Terry Pratchett on With Great Pleasure: Recording available

25 December 2008 (13:03) The Watch Rincewind Moist von Lipwig Radio Interviews News Terry Pratchett Discworld Books News Archives

Today at 12:00 in England BBC Radio 4 aired a special holiday edition of their program With Great Pleasure, which featured Terry Pratchett and some of his favorite pieces of writing.

A recording of the fifty-three minute show is available via BBC’s Listen Again feature, however the BBC site requires Real Player to play. (For those who are worried about Real Player’s security holes and intrusive nature, Real Alternative is an open-source software that many users use as an alternative.) (This is in no way an endorsement. Don’t blame us if installing either piece of software causes problems with your computer.)

From Rim To Hub has a high quality mp3 file of the program that you can download and play anywhere with any software.

The program featured readings by the actors Helen Atkinson Wood, Michael Fenton Stevens, and Michael Maloney.

Presented pieces, with some of Terry Pratchett’s comments and extra information, or listed (in order) below:

The Specialist by Charles Sale: This piece was recommended to Pratchett by his father, whose sense of humor, Terry Pratchett said, it suited exactly. He said, “It turned out to be my sense of humor too.”

Household Noises by Paul Jennings: Pratchett said, “It’s almost impossible to get [Paul Jennings’] style across,” but he tried anyway, describing an imagined scene where Jennings sees the words “activated sludge” and proceeds to write about it.

The Maze Maker by Michael Ayrton: Pratchett said this was a book that one started reading just because it seems interesting, but half-way through, “it grabs you by the throat.”

Lamb-Thoughts by J. B. Morton.

Her Majesty’s Mails: a history of the Post-office and an industrial account of its present condition by William Lewins: Pratchett found this book as he was researching for the Moist Von Lipwig seminal tale, Going Postal. He says part of Going Postal is a direct homage to this book.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams: Terry Pratchett himself read the excerpt, which is one sentence long, from this piece: “The ships hung in the sky much the same way that bricks don’t.” He calls this sentence the “best, most rounded, most visually satisfying, and most economical” description in prose ever written.

Roughing It by Mark Twain.

The Poison Principle by Gail Bell: To explain this selection, Terry Pratchett said, “I’ve always been a great fan of arsenic, and poisons in general” as well as the minds of the poisoners, and points out that he has used arsenic and some of its legends in one of his books. He explains that Bell “writes almost seductively about poisons” in this book.

The Junkman Smiles by G. R. G. Worcester: Terry Pratchett jokingly told the audience that “Christmas is sometimes time for the macabre” in his introduction to this piece, which he said he found while doing research for Interesting Times.

Food in England by Dorothy Hartley: Pratchett said, of this book, that “every author should have a copy.”

Sir George Caley by J. Laurence Pritchard.

Republican Party Reptile by P. J. O’Rourke.

Once Upon an Ice Age by Roy Lewis: Pratchett calls this book “the funniest book ever written in the English language.”

Job 9, vv1-11, from the King James Bible: While he reiterates once more that Pratchett is “not a man of faith,” he “likes the language” of religion.

The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin.