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Douglas Adams

By Mark Flanagan, About.com

Douglas Adams Biography:
Douglas Adams was born in Cambridge, England in 1952, the son of a nurse and a theology student. He showed promise as a writer early on when he published a story in "Eagle," a British comic book at the time. He was 12 years old.

Adams studied at Cambridge, where he also wrote and performed sketch comedy for Footlights, the comedy group that gave rise to Monty Python.
Shortly after Cambridge, Adams partnered with Graham Chapman in a writing relationship that was to be rather short-lived, but got Adams walk-ons in a couple of Monty Python's Flying Circus episodes.

At age 24, after numerous rejections of his ideas from television producers, he pitched the BBC with his idea for a sci-fi comedy series that was originally to be titled, "The Ends of the Earth." The BBC approved the making of the pilot, and "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" was born.
During the making of Hitchhiker's, Adams also worked on episodes of Doctor Who, as well as other sketch radio shows.

The remainder of his career centered on the Hitchhiker's books and related projects. Adams was famously late on all his deadlines and more than once had to be locked in an apartment or hotel room by his publishers in order that he get a project completed.

Douglas Adams died of a heart attack in 2001 while working out at his gym in Santa Barbara, California. He was 49 years old.
Dates:
(1952 - 2001)
Nationality:
English
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