42
By Douglas Adams, edited by Kevin Jon Davies
A publishing event: hundreds of artefacts from Douglas Adams' archive, printed for the first time
Monday, 19 April 2021
Letters to Douglas...
You may have seen that some amazing people have agreed to write letters to Douglas that we will include in the book. We didn’t have space on the campaign page to properly explain how everyone fits into Douglas’s story so we thought it might be interesting to share with you a few more details …
Sanjeev Bhaskar is a comedian and actor who starred in the series The Kumars at No. 42 and championed Hitchhiker’s in BBC’s The Big Read.
Margo Buchanan is a singer and songwriter, a good friend of Douglas’s.
Mark Carwardine is a zoologist who travelled around the world with Douglas for the book and radio series Last Chance to See.
Prof Brian Cox and Robin Ince present the BBC radio show The Infinite Monkey Cage an irreverent look at the world through scientists' eyes.
Arvind Ethan David was an executive producer on the TV series of Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency.
Sue Freestone was Douglas’s long-suffering editor on several Hitchhiker novels.
Stephen Fry is an actor and writer who was friends with Douglas and voiced The Guide in the Hitchhiker’s movie.
Neil Gaiman is an author who met Douglas when he was 22 years old and wrote Don’t Panic, the first book about the phenomenon of Hitchhiker’s.
Simon Jones met Douglas at Cambridge Footlights and played Arthur Dent in the original radio and TV series - a role Douglas wrote with Simon in mind.
John Lloyd is a TV producer and Douglas’s former housemate who co-wrote the 5th and 6th episodes of the first radio series of Hitchhiker's.
Michael Nesmith, former member of The Monkees, was friends with Douglas.
Dirk Maggs was Adams's preferred choice for the job of adapting, producing and directing his last three Hitchhiker novels for the radio.
Caitlin Moran is an author and journalist and a Douglas Adams superfan who believed she was going to marry Douglas.
Robbie Stamp was Douglas’s business partner in online entertainment company The Digital Village and was an Executive Producer of the Hitchhiker movie.
There are a multitude of people who’ve been inspired by Douglas’s work, some have gone on to become giants of the tech world.
Who would you like to see write a ‘Letter to Douglas’?
Post a comment below and let us know.
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Comments
hmmm . . .maybe lotsalove Kevin keep it up. x mwd
posted 19th April 2021
Steven hawking, I imagine he might have had some ideas and theories around the book.
posted 19th April 2021
It would be great to hear from David Gilmour or Nick Mason of Pink Floyd
posted 19th April 2021
Tom Baker, Lalla Ward, Richard Dawkins, any of the guys from Monty Python
posted 19th April 2021
What a great question and the answer has to be Ernest Cline, the magic of such limitless minds and imaginations would produce such awesome... with a magic amount of... and...
But for these guys, words would not fail them!!!
posted 19th April 2021
How about sir Tim Berners-Lee or Jimmy Wales. Would be interesting to see their views on “the guide”
posted 19th April 2021
Neil Innes, Terry Pratchett, Terry Jones ... so sad, all gone far too soon! How about Dave Gilmour? or Dan Harmon? or maybe Paul Neil Milne Johnstone of Redbridge, Essex could contribute a poem :D
posted 19th April 2021
Also very sadly gone: Nick Webb, who acquired the first book for Pan and wrote the authorised biography, Geoffrey Perkins, the Radio 4 Producer . . .
I worked on all Douglas's books, from the first in 1979, so could do something if needed. I know other people who may like to contribute too
posted 19th April 2021
Me!
This book changed my life!
posted 19th April 2021
I would be interested in a letter by Jerry Seinfeld, if he knows about Douglas Adams at all. But he does seem to have a similar take on humanity.
posted 20th April 2021
Yep, everyone looks great, apart from Robin Ince. He told me in a tweet discussing mental health that I need to "please stop making this entirely about you.", when I definitely wasn't.
I was trying to point out that it can be detrimental to say a physical illnesses is ONLY a mental health issue.
But that's ok, maybe he was having a bad day.
https://twitter.com/robinince/status/1347110902013820932?s=20
posted 20th April 2021
Surely Richard Dawkins? He admittedly sent him an unsolicited fan letter, and was a huge admirer.....has he been asked?!
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2001/may/14/books.booksnews
posted 21st April 2021
A thought (and feel free to disregard it): I feel there's an opening here for a competition for fans to write a letter to Douglas and the winner gets included. I'd definitely have a go. I already write letters to Kurt Vonnegut and I love Douglas as much as I love "Grandpa " Kurt.
posted 21st April 2021
I think something from Polly Jane Rocket Adams would be a nice addition.
posted 22nd April 2021