Terry Pratchett: His World
I still remember years ago I was wondering around a market in Oxford and came across a large impressive book stall teeming with second hand books. Browsing through titles I dropped a friend of mine a text.
‘Are you free for a chat?’
Reply- ‘I am at work at the moment so now, can we talk in a few hours?’
‘No worries, I am just in a bookstore looking at Discworld books and I wondered if you could advise me on which one I should start with, you can just text me an answer’. He had often told me I needed to read them.
30 seconds later my phone was ringing, I picked up… ”right this is very important as we have to get you started on a series that will draw you in…”. Eventually he settled on me buying Guards and Guards and thus my love for these books began.
A rather appropriately messy and diverse building to house such a messy and diverse world.
Time has passed since then; the author of these magical books has passed on and I now own a bookshelf entirely dedicated to Terry Pratchett’s work. It was suggested that I attend the exhibition dedicated to his life in Salisbury, so bright and early on a cold Sunday morning I roused myself out of bed and took the train from Waterloo to that Cathedral town. Standing in a queue outside the Salisbury museum shivering in the cold I wondered if this trip was worth it. It absolutely was!
The nicest thing about the exhibition as that it is totally accessible even to someone who had never read one of Pratchett’s works. Every object from the man’s life was giving a light-hearted anecdote for the observer to chuckle to. We learnt how Pratchett constructed his own sword when he became a knight. How he wanted a crest with a pair of arched hippos but could not have one because he was not a city. How when he accepted the Carnegie medal he brought a chocolate coin along and pretended to eat his medal in his acceptance speech. This was a man of such joyful wit, the whole affair had me sniggering throughout.
Above: Pratchett's marvellous office. Bottom left: The sword the writer crafted when he became a knight.
The beautiful array of artwork had me drooling with jealousy at times. Some of these pictures were just stunning, a wonderful visual interpretation of Terry’s characters and world brought out from his writings for all to see. Getting a look at a facsimile of his office was an unexpected delight. I want an office with 6 computer screens. I particularly like the fact when asked when he had 6 screens his response is “because I can’t fit in 8”.
It wasn’t all just humour, there were exciting insights such as his correspondence with Pratchett praising an obscure book of Tolkien’s (so obscure he got Tolkien writing back to him to say no one else had said this was his favourite book). Additionally, the section which discussed his alzheimers and passing was very moving, I got slightly choked up.
Finally, there were also some unexpected wonderful touches to the exhibition. The Nac Mac Feegle (the wee free men) are actually not in the exhibition itself, but rather they are scattered around the museum in its various archaeological and historical sections for you to find (I am very proud to say I located all 8). I also proudly got to dress up as Rincewind, although sadly I feel I could not get his facial expression quite right.
Anyway, there was just so much I can’t go into all of it. I’ll finish by saying it has reminded me I need to delve back into his books. I am fortunate there are still some I have not read and new treats await. As for you all the exhibition is only on for one more week, please find the time to get there if you can. If you want a really joyful and moving experience you must go. No prior reading is necessary but a knowledge of his work does of course help.
Above - I try with limited success to pull off Rincewind. Still it is a very dashing cloak.
Left- One of the stunning artworks from the Charmed Realm exhibition do alongside Terry Pratchett: His World. Paul Kidby's breathtakingly beautiful work makes it clear why he was Pratchett's artists of choice.