164-539: The Ankh-Morpork City Watch is a fictional police force appearing in Terry Prattchett's Discworld series. The Watch primarily functions out of the fictional city of Ankh-Morpork , but some stories do include members of the watch elsewhere in the world. The watch and its members are the primary topic of 8 novels and one short story, listed below in order of publication. The novels generally feature Watch Commander Sam Vimes as protagonist and often draw on
328-724: A humanist . He was a Distinguished Supporter of Humanists UK (formerly known as the British Humanist Association) and an Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society . Pratchett wrote that he read the Old Testament as a child and "was horrified", but liked the New Testament and thought that Jesus "had a lot of good things to say ... But I could never see the two testaments as one coherent narrative". He then read On
492-708: A knighthood for "services to literature" in the 2009 UK New Year Honours list. He was previously appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire , also for "services to literature", in 1998. He formally received the accolade at Buckingham Palace on 18 February 2009. Pratchett commented in the Ansible science fiction/fan newsletter, "I suspect the 'services to literature' consisted of refraining from trying to write any", but added, "Still, I cannot help feeling mightily chuffed about it." On 31 December 2008, it
656-470: A speciesist , though this habit slowly dies away; most of his officers rationalize this bias as simply not being particularly fond of anyone . However, he will warm up to anyone he considers a "good copper" regardless of their unusual background and has allowed the Watch to become one of the most species-blind employers in the city. Initially, Vimes is jokingly described as only fond of rural dwarfs and wizards,
820-428: A telegraph ) are programmed to repeat the name of its creator's deceased son; the sentiment in the novel is that no one is ever forgotten as long as their name is still spoken. A June 2015 web server survey reported that approximately 84,000 websites had been configured with the header. Pratchett's humanist funeral service was held on 25 March 2015. In 2015, Pratchett's estate announced an endowment in perpetuity to
984-413: A watchman prior to his death. His mother would go on to tell young Sam that his father was 'run down by a cart when he was crossing the street'. He privately thinks later that his father was a drunk: "Vimes had never known his father. His mum told him that the man had been run over by a cart, but Vimes suspected that if this were true at all, then it was probably a brewer's cart, which had 'run him over'
1148-466: A 'permanent test'. Terry Pratchett noted the following about Vimes on Usenet: "Vimes is fundamentally a person. He fears he may be a bad person because he knows what he thinks rather than just what he says and does. He chokes off all of those little reactions and impulses , but he knows what they are. So he tries to act like a good person, often in situations where the map is unclear." REVIEW: "Going Postal" by Terry Pratchett (no spoilers) This, along with
1312-743: A BBC television documentary, Terry Pratchett: Choosing to Die , about assisted suicide. It won the Best Documentary award at the Scottish BAFTAs in November 2011. In September 2012, Pratchett told an interviewer: "I have to tell you that I thought I'd be a lot worse than this by now, and so did my specialist." In the same interview he said that the cognitive part of his mind was "untouched" and his symptoms were physical (normal for PCA). However, in July 2014 he cancelled his appearance at
1476-496: A as in a thing". Daughter of the Baron and Baroness of Überwald , Angua comes from a family of werewolves and has two brothers, Wolfgang and Andrei. Her sister Elsa is deceased, killed by Wolfgang. Only Angua and Wolfgang can shape-shift at will. Wolfgang is extremely violent and enjoys killing, even eating, "inferior" humans. Angua rebelled and left Überwald. Andrei managed to slip away as well. Angua moved to Ankh-Morpork and became
1640-449: A bank of six monitors to ease writing. When he travelled, he always took a portable computer, originally a 1992 Olivetti Quaderno , with him to write. In a 1995 interview with Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates , Pratchett expressed concern about the potential spread of misinformation online. He felt that there was a "kind of parity of esteem of information" on the internet, and gave the example of Holocaust denial being presented on
1804-496: A bit at a time for years ". She raised young Sam on her own and died about twenty years after the events of Night Watch and is buried in the city's Small Gods Cemetery. In Night Watch Sam remembers that his mother made 'the very best' Distressed Pudding. The Vimes family is mentioned as historically being closely linked with the City Watch, with many members serving in it through its history. It has been suggested that Sam
SECTION 10
#17327865493641968-535: A book about his experiences if he thought anyone would actually believe them". The first Discworld novel, The Colour of Magic , was published in hardback by Colin Smythe Ltd in 1983. Pratchett gave up working for the CEGB to make his living through writing in 1987, after finishing the fourth Discworld novel, Mort . His sales increased quickly and many of his books occupied top places on bestseller lists; he
2132-427: A brief period; such occasions include alone time with his wife, the birth of his son, and whenever a case has reached a satisfactory conclusion. At the end of the events of Snuff , Vimes was also genuinely amazed to learn that a new book, " Pride and Extreme Prejudice ", had been dedicated to him. Lady Sybil Vimes (full title: Her Grace , The Duchess of Ankh, Lady Sybil Deidre Olgivanna Vimes ( née Ramkin)),
2296-988: A bright future, "should Lord Vetinari not survive the next assassination attempt", and notes that although most people envision Carrot as Arnold Schwarzenegger , he is actually more like Liam Neeson . In both the Discworld computer game and the BBC Radio production of Guards! Guards! , he speaks with a Welsh accent. Captain Delphine Angua von Überwald is a member of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, originally hired under an affirmative action plan by Havelock Vetinari . She first appeared in Men at Arms . Her beauty led colleagues to predict that criminals would line up to be arrested by her, but Angua's surprising strength and tough attitude soon make her one of
2460-496: A child, after the original is stolen. As part of an equal-opportunities drive required by the Patrician, the Watch under Vimes eventually took on extra staff in the form of a werewolf, a dwarf and a troll (and later a gargoyle, a gnome, a golem, an Igor, a zombie, and a vampire). They were instrumental in foiling an attempt on the Patrician's life, and were rewarded. The Watch was rapidly revived and became increasingly important in
2624-672: A constable and the Night Watch saved the city from a dragon . After the destruction of the Watch House, they moved to larger premises in Pseudopolis Yard (a name reminiscent of Scotland Yard ) and more members joined, especially from ethnic minorities such as dwarfs , trolls and undead. The Watch even admitted a vampire , a werewolf , an Igor and a Nac Mac Feegle . After the Watch saved the Patrician's life he agreed to increase its stature, with new Section Houses around
2788-531: A cost. Colon performs his duties in Thud! fairly well, is an amiable jailer, bright enough to keep his keys in a closed tin box in the bottom drawer of his desk, well out of reach of anything an inmate could use to snag them. He is often portrayed as prejudiced, but his prejudice is so non-specific and naive, frequently short-lived when he actually meets one of the group in question, that nobody takes him seriously. He might be related to Sergeant Doppelpunkt (German for
2952-504: A dangerous conclusion if one is unlucky enough to disappoint him. People think Carrot is simple, and the narrator occasionally points out that while that is true, people often mistake "simple" for "stupid". Carrot's simplicity is cunning (which he may have learned from Vimes). In Soul Music , Carrot adds questions to the quiz machine in the Mended Drum, asking players who was responsible for recent crimes and frequently makes arrests as
