h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I've been spending the last day and a bit reading all the messages. It seems that Douglas touched so many people in so many different ways.

I still remember listening to (borrowed) tapes of the first series (and the 'Christmas special' although I didn't know it as such then). They were lent to me casually because 'You like that science fiction stuff' and I proceeded to listen to them over, and over again. I suspect many other people did the same thing. I could quote most of it verbatim by the time I had to give the tapes back (I held on to them for months). I remember listening to the record, and wondering why they'd decided to re-record it, and pondered the strange variations in the story - something that became almost a trademark for the Hitchhiker's Guide.

I loved the TV show, while still being disappointed at the rough edges. The Guide was visionary, though. It was a TV programme made for VCR (or more properly, DVD) before these became widespread.

His stint on Doctor Who remains legendary. 'City of Death' ('The One With The Six Mona Lisas') was ranked the best story ever in a magazine just out. It's my favourite. It also had the highest viewing figures of any Doctor Who story before or since. Coincidence? I doubt it.

His best book, for me, was 'Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency' - funny, warm, clever and brilliantly plotted.

And personally, I literally wouldn't be doing what I do now without him. Without Douglas' creativity, The Digital Village would never have been formed, and I would never have had the chance to help build a real Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, however fumbling and small this first attempt is compared to Douglas' vision of it. My sole regret is that we have never, so far, been able to do everything that Douglas suggested. But that's partly because, however fast Internet Time is, Douglas Adams time is always way ahead of it.

Thank you, Douglas.