Douglas Adams was a cult British comic radio dramatist, musician and author, most notably of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. Hitchhiker's began on radio and developed into a "trilogy" of five books (which had sold more than fifteen million copies by the time of Adams' death) as well as a television series, a computer game and a feature film that was completed only after Adams's death. In addition, Douglas Adams also wrote or co-wrote three stories of science fiction staple Doctor Who and served the series as Script Editor during the seventeenth season. His other written works include the Dirk Gently novels, co-author credits on two Liff books and Last Chance to See, which was also based on a radio series. Towards the end of his life, he was a sought-after lecturer on topics including technology and the environment. Since his death at the age of 49, he is still widely revered in science fiction and fantasy circles.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Adams

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1689: Glorious Revolution: Instead of James Francis Edward Stuart the Prince of Wales acceding to the throne, his sister Mary and her husband William were proclaimed co-rulers of England. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_II_of_England)

1880: Thomas Edison observed the Edison Effect, which later formed the basis of John Ambrose Fleming's vacuum tube diodes. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermionic_emission)

1881: Hubertine Auclert, a leading French suffragette in Paris, launched the feminist newspaper La Citoyenne. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubertine_Auclert)

1945: The RAF Bomber Command began the strategic bombing of Dresden in Saxony, Germany, resulting in a lethal firestorm which killed tens of thousands of civilians. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Dresden_in_World_War_II)

1984: Konstantin Chernenko succeeded the late Yuri Andropov as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konstantin_Chernenko)

_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:

"Life is what it is, and you take what's handed, and you work as hard as you can, and hopefully you'll be successful, but I just don't spend too much time worrying about that." -- Jerry Springer (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jerry_Springer)