Douglas Adams was born in Cambridge in 1952. He was educated at Brentwood School, Essex and St John's College, Cambridge, where he read English.
As well as writing all the different and conflicting versions of The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, he has been responsible for Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul, Last Chance to See... with zoologist Mark Cawardine, and, with John Lloyd, The Meaning of Liff and The Deeper Meaning of Liff. Douglas Adams died in May 2001.