Beware of the Leopard: the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy podcast
158 episodes - English - Latest episode: 5 months ago - ★★★★★ - 8 ratingsNew additions to the book with the famous words "Don't Panic" on the cover. Smart and funny, fusing real-world observation with a writing style Douglas Adams fans have sorely missed.
With each topic, the panel of authors and performers present an essay in the style of a Hitchhiker's Guide entry, which is then discussed in a format that fans of BBC radio comedy know well, but with a 21st century twist.
Whether you've only read the first book, seen the film, or are completely new to the world of Arthur Dent and his friends, Beware of the Leopard will make you chuckle, and if you're a really cool frood, you'll love the team's attention to detail. And if you're new our podcast, check out our previous season in which the team discussed every known thing in Douglas Adams' sprawling universe (or the Whole Sort of General Mishmash, as it's known).
Homepage Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Episodes
From Striterax to Slartibartfast
January 24, 2019 00:00 - 49 minutes - 34.6 MBMark and the Jons are back off their Christmas break and ready to continue through the S section of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Silastic Armorfiends of Striterax The best way to pick a fight with a Silastic Armorfiends of Striterax was just to be born. They didn’t like it, they got resentful. And when an Armorfiend got resentful, someone got hurt. They were the first race who ever managed to shock a computer. The computer in question was Hactar, and they commissioned hi...
2018 Christmas special
December 27, 2018 00:00 - 1 hour - 46.5 MBJoin Mark, Danny and the Jons as they ring in 2019 with a Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy pub quiz, in which every single round – every single one – is completely and 100% to do with the Douglas Adams sci-fi universe.
55: 2018 Christmas special
December 27, 2018 00:00 - 1 hour - 47.6 MBJoin Mark, Danny and the Jons as they ring in 2019 with a Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy pub quiz, in which every single round – every single one – is completely and 100% to do with the Douglas Adams sci-fi universe.
54: From Sens-o-Tape to the Siderial Daily Mentioner
December 20, 2018 00:00 - 35 minutes - 26 MBJoin Mark, Jon and Danny as they continue traversing the S section of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Sens-o-Tape Sens-o-Tape is another piece of VR equipment. In the first book, Arthur gets strapped into a machine that shows him how the Magratheans discovered the Ultimate Answer. Sesefras Magna Sesefras Magna is a planet around which Ford is orbiting when he hooks up a ship to the Speaking Clock on Earth, and where Xaxisians dock their battle fleet. Its sun is Zondostina, known to Sese...
From Sens-o-Tape to the Siderial Daily Mentioner
December 20, 2018 00:00 - 35 minutes - 24.9 MBJoin Mark, Jon and Danny as they continue traversing the S section of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Sens-o-Tape Sens-o-Tape is another piece of VR equipment. In the first book, Arthur gets strapped into a machine that shows him how the Magratheans discovered the Ultimate Answer. Sesefras Magna Sesefras Magna is a planet around which Ford is orbiting when he hooks up a ship to the Speaking Clock on Earth, and where Xaxisians dock their battle fleet. Its sun is Zondostina,...
From Saquo-Pilia Hensha to Sector ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha
December 13, 2018 00:00 - 33 minutes - 23.8 MBJoin Mark, Jon and Danny as they traverse the S section of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Saquo-Pilia Hensha King Antwelm made a famous assumption that what everybody wanted, all other things being equal, was to be happy and enjoy themselves and have the best possible time together. On his death he had willed his entire personal fortune to financing an annual festival to remind everyone of this, with lots of good food and dancing and very silly games like Hunt the Wocket. H...
53: From Saquo-Pilia Hensha to Sector ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha
December 13, 2018 00:00 - 33 minutes - 24.9 MBJoin Mark, Jon and Danny as they traverse the S section of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Saquo-Pilia Hensha King Antwelm made a famous assumption that what everybody wanted, all other things being equal, was to be happy and enjoy themselves and have the best possible time together. On his death he had willed his entire personal fortune to financing an annual festival to remind everyone of this, with lots of good food and dancing and very silly games like Hunt the Wocket. His Assumptio...
From Rula Lenska to Santraginus V
December 06, 2018 00:00 - 44 minutes - 32.4 MBJoin Mark and the Jons as they finish up the R section of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and make a move on the Ss. Rula Lenska Rula Lenska plays Lintilla and her clones, and the Guide in bird form in the radio series. Russell Russell is Fenchurch's brother. To Arthur's mind, the name Russell always suggested burly men with blond moustaches and blow-dried hair, who would at the slightest provocation start wearing velvet tuxedos and frilly shirtfronts and would then have to be forci...
