Hitchhiker: A Biography of Douglas Adams [Hardcover]

The untimely death of Douglas Adams was a sharp reminder of what a protean talent (and remarkable character) the man was. As MJ Simpson's Hitchhiker: A Biography of Douglas Adams reminds us, when The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy appeared as a radio series, few could guess that its gifted author would, in the space of several books (and adaptations in various other media), single-handedly inaugurate a whole new genre: the sardonically funny, outrageous science fiction parody that combined the sharp-edged sensibility of Monty Python and a marvellously jaded view of British life (taking in some hilarious philosophical asides along the way). Many writers continue to be influenced by Adams, and a new film of Hitchhiker's Guide has been much discussed. So the time is right for this exhaustive and sympathetic biography.

Although several such books are in the pipeline, genre specialist MJ Simpson (a cofounder of the glossy SF magazine SFX) is the perfect chronicler of a strange and eventful life. Adams' quirky personality comes brilliantly to life (thanks to Simpson's impressive research, which he began before Adams' death). We are taken back to his auspicious beginnings as a comic talent in the Cambridge Footlights and through his phenomenal later success (not ignoring the man's pathological inability to meet a deadline). Simpson's writing style is never academic, and sounds the same wry and witty note as his subject effortlessly found. By interviewing a host of friends and associates (and consulting exclusive archives), Simpson paints a picture of this complex and fascinating man that is unlikely to be beaten for quite some time. --Barry Forshaw

'M.J. Simpson has written an engaging and unbiased study of his subject, who emerges as a shy and frequently distressed genius.'

'Douglas's latest and most comprehensive biographer ... Simpson's style is easy and informative.'

'[A] solid and very readable biography... [M.J. Simpson] has written a thorough and fair-minded biography of a dazzling if frustrating talent.'

'A fascinating biography... his style is as sardonic and sharp-edged as that of Adam's own work, and perfectly complements his subject.'

'M.J. Simpson has written an engaging and unbiased study of his subject' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Douglas Adams will be most fondly remembered for the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" series and its idiosyncratic humour, but this biography covers his life from his days as a struggling sketch writer to his untimely death at the age of 49 in May 2001. His was an extraordinary life: he started his career as a struggling comedy sketch writer, but then became an overnight success after his "Hitchhiker" series was first aired by the BBC in 1978. Arthur Dent's adventures through space with his friend Ford Prefect became a popular culture phenomenon, spawning bestselling novels by Adams, hit television and stage shows and cult status. As well as a bestselling writer, Adams was an avid ecologist and technophile and this book aims to tell the story of this remarkable life and includes interviews and anecdotes from friends and colleagues.

This book is the culmination of more than 20 years of research into the life and career of Douglas Adams. It is based on original interviews and correspondence with more than 90 of Adams’ friends, family and colleagues; on nearly 200 archive interviews with Adams himself, from 1976 until 2001; and on exclusive access to the only four major, privately owned archives of Adams/Hitchhiker’s Guide material in the world.

Among those who helped with this book are: Kevin Davies (TV series animator and director of The Making of the Hitchhiker’s Guide), Rick Mueller and Joel Greengrass (makers of the documentary film Life, the Universe and Douglas Adams), John Lloyd (co-writer of The Meaning of Liff and two episodes of the Hitchhiker’s Guide radio series), Mark Carwardine (co-author of Last Chance to See), Robbie Stamp and Richard Creasey (co-founders of The Digital Village), Andrew Pixley (Dr Who expert), Steve Meretzky (co-creator of the Infocom Hitchhiker’s Guide computer game), Sophie Astin (Adams’ personal assistant), Jill Foster (Adams’ first agent), Geoffrey Perkins (producer of the Hitchhiker’s Guide radio series), Terry Jones (collaborator on Starship Titanic) and many others.

As well as covering The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy in all its forms - including the full, untold saga of the feature film - and the Dirk Gently novels, this book also covers Douglas Adams’ work on: Doctor Who, Monty Python’s Flying Circus, Doctor on the Go, Oh No It Isn’t!, Hyperland, The Meaning of Liff, Last Chance to See, Bureaucracy, The News Quiz, Black Cinderella II Goes East, Week Ending, The News Huddlines, Starship Titanic, Out of the Trees, Dr Snuggles, Our Show for Ringo Starr, Labyrinth, The Adventure Game, A Liar’s Autobiography and many other projects, including extensive details of work which he started but never finished. There is also a detailed history of Adams’ early writing and performances at Brentwood School and Cambridge University.

