5 Facts About Douglas Adams

Bushwick’s big The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy event is but a few short hours away. Before picking up the book to read before the show, I was very unfamiliar with Douglas Adams and his writing. Shame on me! And I consider myself to be a nerd. So to better prepare myself for the show, I read up a bit on him. Here are some things I learned.

Douglas Adams Loved Animals

As a young child Adams lived in a Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals shelter with his mother and sister that his Grandparents’ ran. Later in life he started campaigning on behalf of endangered species. Ted Talks published an entertaining and funny presentation that Adams gave back in 2001 about the fickleness of evolution including a bit on blind river dolphins in China.

He Loved Animals So Much, He Climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro While Wearing a Rhino Suit

Adams became a founder patron of the Save the Rhino organization in 1994 and donned the suit during his hike to raise awareness for both the plight of the rhino and the charity. Save the Rhino celebrates Adams’ birthday every year with a memorial lecture and fundraiser. His 60th birthday party included dancing rhinos.

He Wore a Leather Blazer on David Letterman in 1985

To promote his book So Long and Thanks for All the Fish, Adams went on the Late Show. He was wearing a leather blazer and a rainbow tie. More entertaining though is the story he tells about eating biscuits at the train station.

He Wrote for Dr. Who

Adams penned three serials for Dr. Who in 1979 and served as script editor that year, the show’s seventeenth season. Some of his scripts, have been turned into books in the Dr. who series. Although not interested in turning his own scripts into books, after his death, authors have taken up the helm and finished them in Adams’ absence.

He Wrote a Sketch for Monty Python

British comedy nerds will salivate at this next fact. Long before writing any of the Hitchhiker books, Adams co-wrote a sketch for Monty Python with Graham Chapman. Like many great Python bit, the sketch is quite bloody and silly.

Douglas Adams was a well-rounded and talented guy. What are your favorite facts about him? Let us know by leaving a comment.