3116-415: A delayed honeymoon, or simply time alone with their new baby. In spite (or perhaps because ) of her wealth, Sybil engages in certain 'housewife'-like activities such as repairing socks and preparing meals. This is mainly out of a sense of duty and tradition than actual need or skill. Sam is somewhat baffled by the overtures, but as he is already used to an imperfect lifestyle, he is generally appreciative of
3280-412: A diplomatic mission. Lord Vetinari chooses Angua to go with him, but she has already left for Überwald for reasons of her own. Carrot and Gaspode set out after her. This is the first Discworld book to reveal much about Angua's background, and her parents and brother Wolfgang all figure in the story. Angua's relationship with actual wolves also provides some tension. Vimes ultimately kills Wolfgang, who leads
3444-402: A disaster as everyone, including Colon himself, expected. He currently holds the dual positions of Custody Officer and Watch Liaison Officer: jobs so vague that no one knows what they entail, least of all Colon himself. Their purpose is to avoid overburdening his brain with responsibility, and to also avoid the catastrophic possibility that he might have task of any real importance. His office, in
SECTION 20
#17327865493643608-619: A few more books yet", and added that while he understood the impulse to ask "is there anything I can do?", in this case he would only entertain such offers from "very high-end experts in brain chemistry". Discussing his diagnosis at the Bath Literature Festival in early 2008, Pratchett revealed that by then he found it too difficult to write dedications when signing books. In his later years Pratchett wrote by dictating to his assistant, Rob Wilkins, or by using speech recognition software. In March 2008, Pratchett announced he
3772-539: A glimpse of Vimes at his home (after she had fallen into one of the "eventually lethal" traps). Vimes is considering appealing the decision. In The Fifth Elephant , Vimes managed to evade, fight off, and 'kill' part of a pack of werewolves in "the game", a werewolf tradition of chasing a human back to civilization that humans did not often win. ( Angua 's brother Wolfgang denies that the werewolves died, as they can only truly be killed by silver; they would just have "nasty headaches later on.") Vimes also reflects on killing
3936-453: A gnome in the original novel). Wee Mad Arthur has now joined the watch, and tells Tiffany that she will be escorted by his colleague, Captain Angua. In the 2010 Sky television adaptation of Going Postal , Angua was played by Ingrid Bolsø Berdal . The Cretaceous gymnosperm species Czekanowskia anguae is named after Angua. Frederick "Fred" Colon was a sergeant , and had been for
4100-446: A good reason, he might miss it for a bad reason, and that this might apply to everything he does, such as employing less-than-ethical methods in the pursuit of crime". In Snuff , it is highlighted that not only can Young Sam read, but that he is quite advanced and now reads to his father. It is also shown that he is currently quite stuck on the study of poo, having read many books written by one Miss Felicity Beedle, whom he knows as "
4264-559: A highly reluctant member of modern Ankh-Morpork nobility , having been made both a knight and a duke , as well as an ambassador. He is married to Sybil Ramkin, the richest woman in the city. They have a son, The Honourable Samuel Vimes II . Beginning with Guards! Guards! in 1989, the main Discworld books featuring Sam Vimes are: Sam Vimes was born in Cockbill Street as the son of Thomas Vimes, (son of Gwilliam Vimes) in
4428-475: A logical nickname for a 6-foot-6-inch-tall (1.98 m) man living in a mine built by 4-foot-tall (1.2 m) dwarfs. He was quite surprised when he was told that he was human. His adoptive father thought it best that he go live among humans, and found him a job in Ankh-Morpork with the Night Watch, believing them respected and respectable. Carrot was "barely 16 years old". ( Guards! Guards! ) Carrot joins
4592-520: A long time. He may have been first mentioned in The Colour of Magic as the "Sergeant of The Watch" who enters the then Broken Drum. He is described on several occasions as "one of nature's sergeants", overweight, preferring to avoid trouble and exertion, and rather unimaginative. He generally "guards" bridges or large buildings against theft. He was a corporal in the Watch at the time Sam Vimes first joined, and subsequent to this spent some time in
4756-473: A minimum of 47 or 48 years old during the events of the book. When Vimes discusses his time as a blackboard monitor, he thinks about it being "more than 45 years ago" and that he was six years old at the time, putting his age at least 51 years; this is confirmed when he refers to the new vampire officer, age given as 51, as being "not that much younger than him". It is also mentioned in Night Watch , that at
4920-569: A noble, it is clear that Vimes loves his wife dearly; indeed when he was trapped in the past alone in a world he no longer recognised, the History Monks gave him a silver cigar case his wife had bought him to inspire him to continue with his mission. It is unclear if his hatred of crime and the evil of humanity is greater than his love for his wife. Sybil bears this divided loyalty with some grace; nearly every Watch novel concludes with Sam making some form of amends to his neglected wife, either
5084-802: A number of game adaptations of his books. He favoured games that are "intelligent and have some depth", citing Half-Life 2 (2004) and fan missions for Thief as examples. The red army in Interesting Times prompted comparisons to the 1991 puzzle game Lemmings . When asked about this connection, Pratchett said: "Merely because the red army can fight, dig, march and climb and is controlled by little icons? Can't imagine how anyone thought that ... Not only did I wipe Lemmings from my hard disk, I overwrote it so I couldn't get it back." He described The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (2006) as his favourite video game, saying that he used many of its non-combat-oriented fan-made mods , and contributed to
Ankh-Morpork City Watch - Misplaced Pages Continue
5248-1060: A part of the Nebula Award ceremony. In 2016 the SFWA named Pratchett the recipient of Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award , given for "significant impact on the science fiction or fantasy landscape". He received the NESFA Skylark Award in 2009 and the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 2010. In 2011 he won Margaret A. Edwards Award from the American Library Association , a lifetime honour for "significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature". The librarians cited nine Discworld novels published from 1983 to 2004 and observed that "Pratchett's tales of Discworld have won over generations of teen readers with intelligence, heart, and undeniable wit. Comic adventures that fondly mock
5412-495: A plasterer when Vimes is particularly angry, Vetinari doesn't worry about it—a sign that he intentionally angers Vimes so as to goad him into a desired action. When Vimes was temporarily relieved of command in Men at Arms , the fact that Vimes didn't pound the wall led Vetinari to realize that he 'may have gone too far'. Sometimes this darker side comes out when Vimes loses control of his anger and he effectively ' goes spare '. In Men at Arms , he temporarily gains possession of
5576-514: A property, Pseudopolis Yard, (bought by her father), to the Watch after their original headquarters was burnt by a dragon. She was born into the wealthiest family in Ankh-Morpork and resides in the most select part of Ankh, Scoone Avenue. As well as being an amateur soprano , she is a leading expert in swamp dragons and has a dragon pen outside her house where she breeds and cares for swamp dragons, though aside from her hobby most of her house
5740-752: A regional newspaper under the pseudonym Patrick Kearns. After various positions in journalism, in 1979 Pratchett became press officer for the South West Region of the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) in an area that covered three nuclear power stations . He later joked that he had demonstrated "impeccable timing" by making this career change so soon after the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in Pennsylvania , US, and said he would "write
