Life the Universe and Everything - 42

Douglas Adams was asked many times why he chose the number 42. Many theories were proposed, including that 42 is 101010 in binary code, that light refracts off water by 42 degrees to create a rainbow, that light requires 10 to the power of −42 seconds to cross the diameter of a proton. Adams rejected them all. On 3 November 1993, he gave the answer:

“The answer to this is very simple. It was a joke. It had to be a number, an ordinary, smallish number, and I chose that one. Binary representations, base thirteen, Tibetan monks are all complete nonsense. I sat at my desk, stared into the garden and thought '42 will do'. I typed it out. End of story”.

These are the jelly babies that will get me round my 100 km cycle ride on Saturday. That’s 4.2 babies for every 10 km.