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....
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.”
