Douglas adams who is he

Adams — who died, aged 49, 10 years ago this May — had launched the world's greatest universal joke. Often you hear it as a simple namecheck, a gently conclusive "Douglas Adams", said whenever a spontaneous 42 is seen as a seat number, a restaurant table, or a homework answer.

Others post lists of favourite 42s, snap "42" photos, or enjoy throwing a 42nd birthday party Pink Floyd performed on stage with Adams for his special day. There are the influential friends as well — both Google's HQ and Cern's Large Hadron Collider have office complexes named for the number. The joke has been running for more than three decades and the momentum seems as strong, or perhaps even stronger, than ever.

Famous and notable instances are lovingly prized; the world's first modern book was Gutenberg's line bible and the US national anthem is about an historic 42ft star-spangled banner. Playing an elaborate joke on a richer-than-Croesus friend, author Ian Fleming made it the age of Bond villain Auric Goldfinger.

In , the asteroid Douglasadams was named in his memory. This one volume paperback edition comes complete with an unhelpful introduction from the author, a bonus short story, Young Zaphod Plays It Safe , and a special undeleted scene. Want to learn more? Watch the video below for our beginner's guide Sign up here.

Ready for your next read? He struggled as a writer Having studied at Cambridge, Adams struggled after graduating to make a dent in the universe.

But Adams writings were not aligned with the style of radio or television of that time which proved to be a great hindrance in his success. To make a living Adams tried several jobs including hospital porter, barn builder, bodyguard and chicken shed cleaner.

Nevertheless Adams continued his efforts, though few of his works were accepted. But by the end of the year, he was in strife again. Editorial 03 NOV Outlook 27 OCT News 04 NOV News 04 OCT News 01 OCT Francis Crick Institute. Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily. Advanced search. Skip to main content Thank you for visiting nature. You have full access to this article via your institution.

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