How's Pterry?
Geoff Field
I can't seem to find confirmation or denial of this.
Is there any news? Is pTerry OK?
Geoff
--
Geoff Field
Professional Geek,
Amateur Stage-Levelling Gauge
Paul Ian Harman
news:470c9f5a$0$6690$afc3...@news.optusnet.com.au...
>I hae just heard that pTerry has had a stroke, but
> I can't seem to find confirmation or denial of this.
Old News. Quoting the Press Association this morning quoting pTerry:
"I had a stroke some time over the last two years. I don't even know when it
was. I can't tie a necktie any more but, on the other hand, I can remember
the whole of a Kleenex tissue advert from 1962. I haven't a clue why" -
Fantasy writer Terry Pratchett.
Paul
Daibhid Ceanaideach
<geoff...@hotmail.com> did say:
> I hae just heard that pTerry has had a stroke, but
> I can't seem to find confirmation or denial of this.
>
> Is there any news? Is pTerry OK?
In the radio interview Len Oil linked to a couple of days ago,
Pterry mentioned he'd had a mild stroke recently[1], but
wasn't even sure *when* he'd had it, and the only effect seems
to be that he can no longer tie a tie.
[1] I'm not sure how recently "recently" is; the impression I
got was that it was back a couple of years when he announced
that health problems meant he was cutting back to one book a
year, but ICBW.
--
Dave
Official Absentee of EU Skiffeysoc
http://sesoc.eusa.ed.ac.uk/
"There *is* no Niels, the Bouncing Cat! He's gone!
Now, there is only ... P-Cat, the Penitent Puss!"
Reader in Invisible Writings
wrote:
> 'Twas on the 10 Oct 2007, that "Geoff Field"
>
> > I hae just heard that pTerry has had a stroke, but
> > I can't seem to find confirmation or denial of this.
>
> > Is there any news? Is pTerry OK?
>
> In the radio interview Len Oil linked to a couple of days ago,
> Pterry mentioned he'd had a mild stroke recently[1], but
> wasn't even sure *when* he'd had it, and the only effect seems
> to be that he can no longer tie a tie.
>
> [1] I'm not sure how recently "recently" is; the impression I
> got was that it was back a couple of years when he announced
> that health problems meant he was cutting back to one book a
> year, but ICBW.
>
> --
> Dave
> "There *is* no Niels, the Bouncing Cat! He's gone!
> Now, there is only ... P-Cat, the Penitent Puss!"
It is old news.
Last Weekend he did a book signing in Plymouth and according to my son
he was in good health. Interestingly although the signing started at
12 (may have been one or later) my son happened to go by about an hour
and a half before and noticed the massive queue and joined it then.
When he eventually left over two hours later he checked again and the
queue was the same length. This is with the signing only being
advertised by two small posters upstairs in the book shop. He
wondered why the signing of a book about Plymouth Argyle got several
much larger posters in the window. I suggested that even if TP's
event had been advertised by a hand written note hidden under a till,
it would still have been packed whereas the other event may have
trouble getting much of a queue even with the adverts! I do feel pity
when you see authors at tables already to go but no body ready to
come.
Richard Heathfield
One possible explanation is that, at least subconsciously, he likes Kleenex
adverts but is not overly fond of neckties. In any case, it probably means
that the person responsible for the advertisement should get an OBE for
services to memorable marketing campaigns (along with whoever came up with
"Lipsmackinthirstquenchinacetastinmotivatingoodbuzzincooltalkin
highwalkinfastlivinevergivincoolfizzin Pepsi").
--
Richard Heathfield <http://www.cpax.org.uk>
Email: -http://www. +rjh@
Google users: <http://www.cpax.org.uk/prg/writings/googly.php>
"Usenet is a strange place" - dmr 29 July 1999
Puck
> I suggested that even if TP's
> event had been advertised by a hand written note hidden under a till,
> it would still have been packed whereas the other event may have
> trouble getting much of a queue even with the adverts! I do feel pity
> when you see authors at tables already to go but no body ready to
> come.