52: From Rula Lenska to Santraginus V
December 06, 2018 00:00 - 44 minutes - 21 MBJoin Mark and the Jons as they finish up the R section of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and make a move on the Ss. Rula Lenska Rula Lenska plays Lintilla and her clones, and the Guide in bird form in the radio series. Russell Russell is Fenchurch’s brother. To Arthur’s mind, the name Russell always suggested burly men with blond moustaches and blow-dried hair, who would at the slightest provocation start wearing velvet tuxedos and frilly shirtfronts and would then have t...
From reverse temporal engineering to Roosta
November 29, 2018 00:00 - 37 minutes - 27.7 MBJoin Mark, Jon and Danny as they traverse the R section of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Reverse temporal engineering Reverse temporal engineering is a new technology of "unfiltered perception", which is a marvellous way of making anything you want to have happen, happen, without all that tedious mucking about with probability drives or Italian waiters. Danny, is there a name for the kind of thing you add to a sci-fi or fantasy universe that can just solve any problem? Is it a deus...
51: From reverse temporal engineering to Roosta
November 29, 2018 00:00 - 37 minutes - 17.9 MBJoin Mark, Jon and Danny as they traverse the R section of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Reverse temporal engineering Reverse temporal engineering is a new technology of “unfiltered perception”, which is a marvellous way of making anything you want to have happen, happen, without all that tedious mucking about with probability drives or Italian waiters. Danny, is there a name for the kind of thing you add to a sci-fi or fantasy universe that can just solve any problem? Is...
Loose tiles vol 1
November 22, 2018 00:00 - 36 minutes - 26.7 MBMark and Jon Hickman welcome Danny back to the Leopard with an episode in which we pull out random letters from the Scrabble bag. Warning: your mother would not approve of you listening to this episode. We discuss feedback from Twitter and email, educate Danny on the Baby Shark phenomenon, learn more about the Mandela effect, and Jon continues to make fun of Mark for liking heavily-detailed Swedish crime-fiction. We also look into staffing and casting a hypothetical Random Dent TV series, J...
50: Loose tiles vol 1
November 22, 2018 00:00 - 36 minutes - 17.3 MBMark and Jon Hickman welcome Danny back to the Leopard with an episode in which we pull out random letters from the Scrabble bag. Warning: your mother would not approve of you listening to this episode. We discuss feedback from Twitter and email, educate Danny on the Baby Shark phenomenon, learn more about the Mandela effect, and Jon continues to make fun of Mark for liking heavily-detailed Swedish crime-fiction. We also look into staffing and casting a hypothetical Random Dent TV...
From the Radiophonic Workshop to Reg Nullify
November 15, 2018 00:00 - 37 minutes - 27.1 MBJoin Mark and the Jons as they continue through the R section of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Radiophonic Workshop The Radiopohinc Workshop was a BBC department that mae music and noises for BBC programmes, originally for radio and then for TV too. Arguably their most famous contribution is the Doctor Who theme. They were formed in 1958 and carried on for another 40 years until John Birt, the then Director General shut them down as they weren't profitable enough. Random Dent Rand...
49: From the Radiophonic Workshop to Reg Nullify
November 15, 2018 00:00 - 37 minutes - 17.6 MBJoin Mark and the Jons as they continue through the R section of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Radiophonic Workshop The Radiopohinc Workshop was a BBC department that mae music and noises for BBC programmes, originally for radio and then for TV too. Arguably their most famous contribution is the Doctor Who theme. They were formed in 1958 and carried on for another 40 years until John Birt, the then Director General shut them down as they weren’t profitable enough. Random ...
From President Vranx to radiation swamps
November 08, 2018 00:00 - 40 minutes - 29.7 MBJoin Mark and the Jons as they finish up the P section of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and get into some Rs. President Yooden Vranx President Yooden Vranx was Zaphod's predecessor. It was his idea to steal the Heart of Gold. but... was it? Probability The guide says that if you hold a lungful of air you can survive in the total vacuum of space for about thirty seconds, but the chances of getting picked up by another ship within that timeframe are two to the power of two-hundred-a...
48: From President Vranx to radiation swamps
November 08, 2018 00:00 - 40 minutes - 19.3 MBJoin Mark and the Jons as they finish up the P section of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and get into some Rs. President Yooden Vranx President Yooden Vranx was Zaphod’s predecessor. It was his idea to steal the Heart of Gold. but… was it? Probability The guide says that if you hold a lungful of air you can survive in the total vacuum of space for about thirty seconds, but the chances of getting picked up by another ship within that timeframe are two to the power of two-h...
