Douglas Adams(1952-2001)

When he died, his Internet site was flooded by condolence messages, a big amount of whose simply read "So long and thanks for all the fish", one of the catchphrases from the Hitchhiker's Guide. The same sentence is also his gravestone epitaph.

[on BBC Online chat, 11/8/00] I'm 48, which is a bit of a shock to me. Why only last year I thought I was a precocious young thing!