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> By JILL LAWLESS, Associated Press Writer
>
> LONDON (AP) - Douglas Adams, whose cult science fiction comedy ``The
>Hitchhiker's
> Guide to the Galaxy'' drew millions of fans and spawned a
>mini-industry, has died at age
> 49.
>
> The British-born Adams died Friday of a heart attack in Santa Barbara,
>Calif., his London
> spokeswoman, Sophie Astin, said Saturday.
>
> The ``Hitchhiker's Guide,'' which began life as a British Broadcasting
>Corp. radio series in 1978, is a satirical adventure about a
> group of interplanetary travelers; it opens with the Earth being
>destroyed to make way for an intergalactic highway.
>
> It was turned into a book, which sold 14 million copies around the
>world, and later into a television series.
>
> The book was followed by several sequels, including ``The Restaurant at
>the End of the Universe,'' ``Life, the Universe and
> Everything'' and ``So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish.''
>
> The books blended satire, memorably named characters such as Zaphod
>Beeblebrox and Marvin the Paranoid Android, and witty
> philosophy, at one point supplying the answer to ``the ultimate
>question of life, the universe and everything.'' The answer was
> 42.
>
> Adams later recalled how he first thought of the book during a teen-age
>trip around Europe.
>
> ``I was hitchhiking around Europe in 1971, when I was 18, with this
>copy of 'A Hitchhiker's Guide to Europe,''' he said.
>
> ``At one point I found myself lying in the middle of a field, a little
>bit drunk, when it occurred to me that somebody should write
> a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It didn't occur to me that it might
>actually be me years later.''
>
> The book came 24th in a poll of the top 100 books of the 20th century
>conducted by the Waterstone's bookstore chain and
> Channel 4 television.
>
> Geoffrey Perkins, the BBC's head of comedy, called Adams ``absolutely
>one of the most creative geniuses to ever work in radio
> comedy.''
>
> ``He probably wrote one of the greatest radio comedy series ever,
>certainly the most imaginative,'' he added.
>
> Born in Cambridge, England, in 1952 and educated at Cambridge
>University, Adams began his career as a writer and script editor
> at the BBC, including work on BBC TV's ``Doctor Who.''
>
> He followed the ``Hitchhiker's Guide'' with several books about
>``holistic detective'' Dirk Gently; ``Last Chance to See,'' a book
> about endangered species; and, with John Lloyd, the hilarious
>alternative dictionary ``The Meaning of Liff.''
>
> He also founded a multimedia company, Digital Village, which produced
>the ``Starship Titanic'' computer game and an online
> travel guide inspired by the ``Hitchhiker's Guide.''
>
> A frequent radio broadcaster on science and technology, Adams had been
>working for several years on a screenplay for an
> oft-delayed ``Hitchhiker's Guide'' movie.
>
> In August 1996, he told a technology conference in New Orleans that the
>main problem in adapting the series for film was not
> special effects.
>
> ``It's the nature of the story, which is picaresque, which translates
>to one damn thing after another, and another, and another.
>
> ``It's very hard to translate that to a 100-minute feature film,'' he
>said. ``Every script has a beginning and a middle and an end.''
>
> Adams married Jane Belson, a lawyer, in 1991. The couple, who had lived
>in Santa Barbara since 1999, had a daughter, Polly.
>
> -
>
> On the Net:
>
> Douglas Adams site: http://www.douglasadams.com
>
> Hitchhiker's Guide: http://www.h2g2.com
>
>

--
			ILLEGITIMI NON CARBORUNDUM

 		    What a long strange trip it's been!
            I'm a man, but I can change, if I have to, I guess,