From politics to Pralite monks
November 01, 2018 00:00 - 44 minutes - 31.8 MBJoin Mark and the Jons as they traverse the P section of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Politics The Jons explain why David Icke is like a British Rail sandwich, and that lizards eat babies. Pondermatic The Pondermatic is another computer not as smart as Deep Thought, who in fact called it a "cybernetic simpleton". Poodoo Poodoo is an executive from the company that built the cloning machines that created the hundreds of millions of Lintilla clones we meet on Brontitall, in the s...
47: From politics to Pralite monks
November 01, 2018 00:00 - 44 minutes - 20.7 MBJoin Mark and the Jons as they traverse the P section of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Politics The Jons explain why David Icke is like a British Rail sandwich, and that lizards eat babies. Pondermatic The Pondermatic is another computer not as smart as Deep Thought, who in fact called it a “cybernetic simpleton”. Poodoo Poodoo is an executive from the company that built the cloning machines that created the hundreds of millions of Lintilla clones we meet on Brontitall...
Live at the Birmingham Podcast Festival
July 11, 2018 23:00 - 52 minutes - 24.5 MBJon Bounds, Jon Hickman, Danny Smith and Mark Steadman meetup in real life to discuss their favourite characters, put the Guide on shuffle mode and drink a homemade pangalactic gargleblaster. Huge thanks to everyone who came to see us record, to Elle for holding the mic for Danny, and to the Mockingbird Cinema for having us.
42: Live at the Birmingham Podcast Festival
July 11, 2018 23:00 - 52 minutes - 24.5 MBJon Bounds, Jon Hickman, Danny Smith and Mark Steadman meetup in real life to discuss their favourite characters, put the Guide on shuffle mode and drink a homemade pangalactic gargleblaster. Huge thanks to everyone who came to see us record, to Elle for holding the mic for Danny, and to the Mockingbird Cinema for having us.
From Philip Pope to Poghril
June 27, 2018 23:00 - 39 minutes - 27.4 MBJoin Mark, Jon and Danny as they continue traversing the P section of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Philip Pope Philip Pope recorded a character voice in the Starship Titanic video game, wrote the Krikkit song and voiced one of the masters of Krikkit in the radio series. He's also partly-responsible - along with Richard Curtis - for a pitch-perfect BeeGees parody. Photon-ajuitar The photon-ajuitar is a musical instrument, with a keyboard. Pikka birds Pikka birds live on Lamuella...
45: From Philip Pope to Poghril
June 27, 2018 23:00 - 39 minutes - 18.5 MBJoin Mark, Jon and Danny as they continue traversing the P section of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Philip Pope Philip Pope recorded a character voice in the Starship Titanic video game, wrote the Krikkit song and voiced one of the masters of Krikkit in the radio series. He’s also partly-responsible - along with Richard Curtis - for a pitch-perfect BeeGees parody. Photon-ajuitar The photon-ajuitar is a musical instrument, with a keyboard. Pikka birds Pikka birds live o...
Towel Day special - Part 2
June 20, 2018 23:00 - 51 minutes - 24.2 MBJoin Mark, Danny and Jon Bounds as they play through as much of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy text adventure game as they could. Spoiler: it’s still not much. This was recorded live on Friday 25th May 2018, for Towel Day.
From Paul McCartney to the Phargilor Kangaroo
June 13, 2018 23:00 - 37 minutes - 26.4 MBJoin Mark and the Jons as they traverse the P section of the *Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy*.
43: From Paul McCartney to the Phargilor Kangaroo
June 13, 2018 23:00 - 37 minutes - 17.8 MBJoin Mark and the Jons as they traverse the P section of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Paul McCartney In Life, the Universe and Everything, we’re treated to Adams’ thoughts on Paul McCartney. One of his little one-liners, in reference to a tune being sung on Krikkit is “Arthur could almost imagine Paul McCartney sitting with his feet up by the fire one evening, humming it to Linda and wondering what to buy with the proceeds”. Paula Nancy Millstone Jennings Paula Nancy Mi...
From Oolon Colluphid to parties
June 06, 2018 23:00 - 41 minutes - 29 MBJoin Mark and the Jons as they traverse the P section of the *Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy*, and take a sneaky pitstop at O.