See, this is where I start to feel left out. I live in the middle of
Cowtip Ohio and the odds of Pterry ever doing a signing anywhere even
remotely near me are about the same as Granny Weatherwax taking up
pole-dancing (If you were drinking coffee when you read that I probably
owe you a new keyboard). I am destined to go through life with my
precious Discworld books unsigned. </woe>
Bri Tze
You have a full set of UNSIGNED PTerry books? Wow!! Hang on to them -
they are very, very rare.
Bri Tze
redtiger
"Daibhid Ceanaideach" <daibhidc...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:Xns99C57187...@130.133.1.4...
> 'Twas on the 10 Oct 2007, that "Geoff Field"
> <geoff...@hotmail.com> did say:
>
>> I hae just heard that pTerry has had a stroke, but
>> I can't seem to find confirmation or denial of this.
>>
>> Is there any news? Is pTerry OK?
>
> In the radio interview Len Oil linked to a couple of days ago,
> Pterry mentioned he'd had a mild stroke recently[1], but
> wasn't even sure *when* he'd had it, and the only effect seems
> to be that he can no longer tie a tie.
>
> [1] I'm not sure how recently "recently" is; the impression I
> got was that it was back a couple of years when he announced
> that health problems meant he was cutting back to one book a
> year, but ICBW.
>
On a related note, I had a somewhat similar experience recently while
directing a stage production of Jingo.
To help those unfamiliar with Terry's work to get into the right frame of
mind I had our Footnote do a short rundown before the curtain opened. One
night when she mentioned that she would quite like to meet Terry a supposed
fan in the audience cried out that she was too late as Terry had died in a
car accident last year. I was behind the curtain at the time and could not
let that pass which led to an amusing little discussion between myself and
Footnote about how I had seen Terry at the convention a few months before
and that he was in fact quite healthy.
Quite how these rumours start is beyond me.
Anthony
--
Nil Illegitimo Carborundum!
Carol Hague
> It is old news.
> Last Weekend he did a book signing in Plymouth and according to my son
> he was in good health.
OTOH someone on LiveJournal reports that the Nottingham signing has been
cancelled due to ill health.
http://community.livejournal.com/discworld/773287.html
One of the comments says that his voice was going when he was signing in
Pennsylvania. I hope he'll feel better soon.
--
Carol
"If you are allergic to a thing, it is best not to put
that thing in your mouth. Particularly if the thing is
cats." - Lemony Snicket _The Wide Window_
ChesireCat
> "Daibhid Ceanaideach" <daibhidchened...@aol.com> wrote in message
>
> news:Xns99C57187...@130.133.1.4...
>
>
>
> > 'Twas on the 10 Oct 2007, that "Geoff Field"
Sensationalism. People hear stroke. Stroke? Must've been lethal. So,
he's dead. He's dead? How'd he die? I dunno. Car crash or something,
perhaps? Did you hear he died in a car crash?
in the words of a mr. Twain, "The rumors of my death have been highly
exaggerated."
David Sewell
Ah but then Mark Twain *is* dead, you know.
--
David Sewell "They that are awake have one world in common,
White Hall, Virginia but of the sleeping each turns aside into
USA a world of his own." --Heraclitus
ChesireCat
He is NOW. He wasn't when he said it.
Well, I hope so, at least, or else we've got a lot to figure out.
ncw...@hotmail.com
>
Ah, but maybe he was lying.
Cheers,
Nigel.
Pudde Fjord
He was probably just half-dead....
Pudde.
esmi
> OTOH someone on LiveJournal reports that the Nottingham signing has been
> cancelled due to ill health.
> http://community.livejournal.com/discworld/773287.html
Having checked into this for another fan about 2 weeks ago, I can
confirm that the "ill health" report is somewhat exaggerated - thanks to
Waterstones. :-/
Terry has cancelled this *one* signing date as he needed to make a
break. All others are as arranged, as far as I am aware.
esmi
--
2008 Discworld Convention
22nd to 25th August 2008
Hilton Metropole Hotel, Birmingham, UK
http://www.dwcon.org/
Apostate
> on 10/10/2007 21:20 Carol Hague said the following:
>
>> OTOH someone on LiveJournal reports that the Nottingham signing has been
>> cancelled due to ill health.
>> http://community.livejournal.com/discworld/773287.html
>
> Having checked into this for another fan about 2 weeks ago, I can
> confirm that the "ill health" report is somewhat exaggerated - thanks to
> Waterstones. :-/
>
> Terry has cancelled this *one* signing date as he needed to make a
> break. All others are as arranged, as far as I am aware.