5904-402: A relief when, in Night Watch , he was transported back to the Ankh-Morpork of his youth, and became a sergeant-at-arms in the inefficient, paperwork-free albeit moderately corrupt Watch of that time. Young Sam (full title: The Hon . Samuel " Young Sam " Vimes II) is Sam and Sybil Vimes' son and only child; he was born at the end of the events in Night Watch , is about fourteen months old by
6068-410: A result. Carrot sees the bright side of life. When Angua, a werewolf, tells him that her brother Andrei is stuck in wolf form and lives as a champion sheepdog, Carrot notes that he is a champion. Carrot has also promised Angua, at her request, that if she ever follows in her brother Wolfgang's murderous footsteps, he will be the one to stop her. It is commonly suspected that Carrot is the true heir to
6232-463: A separate building from the main watch house, is frequented by old acquaintances who want somewhere quiet to get away from the wife, hear what is happening on the street and—in Vimes' words—"gossip like washerwomen." Vimes considers this free-flowing source of information well worth the price of the doughnuts. Vimes thought most other watch officers saw a fat, stupid, lazy, and cowardly man, and that this
6396-504: A serious and ultimately fatal illness to choose to die peacefully with medical help, rather than suffer". Pratchett was selected to give the 2010 BBC Richard Dimbleby Lecture , Shaking Hands With Death , broadcast on 1 February 2010. Pratchett introduced his lecture on the topic of assisted death (he preferred this to the term "assisted suicide"), but the main text was read by his friend Tony Robinson because his condition made it difficult for him to read. In June 2011, Pratchett presented
6560-489: A sign that he's angering somebody, and so must be doing something right. In every book in the series, the fee for his assassination has risen until he has been removed from the Guild register, meaning that contracts on his life are no longer accepted (this was initially literal, as no assassin wanted to take the contract). Vimes was made aware of this by a young female student from the guild, who had been tasked with merely getting
6724-456: A small publishing company, Colin Smythe Ltd. Pratchett mentioned that he had written a manuscript, The Carpet People . Colin Smythe Ltd published the book in 1971, with illustrations by Pratchett. It received strong, although few, reviews and was followed by the science fiction novels The Dark Side of the Sun (1976) and Strata (1981). In the 1970s and 1980s, Pratchett published stories in
Ankh-Morpork City Watch - Misplaced Pages Continue
6888-537: A style described as "more that of urban cowboy than city gent". Concern for the future of civilisation prompted him to install five kilowatts of photovoltaic cells (for solar energy ) at his house in 2007. Pratchett had an observatory built in his back garden and was a keen astronomer from childhood. He made a 2005 appearance on the BBC programme The Sky at Night . Pratchett started to use computers for writing as soon as they were available to him. His first computer
7052-518: A two-part documentary series about his illness, Terry Pratchett: Living With Alzheimer's . The first part was broadcast on BBC Two on 4 February 2009, drawing 2.6 million viewers and a 10.4% audience share. The second, broadcast on 11 February 2009, drew 1.72 million viewers and a 6.8% audience share. The documentary won a BAFTA award in the Factual Series category. On 26 November 2008, Pratchett met Gordon Brown , then Prime Minister of
7216-416: A violent werewolf movement in Überwald, in a violent confrontation in the city square. That there is a werewolf on the Watch becomes common knowledge in Ankh-Morpork, but Angua remains undisturbed, as the werewolf is generally assumed to be Nobby Nobbs ; Carrot, Vimes, Vetinari, and Angua herself all play along. However The Truth reveals in passing that several members of the Ankh-Morpork aristocracy and
7380-454: A werewolf in Night Watch and Vetinari mentions him killing a werewolf in Thud! . He eventually did actually kill Wolfgang (with a firework, it having been previously established that werewolves can be killed by fire as well as silver.) While not otherwise well-traveled, in the days of Guards! Guards! he could tell exactly where he was anywhere within the city limits of Ankh-Morpork just by
7544-474: A writer, was born there in 1976. In 1993 the family moved to Broad Chalke , a village west of Salisbury , Wiltshire. Pratchett was the patron of the Friends of High Wycombe Library. In 2013 he gave a talk at Beaconsfield Library, which he had visited as a child, and donated the income from the event to it. He also visited his former school to speak to the students. Pratchett often wore large black hats, in
7708-593: A year. His 2011 Discworld novel Snuff became the third-fastest-selling hardback adult-readership novel since records began in the UK, selling 55,000 copies in the first three days. As of 2023, Pratchett's works have sold more than 100 million copies in 43 languages. Pratchett married Lyn Purves at the Congregational Church, Gerrards Cross , on 5 October 1968. They moved to Rowberrow , Somerset, in 1970. Their daughter Rhianna Pratchett , also
7872-481: A year. The final Discworld novel, The Shepherd's Crown , was published in August 2015, five months after his death. With more than 100 million books sold worldwide in 43 languages, Pratchett was the UK's best-selling author of the 1990s. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1998 and was knighted for services to literature in the 2009 New Year Honours . In 2001, he won
8036-735: Is Nobby's commanding officer, and Sergeant Fred Colon his partner and longtime friend. Nobby and Colon have strangely philosophical conversations, including one on whether Death has a first name, or even any friends to use it. Oddly, these conversations hint at Nobby having more intelligence than Colon. Nobby is continually pointing out fatal flaws in Colon's statements and arguments, and Colon mentally scrambles to come up with an answer (not unlike some byplay in Laurel and Hardy films). Nobby likes folk dancing . Terry Pratchett Sir Terence David John Pratchett OBE (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015)
8200-467: Is Vimes's wife, whom he married at the end of Men at Arms . First introduced in Guards! Guards! , she is a rather imposing Wagnerian aristocrat , but also a kind-hearted and compassionate person, embodying the positive aspects of aristocrats, who are otherwise depicted unflatteringly in Ankh-Morpork's population. She is a deeply gracious lady, able to like almost anyone (even Nobby Nobbs ). She donated
8364-580: Is a descendant of Suffer-Not-Injustice "Old Stoneface" Vimes, the Watch Commander who instigated the rebellion against, and subsequently beheaded, Lorenzo the Kind, the last king of the city, a sadistic torturer described as " very fond of children ." As a consequence, the Vimes family was stripped of its nobility. For three centuries afterwards, the memory of "Old Stoneface" has lived on in infamy and Vimes has frequently endured suspicious mutterings from
SECTION 50
#17327865493648528-480: Is a fictional character in Terry Pratchett 's Discworld series. Vimes is depicted in the novels as somewhere between an Inspector Morse -type 'old-school' British policeman, and a film noir -esque grizzled detective. His appearances throughout the Discworld sequence show him slowly and grudgingly rising through the ranks of both police force and society. As of his latest promotion, his full name and title
8692-418: Is all but shocked at Vetinari's disturbingly cynical (and probably disturbingly accurate) view of the world, he in turn has been called "the most cynical bastard that ever walked under the sun" (in I Shall Wear Midnight ). Although widely differing characters, Vimes and Vetinari can be called similar in that they both have very cynical worldviews, but fairly idealistic aims. Vimes has once been described as
8856-595: Is angry, doors of some of the houses open (the angrier he is, the more numbers of doors will open). While the Summoning Dark had trespassed into his mind, needing a host in order to track down the Deep-Downer Dwarves, would try to enter through one of the doors that opened when Vimes became angry, only to be pulled away at every time. It is later revealed that the force that was preventing the Summoning Dark from making any progress in possessing Vimes
