The play's two chief influences are Douglas Adams's The Hitchhikers ' Guide to the Galaxy and the role play game Space 1889, although another is Sir Henry at Rawlinson End by Vivian Stanshall.

A sepia-tinted black and white film version ( recently released on DVD ), starring Trevor Howard as Sir Henry, and Stanshall as Hubert, followed in 1980.

A television commercial for Ruddles in 1993 featured the last appearance of Vivian Stanshall narrating as Hubert, brother of Sir Henry Rawlinson of Rawlinson End played by Mel Smith and a cross-dressing Dawn French.

Stanshall was born on 21 March 1943 at the Radcliffe Maternity Home in Shillingford, and christened Victor Anthony Stanshall.

Stanshall went on to form various short-lived groups including The Sean Head Showband, Bonzo Dog Freaks ( featuring the guitar talents of the rotund Bubs White ) and BiG GrunT.

Stanshall was often drunk and / or depressed during production, which took place on The Searchlight, a house boat he bought from Moody Blues and Wings ' Denny Laine and moored between Shepperton and Chertsey on the River Thames.

Stanshall collaborated on numerous musical projects including Robert Calvert's 1974 concept album Captain Lockheed and the Starfighters, and Mike Oldfield's 1973 Tubular Bells where he played the Master of Ceremonies, breathily announcing the buildup of instruments in the finale of the first side of the album.

While living on the Searchlight, Stanshall wrote and recorded Sir Henry at Rawlinson End and also the script for the film of the same name, later produced for Tony Stratton-Smith's Charisma Records company.

After the Searchlight, the Stanshall family lived and worked on

Along with Vivian Stanshall as the narrator, the staff is illustrious ( among others Gary Moore, Manfred Mann, Phil Collins, Bill Bruford, Stéphane Grappelli, Alvin Lee, Cozy Powell, Brian Eno, Jon Hiseman ); the music is very heterogeneous: from psychedelic rock music to jazz ( Grappelli's violin solo on the motif of the cat ).

* Sir Henry Rawlinson, a fictional character created by Vivian Stanshall, used most notably on the LP Sir Henry at Rawlinson End

* " Labio Dental Fricative ", a song by Vivian Stanshall & The Sean Head Showband, included on the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band album The History of the Bonzos

* Vivian Stanshall and his wife Ki Longfellow lived on a houseboat moored on the Thames beginning in 1977

For the character created by Vivian Stanshall, see Sir Henry at Rawlinson End

Vivian Stanshall ( born Victor Anthony Stanshall ; 21 March 1943 – 5 March 1995 ) was an English singer-songwriter, painter, musician, author, poet and wit, best known for his work with the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, for his surreal exploration of the British upper classes in Sir Henry at Rawlinson End, and for narrating Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells.

Stanshall managed to earn some money doing various odd jobs at the Kursaal fun fair in nearby Southend-on-Sea.

Stanshall eventually enrolled at the Central School of Art in London.

* Vivian Stanshall – Sir Henry at Rawlinson End, 1978

He produced Vivian Stanshall's first foray into radio, both by overseeing Stanshall's Radio Flashes when Stanshall stood in for a vacationing John Peel, and Stanshall's Sir Henry at Rawlinson End.

Stanshall, however, left the band before the first album was recorded, although he would occasionally turn up at concerts, and Grimms remained at 10 members ( more or less ) through the end of 1973.

* Received a name check from Vivian Stanshall at the end of side two of the original recording of Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells, as found in the Mike Oldfield Boxed collection ( Virgin Records – CDBOX1 ).

He was also seen in the cult film, Sir Henry at Rawlinson End ( 1980 ) from Vivian Stanshall.

The name of the band came from a word game which Stanshall played with art school peer and future Bonzo member Rodney Slater, involving cutting up sentences and juxtaposing the fragments to form new ones.

For all his problems, Stanshall never lost his sense of humour.

According to the band's manager Gerry Bron ( brother of the actress Eleanor Bron ), Vivian Stanshall was given several weeks to produce songs for the new professional Bonzo Dog Band.

Bubbles also maintained his freelance output, producing designs for Peter Jenner ( Ian Dury and Billy Bragg's manager ), and others, creating a prodigious output by working for such bands, musicians and performers as Vivian Stanshall, Generation X, Big Star, Johnny Moped, Whirlwind, Billy Bragg, Clover, The Sinceros, Roger Chapman, Phillip Goodhand-Tait, Dr. Feelgood, Inner City Unit and The Psychedelic Furs.

Aside from his romantic relationships, although his behaviour was outrageous, it was in the humorous vein as his friend Vivian Stanshall, of the Bonzo Dog Band claimed.

