NOW, there really is no need to panic, for Earthlings trapped on a Vogon spaceship can access a real Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy through their mobile phones.

Arthur Dent’s survival depended on the electronic book that allowed him to access facts at the touch of a few buttons, and Douglas Adams’s vision of a portable device storing the answers to life, the universe and everything else has finally become reality through a partnership between the late author’s estate and the BBC.

Subjects from how to choose a wedding dress to driving etiquette in Kuwait can be accessed by entering a query into phones and palm pilots, although the guide may prove a less reliable companion than Google. The quirky questions and answers are supplied by thousands of unpaid contributors across the world.

Adams established a website, h2g2, allowing fans of his novel, released as a Disney film this weekend, to create a pan-galactic virtual encyclopaedia. There are 7,000 entries in the guide, which is constantly updated by a contributor network spread over 85 countries.

The BBC took over the site four years ago with the long-term ambition of creating a genuine handheld guide. Jim Sangster, the h2g2 producer, said: “We were waiting for the technology to catch up and now the software is there.”

There are rules for entry into the guide. Mr Sangster said: “All entries are subject to peer review by other contributors before acceptance. ”

Entries are sorted into the categories Life (animals, plants, humans), The Universe (geography and space) and Everything (everything else). A Surprise Me button will call up entries at random, but fictional material, such as the correct recipe for a pan-galactic gargle-blaster, is not permitted.

Calls will be charged at usual mobile rates but the BBC will take no income, considering it a service to licence-payers.

To access the mobile guide text h2g2 to 81010 or type in www.bbc.co.uk/mobile/h2g2 or for PDAs www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/pda/

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Science News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• Swine flu vaccine for all as drug rushed through
• Artificial sperm and the race to build a baby
• BBC jets out stars to tout for prizes