It was an experience that taught him the virtues of scepticism, which shines through in his writing. He was a press officer for a nuclear power station during the days of the Cold War, Chernobyl and the time the Hartlepool Power Station visitor centre was open every day apart from Christmas Day.

He is the King of Ridiculous Fantastical Comedyīefore he became a full-time writer, Pratchett had already had a thorough grounding in unbelievable and ridiculous situations. On the Discworld, superciliousness is the deadliest of all sins. Praise be to the God of fantasy: there are NO songs and anyone who says ‘ere’ when they mean ‘before’ gets a good poke in the eye from the author. If all of this is making Pratchett sound a bit high-minded, however, don’t worry.

Which is why Pratchett counts among his fans the novelist of ideas par excellence A.S. The books may have begun as a clever deconstruction of the clichés of fantasy fiction, but they soon became something better: satisfying and witty moral comedies about human society and its frailties. Despite its outlandish geology, and a cast of inhabitants that includes wizards, witches, trolls and dwarves, the Discworld has much more in common with Charles Dickens at his comic and indignant best than it has with Lord of The Rings.

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