9020-563: Is anti-authoritarian even though he is, himself, an authority figure, which is "practically Zen ". The conflict within Vimes is between his virtuous nature ("the Watchman") and what he calls "the Beast". In The Art of Discworld , Pratchett explains that Vimes protects himself from the Beast with the symbol of his own badge, which prevents him from becoming the criminal he despises, at least in his own mind. Although in Guards! Guards! Vimes
9184-596: Is big on paperwork and organization. He always takes the time to see all sides of a story before acting. When Sam Vimes plans to retire after marrying Lady Sybil Ramkin , Carrot becomes his successor, and is described as "the Disc's most linear thinker". He interviews Death in a murder investigation. Carrot becomes famous enough for action figures of him to appear. ( Hogfather ) Carrot's main talents are his charisma and "supernatural likability". He genuinely likes people, in contrast to Vimes, who "doesn't like anybody". He
9348-555: Is easier to bend the universe around the story." In the acceptance speech for his Carnegie Medal, he said: "Fantasy isn't just about wizards and silly wands. It's about seeing the world from new directions", pointing to the Harry Potter novels and The Lord of the Rings . In the same speech, he acknowledged benefits of these works for the genre. Sam Vimes His Grace, The Duke of Ankh, Commander Sir Samuel " Sam " Vimes
9512-504: Is married, but his wife works during the day and, since he works at night, the two seldom see one another and communicate by leaving notes. Vimes privately attributes the longevity of Fred's marriage to this. Guards! Guards! notes that they have children, which Vimes puts down to 'persuasive handwriting'. Colon briefly appears in the Cosgrove Hall adaptation of Soul Music . In the BBC Radio 4 adaptation of Guards! Guards! he
9676-421: Is often shown getting people to do things no one else could force them to do, simply by assuming that they will: for example, his outreach programs for at-risk Ankh-Morporkian youth treat them like boy scouts. When he directly commands someone, they find it very difficult to disobey. Even Vimes is susceptible to this power. Carrot prefers not to use this except in dire emergencies. Carrot often seems unthreatening,
9840-542: Is recognised by many as Lord Vetinari's right-hand man. He first appeared in the novel Guards! Guards! . While no detailed description of his physical appearance shows up in any of the Discworld novels, Pratchett says in the companion work, The Art of Discworld , that he has always imagined Vimes as a younger, slightly bulkier version of late British actor Pete Postlethwaite . Longtime collaborative artist Paul Kidby , who has worked with Pratchett on several works, portrays him instead as resembling Clint Eastwood . Vimes
10004-459: Is stated as being " His Grace , His Excellency , The 1st Duke of Ankh; Commander Sir Samuel Vimes ". When serving as Ambassador for Ankh-Morpork, he is also referred to simply as " His Excellency ", and is also nicknamed " Blackboard Monitor Vimes ", "Vimes the Butcher" and " Vetinari's Terrier " (or his hammer , depending upon the occasion). According to his wife, Sybil , Vimes
SECTION 60
#173278654936410168-597: Is the Commander of the City Watch , the burgeoning police force of the Discworld's largest city, Ankh-Morpork . His rise from drunk policeman to respected member of the aristocracy , and the simultaneous growth and development of the Watch under his command, have together been one of the major threads of the Discworld series. Born into poverty, (as a descendant of disgraced ancient Ankh-Morpork nobility), he became
10332-469: Is unknown or ignored. His role as Duke of Ankh largely involves diplomacy (his visit to Überwald in The Fifth Elephant for example), and his rough and ready upbringing has given him an obliquely effective approach to this field. For instance, he once threatened to personally send an opposing diplomat " home in an ambulance " for parading his troops near Ankh-Morpork borders, an act that caused
10496-486: Is vaguely under-tended due to apparent lack of interest. She also supports The Sunshine Sanctuary For Sick, Abused Or Abandoned Swamp Dragons , which is run by her friend Rosie Devant-Molei. Her hobby has left her with her natural hair singed off and she wears a wig in nearly all circumstances. Despite her high-class upbringing, she has displayed a resourcefulness (" in an outdoorsy kind of way ") that first attracted Vimes's attention. The pattern of Sam and Sybil's marriage
10660-519: The Daily Mail in which he denied that he had found God, and clarified that he believed the voice had come from a memory of his father and a sense of personal elation. In August 2007, Pratchett was misdiagnosed as having had a minor stroke a few years before, which doctors believed had damaged the right side of his brain. In December 2007, he announced that he had been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease , which had been responsible for
10824-529: The Bookseller's Pocket Yearbook (2005), in 2003 Pratchett's UK sales amounted to 3.4% of the fiction market by hardback sales and 3.8% by value, putting him in second place behind J. K. Rowling (6% and 5.6%, respectively), while in the paperback sales list Pratchett came 5th with 1.2% and 1.3% by value (behind James Patterson (1.9% and 1.7%), Alexander McCall Smith , John Grisham and J. R. R. Tolkien ). He has UK sales of more than 2.5 million copies
10988-608: The City Watch Diary and the picture book Where's My Cow? . He is also mentioned, although not by name, in The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents . Vimes is played by Richard Dormer in the live-action television series The Watch , "inspired by Terry Pratchett's 'Discworld' novels", rather than being a straight adaptation of specific stories. Guards! Guards! was adapted for BBC Radio 5 in 1992 and starred John Wood as Vimes. Night Watch
11152-622: The University of South Australia . The Sir Terry Pratchett Memorial Scholarship supports a Masters scholarship at the university's Hawke Research Institute. In 2023, several stories published in a regional newspaper in the 1970s and 1980s under the pen name Patrick Kearns were discovered to have been authored by Pratchett. They were published as A Stroke of the Pen: The Lost Stories in October 2023. Pratchett received
11316-501: The University of Warwick in 1999, the University of Portsmouth in 2001, the University of Bath in 2003, the University of Bristol in 2004, Buckinghamshire New University in 2008, the University of Dublin in 2008, Bradford University in 2009, University of Winchester in 2009, The Open University in 2013 for his contribution to Public Service and his last, from the University of South Australia , in May 2014. Pratchett
11480-479: The changes in his personal life led to him coming off of the drink and switching to smoking cigars , and occasionally, taking snuff . Vimes, who was about to retire following his marriage to Lady Sybil, was given the resurrected rank of Commander, putting him in charge of the Night Watch and the Day Watch. He also received a knighthood . The Watch was given a new headquarters, Pseudopolis Yard (an allusion to
11644-469: The right to die public debate and his Humanist values. Pratchett's Discworld novels have led to dedicated conventions, the first in Manchester in 1996, then worldwide, often with the author as guest of honour. Publication of a new novel was sometimes accompanied by an international book signing tour; queues were known to stretch outside the bookshop as the author continued to sign books well after
11808-661: The "Top 200". Pratchett's highest-ranking novel was Mort , number 65, but he and Charles Dickens were the only authors with five in the Top 100 (four of his were from the Discworld series). He also led all authors with fifteen novels in the Top 200. An asteroid ( 127005 Pratchett ) is named after Pratchett. In 2013, Pratchett was named Humanist of the Year by the British Humanist Association for his campaign to fund research into Alzheimers, his contribution to
11972-432: The "stroke". He had a rare form of posterior cortical atrophy (PCA), a disease in which areas at the back of the brain begin to shrink and shrivel. Describing the diagnosis as an "embuggerance" in a radio interview, Pratchett appealed to people to "keep things cheerful" and proclaimed that "we are taking it fairly philosophically down here and possibly with a mild optimism". He stated he felt he had time for "at least
