History Creator / DouglasAdams

* Adams' editor actually moved in with him while he was writing So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish to ensure that he would finish it on time.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': Credited writer on "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS16E2ThePiratePlanet The Pirate Planet]]" and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E6Shada Shada]]" (which unfortunately was unfinished and never aired [[TroubledProduction due to a worker's strike]], although what was filmed was eventually released on home video; It has also been adapted as a webcast, audio drama, and novel), generally accepted as main writer of "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E2CityOfDeath City of Death]]" (under a pseudonym), and made heavy contributions to all of Season 17 as script editor.

** The first two Dirk Gently books were adapted for BBC Radio in 2007/8. The books also served as inspiration for a short-lived British TV series that aired on BBC Four from 2010-2012 and [[Series/DirkGentlysHolisticDetectiveAgency a slightly more successful US series]] that aired on Netflix from 2016-2017.

''Wiki/TVTropes.org has this to say about Douglas Noel Adams (11 March 1952 – 11 May 2001)...''

** ''Radio/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' (radio)

** ''VideoGame/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' (game)
** ''Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' (film)

''Wiki/TVTropes.org has this to say about Douglas Noel Adams...''

Little known fact: Adams invented the wiki before Wikipedia even existed. Website/H2G2, an online encyclopedia system conceived by Adams, was launched in 1999, and predated Wikipedia by two years. Both Wikipedia and [=H2G2=] depended on information contributed by the public, although [=H2G2=] required that ''editors'', staff on Adams' payroll (later, staff on Creator/TheBBC's payroll), approve of certain contributions before it it can be published.

In true Douglas fashion, he advocated using exercise as a way of combating his depression, then died of a massive heart attack at age 49 [[DeathByIrony while at the gym]]. Because of where he was living at the time (Santa Barbara, 2001), Adams actually ''was'' carrying a towel when he died. Many of his fans find this to be [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming very bittersweet]].

A really hoopy frood, he was very fond of deadlines ([[RidiculousProcrastinator he liked the whooshing sound they made as they flew by]]) and always knew where his towel was. [[note]]Actually, he didn't. That was where the joke came from: he could never, ever find his towel, and figured that it was probably symptomatic of the general disorganization of his whole life. Anyone who actually knew where their towel was, he reasoned, would have to be a really together person.[[/note]] His interests included evolutionary biology, software technology, Apple computers, the music of Music/PinkFloyd, Bach, and Music/TheBeatles, and SCUBA diving. He was involved in a BBC radio production (and then book) with Mark Carwardine called ''Last Chance To See'', where he made his case for the necessity of biodiversity and the need for conservation initiatives, and also for [[VacationDearBoy paying comedy writers to go on holiday]]. He also considered himself a radical [[UsefulNotes/{{Atheism}} atheist]], but the "radical" bit was just to show people that he was serious about it (as opposed to merely being agnostic), not because he was intolerant or aggressive. If ever a human being was TooCoolToLive, it was him.

Adams has been honored with an asteroid, named in his honor (25924 Douglasadams); the asteroid's prior designation (2001 [=DA42=]) is notable in that it coincidentally carries the year of Adams' passing; his initials; and the Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything. Adams would quite probably see such a coincidence as solid proof that the universe has a sense of humor.

* {{Literature/Dirk Gently}}
** {{Literature/Dirk Gentlys Holistic Detective Agency}}
** {{Literature/The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul}}
** {{Literature/The Salmon of Doubt}} (unfinished due to Adams' death, the finished chapters of the book were later complied into a anthology also containing various short stories and non-fiction articles by Adams)
** The first two Dirk Gently books were adapted for BBC Radio in 2007/8. The books also served as inspiration for a short-lived TV series that aired on BBC Four from 2010-2012 and [[Series/DirkGentlysHolisticDetectiveAgency a slightly more successful series]] that aired on Netflix from 2016-2017.
* {{Literature/The Meaning Of Liff}} (with John Lloyd}

* RidiculousProcrastinator: Adams was notorious for turning in scripts late, and during his time as a novelist would often go off to start other projects to get out of finishing the ones with deadlines coming up. He described himself as a writer who took a certain perverse pleasure in Not Writing. It got to the point where his editor took to locking him in a hotel room with nothing but a typewriter when worse came to worse.
-->''I love deadlines. I love the wooshing sound they make as they fly by.''
* SelfPlagiarism: Most of his ''Series/DoctorWho'' stuff eventually migrated its way into his novels. ''Literature/LifeTheUniverseAndEverything'' contains elements of ''The Pirate Planet'' and one of his rejected scripts, and ''Literature/DirkGentlysHolisticDetectiveAgency'' carries over a character from ''Shada'' and an entire plot thread from ''City of Death''.

