Hitchhikers giude on BBC radio

[Morrisonker]

I listened to these on tape when I was younger and I've read the books backwards and forwards but I can't track down one of the stories on the radio series.  I think it was in the 2nd series and involved Arthur, Ford and Zaphod going to some planet inhabited by birds because shoes became too expensive and to combat the rising prices the people evolved into birds. 

Did Douglas Adams just write this for the radio series?  Did I make it up? 

[jenstar]

Yes, it's in the second radio series but was left out of the books. Basically the second radio series was written in a hurry and Douglas Adams reckoned a lot of it wasn't very good, so quite a lot of it never made it into the books. Gargravarr mentions the shoe event horizon when he's taking Zaphod to the Total Perspective Vortex in the second book, and that's about all that's left of that particular plot. The whole Lintilla/Allitnil plot was left out of the books as well.

[beale]

Is this on the planet that Zaphod ends up on whilst still in the offices of the Guide? If so it's definitely in the book. In my copy at least!

[jenstar]

Yeah, it's mentioned in Restaurant, but only in passing when Gargravarr tells Zaphod about it. But in the radio series there was a whole plot about it, with the main characters going there, Arthur being hailed as a god by the birds and then learning about the Shoe Shop Intensifier Ray, none of which is in the books.

[Morrisonker]

yeah, i got confused because a small bit of the story (the space ship that has been in suspended animation for hundreds of years) is in the book, but in a completely different planet.

Thanks Jenstar, I was starting to think I'd dreamt it!