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Douglas Noël Adams (11 March 1952 – 11 May 2001) was an English author, comic radio dramatist, and musician. He is best known as the author of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. Hitchhiker's began on radio, and developed into a "trilogy" of five books (which sold more than fifteen million copies during his lifetime) as well as a television series, a comic book series, a computer game, and a feature film that was completed after Adams' death. The series has also been adapted for live theatre using various scripts; the earliest such productions used material newly written by Adams.[2] He was known to some fans as Bop Ad (after his illegible signature), or by his initials DNA. [3] Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
is the 70th day of the year (71st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 1952 (MCMLII) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...
This article is about the city in England. ...
For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ...
is the 131st day of the year (132nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
This article is about the year. ...
Nickname: Location in Santa Barbara County and the state of California Coordinates: , Country State County Santa Barbara Government - Mayor Marty Blum Area - Total 41. ...
For other uses of terms redirecting here, see US (disambiguation), USA (disambiguation), and United States (disambiguation) Motto In God We Trust(since 1956) (From Many, One; Latin, traditional) Anthem The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington, D.C. Largest city New York City National language English (de facto)1 Demonym American...
This article is about work. ...
A literary genre is one of the divisions of literature into genres according to particular criteria such as literary technique, tone, or content. ...
Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ...
A comedy is a dramatic performance of a light and amusing character, usually with a happy conclusion to its plot. ...
Clinton Richard Dawkins, FRS (born March 26, 1941) is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist and popular science writer who holds the Charles Simonyi Chair for the Public Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford. ...
Monty Python, or The Pythons,[2][3] is the collective name of the creators of Monty Pythons Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. ...
Neil Richard Gaiman (IPA: ) (born November 10, 1960[2]) is an English author of science fiction and fantasy short stories and novels, graphic novels, comics, and films. ...
Robert Sheckley (July 16, 1928 – December 9, 2005) was an American author. ...
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. ...
Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, KBE (15 October 1881 – 14 February 1975) (IPA: ) was a comic writer who has enjoyed enormous popular success for more than seventy years. ...
is the 70th day of the year (71st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 1952 (MCMLII) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...
is the 131st day of the year (132nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
This article is about the year. ...
Radio drama is a form of audio storytelling broadcast on radio. ...
The cover of the first novel in the Hitchhikers series, from a late 1990s printing. ...
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy,[1] was a BBC television adaptation of Douglas Adamss The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy broadcast in January and February 1981 on BBC Two. ...
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is an interactive fiction computer game based on the seminal comic science fiction series of the same name. ...
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is a science fiction comedy film based on the book of the same name by Douglas Adams. ...
The structure of part of a DNA double helix Deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, is a nucleic acid molecule that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms. ...
In addition to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams wrote or co-wrote three stories of the science fiction television series Doctor Who and served as Script Editor during the seventeenth season. His other written works include the Dirk Gently novels, and he co-wrote two Liff books and Last Chance to See, itself based on a radio series. Adams also originated the idea for the computer game Starship Titanic, which was produced by a company that Adams co-founded, and adapted into a novel by Terry Jones. A posthumous collection of essays and other material, including an incomplete novel, was published as The Salmon of Doubt in 2002. This article is about the television series. ...
Dirk Gentlys Holistic Detective Agency is a novel by Douglas Adams. ...
Front cover of the US hardcover edition of The Meaning of Liff, 1984. ...
The front cover of the first US hardcover edition of Last Chance to See. ...
Front cover of the box from the original US Windows 95 CD-ROM release of Starship Titanic, by Simon & Schuster Interactive. ...
Terence Graham Parry Jones (born in Colwyn Bay, Wales, on February 1, 1942) is a British comedian, screenwriter and actor, film director, childrens author, popular historian, political commentator and TV documentary host. ...
The front cover of the UK first hardcover edition of The Salmon of Doubt. ...
His fans and friends also knew Adams as an environmental activist, a self-described "radical atheist", and a lover of fast cars, cameras, the Macintosh computer, and other "techno gizmos". The biologist Richard Dawkins dedicated his book The God Delusion to Douglas Adams and in it described how Adams came to understand evolution, consequently becoming an atheist. Douglas was a keen technologist, writing about such e-mail and Usenet before they became widely known. Toward the end of his life he was a sought-after lecturer on topics including technology and the environment. Antitheism (sometimes anti-theism) is active opposition to theism. ...
For other uses, see Macintosh (disambiguation) and Mac. ...
Clinton Richard Dawkins, FRS (born March 26, 1941) is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist and popular science writer who holds the Charles Simonyi Chair for the Public Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford. ...
The God Delusion is a book by British biologist Richard Dawkins, Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford. ...
In many countries, Technologists are synonymous with applied scientists or engineers. ...
Usenet (USEr NETwork) is a global, decentralized, distributed Internet discussion system that evolved from a general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name. ...
Early life Douglas Adams was born to Janet Adams (née Donovan, and now known as Janet Thrift) and Christopher Douglas Adams in Cambridge, England. His parents had one other child together, Susan, who was born in March 1955. His parents separated and divorced in 1957, and Douglas, Susan, and Janet moved in with Janet's parents, the Donovans, in Brentwood, Essex. Douglas' grandmother kept her house as an official RSPCA refuge for hurt animals, which "exacerbated young Douglas' hayfever and asthma."[4] The French word née (feminine) or né (masculine) (or the English word nee) is still commonly used in some newspapers when mentioning the maiden name of a woman in engagement or wedding announcements. ...
This article is about the city in England. ...
For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ...
Brentwood is a town and the principal settlement of the Borough of Brentwood, part of Essex in England. ...