41: From Oolon Colluphid to parties
June 06, 2018 23:00 - 37 minutes - 17.8 MBJoin Mark and the Jons as they traverse the P section of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and take a sneaky pitstop at O. Oolon Colluphid Oolon Colluphid is the author of heretical works of non-fiction. We’ve covered many of his books already, but titles include Where God Went Wrong, Some More of God’s Greatest Mistakes and Who is this God Person Anyway? Orion Beta Orion Beta is noted for its madronite mining belts, where Ford learned to play a drinking game involving telek...
Towel Day special - Part 1
May 30, 2018 23:00 - 1 hour - 31.8 MBJoin Mark, Danny and Jon Bounds as they play through as much of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy text adventure game as they could. Spoiler: it's not much. This was recorded live on Friday 25th May 2018, for Towel DAy.
From New York to Old Thrashbarg
May 23, 2018 23:00 - 43 minutes - 30.2 MBJoin Mark, Jon and Danny as they traverse the M section of the *Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy*.
39: From New York to Old Thrashbarg
May 23, 2018 23:00 - 43 minutes - 20.3 MBJoin Mark, Jon and Danny as they traverse the M section of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Towel Day is coming! Join us on Friday 25th June for a special live event! Follow @btlpodcast for details. New York In So Long and Thanks for All the Fish, Ford Prefect has a dream in which he meets a creature formed out of the pollutants of New York's East River. “I instinctively feel”, says the creature, “that I need to be beautiful. Am I?” NowWhat The planet of NowWhat was name...
From mice to Murray Bost Henson
May 16, 2018 23:00 - 37 minutes - 26.3 MBJoin Mark, Jon and Jon as they traverse the M section of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Mice Trillian - remember her? - kept some pet mice, who turned out to be the most intelligent beings on earth. We still don't know what species they are when they're not projecting themselves as little furry cratures with a cheese fixation. Milliard Gargantubrain The Milliard Gargantubrain is a super-computer from Maximegalon which can count all the atoms in a star in a millisecond. Milliways ...
38: From mice to Murray Bost Henson
May 16, 2018 23:00 - 37 minutes - 17.7 MBJoin Mark, Jon and Jon as they traverse the M section of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Mice Trillian - remember her? - kept some pet mice, who turned out to be the most intelligent beings on earth. We still don't know what species they are when they're not projecting themselves as little furry cratures with a cheese fixation. Milliard Gargantubrain The Milliard Gargantubrain is a super-computer from Maximegalon which can count all the atoms in a star in a millisecond. M...
From matter transference to memory dumps
May 09, 2018 23:00 - 39 minutes - 28 MBJoin Mark, Jon and Danny as they traverse the M section of the *Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy*.
37: From matter transference to memory dumps
May 09, 2018 23:00 - 37 minutes - 17.7 MBJoin Mark, Jon and Danny as they traverse the M section of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Matter transference beams Ford and Arthur are teleported from the smouldering remains of the Earth to the Vogon ship, via a matter transference beam. A song that regularly used to be chanted by huge crowds outside the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation Teleport Systems factory on Happi-Werld III goes "If you have to take me apart to get me there, then I don't want to go". Max Quordlepleen...
36: From Majikthise to Marvin
May 02, 2018 23:00 - 37 minutes - 17.7 MBJoin Danny, Jon and Mark as they barrel through the M section of the Guide. Links Follow Danny on Twitter Follow Jon Bounds on Twitter Follow Mark on Twitter Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts
From Majikthise to Marvin
May 02, 2018 23:00 - 37 minutes - 26.3 MBJoin Danny, Jon and Mark as they barrel through the M section of the Guide.
From logic to Magrathea
April 25, 2018 23:00 - 37 minutes - 26 MBDanny joins Mark and Jon Bounds to discuss crisps, Sundays and Zeno's paradox. It's all in the L section of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
35: From logic to Magrathea
April 25, 2018 23:00 - 37 minutes - 17.7 MBDanny joins Mark and Jon Bounds to discuss crisps, Sundays and Zeno’s paradox. It’s all in the L section of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Links Follow Danny on Twitter Follow Jon Bounds on Twitter Follow Mark on Twitter Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts Zoo (2007 film) - Wikipedia
From Lazlar Lyricon to Lintilla
April 18, 2018 23:00 - 34 minutes - 23.5 MBMark and Jon Hickman are joined by Jon Bounds to work through some more of the L section of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
34: From Lazlar Lyricon to Lintilla
April 18, 2018 23:00 - 34 minutes - 24.1 MBMark and Jon Hickman are joined by Jon Bounds to work through some more of the L section of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Lazlar Lyricon Lazlar Lyricon is a customiser of space craft to the staggeringly wealthy. He customised the Disaster Area’s limo, and is said, by Ford Prefect, to have “no shame”. Lazlar Lyricon also leant its name to a convention of Hitchhiker’s fans. The first was in our home city of Birmingham, and there’s a link in the show notes to an episode of S...
