Don't Panic: Google doodle celebrates 61st birthday of Douglas Adams

Google doodles always delight. But every now and then Google comes up one that knocks the rest out of the park. And although its latest doodle is not interactive or playable, it will undoubtedly make the day of every The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy fan - and there are a lot of us out there!

Hitchhikers has a cult following - comparable perhaps to Star Wars and Star Trek, transcending both age and gender. The ’trilogy’ of five books introduced the lay reader to parallel universes, two headed daredevil aliens, cosmic timelines, a gloomy British man named Arthur, a planet of men who well.. build planets, the superiority of mice and of course the Hitchhikers Guide itself. That big friendly tome (which looks suspiciously like a Kindle in the Google doodle) which offers possible the best advice of all time (DON’T PANIC) and describes Earth as ‘mostly harmless’.

The doodle shows the interior of a spaceship (we’re fairly certain that it is the SS Heart of Gold with its infinite improbability drive ) which is moving through space. The console contains all the essential Hitchhiker features - a cup of tea (longed for so sorely by Arthur on his intergalactic travels), a towel (You must never leave home without it), and of course the Hitchhickers guide itself.

Adams died of a heart attack on 11 May 2001, aged 49. He had unknowingly suffered a gradual narrowing of the coronary arteries, which led at that moment to a myocardial infarction and a fatal cardiac arrhythmia. ( More here)

On the Google blog , Sophia Foster-Dimino, one of the ‘doodlers’ responsible for todays masterpiece writes, “The Guide’s task of organizing the galaxy’s information struck a chord with us, which is why we gave it special attention in our doodle. Through it, you can get a small peek into the unrelentingly hilarious universe created by Douglas Adams.”

“Douglas Adams has entertained and inspired so many generations of people around the world with his warm humor and courageously curious intellect. Happy birthday, you hoopy frood!”

We couldn’t have said it better.