The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy has a few things to say on the subject of Douglas Adams...

Douglas Adams (1952-2001) was a British comedy science fiction author, technology enthusiast, and town crier for endangered animals everywhere (Save The Rhino International and the Last Chance to See television series and book with Mark Carwardine). Douglas Adams wrote the script for the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy comedy series that originally aired on Radio 4 in 1978. This was followed by the publication of the books between 1979-1992. There was a BBC television series shown in 1981. The movie began life in 1980, and finally appeared (posthumously) in 2005.

Douglas Adams also wrote the Dirk Gently series of books, was a script editor for Doctor Who, played left-handed guitar incredibly well, and help produce some rather good computer games. Please see DouglasAdams.com or the Douglas Adams page on Wikipedia for more information on these subjects.

The original Towel Quotation from the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy

"A towel, it 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 vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a mini raft 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 to avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (a mindboggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you - daft as a bush, but very ravenous); 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.

More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitch hiker) discovers that a hitch hiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitch hiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitch hiker might accidentally have "lost". What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with."

quotation from The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams www.douglasadams.com

Current availability of HHGTTG Towels

The most frequently asked question is "Where can I buy a towel?" Here is a quick overview of the current availability of the different towels.