H is for Heart Of Gold

The starship Heart of Gold is the first spacecraft to make use of a remarkable form of propulsion called the 'Infinite Improbability Drive'. Unfortunately, at its official launching ceremony, the ship gets promptly stolen. And stolen by Zaphod Beeblebrox - you simply don't expect the Galactic President to steal the very ship that he is supposed to be launching!

The ship features in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a comedy SF radio series created by Douglas Adams and which aired on BBC Radio 4 in 1978. The show has since been adapted in a variety of formats, including stage shows, a "trilogy" of five books, a TV series, and eventually a movie version, produced in 2005. Further versions are eagerly awaited. The photo above shows the ship as depicted in the movie.

Note: Karey Kirkpatrick, who worked with Douglas Adams as part of the movie adaptation in 2005, has described the Improbability Drive as a "plot contrivance machine", as it allowed Douglas the wonderful possibility of building elaborate plot-lines based on the wildest of coincidences - which, in other narratives, would be considered too improbable to be believed.