Arthur Dent

Arthur Dent was the hapless human who found himself thrown upon wild adventures around the Universe. With Ford Prefect, his friend of several years, Dent barely escaped the Earth's destruction as it was demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass. Arthur spent the following several years, still wearing his dressing gown, helplessly launched from crisis to crisis while trying to straighten out his lifestyle. He rather enjoyed tea, but seemed to have trouble obtaining it in the far reaches of the galaxy. He also loved to watch movies in his spaceship. In time, he learned how to fly and also carved a niche for himself as a sandwich-maker on the planet of Lamuella.

Although the Earth has since been rendered intact (by unknown means), Arthur still harbors the belief it was destroyed.

Physical Description
Dent was described as "about thirty... tall, dark haired and never quite at ease with himself". He is from Earth, and his species is human.

Life
Arthur went to Eaton House Prep, where he got into radio. He then graduated, and met Ford Prefect, parading as an out of work actor telling everyone he was from Guildford, though he was actually from a planet somewhere in the vicinity of Betelgeuse. Arthur always wondered about Ford's accent, as it did not match that of a Guildford accent.

After knowing Ford for about five or six years, Ford revealed that he is in fact from Betelguese. Ford knew the Earth was about to be demolished and he planned to save Arthur from being caught up in its destruction.

He and Ford hitch a ride on a Vogon ship, arriving in the washroom of the Vogon flagship. Arthur did not cope well with the hitchhiking and asked for some tea. After Ford introduced him to the travel guide The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and the translating Babel Fish, Arthur and Ford were captured by a Vogon search party and taken to meet the captain, Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz. Jeltz read the two hitchhikers a copy of his poetry and then threatening to throw them out into space if they did not tell him what they thought of his poetry. Arthur tried to compliment Jeltz's work but Jeltz saw through his effort, ordering Arthur and Ford to be thrown out of airlock number three.