Collins’ Music Hall once stood on Islington Green, a few steps from the cafes and streets that Douglas Adams called home. Founded in the 1860s, it was a legendary venue for comic and variety performances — a place steeped in British humor long before *The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy* was born.
SEARCH 51.5365036, -0.1025003 Collins’ Music Hall. Islington Green, Angel, Islington, London Borough of Islington, London, Greater London, England, N1 8DU, United Kingdom
Although Adams never performed here himself, Collins’ represented the lineage of absurd, character-driven comedy that shaped his work. Before *Hitchhiker’s*, Adams wrote sketches for radio and television, working with **Graham Chapman** of *Monty Python*. That connection between surreal British stage comedy and philosophical science fiction runs straight through Adams’ writing — from the Music Hall to the Milky Way.
The building was later damaged by fire in 1958, but its spirit survives in the pubs and theatres of Islington that Adams frequented. In the geography of *Hitchhiker’s* London, Collins’ stands as a ghost stage — an echo of the laughter that came before the galaxy began.
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