>
> esmi
--
The Apostate
Alec Cawley
Hit by a comet, wasn't he?
John Wilkins
Give him a break. He was mostly dead all day.
--
John S. Wilkins, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Philosophy
University of Queensland - Blog: scienceblogs.com/evolvingthoughts
"He used... sarcasm. He knew all the tricks, dramatic irony, metaphor,
bathos, puns, parody, litotes and... satire. He was vicious."
Richard Eney
I noticed on abebooks.com that several books had a pre-signed page
that was either tipped-in (glued in very carefully) or actually bound
in by the publishers. You may be able to find one of those to buy
if you feel the need.
=Tamar
Richard Eney
So it would seem. Somebody must have thought it sounded better than
"needed a break", and frankly, if people don't take breaks, ill-health
is likely to ensue. Signing tours are extremely tiring.
=Tamar
Carol Hague
> Terry has cancelled this *one* signing date as he needed to make a
> break. All others are as arranged, as far as I am aware.
Oh good. I'm glad it was no worse than that. Sorry to be spreading alarm
unnecessarily. Today's lesson seems to be "Check your sources". I will
try to remember it, but given the usual state of my memory I won't make
any promises.
Geoff Field
> esmi <es...@lspace.org> wrote:
>
>
>> Terry has cancelled this *one* signing date as he needed to make a
>> break. All others are as arranged, as far as I am aware.
>
> Oh good. I'm glad it was no worse than that. Sorry to be spreading
> alarm unnecessarily. Today's lesson seems to be "Check your sources".
> I will try to remember it, but given the usual state of my memory I
> won't make any promises.
I, too, am very glad that the rumours were false.
My source: A friend is on tour, currently in the UK (or probably
boarding/on-board a plane home around now). He sent me an
SMS saying he'd heard that Terry had had a stroke and to try to
find out details. (Also that he'd just passed the JCB factory.)
The answer to the rumour is "yes, but it was yonks ago and
fortunately not fatal."
Thanks for all the comments.
Geoff Field
, too, am very glad that the rumours were false.
My source: A friend is on tour, currently in the UK (or probably
boarding/on-board a plane home around now). He sent me an
SMS saying he'd heard that Terry had had a stroke and to try to
find out details. (Also that he'd just passed the JCB factory.)
The answer to the rumour is "yes, but it was yonks ago and
fortunately not fatal."
Thanks for all the comments.
Geoff
Lesley Weston
j.wil...@uq.edu.au wrote on 11/10/2007 5:30 PM:
> Pudde Fjord <puddesp...@netscape.net> wrote:
>
>> ncw...@hotmail.com wrote:
>>> On 11 Oct, 06:05, ChesireCat <catdr...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> On Oct 10, 9:45 pm, David Sewell <DavidR.Sew...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>> On Thu, 11 Oct 2007 01:01:27 +0000, ChesireCat wrote:
>>
>>>>>> Sensationalism. People hear stroke. Stroke? Must've been lethal. So,
>>>>>> he's dead. He's dead? How'd he die? I dunno. Car crash or something,
>>>>>> perhaps? Did you hear he died in a car crash?
>>>>>> in the words of a mr. Twain, "The rumors of my death have been highly
>>>>>> exaggerated."
>>>>> Ah but then Mark Twain *is* dead, you know.
>>>>
>>>> He is NOW. He wasn't when he said it.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Ah, but maybe he was lying.
>>>
>> He was probably just half-dead....
>>
> Give him a break. He was mostly dead all day.
But until we open the coffin, we won't know that.
--
Lesley Weston.
Brightly_coloured_blob is real, but I don't often check even the few bits
that get through Yahoo's filters. To reach me, use leswes att shaw dott ca,
changing spelling and spacing as required.
Doug Urquhart
>See, this is where I start to feel left out. I live in the middle of
>Cowtip Ohio and the odds of Pterry ever doing a signing anywhere even
>remotely near me are about the same as Granny Weatherwax taking up
>pole-dancing (If you were drinking coffee when you read that I probably
>owe you a new keyboard). I am destined to go through life with my
>precious Discworld books unsigned. </woe>
Don't give up hope. He sometimes visits places between the major
cities. I saw him at a book signing in Madison, CT. Madison isn't
exactly a major metropolis, but he stopped there while in transit
between NYC and Chicago.