RSPCA official charity logo The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) is a charity in England and Wales that promotes animal welfare. ...
For the play, see Hay Fever. ...
Christopher Adams remarried in July 1960, to Mary Judith Stewart (born Judith Robertson). From this marriage, Douglas Adams had a half-sister, Heather. Janet remarried in 1964, to a veterinarian, Ron Thrift, providing two more half-siblings to Douglas; Jane and James Thrift.
Education and early works
 Douglas Adams was known to some fans as Bop Ad - after his illegible signature. Adams attended Primrose Hill Primary School in Brentwood. He took the exams and interview for Brentwood School at six, and attended the preparatory school from 1959 to 1964, then the main school until 1970. He was in the top stream, and specialised in the arts in the sixth form, after which he stayed an extra term in a seventh form class, customary in the school for those preparing for Oxbridge entrance exams. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 764 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1353 × 1062 pixel, file size: 577 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Douglas Adams signature from cover of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy This image is of a book cover, and the copyright for it is...
Image File history File links Size of this preview: 764 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1353 × 1062 pixel, file size: 577 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Douglas Adams signature from cover of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy This image is of a book cover, and the copyright for it is...
Brentwood School is a public school in Brentwood, Essex, England. ...
In English language usage in the former British Empire, the present-day Commonwealth, a preparatory school (usually abbreviated to prep school) is an independent school preparing children up to the age of eleven or thirteen for fee-paying, secondary independent schools, some of which are called public schools. ...
Oxbridge is a name used to refer to the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, the two oldest in the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world. ...
While at prep school, his English teacher, Frank Halford, reportedly awarded Adams the only ten out of ten of his teaching career for creative writing.[5] Adams remembered this for the rest of his life, especially when facing writer's block.[6] Some of Adams' earliest writing was published at the school, such as a report on the school's photography club in The Brentwoodian (in 1962) or spoof reviews in the school magazine Broadsheet (edited by Paul Neil Milne Johnstone). For other uses, see Writers block (disambiguation). ...
As depicted by the television series. ...
Adams also had a letter and short story published nationally in the UK in the boys' comic, The Eagle, in 1965. He met Griff Rhys Jones, who was in the year below, at school, and was in the same class as Stuckist artist Charles Thomson; all three appeared together in a production of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar in 1968. Adams was six feet tall (1.83 m) by 12 and he stopped growing at 6'5" (1.96 m). Later, he made jokes about his towering stature, "...the form-master wouldn't say 'Meet under the clock tower,' or 'Meet under the war memorial,' but 'Meet under Adams.'"[7] The Eagle could refer to: Eddie Belfour, the Canadian ice-hockey goalkeeper in the NHL Michael Edwards, the British ski jumper, called Eddie the Eagle The Eagle comic The Eagle, a silent film starring Rudolph Valentino 96. ...
Griff Rhys Jones (born 16 November 1953) is a British comedian, writer and actor. ...
Sir Nicholas Serota Makes an Aquisitions Decision, 2000, painting by Charles Thomson Charles Thomson (born February 6, 1953) is a British artist, painter, poet, photographer. ...
On the strength of a bravura essay on religious poetry that discussed the Beatles along with William Blake, he was awarded a place at St John's College, Cambridge to read English, entering in 1971.[8] Adams attempted to get into the Footlights Dramatic Club, with which several other names in British comedy had been affiliated. He was turned down, and started to write and perform in revues with Will Adams (no relation) and Martin Smith, forming a group called "Adams-Smith-Adams." Later, in another attempt to join Footlights, Adams was encouraged by Simon Jones and found himself working with Rhys Jones, among others. In 1974, Adams graduated with a B.A. in English literature. The Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964 as part of their first tour of the United States, promoting their first hit single there, I Want To Hold Your Hand. ...
For other persons named William Blake, see William Blake (disambiguation). ...
College name The College of Saint John the Evangelist of the University of Cambridge Motto Souvent me Souvient (Latin: I often remember) Named after The Hospital of Saint John the Evangelist Established 1511 Location St. ...
The University of Cambridge (often Cambridge University), located in Cambridge, England, is the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world and has a reputation as one of the most prestigious universities in the world. ...
The ADC Theatre is the home of the Footlights. ...
British Comedy, in film, radio and television, is known for its consistently quirky characters, plots and settings, and has produced some of the most famous and memorable comic actors and characters in the last fifty years. ...
Martin Smith is the guitarist from Infinite Rapture ...
Simon Jones as an upset Arthur Dent, watching his home being demolished in the first episode of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy BBC TV series. ...
The term English literature refers to literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; Joseph Conrad was Polish, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, Salman Rushdie is Indian, V.S...
Some of his early work appeared on BBC2 (television) in 1974, in an edited version of the Footlights Revue from Cambridge, that year. A version of the revue performed live in London's West End led to Adams being discovered by Monty Python's Graham Chapman. The two formed a brief writing partnership, and Adams earned a writing credit in one episode (episode 45: "Party Political Broadcast on Behalf of the Liberal Party") of Monty Python's Flying Circus for a sketch called "Patient Abuse." In the sketch, a man who stabbed by a nurse arrives at his doctor's office bleeding from the stomach. The doctor asks him to fill out numerous senseless forms before he will administer treatment (a joke later incorporated into the Vogons' obsession with paperwork). Adams also contributed to a sketch on the album for Monty Python and the Holy Grail. For the BBC radio station, see BBC Radio 2. ...
The interior of Covent Garden Market in the West End The West End of London is an area of Central London, England, containing many of the citys major tourist attractions, businesses, and administrative headquarters. ...
Monty Python, or The Pythons,[2][3] is the collective name of the creators of Monty Pythons Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. ...
Dr. Graham Arthur Chapman (January 8, 1941 – October 4, 1989) was an English comedian, actor, writer, physician and one of the six members of the Monty Python comedy troupe. ...
This article is about the television series. ...
For medical references to Patient/Senior Abuse , see Elder Abuse. ...
This is a list of races, fauna and flora featured in various incarnations of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. ...
Monty Python and the Holy Grail is a 1975 film written and performed by the comedy group Monty Python (Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin), and directed by Gilliam and Jones. ...
 Douglas Adams in his first Monty Python appearance, in full surgeon's garb in episode 42. Douglas had two brief appearances in the fourth series of Monty Python's Flying Circus. At the beginning of episode 42, "The Light Entertainment War," Adams is in a surgeon's mask (as Dr Emile Koning, according to on-screen captions), pulling on gloves, while Michael Palin narrates a sketch that introduces one person after another but never actually gets started. At the beginning of episode 44, "Mr Neutron", Adams is dressed in a "pepperpot" outfit and loads a missile on to a cart driven by Terry Jones, who is calling for scrap metal ("Any old iron..."). The two episodes were broadcast in November 1974. Adams and Chapman also attempted non-Python projects, including Out of the Trees. Image File history File links DNA_in_Monty_Python. ...
Image File history File links DNA_in_Monty_Python. ...
This article is about the television series. ...
The Ultimate Answer to Life, The Universe, and Everything The 42 Puzzle, as it appeared in The Illustrated Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy The Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything has a numeric solution in Douglas Adams series The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. ...
Michael Edward Palin, CBE (born 5 May 1943) is an English comedian, actor, writer and television presenter best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for his travel documentaries. ...
Pepperpot is a term created by Monty Python member Graham Chapman to describe a class of character frequently utilized in the groups comedy sketches. ...
Terence Graham Parry Jones (born in Colwyn Bay, Wales, on February 1, 1942) is a British comedian, screenwriter and actor, film director, childrens author, popular historian, political commentator and TV documentary host. ...
Out of the Trees was a television sketch show pilot written by Graham Chapman, Douglas Adams and Bernard McKenna and broadcast on BBC 2. ...
Some of Adams' early radio work included sketches for The Burkiss Way in 1977 and The News Huddlines. He also wrote, again with Graham Chapman, the 20 February 1977 episode of Doctor on the Go, a sequel to the Doctor in the House television comedy series. The Burkiss Way was a BBC Radio 4 sketch comedy series that ran from August 1976 to November 1980. ...
The News Huddlines was a long-running BBC Radio 2 half hour comedy show, consisting of sketches, songs and one-liners. ...
is the 51st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Also: 1977 (album) by Ash. ...
Doctor in the House was a British television comedy series produced by London Weekend Television from 1969 to 1970. ...
As Adams had difficulty selling jokes and stories, he took a series of odd jobs . A biography from an early edition of one of the HHGG novels says:
- After graduation he spent several years contributing material to radio and television shows as well as writing, performing, and sometimes directing stage revues in London, Cambridge and at the Edinburgh Fringe. He has also worked at various times as a hospital porter, barn builder, chicken shed cleaner, bodyguard, radio producer and script editor of Doctor Who.
Adams worked as a bodyguard in the mid-1970s. He was employed by an Qatar Arab family which had made its fortune in oil.[9] He had anecdotes about the job: one story related that the family once ordered one of everything from a hotel's menu, tried all the dishes, and sent out for hamburgers. Another story had to do with a prostitute sent to the floor Adams was guarding one evening. They acknowledged each other as she entered, and an hour later, when she left, she is said to have remarked, "At least you can read while you're on the job."[10] A revue is a type of theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance and sketches that satirize contemporary figures, news, or literature. ...
This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ...
A street performer on the Royal Mile, with volunteer (2004). ...
This article or section is not written in the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia article. ...
Script Editor is a program included with Mac OS that allows AppleScripts to be written, debugged, and ran. ...
This article is about the television series. ...
In 1979, Adams and John Lloyd wrote scripts for two half-hour episodes of Doctor Snuggles: "The Remarkable Fidgety River" and "The Great Disappearing Mystery" (episodes seven and twelve). John Lloyd was also co-author of two episodes from the original "Hitchhiker" radio series (Fit the Fifth and Fit the Sixth (also known as Episodes Five and Six, see explanation below)), as well as The Meaning of Liff and The Deeper Meaning of Liff. Lloyd and Adams also collaborated on an SF movie comedy project based on The Guinness Book of World Records, which would have starred John Cleese as the UN Secretary General, and had a race of aliens beating humans in athletic competitions, but the humans winning in all of the "absurd" record categories. This latter project never proceeded past a treatment. In a 1996 interview for SFX Magazine, Adams described John Lloyd as a "comedy producer par excellence... one of the people I love spending time with, because he's so damn funny."[citation needed] John Lloyd (born 1951 in Dover, England; birth name: John Hardress Wilfred Lloyd), British comedy writer and producer. ...
Doctor Snuggles was a cartoon series about the friendly and optimistic inventor Doctor Snuggles and his friends in a slightly psychedelic world. ...
Front cover of the US hardcover edition of The Meaning of Liff, 1984. ...
The Meaning of Liff (ISBN 0517553473) is a humorous dictionary written by Douglas Adams and John Lloyd, published in Britain in 1983. ...
The Guinness Book of Records (or in recent editions Guinness World Records, and in previous US editions Guinness Book of World Records) is a book published annually, containing an internationally recognized collection of superlatives: both in terms of human achievement and the extrema of the natural world. ...
Cleese redirects here. ...
After the first radio series of The Hitchhiker's Guide became successful, Adams was made a BBC radio producer, working on Week Ending and a pantomime called Black Cinderella Two Goes East. He left the position after six months to become the script editor for Doctor Who. Week Ending. ...
For other uses, see Pantomime (disambiguation). ...
Black Cinderella Two Goes East (sometimes referred to as Black Cinderella II Goes East) was a radio pantomime broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 25 December 1978. ...
This article is about the television series. ...
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy -
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was a concept for a science-fiction comedy radio series pitched by Adams and radio producer Simon Brett to BBC Radio 4 in 1977. Adams came up with an outline for a pilot episode, as well as a few other stories (reprinted in Neil Gaiman's book Don't Panic: The Official Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Companion) that could potentially be used in the series. The cover of the first novel in the Hitchhikers series, from a late 1990s printing. ...
Simon Brett (b. ...
old Radio 4 logo BBC Radio 4 is a UK domestic radio station which broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes including news, drama, comedy, science and history. ...
Neil Richard Gaiman (IPA: ) (born November 10, 1960[2]) is an English author of science fiction and fantasy short stories and novels, graphic novels, comics, and films. ...
According to Adams, the idea for the title The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy occurred to him while he lay drunk in a field in Innsbruck, Austria (though he joked that the BBC would instead claim it was Spain "probably because it's easier to spell"[11]), gazing at the stars. He had been wandering the countryside while carrying a book called the Hitch-hiker's Guide to Europe when he ran into a town where, as he humorously describes, everyone was either "deaf" and "dumb" or only spoke languages he could not. After wandering around and drinking for a while, he went to sleep in the middle of a field and was inspired by his inability to communicate with the townspeople. He later said that due to his constantly retelling this story of inspiration, he no longer had any memory of the moment of inspiration itself, and only remembered his retellings of that moment. A postscript to M. J. Simpson's biography of Adams, Hitchhiker: A Biography of Douglas Adams, provides evidence that the story was in fact a fabrication and that Adams had conceived the idea some time after his trip around Europe. Innsbruck City Center Innsbruck and Nordkette from south Innsbruck (population 120,000) is a city in western Austria, and the capital of the Tyrol province. ...
For other uses, see BBC (disambiguation). ...
The Hitch-hikers Guide to Europe (ISBN 0-8128-1446-0) was a guide book, copyright 1971 by Ken Welsh and first published that year in the UK by Pan Books. ...
Despite the original outline, Adams was said to make up the stories as he wrote. He turned to John Lloyd for help with the final two episodes of the first series. Lloyd contributed bits from an unpublished science fiction book of his own, called GiGax.[12] However, very little of Lloyd's material survived in later adaptations of Hitchhiker's, such as the novels and the TV series. The TV series itself was based on the first six radio episodes, but sections contributed by Lloyd were largely re-written. John Lloyd (born 1951 in Dover, England; birth name: John Hardress Wilfred Lloyd), British comedy writer and producer. ...
The terms Primary Phase and Secondary Phase describe the first two radio series of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. ...
BBC Radio 4 broadcast the first radio series weekly in the UK in March and April 1978. Following the success of the first series, another episode was recorded and broadcast, which was commonly known as the Christmas Episode. A second series of five episodes was broadcast one per night, during the week of 21 January - 25 January 1980. old Radio 4 logo BBC Radio 4 is a UK domestic radio station which broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes including news, drama, comedy, science and history. ...
The terms Primary Phase and Secondary Phase describe the first two radio series of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. ...
is the 21st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...
is the 25th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1980 Gregorian calendar). ...
While working on the radio series (and with simultaneous projects such as The Pirate Planet) Adams developed problems keeping to writing deadlines that only got worse as he published novels. Adams was never a prolific writer and usually had to be forced by others to do any writing. This included being locked in a hotel suite with his editor for three weeks to ensure that So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish was completed.[13] He was quoted as saying, "I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by."[14] Despite the difficulty with deadlines, Adams eventually authored five novels in the series, published in 1979, 1980, 1982, 1984 and 1992. The Pirate Planet is the second serial in the Key to Time arc of Doctor Who. ...
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish (1984, ISBN 0-345-39183-7) is the fourth book of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series written by Douglas Adams. ...
The books formed the basis for other adaptations, such as three-part comic book adaptations for each of the first three books, an interactive text-adventure computer game, and a photo-illustrated edition, published in 1994. This latter edition featured a 42 Puzzle designed by Adams, which was later incorporated into paperback covers of the first four "Hitchhiker's" novels (the paperback for the fifth re-used the artwork from the hardcover edition).[15] The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is an interactive fiction computer game based on the seminal comic science fiction series of the same name. ...
Spoiler warning: The 42 Puzzle, as it appeared on pages 80 and 81 of The Illustrated Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy The 42 Puzzle is a game devised by Douglas Adams in 1994 for his popular The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series. ...
In 1980, Adams also began attempts to turn the first Hitchhiker's novel into a movie, making several trips to Los Angeles, California, and working with a number of Hollywood studios and potential producers. The next year, 1981, the radio series became the basis for a BBC television mini-series "The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy" broadcast in six parts. When he died in 2001 in California, he had been trying again to get the movie project started with Disney, which had bought the rights in 1998. The screenplay finally got a posthumous re-write by Karey Kirkpatrick, was green-lit in September 2003, and the resulting movie was released in 2005. Los Angeles and L.A. redirect here. ...
Karey Kirkpatrick is a screenwriter. ...
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is a science fiction comedy film based on the book of the same name by Douglas Adams. ...