12136-406: The 'deep-down dwarves' responsible for the attack on his family - a problem only made worse by the presence of a dark entity of pure vengeance within his mind. Both of those factors, and a near-Death experience that forced him to miss his 6:00pm story-time with his son, culminate in Vimes snapping, temporarily losing control to "the Beast", and single-handedly storming the deep-downers responsible, all
12300-506: The 2001 Carnegie Medal from the British librarians , which recognised The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents as the year's best children's book published in the UK. Night Watch won the 2003 Prometheus Award for best libertarian novel. Four of the five Discworld novels that centre on the trainee witch Tiffany Aching won the annual Locus Award for Best Young Adult Book in 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2016. In 2005, Going Postal
12464-486: The 3rd Earl Ramkin, this reveals that the Ramkin estate is an earldom , and that Lady Sybil was already a countess (provided that the title wasn't entailed) before her husband, Sam Vimes', elevation to Duke at the end of Jingo . Vimes' involvement in preventing a pointless war with Klatch in the novel Jingo led to his being once more rewarded with an unwanted title, in this case, Duke of Ankh. He now finds himself in
12628-660: The Ankh-Morpork Civil War, when Commander Suffer-Not-Injustice Vimes and his Ironheads became the city's rulers. However, after he was deposed in favour of the Patricianship, the Watch sank even further into obscurity; he was (until recently) the last Watch Commander. Under the rule of the Patricians, not only did Guild Law apply in the Guilds, but the only laws that applied anywhere else were the whims of
12792-403: The Ankh-Morpork psyche in particular, led to him spending some years as a drunk, and Fred Colon postulates that this was because Vimes' body didn't produce any "natural alcohol", and he estimates that Vimes was about "two drinks below par". This meant that when he hadn't been drinking, he was beyond sober - he was " knurd ". Thus, he saw reality as it really was (" first sight "); stripped of all
12956-524: The Assassin's Guild has stopped accepting contracts for his assassination. He marries the richest woman in Ankh-Morpork, Lady Sybil, and has a son with her, young Sam. Adopted by dwarfs as an infant Carrot grew up in the mines of the Copperhead mountains. He is "six feet tall and nearly as broad across the shoulders". His dwarfish name is Kzad-bhat , which, roughly translated, means "Head Banger",
13120-443: The Disc. Vimes is a very conflicted character. An incorruptible idealist with deep beliefs in justice and an abiding love of his city, he is also a committed cynic whose knowledge of human nature constantly reminds him how far off those ideals are. Having married into the upper classes, he still possesses an innate dislike of inherited wealth and an instinctive revulsion towards social inequality. The Patrician observes that Vimes
13284-590: The Discworld Conventions have adopted Orangutan Foundation as their nominated charity, which has been acknowledged by the foundation. One of Pratchett's most popular fictional characters, the Librarian , is a wizard who was transformed into an orangutan in a magical accident and decides to remain in that condition as it is so convenient for his work. Pratchett, who was brought up in a Church of England family, described himself as an atheist and
13448-631: The Discworld habit of pushing any theory as hard as it goes, appears to have culminated in Vimes' psyche creating its own 'internal policeman' to "Guard the Guardsmen", (cf. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? ), and Vimes' own sense of justice being so strong that, in Thud! , it was even able to fend off the attempts to possess him by a 'quasi-demonic thing of pure vengeance'. It has also been noted that in personality and mental setup, Vimes bears some similarity to Granny Weatherwax . Both are effectively 'good' characters, who nevertheless both secretly fear
13612-461: The Discworld's more Machiavellian power brokers as easy to fool, Vimes is more cunning than he appears. His years of practical experience give him a foundation of hard-headed realism on which he bases much of his more idealistic beliefs. A running gag in the series is his thwarting of several attempts on his life by the Assassins' Guild , due to his knowledge of their rigid code of conduct. Thanks to
13776-489: The Gonne, a malevolent firearm which drives him to violence, but he restrains the urge to "make things right", enough to eventually let it go without seriously hurting anyone. In Feet of Clay , Corporal Nobby Nobbs refuses the position of King of Ankh-Morpork, primarily due to the fear of incurring Vimes's general wrath and hatred of royalty. In Thud! , after an attempted assassination of his family, Vimes becomes furious at
13940-678: The High Wycombe Technical School's magazine in 1962. It is the tale of a man named Crucible who finds the Devil in his flat in a cloud of sulphurous smoke. "The Hades Business" was published in the school magazine when he was 13, and published commercially when he was 15. Pratchett earned five O-levels and started A-level courses in Art, English and History. His initial career choice was journalism and he left school at 17, in 1965, to start an apprenticeship with Arthur Church,
14104-469: The Night Watch when it is still a small group of misfits who run from criminals rather than arrest them ( Guards! Guards! ). His old-fashioned view of justice leads him on his first day as a constable to arrest the leader of the entirely legal Thieves' Guild, but he later understands the city better. Captain Carrot rapidly and easily comes to know the city's one-million population by name and tax status, and
14268-526: The Origin of Species , which "all made perfect sense ... Evolution was far more thrilling to me than the biblical account." He said that he had never disliked religion and thought it had a purpose in human evolution . In an interview Pratchett cites a quotation from the protagonist in his novel Nation , "It is better to build a seismograph than to worship the volcano", a statement Pratchett said he agreed with. Pratchett told The Times in 2008: "I believe in
14432-570: The Thieves' Guild grew. This insult to Vimes' sense of justice, together with his being naturally knurd (the opposite of being drunk, where one is stripped of all the illusions that make life bearable) and other events (it has been claimed he was " brung low by a woman ", which is an interpretation of the anthropomorphisation of the city, Morporkia ), led towards heavy drinking. At this time, he lived in near poverty, giving away almost all of his salary to widows and orphans of watchmen, and spending what
14596-566: The UK) and communicate with each other by telegraph ("clacks"), a reference to real-world Interpol (mentioned in The Night Watch ). The primary members of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch are (see the linked articles for full details of the characters): Samuel Vimes, Commander of the City Watch, learned dirty tricks as a street copper, and passes them on to new recruits. Under him, the Watch strengthens its position, and while he makes many enemies,
14760-493: The UK, and asked for an increase in dementia research funding. Pratchett tested a prototype device to address his condition. The ability of the device to alter the course of the illness has been met with skepticism from Alzheimer's researchers. In an article published in 2009 Pratchett stated that he wished to die by assisted suicide (a term he disliked) before his disease progressed to a critical point. He later said that he felt "it should be possible for someone stricken with
14924-730: The Vimes character made setting a story in Ankh-Morpork very difficult as it is almost impossible to create a story involving any sort of crime or politics without it rapidly becoming a Watch book. Sam Vimes is the central character in Guards! Guards! , Men at Arms , Feet of Clay , Jingo , The Fifth Elephant , Night Watch , Thud! and Snuff . He is a secondary character in The Truth and Monstrous Regiment and has cameos in The Last Hero , Going Postal , Making Money , Unseen Academicals , I Shall Wear Midnight and Raising Steam . He has also appeared in
