groovy unknown host exception with REST client - rest

Question

The below code returns an exception even though the provided REST endpoint is up and valid. It is processed correctly as the DEBUG prompt shows the link of the GET request. It fails at the http.request line regardless of the REST endpoint provided. This is being executed by hitting Run 'MyScript' on intelliJ 14.1 .. Is there something missing to this piece of code? Source: github.com/jgritman/httpbuilder/wiki/GET-Examples
11:42:30.897 [main] DEBUG groovyx.net.http.HTTPBuilder - GET http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/services/search/web?v=1.0&q=Calvin+and+Hobbes
Caught: java.net.UnknownHostException: ajax.googleapis.com
MyScript.groovy
import groovyx.net.http.ContentType
import groovyx.net.http.HTTPBuilder
import groovyx.net.http.RESTClient
import groovyx.net.http.Method
def http = new HTTPBuilder()
http.request( 'http://ajax.googleapis.com', Method.GET, ContentType.JSON ) { req ->
uri.path = '/ajax/services/search/web'
uri.query = [ v:'1.0', q: 'Calvin and Hobbes' ]
headers.'User-Agent' = "Mozilla/5.0 Firefox/3.0.4"
headers.Accept = 'application/json'
response.success = { resp, reader ->
assert resp.statusLine.statusCode == 200
println "Got response: ${resp.statusLine}"
println "Content-Type: ${resp.headers.'Content-Type'}"
println reader.text
}
response.'404' = {
println 'Not found'
}
}
Run MyScript.groovy exceptions
11:52:32.133 [main] DEBUG groovyx.net.http.HTTPBuilder - GET http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/services/search/web?v=1.0&q=Calvin+and+Hobbes
11:52:32.395 [main] DEBUG o.a.h.i.c.BasicClientConnectionManager - Get connection for route {}->http://ajax.googleapis.com
11:52:32.413 [main] DEBUG o.a.h.i.conn.DefaultClientConnection - Connection org.apache.http.impl.conn.DefaultClientConnection#2b175c00 closed
11:52:32.413 [main] DEBUG o.a.h.i.conn.DefaultClientConnection - Connection org.apache.http.impl.conn.DefaultClientConnection#2b175c00 shut down
11:52:32.414 [main] DEBUG o.a.h.i.c.BasicClientConnectionManager - Releasing connection org.apache.http.impl.conn.ManagedClientConnectionImpl#3eb81efb
11:52:32.414 [main] DEBUG o.a.h.i.c.BasicClientConnectionManager - Connection can be kept alive for 9223372036854775807 MILLISECONDS
Caught: java.net.UnknownHostException: ajax.googleapis.com
java.net.UnknownHostException: ajax.googleapis.com