Radio producer Dirk Maggs had consulted with Adams, first in 1993, and later in 1997 and 2000 about creating a third radio series, based on the third novel in the Hitchhiker's series.[16] They also vaguely discussed the possibilities of radio adaptations of the final two novels in the five-book "trilogy." As with the movie, this project was only realised after Adams' death. The third series, The Tertiary Phase, was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 2004 and was subsequently released on audio CD. With the aid of a recording of his reading of Life, the Universe and Everything and editing, Douglas Adams himself can be heard playing the part of Agrajag posthumously. So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish and Mostly Harmless made up the fourth and fifth radio series, respectively (on radio they were titled The Quandary Phase and The Quintessential Phase) and these were broadcast in May and June of 2005, and also subsequently released on Audio CD. The last episode in the last series (with a new, "more upbeat" ending) concluded with, "The very final episode of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams is affectionately dedicated to its author."[17] Dirk Maggs is a freelance writer and director working across all media. ...
The terms Tertiary Phase, Quandary Phase and Quintessential Phase describe the radio adaptations of the books Life, the Universe and Everything, So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish and Mostly Harmless recorded in 2003 and 2004 by Above the Title Productions for BBC Radio 4. ...
old Radio 4 logo BBC Radio 4 is a UK domestic radio station which broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes including news, drama, comedy, science and history. ...
The terms Tertiary Phase, Quandary Phase and Quintessential Phase describe the radio adaptations of the books Life, the Universe and Everything, So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish and Mostly Harmless recorded in 2003 and 2004 by Above the Title Productions for BBC Radio 4. ...
The terms Tertiary Phase, Quandary Phase and Quintessential Phase describe the radio adaptations of the books Life, the Universe and Everything, So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish and Mostly Harmless recorded in 2003 and 2004 by Above the Title Productions for BBC Radio 4. ...
More recently, the film makers at Smoov Filmz adapted the anecdote that Arthur Dent relates about biscuits in So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish into a short film called "Cookies."[18] Adams also discussed the real-life episode that inspired the anecdote in a 2001 speech, reprinted in his posthumous collection The Salmon of Doubt. He also told the story on the radio programme It Makes Me Laugh on 19 July 1981. Information Species Human Gender Male Age 30 (approx. ...
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish (1984, ISBN 0-345-39183-7) is the fourth book of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series written by Douglas Adams. ...
The front cover of the UK first hardcover edition of The Salmon of Doubt. ...
is the 200th day of the year (201st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
AUGUST 25 1981 US Marine Sean Vance is Born on the 25th of August {ear nav|1981}} Year 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981 Gregorian calendar). ...
Doctor Who -
Adams sent the script for the HHGG pilot radio programme to the Doctor Who production office in 1978, and was commissioned to write The Pirate Planet (see below). He had also previously attempted to submit a potential movie script, called "Doctor Who and the Krikkitmen," which later became his novel Life, the Universe and Everything (which in turn became the third Hitchhiker's Guide radio series). Adams then went on to serve as script editor on the show for its seventeenth season in 1979. Altogether, he wrote three Doctor Who serials starring Tom Baker as the Doctor: This article is about the television series. ...
This article is about the television series. ...
The Pirate Planet is the second serial in the Key to Time arc of Doctor Who. ...
Doctor Who episodes redirects here. ...
For other persons named Tom Baker, see Tom Baker (disambiguation). ...
The episodes authored by Adams are some of the few that have not been novelised as Adams would not allow anyone else to write them, and asked for a higher price than the publishers were willing to pay.[19] The Key to Time is the umbrella title for a story arc that links all six serials of Season 16 of Doctor Who. ...
Doctor Who episodes redirects here. ...
City of Death is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from September 29 to October 20, 1979. ...
Graham Williams was a British television producer and script editor, whose best known work was on the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who. ...
David Fisher is a writer for television. ...
David Agnew is a pseudonym that was traditionally used on BBC television drama programmes in the 1970s where a writers name could not be used for contractual reasons, for example where a script editor had written an episode of his or her own programme, or when a writer had...
Shada is an unaired serial of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ...
Adams was also known to allow in-jokes from The Hitchhiker's Guide to appear in the Doctor Who stories he wrote and other stories on which he served as Script Editor. Subsequent writers have also inserted Hitchhiker's references, even as recently as 2007. Conversely, at least one reference to Doctor Who was worked into a Hitchhiker's novel. In Life, the Universe and Everything, two characters travel in time and land on the pitch at Lord's Cricket Ground. The reaction of the radio commentators to their sudden appearance is very similar to the reactions of commentators in a scene in the eighth episode of the 1965 – 66 story The Daleks' Master Plan, which has the Doctor's TARDIS materialise on the pitch at Lord's. 42 is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ...
Life, the Universe and Everything (1982, ISBN 0-345-39182-9) is the third book in the five-volume Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy science fiction series by Douglas Adams. ...
The Pavilion The Grand Stand Match in progress The Media Centre at Lords Cricket Ground This memorial stone to Lord Harris is in the Harris Garden at Lords Lords Cricket Ground is a cricket ground in St Johns Wood in London, at grid reference TQ268827. ...
The Daleks Master Plan is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which originally aired in twelve weekly parts from November 13, 1965 to January 29, 1966. ...
The current TARDIS prop. ...
It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Teleportation. ...
Elements of Shada and City of Death were reused in Adams' later novel Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, in particular the character of Professor Chronotis, and Dirk Gently himself clearly fills much the same plot role as the Doctor (though the character is very different). Big Finish Productions eventually remade Shada as an audio play starring Paul McGann as the Doctor. Accompanied by partially animated illustrations, it was webcast on the BBCi website in 2003, and subsequently released as a two-CD set later that year. An omnibus edition of this version was broadcast on the digital radio station BBC7 on 10 December 2005. Dirk Gentlys Holistic Detective Agency is a novel by Douglas Adams. ...
