(OFF) Douglas Adams Dies

[Si Halley]

Sad news from:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_1326000/1326657.stm

Author Douglas Adams, who wrote The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, has
died suddenly aged 49.
Mr Adams died on Friday morning in Santa Barbara, California, following a
heart attack, said his spokeswoman Sophie Astin.
Adams's novel was turned into a BBC series
The author became a household name when the cult science fiction novel was
turned into a BBC TV series.
Adams was born in Cambridge in 1952 and educated in Essex before returning
to Cambridge to study at St John's College.
His career included work as a radio and television writer and producer
before his life was changed by the publication of The Hitchhiker's Guide to
the Galaxy in 1979.

Film
The satirical tale chronicled the journey of alien Ford Prefect and his
human companion Arthur Dent throughout the universe after the destruction of
Earth.
It centred around the search for an answer to life, the universe, and
everything - which turned out to be 42.
Arthur Dent and Slartibartfast became cult figures
The novel went on to sell more than 14 million copies worldwide and was
followed by the sequels The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, Life, the
Universe and Everything and So Long and Thanks For All the Fish.
In recent years the author had been working on a Hitchhiker's Guide movie.
There was much speculation about who would play Arthur Dent, with Hugh
Laurie, Rowan Atkinson, Jim Carrey, Ben Affleck and even Bruce Willis said
to be in the running.
Adams married Jane Belson in 1991 and had a daughter, Polly, in 1994.