MJ Simpson is acknowledged as the world's leading authority on the life and career of Douglas Adams, having collected information and material on him for twenty years. When Adams' personal assistant required information on her boss' career, it was Simpson that she phoned. He has been interviewed about Douglas Adams on Channel 4's 'Top Ten TV: Sci-Fi' series and BBC2's 'Reading the Decades', and on many radio stations. He has interviewed Adams several times, edited the world's only 'Hitchhiker's Guide' magazine and co-founded Britain's bestselling science fiction magazine SFX.

Cambridge had many significant roles in Douglas Adams’ life. He went up to university there in 1971 and came down again three years later with a degree, a portfolio of comedy sketches and John Cleese’ telephone number. He returned to the town in 1976 to direct a Footlights revue. One of his Doctor who stories was filmed in Cambridge, and when ideas from that story were reworked into a novel, that too was set in a dusty old college on the banks of the Cam. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy computer game was developed in Cambridge (although, to be fair, it was the one in Massachusetts) and one of Douglas’ last great triumphs, his extemporaneous speech ‘Is There an Artificial God?’, was given at the Digital Biota 2 conference on artificial life – in Cambridge (the one in Cambridgeshire).
‘I liked Cambridge a lot,’ he once said. ‘I always felt a special affinity with the place.’
And it was in Cambridge that Douglas Noel Adams was born, to Christopher and Jan Adams, in Mill Road Maternity Hospital on 11 March 1952. Later that same day, his comedy career began: ‘According to my mother I was such a gangling baby the nurses brought me into the maternity ward with a nappy on and said, "Look, Gandhi!" I was quite a neurotic child, twitchy, inclined to live in a world of my own. I didn’t learn to speak until I was almost four. My parents were so concerned they had me tested for being either deaf or educationally subnormal.’
Jan Adams was a nurse: ‘My mother’s a great lady, she is somebody who is always at her best dealing with anybody else’s problems – and can never deal with any of her own.’ Christopher Adams was studying for a postgraduate degree in theology with a view to taking holy orders: ‘He became a teacher for a few years, then suddenly he became a probation officer. After that he became a lecturer in probationary group therapy techniques, then astonished everybody by suddenly becoming a management consultant. He has a sideline as a computer salesman. I expect there is some rationale behind my father’s life.’
Douglas had Irish, Scottish and German blood in him: ‘My maternal grandfather was a Donovan from Cork. He was, like many Irish living in England, more Irish than the Irish. On his sixty-fifth birthday – the day he retired – he came home from work and said, "That’s it, I’ve done my bit, I’m going to bed." He did so, and stayed there till his death seven years later.’ Douglas’ most notable ancestor was his great - grandfather, a German actor - director with the unlikely name of Benjamin Franklin Wedekind (1864–1918) who predated the theatre of the absurd with his use of distorted scenes, broken dialogue and caricature. His paternal grandfather was an ear, nose and throat specialist in Glasgow, and Douglas was surprised to find in later life that the name Adams carries much weight in the history of Scottish medicine. Douglas’ own brief thoughts of becoming a GP were immediately discounted because of his tendency to faint during medical scenes in movies.
Very little is known of Douglas’ early childhood, and Douglas himself claimed to have few memories before the age of five when his parents divorced: ‘I think it’s blocked. Both my parents remarried pretty quickly and each had more children. So as well as having one whole sister, I have a whole bunch of half-brothers and sisters.’
Susan Adams was born three years after Douglas in March 1955. Christopher Adams remarried in July 1960, giving Douglas and Sue two stepsisters, Rosemary and Kena, and a half-sister Heather born in July 1962. Jan Adams married a Dorset vet, Ron Thrift, in July 1964, providing two more half - siblings, Jane and James, in August 1966 and June 1968 respectively. Until her remarriage, Jan and the children had been living with her mother in Brentwood, Essex. The move to Dorset coincided with Douglas becoming a boarder at Brentwood School.