15088-462: The Watch for 25 years, making him 41 at the time of that novel. The main events of Night Watch , set only a few weeks after Vimes joined the Watch, are stated as occurring more than thirty years prior to the present from which Vimes came, this makes Samuel Vimes at least 46 years old at the time of that book. Thud! gives the age of Vimes' son, (also named Sam), born during the climax of Night Watch , as being fourteen months, which would put Vimes at
15252-445: The Watch's ancient right to establish a Citizen's Militia as needed. More and more watchmen trained by the City Watch prefer to work in other cities abroad where they can earn good money. They are referred to as "Sammies" (similar to "Bobbies", a term for British police officers derived from the common abbreviation of the first name of Sir Robert Peel, the man credited with the creation of the first regular, uniformed, police service in
15416-456: The Watch. He was part of that section of the Watch which played a large role in the rebellion against Homicidal Lord Winder . Around this time, he was taught all he knew by Sergeant-At-Arms John Keel, which is where his cynical outlook on life and his firm belief in justice comes from. In the newest stories, Keel is Vimes himself transported back in time by thirty years. As Lu-Tze explains to Vimes in Night Watch , both pasts are true. Vimes
15580-687: The Watches (the Ward became known as the Day Watch) was never high, and reached an all-time low when a Commander, who had told the public not to take the law into their own hands, was thrown onto the Ankh with a cry of "If it's not in our hands, whose hands is it in?" The Guilds were policing themselves by this point, so the Watch was becoming increasingly irrelevant. The Watch had a brief respite in AM 1688, following
15744-547: The annual Carnegie Medal for The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents , the first Discworld book marketed for children. He received the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 2010. In December 2007 Pratchett announced that he had been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease . He later made a substantial public donation to the Alzheimer's Research Trust (now Alzheimer's Research UK , ARUK), filmed three television programmes chronicling his experiences with
15908-466: The aristocracy. Vimes is implied to heavily resemble his ancestor and they share a nickname: Old Stoneface . The Annotated Pratchett File notes that Suffer-Not-Injustice Vimes is closely modelled on Oliver Cromwell , and that the name of his supporters, the Ironheads, is a portmanteau of Ironsides and Roundheads , Cromwell's regiment and faction, respectively. Vimes was sixteen when he joined
16072-523: The army (the Duke of Quirm 's Middleweight Infantry and then the Duke of Eorle's First Heavy Infantry), before returning to the Watch. In The Fifth Elephant , Colon becomes the head of the Traffic Squad, which also includes his friend Nobby Nobbs . This role fits him perfectly, especially since the Traffic Squad is "self-financing" (they keep the fines). A brief promotion to acting-captain proved
16236-427: The awkward position ("practically zen" according to his boss) of continuing to despise the ruling classes of the city while actually being a member of them. In the course of his mission to Überwald as ambassador, he was disgusted to learn that he was also entitled to be addressed as "His Excellency", although he learns to wield it for practical clout, especially when pursuing investigations where his status as an officer
16400-605: The beginning of Night Watch , when he kills Sergeant Stronginthearm. Angua helps Vimes on another diplomatic mission in Monstrous Regiment , and in Going Postal is mentioned as difficult to elude. Angua also appears in Thud! , which features the Watch's first vampire officer, Sally . Though Angua is deeply committed to Carrot, calling herself his dog, others take a romantic interest in her. A wolf named Gavin in The Fifth Elephant , provides tension, and
16564-445: The biennial International Discworld Convention , citing his condition and "other age-related ailments". Pratchett died at his home from complications of Alzheimer's disease on the morning of 12 March 2015. He was 66 years old. The Telegraph reported an unidentified source as saying that, despite his previous discussion of assisted suicide, his death had been natural. After Pratchett's death, his assistant, Rob Wilkins, wrote from
16728-536: The book Angua debates returning to Überwald to live among other werewolves. In the end, she stays in Ankh-Morpork. Angua also befriends Gaspode, a small dog with matted fur who gains and loses human speech in Moving Pictures , then by the time Men at Arms begins regains it by sleeping near Unseen University's High-Energy Magic building. Gaspode flirts with Angua and helps her on her missions. In The Fifth Elephant , Commander Vimes travels to Überwald on
16892-435: The city watch would "rush in and die, or run away", with Pratchett's approach to that tradition ranging from parody in the earlier novels to "deeper satire" in the later ones. Note: Some of the information repeated below was taken from The Discworld Companion and the 1999 Discworld Diary , which had a City Watch theme, and has not been confirmed in any of the Discworld novels. The "Ankh-Morpork Watch & Ward"
17056-505: The city. Vimes took a great interest in the restructuring of the Watch, placing new Watch Houses where they were needed and supervising the creation of both a Watch Academy and a forensics section. His reform of the City Watch has been so successful that by Night Watch , Vimes-trained policemen are in high demand in cities across the Disc. They are known as Sammies (which is based on the British terms for police officers, Bobbies , and
17220-545: The city. The remains of the Day Watch were incorporated into a new City Watch commanded by Sam Vimes . The Watch became a proper police force, dealing in crime prevention and investigation, rather than just "thief-taking". They had a forensics section and a Traffic Division, and the Cable Street Particulars had been replaced by a plain-clothes division. The recently added "the Specials ", were based on
17384-573: The condition for the BBC , and became a patron of ARUK. Pratchett died on 12 March 2015, at the age of 66. Pratchett was born on 28 April 1948 in Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire , England, the only child of David (1921–2006), a mechanic, and Eileen Pratchett (1922–2010), a secretary, of Hay-on-Wye . His maternal grandparents came from Ireland. Pratchett attended Holtspur School, where he
17548-414: The conventions of crime novels . The Watch and its individual members also appear as secondary characters in many other stories in the Discworld series, especially those set in Ankh-Morpork. The Watch was also a loose inspiration for the 2021 fantasy police procedural television series The Watch . Pratchett's Watch has been described as part of a longstanding fantasy tradition wherein the characters of
17712-425: The darkness inside themselves, and constantly strive to control the darker sides of their nature. Vimes often has to go to report to Lord Vetinari , although most of the time he keeps a poker-face and answers very simply to avoid Vetinari's probing questions. When given bad news, he has a tendency to, on his way out, pound his fist against a certain spot of wall near the office door. Though he sometimes has to call in
17876-451: The development of at least one popular fan-made mod. Pratchett had a fascination with natural history that he referred to many times, and he owned a greenhouse full of carnivorous plants . He described them in the biographical notes on the dust jackets of some of his books, and elsewhere, as "not as interesting as people think". By Carpe Jugulum the account had become that "he used to grow carnivorous plants, but now they've taken over
18040-803: The editor of the Bucks Free Press . In this position he wrote, among other things, more than 80 stories for the Children's Circle section under the name Uncle Jim. Two of the stories contain characters found in his novel The Carpet People (1971). While on day release from his apprenticeship, Pratchett finished his A-Level in English and took the National Council for the Training of Journalists proficiency course. In 1968 Pratchett interviewed Peter Bander van Duren , co-director of
