History Creator / DouglasAdams

Adams has been honored with an asteroid, 25924 Douglasadams, being renamed for him; the asteroid's prior designation (2001 [=DA42=]) is notable in that it coincidentally carries the year of Adams' passing; his initials; and the Answer to the Great Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything. Adams would quite probably see such a coincidence as solid proof that the universe has a sense of humour.

* AuthorUsurpation: Douglas Adams grew tired of ''Hitchhiker's Guide'' very early in TheEighties. Also, he did not think of himself as a science fiction writer and actually wasn't that much of a fan of the genre. For him, science fiction was just a convenient medium for the comedy ideas that he had at that time. He aspired more to be a comedy writer in the tradition of P.G Wodhouse. With the exception of ''Dirk Gently'' and the game ''Starship Titanic'' (the tie in novel was actually written by Terry Jones of Creator/MontyPython fame), most of his other Non "Hitchhiker's Guide" related fiction works are SliceOfLife instead of fantasy/sci fi.

* LightmareFuel: Making you giggle and cower at the same time (or in stomach-churningly quick succession) is part and parcel of his signature style. Bonus points if you're doing this ''and'' spotting the [[JustForPun pun]] or [[ShoutOut allusion]] at the same time. In short: if your ribs don't hurt, your brain and adrenal glands will.

A British humorist and {{science fiction}} writer, most renowned for having written ''Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' [[TrilogyCreep "trilogy"]], the ''Literature/DirkGently'' series, and three ''Series/DoctorWho'' stories during the Creator/TomBaker era (he was the script editor during Season 17).

[[caption-width-right:350:The hoopiest frood of them all]]

[[caption-width-right:350:The hoopiest frood of them all (1952-2001)]]

* AuthorUsurpation: Douglas Adams grew tired of Hitchhiker's Guide very early in TheEighties. Also, he did not think of himself as a science fiction writer and actually wasn't that much of a fan of the genre. For him, science fiction was just a convenient medium for the comedy ideas that he had at that time. He aspired more to be a comedy writer in the tradition of P.G Wodhouse. With the exception of ''Dirk Gently'' and the game ''Starship Titanic'' (the tie in novel was actually written by Terry Jones of Creator/MontyPython fame), most of his other Non "Hitchhiker's Guide" related fiction works are SliceOfLife instead of fantasy/sci fi.

His gravestone is in Highgate Cemetery in London, which is open to the public (it houses the graves of many famous people, including Karl Marx) and is frequently to be found adorned with a small towel (of course), and also a pot of visitor-donated ball-point pens, both in reference to him being a writer, and to a passage in Hitch-Hikers where he mused on how ballpoint pens, by dint of their habit of disappearing whenever you really needed one, were probably some kind of advanced life form that had slipped away to enjoy a uniquely bioroid lifestyle on their home planet.

His gravestone is in Highgate Cemetery in London, which is open to the public (it houses the graves of many famous people, including Karl Marx) and is frequently to be found adorned with a small towel (of course), and also a pot of visitor-donated ball-point pens, both in reference to him being a writer, and to a passage in Hitch-Hikers where he mused on how ballpoint pens, by dint of their habit of disappearing whenever you really needed one, were probably some kind of advanced life form that had slipped away to enjoy a uniquely biroid lifestyle on their home planet.

Little known fact: Adams invented the wiki before Wikipedia even existed. Website/H2G2, an online encyclopedia system conceived by Adams, was launched in 1999, and predated Wikipedia by two years. Both Wikipedia and [=H2G2=] depended on information contributed by the public, although [=H2G2=] required that ''editors'', staff on Adams' payroll (later, staff on Creator/TheBBC's payroll), approve of certain contributions before it can be published.

* BrickJoke: Douglas was infamous for these. It could be several ''books'' before he finally dropped the punch line.

''Wiki/TVTropes.org has this to say about Douglas Noel Adams (March 11, 1952 – May 11, 2001)...''

