Chapter 1 Summary

Arthur Dent is a thirty-year-old Englishman who is tall, with dark hair and "never quite at ease with himself." One Thursday morning he wakes up with a hangover and vaguely remembers he had learned something unpleasant the previous afternoon, but can't remember what it was. As he stumbles hazily through his morning routine, he is dimly aware of the presence of a big, yellow bulldozer as he periodically glances out through his window – but at first fails to understand the significance. Suddenly, he remembers why he went to the pub the night before to drown his sorrows, and the memory prompts him to sudden action.

Well, perhaps "inaction" is a better word, because "fifteen seconds later" we find Arthur Dent lying in the mud in front of his house, determined to prevent the bulldozer's razing it to the ground to make way for...