Terry Pratchett: HisWorld - by Sue Purkiss

A few days ago, I went to see the Terry Pratchett exhibition at Salisbury Museum. (Apologies to my companions, OH and two friends from Salisbury, none of whom have ever read a Terry Pratchett book - and thanks to them for their patience, as I wandered round chortling and sometimes a little misty-eyed, while they were simply mystified. And thanks too to the two guides, who clearly shared my enthusiasm. One of them was also called Susan, and we bonded over the picture of Death's granddaughter, Susan, and Terry's explanation of why he gave her the name. I didn't make a note of it, but it was something to the effect that he felt sorry for Susans, who tend to be the sort of people who make the sandwiches - nice but rather dull - so he decided to give them a boost by calling this very special character Susan. Thanks, Terry.)

The exhibition was largely structured round the illustrations of Josh Kirby and Paul Kidby, though there were other exhibits too - notably a mock-up of Terry's study, with its six computer screens, wall of book shelves, and various memorabilia - such as this lifesize model of The Luggage. (If you're a fan, you'll know what I'm talking about, and if you're not, then there really isn't much point in trying to explain. You just need to read the books. And keep out of the way if you see it heading towards you.)

And there were costumes you could try on. No idea who this manic-looking peron in a pointy hat is. It's in black and white because, trust me, the colour version was far too scary for a family blog.

The labels, or captions, were mostly in Terry's own words. Here he talks about how it all began - incorporating a useful tip for parents trying to help their children to learn to read: 'I didn't enjoy primary school, Mr Tame, my headmaster, thought he could tell how successful we would be in later life by how well we could read or write at the age of six. He told me I would never amount to anything... My mum wasn't having any of that. She taught me to read, with love, care and affection. When that didn't work, bribery, at a penny a page when I read perfectly.' (I noticed, as we went round, that this is how Terry's humour often works: he writes a few apparently serious sentences, and then undercuts them with something sharp, unexpected, and funny.)

Here's a picture of the Discworld by Alan Smith. As many of you will know, it floats through space on the back of a giant turtle. (Sorry about the reflections.) I was intrigued by this from Terry: 'I write about people who live on the Discworld. They worry about the sort of thing we worry about, like death, taxes and not falling off. There are no magic swords or mighty quests. There are just people like us, give or take the odd pointy hat, trying to make sense of it all. Just like us.'

Here's the cover art for Reaper Man, by Josh Kirby. It features Death, one of my favourite characters. Terry gives full credit to the artists who worked with him: 'I didn't know what Discworld trolls actually looked like until Josh drew them. The artwork for the covers are masterpieces, especially Reaper Man. It's a shame they have to be spoiled with the title.'

Here's Susan. Not a bad namesake to have. I may begin to wear black.

I had just re-read Wyrd Sisters, so was intrigued to see this picture of Granny Weatherwax's home in Lancre. (That's not a sun, it's a reflection from my phone camera.) Charming, don't you think?

I've always thought of the Discworld novels as fantasy. So this was interesting. 'I've seen a 16th-century woodcut of something like the Discworld. The idea that the world goes through space on the back of an enormous turtle is something that's common to a large number of this planet's cultures, past and present. I don't know why. It's not an obvious beast to carry the world through space; I mean they go underwater quite a lot. I needed a ridiculous world... I wanted to write, in effect, an antidote to fantasy. I thought let's take a ridiculously, self-evidently foolish world, put the people on it, and make them as real as possible.'

I'll leave you with this ensemble picture of the cast of Discworld characters. The exhibition continues at Salisbury Museum till Sunday, January 14th, 2018.