18204-406: The fantasy genre, the Discworld novels expose the hypocrisies of contemporary society in an intricate, ever-expanding universe. With satisfyingly multilayered plots, Pratchett's humor honors the intelligence of the reader. Teens eagerly lose themselves in a universe with no maps." In 2003, BBC conducted The Big Read to identify the "Nation's Best-loved Novel" and finally published a ranked list of
18368-568: The feel of the cobbles beneath his feet, due to the thinness of his boots at the time, having walked the streets of the city for thirty years and a knowledge of the difference of the cobbles therein. When he is returned to the past in Night Watch , he uses this ability to locate a group of monks he needs in order to return to his present. Later in the series, the expensive, good quality boots his wife persists in buying for him restrict this ability. Vimes' firm grasp of basic human nature, and of
18532-651: The first woman in the City Watch. She and Corporal Carrot Ironfoundersson fall in love. After he recovers from his initial surprise, Carrot does not seem bothered that Angua is a werewolf, but Angua worries that their differences will eventually doom the relationship. Her friend Cheery Littlebottom , a dwarf , comes out in Feet of Clay as female with Angua's encouragement: dwarf society expects both male and female dwarfs to behave in an indistinguishable way. Angua loans Cheery dresses and make-up, but conceals her werewolf nature from Cheery, who hates and fears werewolves. Throughout
18696-484: The former who only commit crimes underground and away from him and the latter ironically sharing his respectful distaste for using magic irresponsibly. A notable exception is his explicit dislike of vampires. He explained to the abstaining vampire Lady Margolotta in The Fifth Elephant , this is because, teetotal or not, 'a vampire will always seek to dominate a human being'. Despite being viewed by many of
18860-661: The funds now available to him through marriage, his mansion is set with numerous traps so that the Assassins, who must always offer a sporting chance, cannot get close to him without suffering a severe mishap. Traps include roof tiles set on greased rails, sawn roof joists over the dragon pens and bear traps in the shrubbery. Vimes also personally makes sure that all of the brickwork is kept in good repair, with no convenient handholds. In addition, Vimes' office at Pseudopolis Yard has "everything that his ingenuity could devise", including sharp ornamental railings, "which are pretty, and make
19024-541: The greenhouse and he avoids going in". In 1995, a fossil of a sea-turtle from the Eocene epoch of New Zealand was named Psephophorus terrypratchetti in his honour by the palaeontologist Richard Köhler. In 2016, Pratchett fans unsuccessfully petitioned the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) to name chemical element 117, temporarily called ununseptium , as octarine with
19188-446: The house look nice, but are, above all, spiky." Whenever he thwarts an Assassin in an attempt, he usually lets them go after taking their share of the payment for his inhumation (which he then donates to the 'Watch Widows and Orphans Fund', or to the 'Sunshine Sanctuary for Sick, Abused or Abandoned Dragons'), and subjecting them to a little humiliation. Though he finds it to be annoying, Vimes takes these continued attempts on his life as
19352-533: The intended finishing time. His fans were not restricted by age or gender, and he received a large amount of fan mail from them. Pratchett enjoyed meeting fans and hearing what they think about his books, saying that since he was well paid for his novels, his fans were "everything" to him. In March 2017, Beaconsfield Town Council commissioned a commemorative plaque dedicated to Pratchett for Beaconsfield Library. Pratchett said that to write, you must read extensively, both inside and outside your chosen genre and to
19516-413: The law because it is the law, not because "Captain Carrot is good at being obeyed". He says he is content to ring a bell and yell all's well, "provided of course that 'all is well'". Carrot on rare occasions does use his royal powers to make things happen. In Jingo , Vetinari made Vimes a Duke, something only a King can do, while Carrot was present—noting that he "had been reminded" that Vimes could have
19680-491: The lawyer Mr Slant do know her nature. In Making Money , Moist von Lipwig also figures this out when he sees Angua in werewolf form with Nobby. Though the widespread recognition of the werewolf presence in the Watch has not inconvenienced Angua on a human level, the city's criminal underworld learns to evade capture, for example with a scent bomb like The New Firm (Mr. Pin and Mr. Tulip) use in The Truth . Several references to scent bombs follow, most notably used by Carcer at
19844-611: The man in charge. By the time of Homicidal Lord Winder's rule as Patrician, only a handful of Watch Houses remained. The Cable Street Particulars were thriving, however, having morphed from an intelligence agency into a secret police force employing torture with gusto. During the Glorious Revolution of the Twenty-Fifth of May , their building was burnt down by members of the Night Watch from Treacle Mine Road. The change in Patricians did not lead to an improvement in
20008-438: The man to order an immediate withdrawal so drastic that Havelock Vetinari remarked " they were nearly in the next country over. " Despite having competent subordinates, including Captains Carrot and Angua and Sergeant Detritus, Vimes finds it difficult to delegate, and is frustrated by the fact that the growth of the Watch has left him with less and less time for actual boots-on-the-pavement policing. In some ways he found it
20172-438: The mental illusions that most people construct in their minds to get to sleep at night ("second sight"). This horrifying state of mind caused Vimes to try to balance it out through drinking, but he would get the dosage wrong and would just end up drunk. Vimes gave up alcohol after his marriage to Sybil, and now smokes foul-smelling cigars instead. He still keeps an unopened bottle of 'Bearhugger's Whisky' in his bottom desk drawer as
20336-508: The most feared officers of the Watch. Angua is a werewolf , but maintains a strict vegetarian diet in her human phase and as a wolf only eats chickens, for which she afterwards leaves discreet payment. In the 1999 computer game Discworld Noir , and the 2001 books-on-tape version of Men at Arms , her name is pronounced "An-gyoo-uh" with a hard "g". Terry Pratchett writes at the terrypratchettbooks.com forum: "it's Ang as in Anger, u as in you,
20500-406: The most part, Sam finds an excuse to stay on the job. In Snuff , Sybil forces Vimes to take a vacation to their countryside estate, Crundells. The character of one of her ancestors , John " Mad Jack " Ramkin, was inspired from real-life aristocrat John "Mad Jack" Fuller of Sussex (&/or John "Mad Jack" Mytton of Shropshire ). As the aforementioned John "Mad Jack" Ramkin is also hailed as
20664-450: The name of the headquarters of London's Metropolitan Police: Scotland Yard ), by Lady Sybil Ramkin (Vimes's soon-to-be wife) after the dragon destroyed their original base at Treacle Mine Road. It had been her childhood home, and in Thud! it is revealed that some of her family's possessions are still stored in the attic of the building – in this instance they retrieved a copy of Methodia Rascal's Koom Valley painting, made by Sybil as
20828-484: The necessary mathematical skills. He developed an interest in science fiction and attended science fiction conventions from about 1963–1964, but stopped a few years later when he got his first job as a trainee journalist at the local paper. His early reading included the works of H. G. Wells , Arthur Conan Doyle , and "every book you really ought to read", which he later regarded as "getting an education". Pratchett published his first short story, "Business Rivals", in
20992-451: The now obsolete Peelers both after Robert Peel and possibly on the earlier term "Charleys" for night watchmen, after Charles II during whose reign they were instituted), even to the people who may have never actually heard of Samuel Vimes himself. In his expanding international and diplomatic role, Vimes appreciates the fact that police officers from Sto Lat to Genua have been trained to salute him, and remain in unofficial contact across
