Douglas Adams created all the various and contradictory manifestations of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: radio, novels, TV, computer game, stage adaptations, comic book and bath towel. He lectured and broadcast around the world and was a patron of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund and Save the Rhino International. Douglas Adams was born in Cambridge, UK and lived with his wife and daughter in Islington, London, before moving to Santa Barbara, California, where he died suddenly in 2001.

In addition to Hitchhiker, He is also the author of the Dirk Gently novels: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul and the unfinished The Salmon of Doubt.