Douglas Adams was born in 1952, in Cambridge, England. He attended school at John's College in Cambridge, where he began his career writing comedy sketches, and received his master of arts degree. In 1978 he began writing radio scripts for the British Broadcasting System. One of the series he created was The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which he produced and wrote. The series ran in twelve installments in 1978. For two years he was a script editor and writer for the worldrenowned, long-running Dr. Who television show.

Because of the popularity The Hitchhiker's Guide had on radio, a publishing house approached Adams to turn the series into a novel—up to that point, he had never even considered writing a novel. The book sold an astounding 100,000 copies in the first month of its publication in 1979.The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has inspired four sequels—The...