I turned up at the same time as he did, and it was a strange feeling
to see the man himself getting out of a limo, complete with signature
hat.
Regards
Doug Urquhart
Doug Urquhart
<brightly_co...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>in article 1i5v8tm.1q132t644vwjrN%j.wil...@uq.edu.au, John Wilkins at
>j.wil...@uq.edu.au wrote on 11/10/2007 5:30 PM:
>
>> Pudde Fjord <puddesp...@netscape.net> wrote:
>>
>>> ncw...@hotmail.com wrote:
>>>> On 11 Oct, 06:05, ChesireCat <catdr...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>> On Oct 10, 9:45 pm, David Sewell <DavidR.Sew...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>> On Thu, 11 Oct 2007 01:01:27 +0000, ChesireCat wrote:
>>>
>>>>>>> Sensationalism. People hear stroke. Stroke? Must've been lethal. So,
>>>>>>> he's dead. He's dead? How'd he die? I dunno. Car crash or something,
>>>>>>> perhaps? Did you hear he died in a car crash?
>>>>>>> in the words of a mr. Twain, "The rumors of my death have been highly
>>>>>>> exaggerated."
>>>>>> Ah but then Mark Twain *is* dead, you know.
>>>>>
>>>>> He is NOW. He wasn't when he said it.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Ah, but maybe he was lying.
>>>>
>>> He was probably just half-dead....
>>>
>> Give him a break. He was mostly dead all day.
>
>But until we open the coffin, we won't know that.
>
Mark Twain - not Schroedinger.
Regards
Doug Urquhart
cpe...@waitrose.com
> cities. I saw him at a book signing in Madison, CT. Madison isn't
> exactly a major metropolis, but he stopped there while in transit
> between NYC and Chicago.
>
> I turned up at the same time as he did, and it was a strange feeling
> to see the man himself getting out of a limo, complete with signature
> hat.
>
> Regards
>
> Doug Urquhart
He was at Cambridge UK signing books this afternoon. He seemed in
good health and signed a couple of books for me. The queue went
around the bookshop twice, but he did say on arrival that he would
sign a book for everyone in the queue. Some people had their entire
liberary for him to sign which I thought a bit much. At 4pm he did
stop signing paperbacks to ensure that the rest of the queue got
through before 5pm.
Chris (of the Cambridge Watch)
Markku Herd
>> >
>> He was probably just half-dead....
>>
> Give him a break. He was mostly dead all day.
For tax reasons, I assume.
- MJH
erinnish.AT.gmail.dot.com
Nah, he's not dead, he's pining for the fjords...
-Erinnish
Lesley Weston
Jeroen Wenting
> It is old news.
> Last Weekend he did a book signing in Plymouth and according to my son
> 12 (may have been one or later) my son happened to go by about an hour
> and a half before and noticed the massive queue and joined it then.
> When he eventually left over two hours later he checked again and the
> queue was the same length. This is with the signing only being
It's Britain, where queueing is a national passtime.
A Brit sees a queue, he instinctively joins it, much like a Russian.
Sabremeister Brian
Jeroen Wenting (jwenting at hornet dot demon dot nl) spake thusly:
"An Englishman, even if he is alone, forms an orderly queue of one." -
George Mikes
--
www.sabremeister.me.uk
www.livejournal.com/users/sabremeister/
Use brian at sabremeister dot me dot uk to reply
"I'm not a spy, I'm a shepherd!"
"Ah - shepherd's pie!"
- A fragment of the late great Spike Milligna's brain
Eric Jarvis
says...
> In a speech called 4711c343$0$4110$e4fe...@dreader21.news.xs4all.nl,
> Jeroen Wenting (jwenting at hornet dot demon dot nl) spake thusly:
>
> > A Brit sees a queue, he instinctively joins it, much like a Russian.
>
> "An Englishman, even if he is alone, forms an orderly queue of one." -
> George Mikes
>
It's only when a second Englishman turns up that the queueueue jumping
starts.