Professor Urban Chronotis is a fictional character created by Douglas Adams. ...
Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces audio plays released straight to compact disc, based on British cult science fiction properties. ...
Paul McGann (born November 14, 1959 in Surrey, England, United Kingdom) is an English actor who made his name on the BBC serial The Monocled Mutineer, in which he played the lead role. ...
Doctor Who spin-offs refers to material created outside of, but related to, the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ...
BBCi is the brand name for the BBCs interactive television services. ...
BBC 7 is a digital radio station broadcasting comedy, drama, and childrens programming 24 hours a day. ...
is the 344th day of the year (345th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Adams is credited with introducing a fan and later friend of his, the zoologist Richard Dawkins, to Dawkins' future wife, Lalla Ward, who had played the part of Romana in Doctor Who. Dawkins confirmed this in his published eulogy of Adams.[20] Clinton Richard Dawkins, FRS (born March 26, 1941) is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist and popular science writer who holds the Charles Simonyi Chair for the Public Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford. ...
Lalla Ward (born Sarah Ward, June 28, 1951) is an English actress and illustrator best known for playing the part of Romana in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who. ...
For other uses, see Romana (disambiguation). ...
When he was at school, he wrote and performed a play called Doctor Which.[21]
Music Adams played the guitar left-handed and had a collection of twenty-four left-handed guitars when he died in 2001 (having received his first guitar in 1964). He also studied piano in the 1960s with the same teacher as Paul Wickens, the pianist who later played in Paul McCartney's band (and composed the music for the 2004 – 2005 editions of the Hitchhiker's Guide radio series).[22] The Beatles, Pink Floyd and Procol Harum all had great influence on Adams' work. For other uses, see Guitar (disambiguation). ...
A short grand piano, with the lid up. ...
Paul Wix Wickens is a keyboardist and composer from Essex, UK. He has been a keyboard player for Paul McCartneys band since 1990, and recently composed the music for the new radio productions of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. ...
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer-songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist, poet, entrepreneur, painter, record producer, film producer, and animal-rights activist. ...
The White Album, see The Beatles (album). ...
Pink Floyd are an English rock band that initially earned recognition for their psychedelic or space rock music, and, as they evolved, for their progressive rock music. ...
Procol Harum is an English rock band, formed in the 1960s, who built a heavy foundation for what would become progressive rock. ...
Pink Floyd Adams included a direct reference to Pink Floyd in the original radio version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, in which he describes the main characters surveying the landscape of an alien planet while Marvin, their android companion, hums Pink Floyd's "Shine on You Crazy Diamond". This was cut out of the CD version. Pink Floyd are an English rock band that initially earned recognition for their psychedelic or space rock music, and, as they evolved, for their progressive rock music. ...
The cover of the first novel in the Hitchhikers series, from a late 1990s printing. ...
Shine On You Crazy Diamond is an epic nine-part Pink Floyd composition with lyrics written by Roger Waters, in tribute to former band member Syd Barrett, and music written by Waters, Richard Wright, and David Gilmour. ...
Adams also compared the various noises that the kakapo makes to "Pink Floyd studio out-takes" in his nonfiction book on endangered species, Last Chance to See. Binomial name Gray, 1845 The Kakapo (MÄori: kÄkÄpÅ, meaning night parrot), Strigops habroptilus (from the Greek strix, genitive strigos: owl and ops: face; and habros: soft, and ptilon: feather), also called owl parrot, is a species of nocturnal parrot with finely blotched yellow-green plumage endemic to...
The front cover of the first US hardcover edition of Last Chance to See. ...
Adams' official biography shares its name with the song "Wish You Were Here" by Pink Floyd. Adams was friends with Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour and, on the occasion of Adams' 42nd birthday (the number 42 having special significance, being The Answer to Life, the Universe and Everything and also Adams' age when his daughter Polly was born), he was invited to make a guest appearance at Pink Floyd's 28 October 1994 concert at Earls Court in London, playing rhythm guitar on the songs "Brain Damage" and "Eclipse". Video is not available of this event, but a link to audio is present below. Adams chose the name for Pink Floyd's 1994 album, The Division Bell, by picking the words from the lyrics to one of its tracks, namely "High Hopes". Gilmour also performed at Adams' memorial service following his death in 2001. Wish You Were Here (song) redirects here. ...
Pink Floyd are an English rock band that initially earned recognition for their psychedelic or space rock music, and, as they evolved, for their progressive rock music. ...
For the Canadian writer and television journalist, see David Gilmour (writer), for the jazz guitarist see David Gilmore. ...
The Ultimate Answer to Life, The Universe, and Everything The 42 Puzzle, as it appeared in The Illustrated Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy The Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything has a numeric solution in Douglas Adams series The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. ...
is the 301st day of the year (302nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 1994 (MCMXCIV) The year 1994 was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by the United Nations. ...
This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ...
Rhythm guitar is a guitar that is primarily used to provide rhythmic and harmonic accompaniment for a singer or for other instruments in an ensemble. ...
Brain Damage is the ninth track[1] from British progressive rock band Pink Floyds 1973 album, The Dark Side of the Moon. ...
Eclipse is the tenth[1] and final track from British progressive rock band Pink Floyds 1973 album, The Dark Side of the Moon. ...
This article is about the Pink Floyd album. ...
