Terry Pratchett

Retro News: Pratchett’s fan updates October-December 2008; health “stable”; documentary “looks pretty good”; Unseen Academicals finished by May?

1 January 2009 (15:02) Comment!

Since October, Terry Pratchett has posted three updates on PJSMPrints, all of which contain a wealth of information about his writing progress, the media interest in Terry Pratchett The Alzheimer’s Patient, the documentary Living With Alzheimer’s, and so on.

To quote Pratchett’s October update (scroll down at the link):

At last some progress is being made on Unseen Academicals since we got through the making of the BBC2 documentary and all the alternative calls on my time that seemed to have filled the past year. Today, for example, I have nothing to do but write and Rob and I were just mentioning how odd it is to have a day which does not involve some kind of travel, meeting, or interview. In fact Rob is about to interview me right now:

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Living With Alzheimer’s to air in February?

1 January 2009 (14:28) Comment!

Despite our previous report that Living With Alzheimer’s would air in January, Sandra Kidby of PJSMPrints announced that the documentary time slot is “almost certainly going to be Wednesday 4th February at 9 p.m., with part two following a week later.”

The documentary consists of two hour-long parts, and follows Terry Pratchett as he learns about the disease and deals with the “embuggerance.”

Living With Alzheimer’s is produced by IWC Media and BBC2, and will air as part of a documentary series about mental health and mental health related issues.

Welcome to the Year Of The Pensive Hare!

1 January 2009 (1:25) Comment!

Terry Pratchett, in a celebratory news post about his recent knighthood, wished his fans a “Happy New Year, which on Discworld is the Year of the Pensive Hare.”

A look back at the top *ate* news items of 200*ate*:

• As part of the launch of a new study in the stigma associated with Alzheimer’s, Out Of The Shadows, Terry Pratchett wrote an essay describing his experiences with Alzheimer’s published by the Daily Mail.
• 2008 marked the 25th anniversary of the publication of Colour Of Magic.
• No author besides Terry Pratchett has more than one book on a list of “evergreen” titles–titles that have never fallen out of the top 5,000 bestseller chart since 1995, earning him the title “‘evergreen’ king.”
• The Discworld Convention 2008, with a time monks theme, duly convened as scheduled.
• Of course, the news broke that Terry Pratchett made the Queen’s Honours list for this new year’s. In response to the honor, Terry Pratchett said, “I’m very grateful and pleased on behalf of the genre because the fantasy genre lags behind the crime genre in, shall we say, appreciation.”
• Nation came out, to rave reviews.
• The Colour Of Magic, the TV adaptation of the first two books in the Discworld series, finished airing for the first time March 24 in the U.K. to good reviews.
• Terry Pratchett donated $1 million to the Alzheimer’s Research Trust, deploring the lack of funding for research and support for those affected by the disease. This high-profile donation gave rise to the Match It For Pratchett campaign.

So all that’s left is to wish everyone a very happy year of the pensive hare!

Announcing Sir Terry (Article Updated And Revised)

31 December 2008 (20:40) Comment!

Queen Elizabeth II’s annual New Year honors list includes Terry Pratchett, who was named a Knight Bachelor for services to literature earlier today (Wednesday in the U.K.).

Pratchett has previously been named an Officer Of The British Empire (OBE).

This comes after a failed petition in August 2007 to award Pratchett the honor of knighthood.

Terry Pratchett responded to the announcement by saying, “there are times when phrases such as ‘totally astonished’ just don’t do the job….I am of course delighted and honored and — needless to say — flabbergasted.”

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Announcing Sir Terry

30 December 2008 (15:37) Comment!

Queen Elizabeth II’s annual New Year honors list includes Terry Pratchett, who was named a knight earlier today (Wednesday in the U.K.).

This comes after a failed petition in August 2007 to award Pratchett the honor of knighthood.

Terry Pratchett responded to the announcement by saying, “there are times when phrases such as ‘totally astonished’ just don’t do the job….I am of course delighted and honored and — needless to say — flabbergasted.”
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Signed novel raises £760 for Alzheimer’s Society

29 December 2008 (13:30) 1 Comment

Terry Pratchett donated a signed copy of Making Money to an auction for the New Forest branch of the Alzheimer’s Society. The book was auctioned off for £760.

