A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitch hiker can have. Partly it has great practical
value - you can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a mini raft down the slow heavy river Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or to avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (a mindboggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you - daft as a bush, but very ravenous); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.

More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitch hiker) discovers that a hitch hiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitch hiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitch hiker might accidentally have "lost". What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with.

We want to know who you are and that you're participating in Towel Day. Drop us a line and let us know if you're going to participate. And when you have, feel free to send us photos to prove that you know where your towel is!

There are also letters written to us on the Towel Testimonials page!

If you want to help get the word out about Towel Day, please use this banner, and link to this site - http://www.towelday.kojv.net

Click here to to view the copy'n'paste-ready code for your page that does not require you to save the banner to your webspace.

Towel Day was a resounding success during the past years. People from all over the world celebrated Towel Day and many of them sent pictures to prove it. So this year, among others there will be pictures from Stockholm City Library on Odengatan where the personel will carry their towels and they will also put attention towards the shelf containing Adams' books.

Click here to check out the pictures from 2004
Click here to check out the pictures from 2005

Don't forget to email your own pictures of your Towel Day participation this year to towelday@kojv.net

No. The article you read was written on May 16th 2001, while the idea of celebrating the Towel Day was in it's cradle. It's outdated and it's wrong. The Towel Days 2001 and 2002 were celebrated on May 25th so we stick to that. Fridays have no relevance to HHGTTG or DA whatsoever. I'm not saying you can't bring your towel around whenever you feel like it.

Yes, you should really carry a towel with you all day. You might get teased or looked at weird, but then you can just hide behind your towel until the offensive people go away. (These people are mindboggingly stupid animals, they assume that if you can't see them, they can't see you - daft as a bush, but very ravenous)

Seriously, if you're still in school, explain to your teachers what you're doing. They'll probably appreciate the gesture to a great literary mind. In fact, tell them ahead of time. They just might surprise you by bringing a towel too. Perhaps some places of employment won't be as understanding, but give it a shot. If someone asks what you're doing with a towel, tell them to go buy the book!

Will do. Carry your towel, or be a strag.