5. The Khalians are meticulous about things that interest them.
6. Moretum, usually attributed to Virgil
7. A lot bigger, though. Troy only covered seven acres, but it did have Homer as its director of tourism and publicity.
8. The statue, now sadly decayed, is located close to what is now the Haberdashers’ Guild, in a formerly unnamed area known locally as Fetter Lane, presumably a corruption of ‘foetid’ or ‘fetor’.
9. Often, but not uniquely, a ladle, but sometimes a metal spatula or, rarely, a mechanical egg-whisk that nobody in the house admits to ever buying. The desperate mad rattling and cries of ‘How can it close on the damn thing but not open with it? Who bought this? Do we ever use it?’ is as praise unto Anoia. She also eats corkscrews.
10. In the case of Corporal NOBBS, his knapsack was found to contain three field marshal’s batons, a general’s helmet, a colonel’s dress dagger, fifteen pairs of boots, some still occupied, and three gold teeth.
11. The byzantine and convoluted politics of that lost Empire, which ruled from the now-buried city of Komplez, in fact were responsible for our word ‘complex’.
12. And, as every schoolboy knows, if only King Harold the Rampant had listened to that advice, or if one of the Pseudopolian archers had not been such a good shot, the Battle of the Field of the Cloth of Ants would not have ended on such a piercingly high note.
13. There has been much discussion about this, but UU wizards do reluctantly concede that this is the historical state of affairs. Rincewind certainly challenged Coin with said sock, and as a result Coin ceased his troublesome reign (admittedly because being challenged by the most ineffective wizard in the world with such a primitive weapon amused him, caught his imagination and persuaded him to defy the power of his father). There are other ways to defeat someone than by bashing their head in with a brick (although this does remain the means of choice in many of Ankh-Morpork’s shadier streets).
14. Originally a Sharp Stick was installed, but extensive tests found that few things were worse than a poke in the eye with it.
15. Although octarine is the most important colour as far as wizards are concerned, it is not one that lends itself well to paint pigmentation. It quickly fades in sunlight and, in extreme cases, walks away.
16. A very popular degree and comparatively easy to obtain; a bit like sociology. Most wizards manage to get a B.F. after their name, to the quiet amusement of the citizenry in general.
17. This one is a bit of a puzzler.
18. At the time of the floor being relaid that is. This is done every few decades, during which time many of the constellations will have changed or been renamed.
19. It’s amazing how much can change in twenty years! Now, of course, there are numerous Terry Pratchett fan clubs, entire conventions dedicated to the Discworld – and alt.fan.pratchett has been superseded by other chat groups, fan websites, Facebook pages, Twitter accounts (and whatever else has no doubt emerged between writing and publishing this!)