--
eric
www.ericjarvis.co.uk
"live fast, die only if strictly necessary"
Alec Cawley
> In article <5neqhmF...@mid.individual.net>, bpwak...@hotmail.com
> says...
>> In a speech called 4711c343$0$4110$e4fe...@dreader21.news.xs4all.nl,
>> Jeroen Wenting (jwenting at hornet dot demon dot nl) spake thusly:
>>
>>> It's Britain, where queueing is a national passtime.
>>> A Brit sees a queue, he instinctively joins it, much like a Russian.
>> "An Englishman, even if he is alone, forms an orderly queue of one." -
>> George Mikes
>>
>
> It's only when a second Englishman turns up that the queueueue jumping
> starts.
Not so - a solitary Englishman forming a queue 0n his own is in the "I'm
in the queue - nobody overtake me" mode in the way that is continental,
or at least Mediterranean peers, who are just hanging out, is not.
Kieran Sanders
> Eric Jarvis wrote:
>> It's only when a second Englishman turns up that the queueueue jumping
>> starts.
>
> Not so - a solitary Englishman forming a queue 0n his own is in the "I'm
> in the queue - nobody overtake me" mode in the way that is continental,
> or at least Mediterranean peers, who are just hanging out, is not.
I went to see Bill Bailey recently (non-numbered seats, so getting near
the front of the queue meant better seats for the show), and the
dynamics of the queue had me fascinated.
It formed spontaneously, with no intervention or guidance from the venue
staff, and wound around the lobby intersecting itself in at least three
places. Everyone happily joined on the end right up until the doors opened.
At that point, a single person at one of the places where the queue
crossed over itself turned round, effectively cutting out a complete
'loop'. A ripple went through the queue and everyone, almost
simultaneously, did an about face and started elbowing their way toward
the doors.
I suspect that, had that first person not turned around, everyone would
have filed in in an orderly fashion. It seemed like everyone was ready
to queue up until it became clear that someone was "cheating", at which
point we were all prepared to clamber over the trampled bodies of our
fellow audience members (all for the lack of a couple of brass poles
with velveteen ropes)...
Quinn
> Reader in Invisible Writings wrote:
>
> > I suggested that even if TP's
> > event had been advertised by a hand written note hidden under a till,
> > it would still have been packed whereas the other event may have
> > trouble getting much of a queue even with the adverts! I do feel pity
> > when you see authors at tables already to go but no body ready to
> > come.
>
> Cowtip Ohio and the odds of Pterry ever doing a signing anywhere even
> remotely near me are about the same as Granny Weatherwax taking up
> pole-dancing (If you were drinking coffee when you read that I probably
> owe you a new keyboard). I am destined to go through life with my
> precious Discworld books unsigned. </woe>
I traveled from interior Alaska to Seattle, Washington to get a signed
copy of Wintersmith and to have him sign my first edition Last Hero.
Well worth the effort, even if the sled dogs were tired afterwards.
Interestingly, at that reading (1.1 years ago), in response to an
annoyingly personal question, Pterry allowed as how it hadn't been a
stroke after all but an esophageal disorder.
- Quinn
David Sewell
I think the reference in the Seattle reading was to a cancellation of part
of a book tour from symptoms that at first seemed scarily like heart
problems but turned out not to be. The cerebral event of unknown date that
Terry referred to on his most recent tour is something else, some kind
of "mini-stroke" that had negligible symptoms but must have been detected
after the fact via some sort of testing.
Davina Stuart
"Puck" <korm...@osu.edu> wrote in message news:feirku$jpm$1...@aioe.org...
> See, this is where I start to feel left out. I live in the middle of
> Cowtip Ohio and the odds of Pterry ever doing a signing anywhere even
> remotely near me are about the same as Granny Weatherwax taking up
> pole-dancing (If you were drinking coffee when you read that I probably
> owe you a new keyboard). I am destined to go through life with my precious
> Discworld books unsigned. </woe>
you think you have it hard... i'm out in rural alaska.. if it weren't for
the internet, i'd not even be able to even find some of the books....
Davina
Larry Moore
I have been trumped. Here I was all ready to winge that pterry hadn't
been to Toronto officially in over a decade. :-)
--
43° 58' 09" N - 80° 58' 45" W