Published February 7, 2009 | 
New Terry Pratchett interview.
“I think three different researchers wrote to me asking could I help them with work on analysing my style as the illness progresses, and I wrote back, ‘What I like about vultures is that they wait until the donkey is dead’.”
The interviewer seems to be an idiot:
His assistant Rob, who comes across on the film as his closest friend, says that Pratchett was always a difficult man, although an inspiring one. My impression is that his sense of humour mostly stops him saying the truly wounding things that he first thinks of.
Newsflash: A sense of humor can be used as a license to be nasty. Pratchett’s kindness or self-control or something else is likely to be what keeps him from saying vicious things.
The BBC did a two-part documentary called Terry Pratchett: Living With Alzheimer’s. The first part showed on February 4. Second will show on February 11.
In reading that article, I spotted an organization straight from That Hideous Strength. “The government watchdog NICE” — haven’t these people read C.S. Lewis? Or are they hiding their purpose in plain sight?
*Excellent* interview – thank you so much for the link!
Medium-mediocre interviewer, though — among other things, over-reliant on spell check, I suspect.
“”…while in another corner an ancient tomb perches open on a gothic lectern.”
I can certainly imagine PTerry having an ancient tomb, at least in model; but I suspect that on a lectern he’s more likely to have an ancient tome. –Could be me, of course. ;)
There’s a line in there abot how all the publicizing has “cost him half a book”. I can’t help thinking it cost us half a book. And we don’t have enough left as it is. (Of course, at the level he’s writing now I would probably be thinking that if he had another thirty years guaranteed.)
(Edited to fix italics)
Nice is a strange beast. A lot of people hate it, including me. But it actually does what has to be done – decides on cost/benefit grounds what the limited funds the NHS has should pay for.
Pratchett was always a difficult man, although an inspiring one.
*boggle* Sir Terry is one of the nicest, most accommodating people I’ve ever met.
hah–thanks for the link! There was a bit of a kerfuffle a while ago in which Clueless Person kept insisting that of course anybody writing on Pratchett should contact him for information (not just about his books but about the criticism of his books), and of COURSE somebody would be happy to help them.
*goes to gloatingly link in my journal*