(OFF) Douglas Adams Dies

[William Duffy]

Very sad news indeed. He was also script editor for Doctor Who at one stage,
& wrote some Doctor Who adventures. One, titled Shada, was partly rewritten
as the first Dirk Gently novel. One of the Hitchhiker novels (the one with
the Krikketmen) was originally a script he wrote for a planned Doctor Who
movie.

William


----- Original Message -----
From: "Si Halley" <sihalley at CABLEINET.CO.UK>
To: <BOC-L at LISTSERV.SPC.EDU>
Sent: Saturday, May 12, 2001 7:50 PM
Subject: (OFF) Douglas Adams Dies


> 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.
>