@6th Wilbury psst.. they can do it next time. I *hope* 🛀 they make a bookiographic channel and THGTTG will be the first there and they'll finally get people to understand that its a quintology and the radio series is the best thing ever.. from the primary to the ever so brilliant quintessential phase. *DON'T PANIC* 🥳 Love. Respect. Responsibility. 🍀 👊🐺☀️🌏🌘🧙♂️👍
Sweet! I'm the 144th like on this quote. 1 gross likes. I feel better about my high school years, knowing that my favorite genius writer was suffering from the exact same tendency to procrastinate that I was.
I quote the man almost every day. My favourite quote being "Technology is only called technology because it only works half the time. As soon as it starts working all the time it just becomes a thing. You would never hear a pen being called technology because it works all the time."
I generally say "Don't Panic" at least once daily...and I never leave home without a towel! Lol and don't ever forget the SEP...Someone Elses Problem field!
impunitythebagpuss I can safely say now, Adams has had the most influence on me than any other writer. Jesus imagine what fun he’s having in the afterlife....maybe he’s already back on earth via reincarnation already.....I wonder who it is.....!
I was lucky enough to have worked on the BBC TV series version of Hitch Hiker's in the 80's where I briefly rubbed shoulders with Douglas. He came across to me as very nice bloke. I remember that a load of the crew were invited over to his London flat where we all gathered around Douglas's TV and watched the first episode of the series. He also took a load of us out to a lovely restaurant to celebrate. Ah, happy days. :)
Which restaurant? Milliways? Bistromath? A small cafe in Rickmansworth? That place in the domain of the King? *_WHERE?!_* [ahem] Thank you for sharing your story. I enjoyed it!
When we are being constantly pushed to perfect ourselves, Douglas showed us such a gentle and humorous way to love our flaws. Hitchikers came out when I was in my mid teens and changed the way I thought about the world. It made me question everything and see the absurdity in so much that we deem the 'correct' way of doing things. He made me braver and more tolerant - I can't thank him enough.
That was absolutely my experience too! I remember getting into HHGG when I was about 17 and I think it warped my mind in a good way :-) I just came away with this conviction that the world was an absurd place and you couldn't afford to take it too seriously. Of course there were certain issues that should be taken seriously but "does it, cosmically speaking, matter if I don't get up and go to work tomorrow?" - well, no!
My first experience of HHGTTG was a stage play. It was minimalistic but absolutely incredible at the same time. “Marvin park the car”. “Here I am, with a brain the size of a planet and all he can say is park the car”.
Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett, Christopher Hitchens. Some of the greatest writers of the modern age, two of them being prodigious drinkers. And his puddle metaphor is still hugely influential.
@@Clipgatherer no argument, both Adams and Hitchens died far too young and their drinking may have contributed. It may have also been a by product of the minds that made them so great. Tragic double edged sword.
Oh wow, I've already pre-loved this episode. Adams has long been one of my favorite writers, no doubt one of the greatest of the 20th century. So long and thanks for all the -fish- books Mr. Adam's.
So hard to explain how much Douglas Adams made me laugh and how much his death made me cry. Inexplicably his books are bound up in my teenage hood. He was a wonderfully quirky genius. I will always adore him.
After that most terrible day I was and still am heartbroken over the loss of such a person. A genius he was. I went online shortly after hearing the news. One submission said it best. There was a terrible ghastly silence. In the wake of his passing that silence will never be filled with his unique voice sharing new words and ideas from that unique mind. We miss you Douglas!
I had the pleasure of meeting Douglas in the late 70's during the first Hitchercon in Glasgow. I was one of the staff at the convention so I was invited to spend the evening in his room with a horde of other admirers while he sat on his bed playing his guitar and singing Vogon poetry. And yes, alcohol flowed aplenty. An absolutely lovely and genuine man and he is sorely missed.
The Hitchhiker's Guide was one of the best books I ever read. I remember lying on a beach and giggling every few paragraphs. I think it's almost philosophical - a marvelous witty take on life and culture. At the time, in my late teens, I thought it should be compulsory at school. Douglas Adams won't be forgotten. Fabulously clever guy.
