IT’S BEEN 40 YEARS SINCE SIR TERRY PRATCHETT FIRST INTRODUCED US TO THE DISCWORLD WITH THE COLOUR OF MAGIC. WE CELEBR ATE THE LATE, GREAT AUTHOR’S FINEST CREATION
A IS FOR ANIMATIONS
In 1994, beloved animation studio Cosgrove Hall embarked on creating the first ever screen adaptations of the Discworld novels. Two were made: 1998’s seven-part Soul Music was the first into production, but it was beaten to the screen by the studio’s six-part version of Wyrd Sisters, which aired in 1997. The animations included a pretty great cast for the time, with the likes of Christopher Lee (as Death, naturally), Jane Horrocks, Neil Morrissey and Eleanor Bron all lending their vocal talents.
B IS FOR BRIGGS, STEPHEN
Author and dramatist Stephen Briggs was one of Pratchett’s close friends and collaborators for over 20 years. The pair met when Sir Terry attended Oxford’s Studio Theatre Club’s stage production of Wyrd Sisters in 1991. Having given the club the permission to also adapt Mort, the duo began collaborating on a map of Ankh-Morpork, the first of several officially authorised charts of Discworld locations. Briggs would continue to adapt the books into plays, penning 23 plays based on Pratchett’s work, and raising more than £100,000 for charity in the process. Briggs tells us that a 24th – Witches Abroad – is in the works for around this time next year, to mark the Unicorn Theatre in Abingdon’s closure for refurbishment.
C IS FOR THE CLACKS
The Clacks is the Discworld’s first telecommunications technology. As the books progressed it started to seem more like a proto-internet, running on code which people sometimes hide messages in. In Going Postal, a story is told of a message – “GNU John Dearheart” – that goes up and down the lines in perpetuity. It’s revealed to be a tribute to a dead lineman – as Grandad says in the book, “A man’s not dead while his name is still spoken.” After Sir Terry’s passing, the words “GNU Terry Pratchett” started to be used as a way to memorialise the great man. It’s sometimes hidden in the code of many websites. Keep track of them all at gnuterrypratchett.com.
F IS FOR FANS
Unsurprisingly for such a popular series, the Discworld attracted many fans – some famous faces. There’s Neil Gaiman, of course, Pratchett’s friend and occasional collaborator, who started off as a fan. Crime writer Val McDermid said that she was “scornful of fantasy until I read my first Terry Pratchett novel, Mort”. Sir Terry’s passing also led to a flurry of tributes from notables including Margaret Atwood, who said, “I vastly enjoy his playful, smart Discworld books,” comedian Ricky Gervais, country-breaking former Prime