From Krikkit to Lamuella
April 11, 2018 23:00 - 31 minutes - 21.6 MBMark and Danny Smith are joined by Jon Hickman to finish up the K section of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and tackle a couple of important Ls. Krikkit Of all the races on the Galaxy, only the English could possibly revive the memory of the most horrific wars ever to sunder the Universe and transform it into what is generally regarded as an incomprehensibly dull and pointless game. L Prosser Mr L Prosser is 40, fat and shabby. He works for the local council, and is distantly relat...
33: From Krikkit to Lamuella
April 11, 2018 23:00 - 31 minutes - 22.2 MBMark and Danny Smith are joined by Jon Hickman to finish up the K section of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and tackle a couple of important Ls. Krikkit Of all the races on the Galaxy, only the English could possibly revive the memory of the most horrific wars ever to sunder the Universe and transform it into what is generally regarded as an incomprehensibly dull and pointless game. L Prosser Mr L Prosser is 40, fat and shabby. He works for the local council, and is dista...
From Juju-flop to Know-Nothing-Bozo
April 04, 2018 23:00 - 34 minutes - 24 MBMark and Jon Bounds are joined by Danny Smith to continue pawing through the J section of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Juju-flop When in a national speech, the financial minister of the Royal World Estate of Qualvista said that the economy had now arrived at “one whole juju-flop situation”, everyone was so pleased he felt able to come out and say it, that they quite failed to notice that their five-thousand-year-old civilisation had just collapsed overnight. Jynnan tonnyx It is a...
31: From Juju-flop to Know-Nothing-Bozo
April 04, 2018 23:00 - 34 minutes - 24.5 MBMark and Jon Bounds are joined by Danny Smith to continue pawing through the J section of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Juju-flop When in a national speech, the financial minister of the Royal World Estate of Qualvista said that the economy had now arrived at “one whole juju-flop situation”, everyone was so pleased he felt able to come out and say it, that they quite failed to notice that their five-thousand-year-old civilisation had just collapsed overnight. Jynnan tonny...
Outtakes vol 1
March 28, 2018 23:00 - 27 minutes - 19.5 MBIn lieu of a full episode this week, here’s volume one of our collection of outtakes and bits that were too rude - or nonsensical - even for this show.
30: From Jaglan Beta to Judiciary Pag
March 22, 2018 00:00 - 40 minutes - 28.1 MBMark and Jon Hickman are joined by Jon Bounds to continue pawing through the J section of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Jaglan Beta Jaglan Beta is second out from the star Jaglan, near the Axle Nebula (and no, Jon, this isn’t a real place). We know three things about it: it has cold moons so it’s useful to wrap a towel around you to keep you warm, Ford once saw a star buggy smash into its third moon, and there’s a song called “I Left My Leg in Jaglan Beta”. Janx Spirit “...
From Jaglan Beta to Judiciary Pag
March 22, 2018 00:00 - 40 minutes - 27.6 MBMark and Jon Hickman are joined by Jon Bounds to continue pawing through the J section of the Guide..
From the Imperial Galaxy to Islington
March 15, 2018 00:00 - 35 minutes - 24.1 MBMark and Danny Smith are jopined by Jon Hickman to continue pawing through the H section of the Hitchhiker's Guide. Imperial Galaxy In the last moments of his dying coma, the hereditary Emperor of the Galaxy was locked in a statis field which kept him in a state of perpetual unchangingness. All his heirs are now long dead, and this has meant that without any drastic political upheaval, power simply and effectively moved a rung or two down the ladder, and is now seen to be vested in a body w...
29: From the Imperial Galaxy to Islington
March 15, 2018 00:00 - 35 minutes - 24.6 MBMark and Danny Smith are joined by Jon Hickman to continue pawing through the H section of the Hitchhiker’s Guide. Imperial Galaxy In the last moments of his dying coma, the hereditary Emperor of the Galaxy was locked in a statis field which kept him in a state of perpetual unchangingness. All his heirs are now long dead, and this has meant that without any drastic political upheaval, power simply and effectively moved a rung or two down the ladder, and is now seen to be vested in...