- His family left Germany in 1934 to avoid the Nazis, moving to England. When war came, he joined Britain's Royal Air Force and became their only German fighter pilot.
- He was trained as an RAF pilot by future film star Michael Rennie.
- In September 2012, he handed over his entire body of work to the Deutsche Kinemathek. The collection comprises approximately 4,000 sketches for films from all periods, photo albums to individual films, storyboards of his employees, memorabilia, military medals, and identity documents, as well as all cinematic awards, including Adam's two Academy Awards.
- He turned down the opportunity to work on 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), after he found out that Stanley Kubrickhad been working with NASA for a year on space exploration, and that would put him at a disadvantage in developing his art.
- He was awarded the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) before being awarded the the Knight Bachelor of the Order of the British Empire in the 2003 Queen's Birthday Honours List for his services to film production design and British-German relations.
- He was unable to work on For Your Eyes Only (1981), as he was busy with Pennies from Heaven (1981).
- In 1999, during the Victoria and Albert Museum exhibition "Ken Adam - Designing the Cold War", Adam spoke on his role in the design of film sets associated with the 1960s through the 1980s.
- He was unable to work on The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), as he was busy working on Barry Lyndon (1975).
- He designed the famous car for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968), which was produced by the same team as the James Bond film series.
- Member of jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1980
- Member of the jury at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1999
- He flew Hawker Typhoon ground attack aircraft with 609 squadron of the RAF in the battle of Normandy. Many of his targets were SS troops.
- Born in Berlin in 1921, he grew up in a prosperous Jewish family, the owners of a famous department store. The Adam family's standing in German society vanished overnight after the Nazis came to power in 1933 (something which profoundly affected Adam's father and probably led to his early death). The family fled the Nazis in 1934 and settled in London, where Ken Adam studied architecture and volunteered to fly for the Royal Air Force during World War II. He was one of only three German-born pilots in the RAF during the war.
- During the late 1970s, he worked on storyboards and concept art for Star Trek: Planet of the Titans, then in pre-production. The film was eventually shelved by Paramount Pictures.
- He was a jury member at the 1980 Cannes Film Festival and the 49th Berlin International Film Festival.
- He was unable to work on On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), as he was busy with Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969).
- He was unable to work on Live and Let Die (1973), as he was busy working on Sleuth (1972).
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