* TrojanGauntlet: In his {{Website/TED}} talk "Parrots, the universe and everything", he relates a RealLife tale about trying to buy a condom in Shanghai in 1988 so he could drop a microphone into the Yangtze River and record its sound. With a language barrier, the shopkeeper insisting the pill is better, and a dolphin involved, Hilarity Ensues.
* UnfazedEveryman: The trope used to be known as the Arthur Dent, and it is still used as a redirect.

* ObstructiveBeaurocrat: One of Adams' pet peeves, which manifested in his work, such as the Vogons from ''Hitchhiker's'' or the doctor in his ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' sketch "Patient Abuse".

** ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy1''
** ''Literature/TheRestaurantAtTheEndOfTheUniverse''
** ''Literature/LifeTheUniverseAndEverything''
** ''Literature/SoLongAndThanksForAllTheFish''
** "Literature/YoungZaphodPlaysItSafe" (short story)
** ''Literature/MostlyHarmless''

* ''Literature/Dirk Gently''

** {{Literature/Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency}}
** {{Literature/The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul}}

!!Works of Note:
* ''Series/DoctorWho'': Credited writer on "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS16E2ThePiratePlanet The Pirate Planet]]" and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E6Shada Shada]]" (which unfortunately was unfinished and never aired [[TroubledProduction due to a worker's strike]], although what was filmed was eventually released on home video; It has also been adapted as a webcast, audio drama, and novel), generally accepted as main writer of "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E2CityOfDeath City of Death]]" (under a pseudonym), and made heavy contributions to all of Season 17 as script editor.

* ''Literature/DirkGentlysHolisticDetectiveAgency'' (was adapted into a short-lived series that aired on BBC Four from 2010-2012 and [[Series/DirkGentlysHolisticDetectiveAgency a slightly more successful series]] that aired on Netflix from 2016-2017)

* ''Literature/DirkGentlysHolisticDetectiveAgency'' (which was adapted into a series that aired on BBC Four in 2010-2012)

* AuthorExistenceFailure (a spaceship suffers "sudden massive existence failure")

See the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Adams article]] on TheOtherWiki for more.

''TVTropes.org has this to say about Douglas Noel Adams...''

* CreatorRecovery: Sadly averted. Adams stated that he was going through a [[CreatorBreakdown rough patch]] when writing the fifth ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' book and set out to [[WhatMightHaveBeen write a sixth]] to correct the last one's DownerEnding. Unfortunately, he suffered an AuthorExistenceFailure before it could be completed. A sixth Hitchhiker book was later written by Creator/EoinColfer, to mixed reviews.

In true Douglas fashion, he advocated using exercise as a way of combating his depression, then died of a massive heart attack at age 47 [[DeathByIrony while at the gym]]. Because of where he was living at the time (Santa Barbara, 2001), Adams actually ''was'' carrying a towel when he died. Many of his fans find this to be [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming very bittersweet]].

A really hoopy frood, he was very fond of deadlines ([[RidiculousProcrastinator he liked the whooshing sound they made as they flew by]]) and always knew where his towel was. [[note]]Actually, he didn't. That was where the joke came from: he could never, ever find his towel, and figured that it was probably symptomatic of the general disorganization of his whole life. Anyone who actually knew where their towel was, he reasoned, would have to be a really together person.[[/note]] His interests included evolutionary biology, software technology, Apple computers, the music of Music/PinkFloyd, Bach, and Music/TheBeatles, and SCUBA diving. He was involved in a BBC radio production (and then book) with Mark Carwardine called ''Last Chance To See'', where he made his case for the necessity of biodiversity and the need for conservation initiatives, and also for [[VacationDearBoy paying comedy writers to go on holiday]]. He also considered himself a radical [[{{Atheism}} atheist]], but the "radical" bit was just to show people that he was serious about it (as opposed to merely being agnostic), not because he was intolerant or aggressive. If ever a human being was TooCoolToLive, it was him.