This article quotes Terry Pratchett as saying, “I am, along with many others, scrabbling to stay ahead long enough to be there when the cure comes along…. It is a shock to find out that funding for Alzheimer’s research is just 3% of that to find cancer cures.”

Living With Alzheimer’s to air in January; more information about Alzheimer’s documentary

28 December 2008 (20:15) Comment!

After hearing about the Alzheimer’s documentary (full title Terry Pratchett: Living With Alzheimer’s) off-and-on for almost a year, MedicalNewsToday.com has lots of information as to when the documentary will be aired and what it will contain.

The IWC Media-produced documentary will be aired in January on BBC Two, UK, as part of a documentary series focused on mental health called BBC Headroom.
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Retro News: Pratchett interview, in which he actually talks about things other than Alzheimer’s (29 November 2008)

28 December 2008 (19:57) Comment!

Deborah Orr at the Independent.co.uk interviewed Terry Pratchett late in November, and in doing so provides some insight into Terry Pratchett’s writing process.

The article gets the requisite Alzheimer’s questions done early. Terry Pratchett summed up the effect of his very public diagnosis:
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Retro News: Pratchett opens RICE headquarters (05 December)

28 December 2008 (19:15) Comment!

Terry Pratchett helped open the new £2 million headquarters of RICE (the Research Institute For The Care Of Older People, formally the Research Into The Care Of The Elderly) in the Royal United Hospital on December 5th, 2008.

In the ceremony he unveiled a plaque, cut the ribbon and continued his campaign for the public awareness of the need for research into Alzheimer’s.

Pratchett said, of his role in the opening, “I have first hand knowledge of the work of the institute and am delighted to be formally opening the new building in Bath.”
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Terry Pratchett owns Beard Of The Year?

28 December 2008 (19:01) Comment!

The informal Beard Liberation Front has announced their nominations for Beard Of The Year 2008, and Terry Pratchett is included in the list. Other competitors are singer Jarvis Cocker, comedian Eddie Izzard, singer Tom Jones, former football player Roy Keane, Archbishop Of Canterbury Rowan Williams, and Wikipedia creator Jimmy Wales.

The prize, according to the Beard Liberation Front, highlights beard-wearers who give beards a positive public image, and is awarded based on votes from members of the Front. The winner will be announced tomorrow, December 29.

Previous winners include Robert Plant from Led Zeppelin, in 2007.

Edit: It has now been announced that singer Tom Jones and Archbishop Of Canterbury Rowan Williams both won the title for 2008.

Retro News: Pratchett interview (08 November 2008)

28 December 2008 (18:07) Comment!

In a Daily Mail interview titled I’m not beaten yet: Terry Prachett on the frustration and fury of Alzheimer’s, Terry Pratchett shared with the interviewer some more about his attitude towards the “embuggerance” of Alzheimer’s. To quote the article:

Although he calls it a ‘wretched disease’, since disclosing that he has it, he has retained his dark sense of comedy. He began an address to his latest convention of fans by cracking a joke. ‘I said, “Hello my name is…” Then I retrieved a crumpled piece of paper from my pocket and read out my name,’ he recalls.

The audience laughed because Terry, afflicted by an illness that steals both memory and identity, was permitting them to do so.

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Retro News: Pratchett delivers Alzheimer’s funding petition (26 November 2008)

28 December 2008 (13:04) Comment!

On November 26, 2008, as part of his ongoing Alzheimer’s public awareness campaign, Terry Pratchett delivered a petition to Prime Minister Gordon Brown at Downing Street asking the government to increase funding for Alzheimer’s research. In his speech, Pratchett explains why Alzheimer’s research is so important:

Nearly everybody I have talked to around the country talks about caring for their mother or father with the disease, so it seems there is not a family in the land that hasn’t been affected, yet it is like a huge secret everybody shares.

Because Alzheimer’s affects the brain we have some real difficulties about it.

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Neil Gaiman biography features foreword by Terry Pratchett

26 December 2008 (13:59) Comment!

A biography about Neil Gaiman, who co-wrote Good Omens with Terry Pratchett, features a foreword by Terry Pratchett. Titled A Slightly Worn But Still Quite Lovely Foreword, the foreword states of Neil Gaiman, “You’re in the hands of a master conjurer. Or, quite possibly, a wizard.”

