Editing Douglas Adams (section)

==Early life==
Adams was born in [[Cambridge]], England, on 11 March 1952 to Christopher Douglas Adams (1927–1985), a management consultant and computer salesman, former probation officer and lecturer on probationary group therapy techniques, and nurse Janet (1927–2016), née Donovan.<ref>{{Harvnb|Simpson|2003|p=|pp=6–7}}.</ref><ref name="ODNB">{{Harvnb|Webb|2005b|p=}}.</ref> A few months after his birth, the family moved to the [[East End of London]], where his sister, Susan, was born three years later.<ref name=Adams_xix>{{harvnb|Adams|2002|p=xix}}.</ref> His parents divorced in 1957; Douglas, Susan and their mother moved then to an [[RSPCA]] animal shelter in [[Brentwood, Essex]], run by his maternal grandparents.<ref>{{Harvnb|Webb|2005a|p=32}}.</ref> Each parent remarried, giving Adams four half-siblings. A great-grandfather was the German playwright [[Frank Wedekind]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Simpson|2003|pp=7–8}}.</ref>

===Education===
Adams attended Primrose Hill Primary School in Brentwood. At the age of nine, he passed the entrance exam for [[Brentwood School (Essex)|Brentwood School]]. He attended the [[Preparatory school (United Kingdom)|prep school]] from 1959 to 1964, then the main school until December 1970. Adams was {{convert|6|ft|m}} tall by the age of 12, and stopped growing at {{convert|6|ft|5|in|m}}. His form master, Frank Halford, said that Adams's height had made him stand out and that he had been self-conscious about it.<ref name=Adams_7>{{harvnb|Adams|2002|p=7}}.</ref><ref>Botti, Nicholas. [http://douglasadams.eu/interview-with-frank-halford/ "Interview with Frank Halford"]. ''Life, DNA, and H2G2''. 2009. Web. Retrieved 13 March 2012. (Click on link at bottom for facsimile page from ''Daily News'' article, 7 March 1998.)</ref> His ability to write made him well-known in the school.<ref name=Simpson_9>{{harvnb|Simpson|2003|p=9}}.</ref> Adams became the only student ever to be awarded a ten out of ten by Halford for creative writing – something he remembered for the rest of his life, particularly when facing [[writer's block]].<ref name=Adams_xix />

Some of his earliest writing was published at the school, such as a report on its photography club in ''The Brentwoodian'' in 1962, or spoof reviews in the school magazine ''Broadsheet'', edited by [[Paul Neil Milne Johnstone]], who later became a character in ''The Hitchhiker's Guide''. Adams also designed the cover of one issue of the ''Broadsheet'', and had a letter and short story published in ''[[Eagle (comic)|The Eagle]]'', the boys' comic, in 1965. A poem entitled "A Dissertation on the task of writing a poem on a candle and an account of some of the difficulties thereto pertaining" written by Adams in January 1970 at the age of 17, was discovered in a cupboard at the school in early 2014.<ref>Flood, Alison (March 2014). [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/mar/19/lost-school-poems-douglas-adams-griff-rhys-jones "Lost poems of Douglas Adams and Griff Rhys Jones found in school cupboard"], ''The Guardian'', 19 March 2014. Accessed 2 July 2014</ref>

On the strength of an essay on religious poetry that discussed [[the Beatles]] and [[William Blake]], Adams was awarded an [[Exhibition (scholarship)|Exhibition]] in English at [[St John's College, Cambridge]] (where his father had been a student), going up in 1971.<ref>{{cite web |title=Douglas Adams: Life in the Universe &#124; StJohns |url=https://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/douglas-adams-life-universe-0}}</ref> He wanted to join the [[Footlights]], an invitation-only student comedy club, that has acted as a hothouse for comic talent. He was not elected immediately as he had hoped and started to write and perform in revues with Will Adams (no relation) and Martin Smith; they formed a group called "Adams-Smith-Adams". He became a member of the Footlights by 1973.<ref name="Simpson_30-40">{{harvnb|Simpson|2003|pp=30–40}}.</ref> Despite doing very little work – he recalled having completed three essays in three years – he graduated in 1974 with a 2:2 in [[English literature]].<ref>{{cite ODNB |title=Adams, Douglas Noël (1952–2001), writer |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-75853 |year=2004 |access-date=10 June 2019 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/75853}}</ref>