* AuthorUsurpation: Douglas Adams grew tired of Hitchhiker's Guide very early in TheEighties. Also, he did not think of himself as a science fiction writer and actually wasn't that much of a fan of the genre. For him, science fiction was just a convenient medium for the comedy ideas that he had at that time. He aspired more to be a comedy writer in the tradition of P.G Wodhouse. With the exception of ''Dirk Gently'', most of his other fiction works are SliceOfLife instead of fantasy/sci fi.

* AuthorUsurpation: Douglas Adams grew tired of Hitchhiker's Guide very early in TheEighties. Also, he did not think of himself as a science fiction writer and actually wasn't that much of a fan of the genre. He aspired more to be a comedy writer in the tradition of P.G Wodhouse. With the exception of ''Dirk Gently'', most of his other fiction works are SliceOfLife instead of fantasy/sci fi.

* ''Literature/TheMeaningOfLiff'' (with John Lloyd}

See the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Adams article]] on Wiki/TheOtherWiki for more.

** ''Radio/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' (radio, with John Lloyd)
** ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' (novels)

** ''Series/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' (TV series)
** ''VideoGame/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' (game, with Creator/{{Infocom}})
** ''Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' (film, with posthumous revisions by Karey Kirkpatrick)

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': Credited writer on "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS16E2ThePiratePlanet The Pirate Planet]]" and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E6Shada Shada]]" (which unfortunately was unfinished and never aired [[TroubledProduction due to a worker's strike]], although what was filmed was eventually released on home video; It has also been adapted as a webcast, audio drama, and novel), generally accepted as main writer[[note]]The original writer was unable to perform the requested rewrites, and Adams and producer Graham Williams had to perform a ground-up rewrite themselves. It was against BBC guidelines for a script editor or producer to receive a writing credit, and the final product so little resembled what Fisher had written that he couldn't be credited, so an AlanSmithee-like pseudonym was used[[/note]] of "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E2CityOfDeath City of Death]]" (under a pseudonym), and made heavy contributions to all of Season 17 as script editor.

Adams has been honored with an asteroid, 25924 Douglasadams, being renamed for him; the asteroid's prior designation (2001 [=DA42=]) is notable in that it coincidentally carries the year of Adams' passing; his initials; and the Answer to the Great Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything. Adams would quite probably see such a coincidence as solid proof that the universe has a sense of humor.

* {{Bathos}}: A lot of the humor of his work runs on this.

** With some sense of black humor, you could consider the fact that he wore a towel when he died his last Brick Joke.

** ''Literature/TheSalmonOfDoubt'' (unfinished due to AuthorExistenceFailure, the finished chapters of the book were later compiled into an eponymous anthology also containing various short stories and non-fiction articles by Adams)

* AuthorExistenceFailure (invoked; a spaceship suffers "sudden massive existence failure")

A really hoopy frood, he was very fond of deadlines ([[RidiculousProcrastinator he "liked the whooshing sound they made as they flew by"]]) and always knew where his towel was.[[note]]Actually, he didn't. That was where the joke came from: he could never, ever find his towel, and figured that it was probably symptomatic of the general disorganization of his whole life. Anyone who actually knew where their towel was, he reasoned, would have to be a really together person.[[/note]] His interests included evolutionary biology, software technology, Apple computers, the music of Music/PinkFloyd, Bach, and Music/TheBeatles, and SCUBA diving. He was involved in a BBC radio production (and then book) with Mark Carwardine called ''Last Chance To See'', where he made his case for the necessity of biodiversity and the need for conservation initiatives, and also for [[VacationDearBoy paying comedy writers to go on holiday]]. He also considered himself a radical [[UsefulNotes/{{Atheism}} atheist]], but the "radical" bit was just to show people that he was serious about it (as opposed to merely being agnostic), not because he was intolerant or aggressive. If ever a human being was TooCoolToLive, it was him.