20. Updated from the 1994 edition.
Also by Terry Pratchett
THE CARPET PEOPLE · THE DARK SIDE OF THE SUN ·STRATA
THE UNADULTERATED CAT (with Gray Jolliffe) · GOOD OMENS (with Neil Gaiman)
NATION · THE LONG EARTH (with Stephen Baxter) · DODGER
A BLINK OF THE SCREEN: COLLECTED SHORT FICTION
The Bromeliad
TRUCKERS · DIGGERS · WINGS
Johnny Maxwell
ONLY YOU CAN SAVE MANKIND
JOHNNY AND THE DEAD · JOHNNY AND THE BOMB
The Discworld® series
THE COLOUR OF MAGIC · THE LIGHT FANTASTIC
EQUAL RITES · MORT · SOURCERY · WYRD SISTERS · PYRAMIDS
GUARDS! GUARDS! · ERIC (with Josh Kirby) · MOVING PICTURES
REAPER MAN · WITCHES ABROAD · SMALL GODS · LORDS AND LADIES
MEN AT ARMS · SOUL MUSIC · INTERESTING TIMES · MASKERADE · FEET OF CLAY
HOGFATHER · JINGO · THE LAST CONTINENT · CARPE JUGULUM
THE FIFTH ELEPHANT · THE TRUTH · THE THIEF OF TIME · THE LAST HERO
NIGHT WATCH ·MONSTROUS REGIMENT · GOING POSTAL
THUD! · MAKING MONEY · UNSEEN ACADEMICALS · SNUFF
Discworld (children’s)
THE AMAZING MAURICE AND HIS EDUCATED RODENTS · WEE FREE MEN
A HATFUL OF SKY · WINTERSMITH · I SHALL WEAR MIDNIGHT
Discworld collaborations
MORT: A DISCWORLD BIG COMIC (with Graham Higgins)
GUARDS! GUARDS! (with Graham Higgins)
THE PRATCHETT PORTFOLIO (with Paul Kidby)
THE STREETS OF ANKH-MORPORK (with Stephen Briggs)
THE DISCWORLD MAPP (with Stephen Briggs)
A TOURIST GUIDE TO LANCRE: A DISCWORLD MAPP (with Stephen Briggs and Paul Kidby)
DEATH’S DOMAIN (with Paul Kidby)
THE COMPLEAT ANKH-MORPORK (with The Discworld Emporium)
NANNY OGG’S COOKBOOK
THE DISCWORLD’S UNSEEN UNIVERSITY DIARY 1998 (with Stephen Briggs and Paul Kidby)
THE DISCWORLD’S ANKH-MORPORK CITY WATCH DIARY 1999 (with Stephen Briggs and Paul Kidby)
THE DISCWORLD ASSASSINS’ GUILD DIARY 2000 (with Stephen Briggs and Paul Kidby)
THE DISCWORLD FOOLS’ GUILD YEARBOOK AND DIARY 2001 (with Stephen Briggs and Paul Kidby)
THE DISCWORLD THIEVES’ GUILD YEARBOOK AND DIARY 2002 (with Stephen Briggs and Paul Kidby)
THE DISCWORLD (REFORMED) VAMPYRE’S DIARY 2003 (with Stephen Briggs and Paul Kidby)
THE DISCWORLD ALMANAK (with Bernard Pearson and Paul Kidby)
THE ANKH-MORPORK POST OFFICE HANDBOOK & DIARY 2007 (with Stephen Briggs and Paul Kidby)
LU-TZE’S YEARBOOK OF ENLIGHTENMENT 2008 (with Stephen Briggs and Paul Kidby)
THE WIT AND WISDOM OF DISCWORLD (compiled by Stephen Briggs)
THE ILLUSTRATED ERIC
THE ART OF DISCWORLD (with Paul Kidby)
WHERE’S MY COW? (with Melvyn Grant)
MISS FELICITY BEEDLE’S THE WORLD OF POO (with Bernard and Isobel Pearson)
Text Copyright © Terry and Lyn Pratchett and Stephen Briggs 1994, 1997, 2003, 2012
Illustrations copyright © Stephen Briggs 1994
All rights reserved
The right of Terry Pratchett and Stephen Briggs to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Discworld ® is a trademark registered by Terry Pratchett.
First published in Great Britain in 2012 by by Victor Gollancz Ltd
A subsidiary of the Orion Publishing Group
Orion House, 5 Upper St Martin’s Lane, London WC2H 9EA
An Hachette UK Company
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978 0 575 09118 4 (Cased)
ISBN 978 0 575 09119 1 (Export Trade Paperback)
eISBN 978 0 575 09121 4
Typeset at The Spartan Press Ltd,
Lymington, Hants
Printed in Great Britain by
Clays Ltd, St Ives plc
The Orion Publishing Group’s policy is to use papers that are natural, renewable and recyclable products and made from wood grown in sustainable forests. The logging and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin.
www.terrypratchett.co.uk
www.gollancz.co.uk
www.orionbooks.co.uk
e-share-buttons">share
Turtle Recall: The Discworld Companion ... So Far Page 57