Douglas Adams - ahead of the game

Today we are raising a small trumpet to our pursed Gnu-like lips to herald the 30th anniversary of Mr Adam's Hitchikers Guide books and radio series. No doubt there will be further hurroo later in the year about the milestone but Wired brought it to my attention and there it will stay.

The best thing about this article is the connection it draws to H2G2, a project Adams championed in league with that ageing behemoth, the BBC. Wired asks if this was the predecessor of Wikipedia and if, with a little more energy behind it, it might have superceded Wiki in the online, open source, user-generated world?

Given that H2G2 appears to have less than 100 entries covering "Life, the Universe and Everything" - a somewhat reductionist reflection on the world and all the wonders held therein - it would probably have needed more of a marketing boost that the Beeb are prepared to invest in any untried and untested concept.

Still, all hail Mr Adams. Just like so many of the great writers and thinkers we've lost recently, especially in the SFF world, he remains our favourite "all-around smart-arse" and a man ahead of his time.