Grabbed "Goodbye and Thanks for All the Fish" as I ran through an airport and needed some reading material. Had no idea what it was. It was simply written by one of the cleverest writers ever and so from then on I was hooked. I need to read them all again. Just brilliant.
His work came along at a most influential age in my life, and thus will never be forgotten. It's too bad the Dirk Gently series couldn't have been prolonged; there was an endless source of material the character could have wound himself up into, no doubt almost always ending up where he needed to be. 🥰
It’s my birthday in 6 hours & I consider this video the most perfect gift. I loved Douglas as much as any other nerd I suppose...I cried at the movie. I appreciate this so much. The only way you could top this is if you did George Carlin & posted it tomorrow.
A customer of mine had one of the earliest computers that you could play games on through AOL, a Commodore. He was complaining about be stuck on a game he had just started. I asked what the problem was and he explained his house was about to be demolished by a bulldozer and he couldn't get out of it without being killed everytime he opened the front or back door. I laughed and told him to climb out a window. He said that was ridiculous. I grinned and told him to just try it. The next night he came back and asked how I knew that would work. Did I have the game. I grinned madly and said no I read the book.
brilliantly hosted / presented and very well written. I've come to expect well written things on this channel but Morris M. you've truly written a great homage here and as always Simon you delivered every line exquisitely.
I know this video is a year old but I just found it. Thank you Simon. This one made me cry. I bought his books as they came out in drips and drabs. I have given the hardcover collection away three times because I keep meeting smart funny people who grew up after he passed. Think I’ll go on Amazon and get one for my daughter now.
Clearly you and your writer love Douglas Adams's beguileing view of the universe. Not just HHG but all his work is very special to me. I was so sad to hear of his death.
I recently went on a trip through much of Europe with my sister. I brought a small hand towel with me. I was profoundly disappointed when my sister didn't understand why. I just said, "because it is the most useful object in the universe". it proved time and time again to be just that.
“Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.” DA is a sci-fi hunter s Thompson this is like the quote “human beings are the only creatures to claim a god and the only thing that behaves like it hasn’t got one”
Thank you so much for this. I love the Hitchikers Guide and I didn't really know much about Douglas Adams. Whenever anyone tells me they want to ask me a question, I instinctively say "42," amd most of the time I get a knowing laugh in return.
Four minute commercial with Patrick Stewart then Simon talking about the greatest Sci Fi writer . What a day . Edit . I think that was the most beautiful ending to a biographics video ever. Well done all .
I genuinely miss his humour. One can only imagine how he would see the technology today. Nobody has filled his boots since. His unique british wit and humour is sorely missing in today’s world. 🐋🐬
@@thequiltless1261 It was nearly as great a shock as Adams but of course Terry went slowly. I should have written "came" not "comes". The reference to Prince of Wales Rd. is that in the 80s I was surprised to find a real estate agent on that road called Hotblack Desiato and thought that they had ripped off Adams, only to be told the real estate agent had the name first and Adams lived locally and 'borrowed' the name. The estate agent has moved from Kentish Town and opened three other branches nearby. As to why Number 42, Prince of Wales Rd came to mind...
THE BEST - seriously my all time favorite Biographics. Simon, your delivery was measured and caring, not rushed. You must have a soft spot for Mr. awesome Adams and it shows. Did you write any of the script? BRAVO!
God... THANK YOU for doing this one. I watch this channel a lot, but Douglas Adams is one of my most favorite authors of all time. I know I'm not alone in that. Thank you for doing him justice even in such a short format.
Thanks for making this video. Douglas Adams had a positively profound impact on my life. “I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.” ― douglas adams, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul
A towel, [The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy] says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapors; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (such a mind-boggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.
Thank you for highlighting and paying tribute to the literary and comedic genius that was Douglas Adams. I feel he still isn't appreciated for his contribution to this day. While his style was very 'British', he still painted a very accurate if somewhat cynical portrait of our "mostly harmless" species. Some of his social obsevations went on to be almost prophetic when you look at the absurdities in the present day. I listened to the radio series from it's debut in the 70's and it is still a constant companion (along with the Dirk Gently tales) to this day.