The biography, Prince of Stories: The Many Worlds of Neil Gaiman, was released October 28, 2008.

Terry Pratchett on With Great Pleasure: Recording available

25 December 2008 (13:03) Comment!

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.
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Retro News: Pratchett on BBC Breakfast and Channel 4 News (07 October 2008)

24 December 2008 (16:32) Comment!

Terry Pratchett appeared on BBC Breakfast around the time of his highly publicized essay in the Daily Mail, talking about the stigma surrounding Alzheimer’s in the U.K. today. Pratchett started off the interview in high form, answering the initial “How are you?” with “Fine … hah, you know, apart from the dementia.” Click through for more on his experience with Alzheimer’s.

He also appeared briefly on Channel 4 News as part of his series media appearances. You can watch the news report here. (Terry Pratchett appears about a minute in.)

Terry Pratchett featured on BBC Radio 4’s With Great Pleasure tomorrow

24 December 2008 (15:10) Comment!

Tomorrow, December 25, at 12:00, BBC Radio 4 will broadcast a special edition of the program With Great Pleasure, entitled With Great Pleasure At Christmas, which will feature Terry Pratchett “revel[ing] in some of his favourite [sic] pieces of writing.”

In this festive episode, Terry Pratchett (with Helen Atkinson Wood, Michael Fenten Stevens, and Michael Maloney) presents readings from The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams, Roughing It by Mark Twain, The Origin Of Species by Charles Darwin, and The Book Of Job from the King James Bible.

Other writings selected for the episode are The Specialist by Charles Sale, Household Noises by Paul Jennings, The Maze Maker by Michael Ayrton, Lamb-Thoughts by J. B. Morton, Her Majesty’s Mails by William Lewins, The Poison Principle by Gail Bell, The Junkman Smiles by G. R. G. Worcester, Food In England by Dorothy Hartley, Sir George Caley by J. Laurence Pritchard, Republican Party Reptile by P. J. O’Rourke, and Once Upon An Ice Age by Roy Lewis.

The hour-long program will be rebroadcast December 26th at 8:00 on BBC Radio 4.

Last year’s With Great Pleasure At Christmas featured broadcaster Alan Titchmarsh.

Pratchett awarded honorary degree at Trinity College Dublin

23 December 2008 (23:11) Comment!

Terry Pratchett, along with four other recipients, received an honorary degree at Trinity College Dublin at their Winter commencements ceremony on December 12, 2008. He and acclaimed naturalist and broadcaster Sir David Attenborough received Doctors in Letters, while astrophysicist Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, researcher Dame Ann Dowling, and criminologist David P. Farrington were awarded degrees in science.

Terry Pratchett gave a public interview the next day (December 13th), at which more than four hundred fifty fans–including the Trinity College Dublin Dean Of Research Dr. David Lloyd–were present. The interview, which was chaired by Lloyd, was followed by a reception.

Random House CEO: Pratchett part of “an amazing lineup” with “enormous commercial potential”; Unseen Academicals to be published in 2009?

21 December 2008 (15:18) Comment!

Random House CEO Markus Dohle stated in a December 18th memo that Terry Pratchett’s writing is part of “an amazing lineup” of works to be published in 2009, which he expects to help Random House through a year that economists predict will be bleak.

Dohle mentions that in 2009, Random House’s many imprints have plans to publish hardcovers, paperbacks, audiobooks, and e-books with “enormous commercial potential” by many popular authors, including Margaret Atwood, Maeve Binchy, Ann Brashares, Lee Child, Deepak Chopra, Ann Coulter, Richard Dawkins, John Grisham, Stephen Hawking, Carl Hiaasen, Tracy Kidder, Sophie Kinsella, Dean Koontz, Rachael Ray, Danielle Steel, Martha Stewart, Anne Tyler, and of course Terry Pratchett.

With this news, fans can speculate: what is Scholastic planning to publish by Terry Pratchett next year? Points to keep in mind:

• A final Tiffany Aching novel, titled I Shall Wear Midnight, is planned, but interviews imply that it is not currently being worked on.
• At this time last year, “the basic notes [were] already being laid down” for a novel titled Unseen Academicals, according to the letter Pratchett wrote to fans.
• The paperback edition of Nation has not yet been released.