Pink Floyd and their lavish stage shows were also the inspiration for the Adams-created fictional rock band "Disaster Area", described in the Hitchhiker's Guide as "not only the loudest rock band in the galaxy, but in fact the loudest noise of any kind". One element of Disaster Area's stage show was to send a space ship hurtling into a sun, probably inspired by the plane that would crash into the stage during some of Pink Floyd's live shows, usually at the end of "On the Run". The 1968 Pink Floyd song "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" may also have influenced the ideas behind Disaster Area. This article is about the genre. ...
The following is a list of minor characters in the various versions of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams. ...
On the Run is the third track[1] from British progressive rock band Pink Floyds 1973 album, The Dark Side of the Moon. ...
Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun is a song by British psychedelic rock band Pink Floyd, and is featured on their second album, A Saucerful of Secrets (1968). ...
Procol Harum Douglas Adams was a friend of Gary Brooker, the lead singer, pianist and songwriter of the progressive rock band Procol Harum. Adams is known to have invited Brooker to one of the many parties that Adams held at his house. On one such occasion Gary Brooker performed the full (4 verse) version of his hit song "A Whiter Shade of Pale". Brooker also performed at Adams' memorial service. Gary Brooker, MBE, (born 29 May 1945, Hackney, East London), is an English singer, songwriter, pianist and founder of the rock band Procol Harum. ...
For the Swedish political music movement, see progg. ...
Procol Harum is an English rock band, formed in the 1960s, who built a heavy foundation for what would become progressive rock. ...
A Whiter Shade of Pale is a song by the British band Procol Harum. ...
Adams also appeared on stage with Brooker to perform "In Held Twas in I" at Redhill when the band's lyricist Keith Reid was not available. On several other occasions he had been known to introduce Procol Harum at their gigs. Keith Reid,born 22 October 1946 is best known for writing the words to A Whiter Shade of Pale. ...
Adams also let it be known that while writing he would listen to music, and this would occasionally influence his work. On one occasion the title track from the Procol Harum album Grand Hotel was playing when... Grand Hotel, by Procol Harum, was released in 1973. ...
Suddenly in the middle of the song there was this huge orchestral climax that came out of nowhere and didn't seem to be about anything. I kept wondering what was this huge thing happening in the background? And I eventually thought ... it sounds as if there ought to be some sort of floorshow going on. Something huge and extraordinary, like, well, like the end of the universe. And so that was where the idea for The Restaurant at the End of the Universe came from. — Douglas Adams, Procol Harum at The Barbican[23]
Other musical links Adams made a number of references to music and musicians who had influenced his work through his books. In the Hitchhiker's Guide series, examples include one of the two mice, in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, suggesting that as they have not found the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything, they should instead make it up, proposing to use the question "How many roads must a man walk down?" This is a line from Bob Dylan's song, "Blowin' in the Wind". Prior to this scene, in the same novel, the ship's computer onboard the Heart of Gold, unable to assist or prevent the ship's impending destruction with two nuclear missiles closing in on it, sings "You'll Never Walk Alone" in the background, a Rodgers and Hammerstein hit from the musical Carousel which had been an early 1960s rock hit in the UK and then was adopted as a crowd chant by many football fans, in particular Liverpool supporters. The cover of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, from a late 1990s US printing. ...
This article is about the recording artist. ...
Blowin in the Wind is a song written by Bob Dylan, and released on his 1963 album The Freewheelin Bob Dylan. ...
Heart of Gold is a fictional spaceship in The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. ...
Youll Never Walk Alone is a song written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II for their 1945 musical, Carousel. ...
Rodgers (left) and Hammerstein (right), with Irving Berlin (middle) and Helen Tamiris, watching auditions at the St. ...
Carousel is a 1945 stage musical by Richard Rodgers (music) and Oscar Hammerstein II (book and lyrics) that was adapted from Ferenc Molnars play Liliom. ...
Soccer redirects here. ...
Liverpool Football Club are an English professional football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside, who play in the Premier League; they are historically the most successful club in the history of English football, having won more trophies than any other English club. ...
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, the second novel in the series, is dedicated to the 1980 Paul Simon soundtrack album, One-Trick Pony. Adams says he played it "incessantly" while writing the book. In one scene in the fourth novel, So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish, Arthur Dent listens to a Dire Straits LP and Adams goes on to pay tribute to their lead guitarist, Mark Knopfler. Adams later revealed that the particular song to which he refers in the book — although never by name — is "Tunnel of Love", from the Making Movies album. And in the final novel, Mostly Harmless, Elvis is discovered playing in a diner attended by Ford Prefect and Arthur Dent, where he is simply known as "The King". The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (1980, ISBN 0345391810) is the second book in the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy comedy science fiction series by Douglas Adams. ...
One-Trick Pony is an album released by Paul Simon in 1980. ...
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish (1984, ISBN 0-345-39183-7) is the fourth book of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series written by Douglas Adams. ...
This article is about the band. ...
Mark Freuder Knopfler OBE (born August 12, 1949, Glasgow, Scotland) is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and film score composer. ...
Tunnel of Love is a 1981 rock song by Dire Straits. ...
Making Movies is the third album by British rock band Dire Straits, released in 1980. ...
The front cover of the US first hardcover edition of Mostly Harmless. ...
Elvis redirects here. ...
Mos Def as Ford Prefect (left), along with Martin Freeman as Arthur Dent (right), from the 2005 film adaptation. ...
Information Species Human Gender Male Age 30 (approx. ...
Besides modern rock music, Douglas Adams was a great admirer of the work of JS Bach, which provides a minor plot element in Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. Adams was also good friends with The Monkees' Michael Nesmith. In the early 1990s, one of the aborted attempts to have The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy adapted into a movie would have had Nesmith as its producer. For other people named Bach and other meanings of the word, see Bach (disambiguation). ...