* 1943 – Vivian Stanshall, English musician ( Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band ) ( d. 1995 )

** Vivian Stanshall, English comedian, writer, artist, broadcaster, and musician ( d. 1995 )

Some of the most prominent names include The Grateful Dead, Tom Waits, Patti Smith, Iggy Pop, Bobby " Werner " Strete, Mod Fun, Virgil Thomson, Jeff Beck, Chick Corea, Dee Dee Ramone, Johnny Thunders, Phil Lynott, Henri Chopin, John Cale, Édith Piaf, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Alice Cooper, Alejandro Escovedo, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Peter Walker, Canned Heat, Sid Vicious, Vivian Stanshall, Richard Hell, Jobriath Boone, Little Annie, Rufus Wainwright, Lance Loud, Abdullah Ibrahim / Sathima Bea Benjamin / Jean Grae, Vasant Rai, Jacques Labouchere, and Leonard Cohen.

* Vivian Stanshall, musician, painter, singer, broadcaster, songwriter, poet and writer, best known for his work with the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, grew up in Grove Road, Walthamstow.

Stanshall described this period as the happiest time of his life.

This was followed by the further shock of the arrival of a new brother, Mark Stanshall, born in 1949.

About this time, the Stanshall family moved to the Essex coastal town of Leigh-on-Sea.

To put aside enough money to get himself through art school ( his father having refused to fund it ), Stanshall spent a year in the merchant navy, where he made a very bad waiter, but a great teller of tall tales.

" At around this time, Stanshall changed his first name to " Vivian " – the name his father had abandoned.

In particular, his exploits with Keith Moon are legendary, perhaps the most notorious involving Stanshall going into an unsuspecting tailor's shop and admiring a pair of trousers ; Moon then came in, posing as another customer, admired the same trousers and demanded to buy them.

When Stanshall protested the two men fought over them, splitting them in two so they ended up with one leg each.

For instance, when Stanshall took over the John Peel radio show for a while, Moon appeared as Lemmy in the saga of Colonel Knutt, idiot adventurer-detective.

Criswell reprises his role from the earlier film.

Harrison Ford reprises the title role and Sean Connery plays Indiana's father ( although, in reality, Connery is just twelve years senior to Ford ), Henry Jones, Sr. Alison Doody, Denholm Elliott, Julian Glover, River Phoenix, and John Rhys-Davies also have featured roles.

The player reprises the role of John Blade, and the story picks up after the conclusion of the main game, pitting the player against Gianni Manero, a notorious crime boss looking to take over Freeport city.

In the game, Jess Harnell reprises his role from the attraction as Brer Rabbit and also takes on the role of Brer Fox, while Br ' er Bear is now voiced by James Avery, who previously voiced Br ' er Bear and Br ' er Frog in the Walt Disney World version of Splash Mountain.

Robin Atkin Downes reprises his role as Thrawn in Star Wars Empire at War: Forces of Corruption.

Majel Barrett reprises her role as Christine Chapel, the director of Starfleet Command's medical services.

Robin Curtis reprises the role of Saavik, a Starfleet lieutenant.

Grace Lee Whitney reprises her role as Janice Rand from the original television series.

In the film, Feldman reprises his role of vampire hunter Edgar Frog.

An example of this is Walter Koenig in Star Trek New Voyages who reprises his role as Lt. Pavel Chekov.

In " Chess and the Lady " Bobby Short reprises his role as the blues musician from " Sweet, Sweet Blues.

* Peter Cullen reprises his role of the Red Skull in the animated series Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends episode " Quest of the Red Skull ".

Horrocks's voiceovers have been used on Chicken Run ( 2000 ), Christmas Carol: The Movie ( 2001 ), Corpse Bride ( 2005 ), Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties ( 2006 ) and Tinker Bell ( 2008 ) ( in which she was Fairy Mary ; she reprises the role in the Tinker Bell sequels ), and on radio as Fenchurch in the audio adaptation of Douglas Adams ' science fiction series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy for BBC Radio 4.

Tony Burton briefly reprises his role as Duke at the beginning of the film.

Spinney reprises his role as Oscar the Grouch in Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian in a cameo appearance next to Darth Vader.

* Paul Gross-the star of Due South reprises his role in a " lost episode " in which he falls for Rita MacNeil ( Goy ).

Peter Cullen reprises his role as the voice of Optimus Prime.

William Shatner reprises the role of Admiral James T. Kirk, Starfleet officer.

Milady's son, Mordaunt, reprises his role as one of the chief antagonists, and sets about avenging his mother's death.

* Arleen Sorkin reprises her role of Harley Quinn in Batman: Arkham Asylum, as one of the main antagonists of the game, here with a new costume based on a nurse uniform.

* Cillian Murphy reprises his role in the 2008 sequel to Batman Begins, The Dark Knight.

* Wally Wingert reprises his role of Riddler in Batman: Arkham City.

* Michael Bell reprises his role of Doctor Octopus, who appeared in the Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends episode " Spidey Meets the Girl of Tomorrow ".