One of your very best about one of the very best. Thank you from someone who first heard HHGTTG in 1979 in Hong Kong, played on TDK cassettes recorded directly from the radio broadcasts back in the UK and brought out by friends and family on actual aeroplanes. Cassettes listened to until they wore out. I can still quote pretty much the entire series.
Thank you Simon, I have never been promoted to comment before but a story to commemorate the sublime Mr Adams causes immediate gratitude. Losing Douglas and his insights was only equalled for me by the early passing of Sir Pterry Pratchett. I'm sure if Douglas had lived he would also have joined those ranks. 👍🏼
I don't remember who I was listening to, but one of Adams' friends was talking about how he was so excited about the 2000s and the newest technology. We lost him too soon.
i am dyslexic i grew up watching the BBC tv series then i found out there were books i have Douglas Adams to thank for the fact i can read him and JRR Tolkien i do not think any Author has had more impact on my sense of humour than Douglas Adams.
The saddest thing about DNA's early passing was that he, such a lover of personal technology, never lived to experience, enjoy, and obviously make fun of smart phones, iPads, Facebook, Twitter, etc.
I personally don’t see that as a bad thing, he did pass away young but to see what personal tech has done to society and civilization, I don’t think he would be a huge fan of it.
"The president’s job - and if someone sufficiently vain and stupid is picked he won’t realise this - is not to wield power, but to draw attention away from it." - also Douglas Adams
I had the pleasure of meeting Douglas at COMDEX in Las Vegas many years ago. Two British lads, miles from home, awash in a sea of technology. Bliss! Vale Mr. Adams.
I first heard Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy on the radio. I was driving home listening to the radio suddenly a man called Slarty Bartfast said something like this may disturb you, it scares the willies out of me. I just avoided crashing and stopped my car it fits of laughter. I was hooked……..cheers Douglas…….
Thank you so much for this. I remember when he passed it hit me harder than even the death of family members. I felt that again when we lost Sir Terry Pratchett. Any chance of doing him in the future?
It’s about time that you did a video on the most important satirical writer of the 20th century. Poor douglas, I miss you every day. I have been watching this channel for a year but have only subscribed just now. Great video.
1:35 - Chapter 1 - Mostly harmless 5:10 - Chapter 2 - The python years 8:40 - Chapter 3 - Hitchhiking the galaxy 11:50 - Mid roll ads 13:05 - Chapter 4 - Doctor who & the writer of death 16:25 - Chapter 5 - God & Nature 19:50 - Chapter 6 - So long & thanks for all the fish
He gave us the Babel fish. Hot black desiarto. Being dead for a year for tax purposes. And who can forget the accountants theory of relativity that proved space wasn't just curved, it was bent. Long time since I read his books. Like Pratchet, the thought of never going to his universe again is truly a face smack of sorrow.
I agree completely. This is why I've not read the last paragraph of "The Shepherd's Crown". I'm pretty sure I know what it says, but for now it remains unread. One day I'll be okay with "the end" and knowing that there's no more new PTerry to read. But that day hasn't come yet. But re-reading his Discworld novels is always fun. I can literally lose days in those books, but I don't ever consider it a loss. Being taken on such a wonderfully silly journey could never be a loss. Wherever DNA and PTerry ended up, when they arrived, it became an infinitely more interesting place. They are terribly missed, but I'm very glad they were here, even if it was for far too short a time.
When I was a kid I discovered the HHGTG, I read it to pieces, literary, it took me about 10 years to find out there was a second part, and an third, a fourth, even a fifth... I went to university at Nijmegen and none of my fellow students at the philosophy department knew the four part trilogy. I introduced them to it, and how they loved it.
The continents may grow old and die... The world may be demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass... but somewhere, out there in the cosmos, some life-form will always be sat in a restaurant at the end of the universe reading in wild-eyed wonder, as Douglas Adams explains the world to it. And that life-form will be smiling 🙂
Big big feels for this video..., 😁 Had all versions of the radio series, the books... The BBC series (TV)... Douglas Adams was a massive part of my childhood
Brilliant writer and a great episode from Biographics. Thank you. The line about the Vogon constructor fleet "hanging in the air in much the same way that bricks don't" opened my teenage eyes to a whole new world of humour. RiP DA.