The Monkees were a pop-rock quartet created and based in Los Angeles in 1965 for an NBC American television series of the same name. ...
Robert Michael Nesmith, born December 30, 1942 ) in Harris County, Texas,[1] is an American musician, songwriter, actor, producer, novelist, businessman, and philanthropist, perhaps best known for his time in the musical group The Monkees and on the TV series of the same name. ...
Adams was also a fan of The Beatles. He makes a reference to Paul McCartney in Life, the Universe and Everything and quotes lyrics and titles from songs by The Beatles in Mostly Harmless and Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. In 'Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency' this exchange takes place: The White Album, see The Beatles (album). ...
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer-songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist, poet, entrepreneur, painter, record producer, film producer, and animal-rights activist. ...
- "Yes, it is," said the Professor. "Wait--let it be. It won't be long."
- Richard stared in disbelief. "You say there's a horse in your bathroom, and all you can do is stand there naming Beatles songs?"
- "Well, the bathroom window's open. I expect she came in through that."
- "You're doing it deliberately, aren't you?"
Adams also does this several times in The Salmon of Doubt. In Chapter 3 there is a conversation between Kate and Dirk, which includes the following exchange: - "So?"
- "I looked around and I noticed there wasn't a chair."
Taken together, these two lines form a quotation from "Norwegian Wood" on the Rubber Soul album. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) is a song by The Beatles which first appeared on the 1965 album Rubber Soul. ...
The Beatles U.S. chronology Alternate cover Cover of the original 1965 U.S. LP, with a different colour saturation (see below) Back cover Back cover of the original 1965 UK LP Rubber Soul is the sixth album by The Beatles, first released in December 1965. ...
Computer games and projects
 Douglas Adams (left) and Steve Meretzky, 1984. Douglas Adams created an interactive fiction version of HHGG together with Steve Meretzky from Infocom in 1984. In 1986 he participated in a week-long brainstorming session with the Lucasfilm Games team for the game Labyrinth. Later he was also involved in creating Bureaucracy (also by Infocom, but not based on any book). Adams was also responsible for the computer game Starship Titanic, which was published in 1999 by Simon and Schuster. Terry Jones wrote the accompanying book, entitled Douglas Adams’s Starship Titanic, since Adams was too busy with the computer game to do both. In April 1999, Adams initiated the h2g2 collaborative writing project, an experimental attempt at making The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy a reality, and at harnessing the collective brainpower of the internet community. Image File history File links MeretzkyAndAdams. ...
Image File history File links MeretzkyAndAdams. ...
Zork I is one of the first interactive fiction games, as well as being one of the first commercially sold. ...
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is an interactive fiction computer game based on the seminal comic science fiction series of the same name. ...
Steve Meretzky Steven Eric Meretzky (born May 1, 1957) is an American computer game designer, with dozens of titles to his credit. ...
Zork universe Zork games Zork Anthology Zork trilogy Zork I Zork II Zork III Beyond Zork Zork Zero Enchanter trilogy Enchanter Sorcerer Spellbreaker Other games Wishbringer Return to Zork Zork: Nemesis Zork Grand Inquisitor Zork: The Undiscovered Underground Topics in Zork Encyclopedia Frobozzica Characters Kings Creatures Timeline Magic Calendar Zorkmid...
Official LucasArts logo LucasArts Entertainment Company (sometimes shortened to LEC), is a video game developer and publisher. ...
Screenshot from the game in the text-mode prologue. ...
Bureaucracy is a text-based computer game released by Infocom in 1987, scripted by popular comic science fiction author Douglas Adams. ...
Front cover of the box from the original US Windows 95 CD-ROM release of Starship Titanic, by Simon & Schuster Interactive. ...
Jean-François Millet Le Semeur (The Sower) Simon & Schuster logo, circa 1961. ...
H2G2 is also an acronym for the The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. ...
The terms collaborative writing and refer to projects where written works are created by multiple people together (collaboratively) rather than individually. ...
In 1990, Adams wrote and presented a television documentary programme Hyperland[24] which featured Tom Baker as a "software agent" (similar to the "Assistants" used in several versions of Microsoft Office, derived from their failed "Bob" program), and interviews with Ted Nelson, which was essentially about the use of hypertext. Although Adams did not invent hypertext, he was an early adopter and advocate of it. This was the same year that Tim Berners-Lee used the idea of hypertext in his HTML. A television documentary is a documentary or a series of documentaries that are meant to be broadcasted on television. ...
This page is a candidate for speedy deletion, because: ASCII art isnt encyclopedic and doesnt render well in WikiMarkup If you disagree with its speedy deletion, please explain why on its talk page or at Wikipedia:Speedy deletions. ...
For other persons named Tom Baker, see Tom Baker (disambiguation). ...
Microsoft Office is an office suite from Microsoft for Microsoft Windows and Apple Mac OS X operating systems. ...
Microsoft Bob was a Microsoft software product, released in March 1995, which provided a new, nontechnical interface to desktop computing operations. ...
Theodor Holm Nelson is an American sociologist, philosopher, and pioneer of information technology. ...
In computing, hypertext is a user interface paradigm for displaying documents which, according to an early definition (Nelson 1970), branch or perform on request. ...
Diffusion is the process by which a new idea or new product is accepted by the market. ...
Sir Tim Berners-Lee Sir Tim (Timothy John) Berners-Lee, KBE (TimBL or TBL) (b. ...
HTML, an initialism of HyperText Markup Language, is the predominant markup language for web pages. ...
The Dirk Gently series In between Adams' first trip to Madagascar with Mark Carwardine in 1985, and their series of travels that formed the basis fo |
