Eoin Colfer wrote and published an official 6th book for the Hitchhiker's series, in which it is implied Zaphod's third arm may have originally been grown so that he would have one hand for each of Eccentrica Galumbits's breasts.

In Infocom's text adventure game version of the story, Zaphod blends in on Earth by hiding his second head in a covered bird cage (an alternate Trillian also refers to this in Mostly Harmless).

In the seventh episode of the original radio series, the narrator describes Beeblebrox as being the "owner of the hippest place in the universe" (his own left cranium), as voted on in a poll of the readers of the fictional magazine Playbeing.

Early in Zaphod's career (whilst heading The Beeblebrox Salvage and Really Wild Stuff Corporation) he joined forces with the Safety and Civil Reassurance Administration to investigate the loss of the Starship Billion Year Bunker, on which were stored compounds so powerful a teaspoonful could blow up/infect/irradiate a whole planet, and by-products of The Sirius Cybernetics Corporation synthetic personalities programme.

Douglas Adams claimed that he based Zaphod on an old friend of his from Cambridge University called Johnny Simpson, who "had that nervous sort of hyperenergetic way of trying to appear relaxed.

"[2] In (at least) the books, he is, according to screening tests that he ran on himself in the Heart of Gold's medical bay, "clever, imaginative, irresponsible, untrustworthy, extrovert, nothing you couldn't have guessed" (Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide, page 98).

He is portrayed as a vacuous California surfer-type, and Sam Rockwell, the actor who played him in the film, cited Bill Clinton, Elvis Presley and George W. Bush as influences.

Throughout the book and radio versions of the story, Zaphod is busy carrying out some grand scheme, has no clue as to what it is and is unable to do anything but follow the path that he laid out for himself.

Since this story is set at a time before his decision to run for President of the Galaxy, he displays a noticeably different personality, exhibiting concern over the hazards posed by the cargo to himself, the crew, and living creatures in general.

Rockwell performed Zaphod as a blend of Vince Vaughn and Elvis taking additional influence from George W. Bush and Bill Clinton among others.

When Mark Wing-Davey's academic commitments prevented him resuming the role of Zaphod for the 2013 tour of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Live Radio Show", comedian, songwriter and author Mitch Benn was cast in the part.

The series describes the drink as "the alcoholic equivalent of a mugging – expensive and bad for the head" and states that the effect of one "is like having your brain smashed out by a slice of lemon wrapped round a large gold brick".

Real versions of the drink have been made available at some stage shows of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, as well as bars such as Zaphod Beeblebrox in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

In an interview, Douglas Adams stated that there are a number of environmental and weapons treaties, as well as laws of physics, which prevent the Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster from being mixed on Earth.

Opened in the early 1990s, it hosted an assortment of artists including Jewel, The Sheepdogs and Alanis Morissette, who previewed Jagged Little Pill with a concert there.

Mathematician Andrew Granville published a paper titled "Zaphod Beeblebrox's Brain and the Fifty-ninth Row of Pascal's Triangle" in The American Mathematical Monthly, Vol.