I tell everyone when I leave my job, their is only one thing i'm taking from my office. It a piece of copy paper I printed out. it reads “In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."
Simon you should narrate audio books. Your story telling is quite entertaining, and your ability to bring written pages to life has taught me so much watching your biographics videos. Thank you
I only really dove into his books during the past 5 years and they hold a special place on my bookshelf. I always love participating in Towel Day every year, his impact on culture will follow me until this ends of this world.
I was a huge fan of his in the 80:s and later in the early 90:s when I was fresh out of journalism school I met him for an interview in Gothenburg, Sweden. it was for the radio and I started by asking the first question in Swedish. Of course he cut me off, and apologized by saying; - I’m sorry but I don’t speak Swedish! As planned I quickly responded: Oh Sorry! I assumed you brought the Babel fish? It wasn’t the best joke but he gave me a deep hearty laugh for my effort. Loved that guy. Sorry he couldn’t go on a few more years more being a comic genius.
That Simon. There's a frood who really knows where his towel is. My Hero Marvin. “The first ten million years were the worst,and the second ten million years, they were the worst too. The third ten million years I didn't enjoy at all. After that I went into a bit of a decline.”
"Don't try to engage my enthusiasm. I haven't got one." and Zaphod: “There’s a whole new life stretching out in front of you.” Marvin: “Oh no, not another one.”
Thanks for doing this one.. I absolutely adored him and read everything I could get in the 80s and 90s.. rereading again and again the books I still treasure.. when he passed I was genuinely deeply saddened.. he was a special genius, the super rare kind that leaves a mark that no amount of time fades away.. we can only imagine the fantastic things he would have shared with us if he’d stayed longer.. So long and thanks for all the fish..💕
Great bio. Couple of random facts: The Adams Doctor Who story City of Death also featured Lalla Ward in a school girl uniform - something that all 13 year old boys like me greatly appreciated at the time and years later. Lalla Ward was married to Doctor Who Tom Baker, but they divorced and she married a man she met at one of Douglas Adam’s parties: Richard Dawkins.
Fun fact: That picture with the towels at 22:20 is clearly from Innsbruck, Austria (you can see that coloured hotel guide in the background and the coordinates on the towels) which is allegedly the place where he was lying drunk in the field when on his Europe trip.
I was a teenager living in Florida when the first TV episodes aired on PBS. We didn't have a VCR so I would stay up til midnight every Saturday to watch. They also aired The Goodies at night. I miss having shows like that on public television.
I first "met" Douglas Adams watching his Big Thinkers interview on ZDTV/TechTV. I had heard of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy before that (had not yet read it), but I really knew nothing of the author. The final seconds of that show put me into tears, much like right now after the final section of this video.
Wow, I have been watching you Simon on so many videos, and so many are really well done but this one actually left me in tears! Your genuinely affection for Adams and his mad genius shined through your narrative giving him a second chance to be appreciated by both old and new audiences! Thank you for doing him such wonderful justice and as an aside, if you haven’t already, a bio on Gram Chapman would be very entertaining (never knew they were drinking buddies). Keep up the great work! :-)
I remember distinctly the evening I turned on Radio 4 to hear a Vogon reciting poetry at Ford and Arthur. I didn't know what I was listening to, but I was instantly a fan. I still have an official, original edition Hitch Hiker's towel and I know exactly where it is! And it breaks my heart that no-one will ever know what all those strange plot-line beginnings in The Salmon of Doubt would have become. RIP Douglas. You are truly missed.
He is my favorite writer ever!!! Thank you for the video, it was amazing! Now I want to dust off my copy of “Hitchhikers” and read it for the 8th time.
Well i must be stupid, for i loved that volume 4 (the flying about with Fenchurch, maybe i'm childish), and volume 5 blew me away as he reopened the box in which he had packed everything at the end of volume 4, when i thought that that was definitely the end; he pulled out of that box many of the previous plots, reworked them with a new twist, fused them, then put them back in the box and closed it, this time for good.
