March 11 – Happy Birthday, Douglas Adams

Postednon March 11, 2015

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nHensometimes said that henwas DNA in Cambridge months before scientists Watson and Cricknmodeled DNA at Cambridge University…

nAnd that’s because DouglasnAdams was born in Cambridge, England, the year before Watson andnCrick’s famous announcement.

nAdams’snchildhood teachers said that Adams as a child really stood out. Fornone thing, he was unusually tall. He was six feet tall by the time henwas 12 years old (in comparison, basketball great Michael Jordan wasnstill under six feet when he was 15 years old), and Adams ended upnbeing 6’5” tall (just one inch shorter than Jordan’s final height).

Anothernreason Adams stood out was that he could write really good stories,neven as a kid. He was the only ever awarded 10 out of 10 points forncreative writing by his form master at his secondary (or “prep”)nschool.

nApparently the encouragement from that teacher helped him overcome writer’s block as an adult!

nAfternAdams graduated from university with a B.A. in English literature,nhe moved to London. He was determined to become a writer for televisionnand radio. He was able to get a writing credit for Monty Python, andnto make two small appearances in Monty Python—he is only one of twonpeople outside of the original Python members to get a writingncredit!—but it was really tough to break into the radio and TVnworld. Adams had to take a series of odd jobs while he continued tonwrite and submit sketches.

Adams was famously bad at
meeting deadlines.

nFinally,nAdams was able to get something on the air—ThenHitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxynappeared first in our galaxy as a radio show (1978). Later, it becamenit became a “trilogy” of five books (1979 to 1992), a TV shown(1981), a computer game (1984), a 3-part comic book (1993 to 1996), antowel design, a movie (2005), a variety of stage shows, and more radionadaptations.

nInnaddition to all this Hitchhiker’s Guide stuff, Adams wrote five morennovels and three stories for the TV series DoctornWho.