Douglas Adams

Douglas Noel Adams (* U.K. 11-Mar-1952, + USA 11-May-2001) was a really funny person in SF writing - and he died too young. Most of this fame rests on "The Hitchhiker's Guide" series. My personal favorite is still the original 12 episode radio drama of the Hitchhiker's Guide - give it a listen. For people who buy the omnibus edition, there's an extra bonus story "Young Zaphod Plays It Safe".

He's also written a couple of Dr. Who episodes, and the fairly good Dirk Gently books including "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency" (1987) and "The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul" (1988). He also wrote non-fiction books like "Last Chance to See" (1991, together with Mark Carwardine - VERY GOOD indeed!), "The Meaning of Liff" (1983) and "The Deeper Meaning of Liff" (1990, both together with John Lloyd). And last but no least "The Utterly, Utterly Merry Comic Relief Christmas Book" (1986, together with Peter Fincham).