Cabinet of Curiosities - Day 24

Today's curiosity consists of two very special books.

First up it's a signed copy of The Meaning of Liff by Douglas Adams and John Lloyd.

I was very lucky to meet Douglas a few times before his ridiculously early death. The first time was at the premises of Save the Rhino, a charity that he believed passionately in and for which was proud to be a founder patron. His only non-fiction book (and my favourite book of all time) Last Chance to See had been published the year before (1990). It was co-authored with naturalist Mark Carwardine and I had a first edition hardback copy that I asked him to sign. 

I went on to meet him a few more times and, at one of those occasions (at the now sadly defunct Museum of the Moving Image) I asked him to sign my copy of The Meaning of Liff.

Tragically, Douglas then left us in 2001.

Because of my connection to several people who worked with him I was invited to the first Douglas Adams Memorial Lecture at the Royal Institution in 2003. It was hosted by Stephen Fry, featured a lecture by Professor Richard Dawkins and in the audience were people from all walks of Douglas's life, including half of Pink Floyd and the Monty Python crew. After the event, I had the chance to chat to a few other guests including Douglas's widow Jane, Dave Gilmour, Terry Jones and Stephen Fry. Stephen, in turn, introduced me to John Lloyd and we got on famously. In due course (and on publication of my first book, for which Stephen kindly wrote a cover quote), John invited me to contribute to the QI annuals and, ultimately, to the QI books and the TV and radio shows. And, of course, I asked John to sign my copy of The Meaning of Liff, so his and Douglas's signatures were finally together, albeit written a decade apart.

And then, in 2009, Stephen Fry and Mark Carwardine embarked on a journey (and TV series) to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Douglas's Last Chance to See adventure. I was, by now, a fully-fledged member of the QI team and one of the show's primary writers. You can therefore imagine my delight when Stephen told me that Mark was coming along as a guest to watch us record an episode at the London Studios. Mark was a lovely chap to chat to in the Green Room and, yes, of course I got him to sign my 1990 copy of the book - 20 years after Douglas had signed it for me.

As a footnote, I'll also mention that Douglas's daughter Polly worked as an intern on the TV show around that time. She's a remarkable young woman and we're still in contact to this day.

So, today's curiosities are two very special signed books written by some very special people.

But there is one more special book to come ...