# Share a bit of cultural trivia **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 30, 2004, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-a-bit-of-cultural-trivia/266868 "2004-09-30T16:44:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-a-bit-of-cultural-trivia/266868/101 "2004-10-10T17:49:47Z")
Lots of actors use stunt doubles for the dangerous stuff and some use body doubles for nude scenes, but when Sean Connery was filming _Finding Forrester_ they found he couldn’t type, so they brought in a ‘finger double’ for shots of his hands on the keyboard. (IMDb has that in the Trivia section for the movie.) ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-a-bit-of-cultural-trivia/266868/102 "2004-10-13T07:06:00Z")
Bonanza, Star Trek, and The Big Valley writer [D.C. Fontana](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0284894/) wrote an episode of _Beast Wars: Transformers_ (And it was a GOOD episode, too.) ---
**Author:** ![Waccoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Waccoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waccoe)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-a-bit-of-cultural-trivia/266868/103 "2004-10-13T09:48:49Z")
You are likely aware that the answer to life, the universe and everything is 42, according to the super computer Deep Thought in the Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy. But do you know why Douglas Adams picked on 42, rather than, say, 63? Well neither do I, but I can make a good guess since Adams was a cricket nut, devoting a large part of a later episode to cricket themes, and there are exactly 42 laws of cricket. ---
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-a-bit-of-cultural-trivia/266868/104 "2004-10-13T13:21:42Z")
> [@Waccoe](#): > > You are likely aware that the answer to life, the universe and everything is 42, according to the super computer Deep Thought in the Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy. But do you know why Douglas Adams picked on 42, rather than, say, 63? I heard it was because on a pair of dice, all the sides (when added up) equal to 42 and that “life is the ultimate gamble”. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-a-bit-of-cultural-trivia/266868/105 "2004-10-13T15:20:28Z")
> [@Waccoe](#): > > But do you know why Douglas Adams picked on 42, rather than, say, 63? Popular opinion has it that it’s because [42 = 9\*6](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Answer_to_Life,_the_Universe,_and_Everything) in base 13. According to [Mr Adams](http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=adamsd.1102700746A%40news.cerf.net) himself, he just pulled the number out of thin air. ---
**Author:** ![gonzoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a6a055/32.png) [@gonzoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzoron)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-a-bit-of-cultural-trivia/266868/106 "2004-10-13T15:26:43Z")
when asked at an appearance at my school in 1999, he said “I don’t write jokes in base 13” ---
**Author:** ![Waccoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Waccoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waccoe)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-a-bit-of-cultural-trivia/266868/107 "2004-10-13T15:46:43Z")
Gee, this site is impressive. Lucky he didn’t pick 41 out of the air then, since the ultimate question would have had to be a little less satisfying. ---
**Author:** ![Ross](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@Ross](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ross)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-a-bit-of-cultural-trivia/266868/108 "2004-10-13T17:42:55Z")
Tony Booth (Tony Blair’s father-in-law and previously mentioned to be a very great nephew of John Wilkes Booth) played the smartarsed left-wing son-in-law of “loveable” racist Alf Garnett, on whom Archie Bunker was based. There’s probably some irony or something there if you work hard enough. Ross Kemp, actor lacking in versatility, was the first Rector of Glasgow University who has ever been asked to resign by the SRC. Mainly because he failed to show up, ever. Well, maybe he came once, but only to be photographed showing people how to use the new library self-check machines, and he wasn’t even doing it properly in the photo. The moral might well be that students shouldn’t elect annoying (and extremely busy) celebrities as their rectors, but what are the chances of that ever changing? Nobody knows which one was Cagney and which one was Lacey. It was something the writers always meant to sort out eventually, but the show was cancelled and both stars were accidentally shot into space during a fun-run. Before her untimely launch, a freelance reporter managed to ask Tyne Daly which had been which: “I always thought I looked most like Cagney,” she said, before striking up an impromptu rendition of “Yankee Doodle Dandy” in the middle of a crowded restaurant. She was removed by police pending psychiatric investigation and only released two days before the fun-run that was to make her a “star” once and for all. The women currently claiming to be Tyne Daly and Sharon Gless are exact copies made by the Mysterons, but they stopped being evil because they fell off a building or something. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-a-bit-of-cultural-trivia/266868.md?page=5)