It took me a few months before I actually read this biography of Terry, written by his long-time personal assistant Rob Wilkins, even though I bought it the day it came out. The description of the day Pratchett’s daughter, Rhianna, was born, for example, is so animated by love, it’s as if this treasured moment was a jewel that Pratchett placed in Wilkins’s care, to ensure it would not be stolen away by the embuggerance.

Terry Pratchett: A Life With Footnotes - Penguin Books Australia Terry Pratchett: A Life With Footnotes - Penguin Books Australia

It was touching to read of Terry’s friendships, and how he was affected by the death of Douglas Adams, whose books were important to him. He got Pratchett through the back of his cerebral cortex and shrank his brain, something he referred to as “an embuggerance”. The responsibility of documenting his life when I lived so much of it with him has been such an emotive experience. Pratchett left instructions that, on his death, the hard drive from his computer be removed and run over by a specific steam engine – the Lord Jericho – at the Great Dorset Steam Fair.Even Pratchett himself, with his rings and his sword and his “manorette” of a house, sometimes gave the impression that he had just come down from the Ramtops.

A LIFE WITH FOOTNOTES – The Official Terry Pratchett Biograph A LIFE WITH FOOTNOTES – The Official Terry Pratchett Biograph

Terry's life was much like anyone else's, with humble beginnings that drifted into anecdotal rich midlife that didn't so much as crash as it sort of free-wheeled with a few minor stalls. Rob Wilkins says: ‘Living a life alongside one of the world’s greatest authors, then reliving every moment for his biography, has been an incredible journey.This was a new piece of information for me, but, although brought initial surprise, did not change any thoughts.