Terry Pratchett ruined The Omen for me.

Yesterday we heard of the sad passing of Sir Terry Pratchett eight years after being diagnosed with a rare form of early onset Alzheimer's called Posterior Cortical Atrophy.  He was only 66 years old, far too young.

Much in keeping with the man himself, the way I found out was worthy of the Unseen University academics, I was at home and the laptop was on.  As with all laptops and PCs, the screen had gone black as I had not used it for a while but suddenly it flashed on and off, then on again.  The first tweet I saw was... 

Scrolling back further I found....

There was also a statement confirming the sad news.

I was introduced to Terry's books by a friend, I say introduced, I was staying over one weekend and couldn't sleep so I grabbed the nearest book from the shelf and it just happened to be Wyrd Sisters, a couple of pages in and I was hooked.

I started treating myself to a new book each payday until I was caught up and then bought others as soon as the paperback came out.

I love the characters - Death (or DEATH) and his grand-daughter, Susan, Duchess of Sto Helit, are my favourite characters, though I do have a fondness for Granny Weatherwax, Carrot Ironfoundersson, Gaspode and, of course, The Luggage.

I love that the books are written for adults, that they are hilarious and that there is no bad language, excepting 'buggrit, millennium hand and shrimp' of course.

I imagine that had a Carry On Discworld been made, Sid James would be Sam Vimes, Joan Sims - Lady Sybil, Kenneth Williams would definitely have been Vetinari, Terry Scott - Fred Colon, Peter Butterworth - Nobby Nobbs and Imogen Hassall - Angua.

One of the books that I had put off reading for a while, was Good Omens, written with Neil Gaiman.  I eventually got around to reading it and loved it, I have also since listened to the radio version.

Then I watched The Omen, or at least tried to.  In almost every scene, I could relate something back to Good Omens which meant I spent the film giggling, probably not the effect that was intended.  I gave up in the end.

Sir Terry Pratchett  1948-2015

(Photo - Dominic Lipinski/PA)

“‘I meant,’ said Ipslore bitterly, ‘What is there in this world that truly makes living worthwhile?” Death thought about it. Cats, he said eventually. Cats are nice.”