Happy Birthday Douglas Adams (1952-2001)
Happy birthday to Douglas Adams, that "hoopy frood" who always knew where his towel was! Douglas Noel Adams was a British science fiction writer and humourist. He’s best known for the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series. Though Adams died of heart failure in 2001, his legacy lives on in our hearts and our acknowledgement of the supreme usefulness of towels. Douglas Adams was born on March 11, 1952.
In researching Douglas Adams, I found he had an eclectic body of writing. Besides creating mind-bending science fiction, he also liked to play with language. Adams and his friend John Lloyd produced a dictionary of experiences and feelings for which there are no English words. Instead of making up new words for the book, Adams and Lloyd gave new meanings to existing place names. The results are fairly relatable. Take "woking," a verb meaning "to enter the kitchen with the precise determination to perform something only to forget what it is just before you do it." I'm so glad there's finally a word for that! Thanks Douglas Adams.
Adams and Lloyd called their dictionary The Meaning of Liff. A revised and expanded edition, The Deeper Meaning of Liff, was published a few years later. You can find both books in the Merril Collection of Science Fiction, Speculation and Fantasy on the third floor of the Lillian H. Smith branch.
Adams was a dedicated environmentalist. In 1985, he took a trip to Madagascar with zoologist Mark Carwardine. Their search for a possibly extinct lemur launched them on more adventures to find endangered animals. These travels culminated in a book, Last Chance to See. Adams has said this was his favourite work.
New Douglas Adams material is released every few years. A recently discovered Doctor Who story was just published last week. Doctor Who and the Krikkitmen is based on notes from the Douglas Adams archive in Cambridge. Adams wrote three episodes of the long-running television show and pitched several more.
The best gift of all is the return of Hitchhiker's Guide to the airways. Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy was not originally a novel; it began as a BBC radio comedy. The first episode aired on March 8, 1978. On its 40th anniversary, March 8, 2018, the BBC kicked off a new six-part radio series. It's based on Eoin Colfer's addition to the series, And Another Thing…, as well as unpublished material from Adams' notebooks.
To mark this birthday I'm going to listen to a few of the old radio shows — maybe while lying in a field, gazing up at the infinite vastness of space.
So happy birthday Douglas Adams. So long, and thanks for all the laughs.
18 thoughts on “Happy Birthday Douglas Adams (1952-2001)”
I’m a huge fan of Douglas Adams’ work. Thank you for writing this blog post about him. You did an excellent and thorough job.
I’m a huge fan of Douglas Adams’ work. Thank you for writing this blog post about him. You did an excellent and thorough job.
I’m a huge fan of Douglas Adams’ work. Thank you for writing this blog post about him. You did an excellent and thorough job.
Thank you, Lydia. As a fellow fan, it was an absolute pleasure to write about him.
Thank you, Lydia. As a fellow fan, it was an absolute pleasure to write about him.
Thank you, Lydia. As a fellow fan, it was an absolute pleasure to write about him.
Glad the library is paying tribute to Mr. Adams!
Glad the library is paying tribute to Mr. Adams!
Glad the library is paying tribute to Mr. Adams!
Can you source Audiobooks of these works in which Adams himself was the narrator? Toronto public library had audio book CDs in which Adams narrated back in the early 2000’s. They were hilarious!
Can you source Audiobooks of these works in which Adams himself was the narrator? Toronto public library had audio book CDs in which Adams narrated back in the early 2000’s. They were hilarious!
Can you source Audiobooks of these works in which Adams himself was the narrator? Toronto public library had audio book CDs in which Adams narrated back in the early 2000’s. They were hilarious!
Hi Luigi. That’s a great question! I didn’t know Adams had narrated his own audiobooks. It seems we only have a few:
Restaurant at the End of The Universe (https://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?Entt=RDM283920&R=283920),
Mostly Harmless (https://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?Entt=RDM226625&R=226625)
and the second Dirk Gently book, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul (https://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?Entt=RDM3027661&R=3027661). I’ll have to listen to these.
Hi Luigi. That’s a great question! I didn’t know Adams had narrated his own audiobooks. It seems we only have a few:
Restaurant at the End of The Universe (https://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?Entt=RDM283920&R=283920),
Mostly Harmless (https://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?Entt=RDM226625&R=226625)
and the second Dirk Gently book, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul (https://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?Entt=RDM3027661&R=3027661). I’ll have to listen to these.
Hi Luigi. That’s a great question! I didn’t know Adams had narrated his own audiobooks. It seems we only have a few:
Restaurant at the End of The Universe (https://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?Entt=RDM283920&R=283920),
Mostly Harmless (https://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?Entt=RDM226625&R=226625)
and the second Dirk Gently book, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul (https://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?Entt=RDM3027661&R=3027661). I’ll have to listen to these.
The Merril Collection is acquiring “Doctor Who and The Krikkitmen” imminently! Great post, Isabel.
The Merril Collection is acquiring “Doctor Who and The Krikkitmen” imminently! Great post, Isabel.
The Merril Collection is acquiring “Doctor Who and The Krikkitmen” imminently! Great post, Isabel.