping... a new game, perhaps?

Please can you find any pictures of Dragon Ball Z?

You're best posting to 'Ask h2g2' about that, my friend. I have no idea what Dragon Ball Z is.

(Actually, I know *what* it is, but that's the sum total of by knowledge)