21156-470: The official Terry Pratchett Twitter account: A T LAST, S IR T ERRY, WE MUST WALK TOGETHER. Terry took Death's arm and followed him through the doors and on to the black desert under the endless night. The End. Public figures who paid tribute included the British prime minister David Cameron , the comedian Ricky Gervais , and the authors Ursula K. Le Guin , Terry Brooks , Margaret Atwood , George R. R. Martin , and Neil Gaiman . Pratchett
21320-437: The point of "overflow". He advised that writing is hard work, and that writers must "make grammar, punctuation and spelling a part of your life". However, Pratchett enjoyed writing, regarding its monetary rewards as "an unavoidable consequence" rather than the reason for writing. Although during his early career he wrote for the science fiction and horror genres, Pratchett later focused almost entirely on fantasy, and said: "It
21484-592: The poo lady ", and who has also written such books as Where's My Cow? , The World of Poo , Melvin and the Enormous Boil , Geoffrey and the Magic Pillow Case and The Little Duckling Who Thought He Was an Elephant . Vimes is, much to his own horror, becoming a politician. He remains in his soul a copper. Being a significant figure on the world stage just means he finds bigger crimes. Vimes has seen involvement with Terry Pratchett commented that
21648-519: The poorest area of Ankh-Morpork, so poor that there was little crime, though Sam was part of a street gang ( The Cockbill Street Roaring Lads ) with Lupine Wonse , who later became secretary to Lord Vetinari . Vimes was educated at a dame school , where he was once blackboard monitor for a whole term, before he had to drop out and concentrate on learning about life out on the streets. It is mentioned in Jingo that Sam Vimes' father, Thomas Vimes, had been
21812-513: The proposed symbol Oc (pronounced "ook"). The final name chosen for element 117 was tennessine with the symbol Ts. Pratchett was a trustee for the Orangutan Foundation but was pessimistic about the future of orangutans . His activities included visiting Borneo with a Channel 4 film crew to make an episode of Jungle Quest in 1995, seeing orangutans in their natural habitat. Following Pratchett's lead, fan events such as
21976-425: The public perception of the Watch, and when Lord Vetinari replaced Mad Lord Snapcase , and even theft was legalised, there seemed to be no point to them at all. The dysfunctional Night Watch now comprised three men, based in the old Treacle Mine Road Watch House. While the Day Watch had become another of the city's gangs, the Night Watch was just inactive. The Watch became active when Carrot Ironfoundersson became
22140-521: The punctuation mark), half of the town watch in Bad Blintz, Überwald , ( The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents ). Other Discworld characters notably similar to Colon include one of the guard in the Überwald town of Bonk, nicknamed "Colonesque" by Samuel Vimes, and one of the market guards in Al Khali, Klatch . As with the various Dibblers , this may be due to morphic resonance . Colon
22304-540: The same God that Einstein did ... And it is just possible that once you have got past all the gods that we have created with big beards and many human traits, just beyond all that on the other side of physics, there just may be the ordered structure from which everything flows." In an interview on Front Row he described an experience of hearing his dead father's voice and feeling a sense of peace. Commentators took these statements to mean that Pratchett had become religious, but Pratchett responded in an article published in
22468-404: The same terms as peer-reviewed research, with no easy way to gauge reliability. Gates disagreed, saying that online authorities would index and check facts and sources in a much more sophisticated way than in print. The interview was rediscovered in 2019, and seen by Pratchett's biographer as prescient of fake news . Pratchett was an avid video game player, and collaborated in the creation of
22632-449: The scene and force him down. Even under the worst provocation Vimes is shown to never completely loses control, always managing to restrain himself (or have someone around to restrain him) in the end. Revealed in the events of Thud! , after years of night-time patrols, Vimes' mindscape is described as the city of Ankh-Morpork -itself, streets and all, in the dead of night, whilst the rains are bucketing down over your head. Whenever Vimes
22796-576: The sentiment. Sybil maintains a number of close (female) social contacts from her schooldays, who, thanks to the kind of school she went to (The Quirm College for Young Ladies), are now all strategically placed in the highest levels of power across the Sto Plains and often more powerful than Ankh-Morpork Guild leaders. Vimes once conjectured that if they so conspired, they could run the world, if they don't already do so. Sybil tries her utmost to get Sam to take some time off in almost every book, but for
22960-642: The small wealthy mutt Mr. Fusspot in Making Money proposes marriage. I Shall Wear Midnight notes that Angua is newly promoted to captain . Captain Carrot arrests Tiffany Aching after a disturbance in the King's Head involving the Nac Mac Feegles, defeated by Wee Mad Arthur , another Feegle (the rat catcher from Feet of Clay who rescues Colon from the King Golem, although he is referred to as
23124-505: The throne of Ankh-Morpork, but he does not acknowledge it, and has even hidden evidence of his royal heritage. Havelock Vetinari considers him useful, as he makes any attempt to claiming to be the true heir impossible, and any complaints that only a king has the authority to do something can simply be deferred to Carrot. Carrot himself never uses his royal powers or acknowledges his royal heritage. After he learns about it in Men at Arms , he confides to Vetinari that he wants people to obey
23288-639: The time of Thud! , and at the age of six years by the time of the events of Snuff . His birth was difficult, and Vimes paid Doctor "Mossy" Lawn a large sum of money in gratitude for saving Sybil's and the baby's lives. Lawn has since founded the Lady Sybil Free Hospital. Since his son's birth, Vimes discovered a new cause in life: "arriving at home every day at six o' clock sharp to read Where's My Cow? to him, an obligation that supersedes crime, conspiracy or international negotiations—his thinking being that if he ever missed it for
23452-403: The time of the "Glorious Revolution of the Twenty-Fifth of May", both Sam Vimes and Havelock Vetinari were 16 years old, meaning that they are both the same age. During the first 25 years of his term in the Watch, Vimes rose to Captain of the Night Watch, a position that he attained about ten years prior to the events of Guards! Guards! , as it dwindled to a tiny stub – while the power of
23616-632: The title. In The Fifth Elephant , faced with the defection of most members of the Watch under Sergeant Fred Colon (then an acting captain), Carrot puts his plain and battered royal sword on a desk in plain sight and reminds Watch members that they took an oath to the King, and the King had not relieved them of it. Carrot is a stereotypical "perfect" policeman; totally honest, law-abiding, and determined to be friends with everyone. People of all species cannot help wanting to behave well in his presence. His love for everyone distresses Angua, who worries that he loves her as he loves everyone else and no more. He puts
23780-464: The welfare of the public above hers (and his), but when she was in danger, he travelled to the rim of the Disc to save her. In Jingo , Angua is kidnapped on a Klatchian ship and The Watch pursues it. Carrot does not worry, but sensibly, gets some sleep to be ready to rescue her. Sam Vimes and the ship's captain see the sense of this, but cannot believe that someone in love can be so sensible. In The Art of Discworld Pratchett says that Carrot has
23944-458: The while roaring out the lines to Where's My Cow? ; ("...IS THAT MY COW? IT GOES, 'MOOOOO!'...") with such ferocity that their personal guard come to the conclusion that "they had sworn to fight to the death, but not to this death," and run away. As he is about to massacre the now-defenceless deep-downers, Vimes hesitates thanks to "the Watchman" in his head and begins to struggle with himself, which buys enough time for Sergeant Angua to arrive at
24108-416: Was Vimes' own 'inner guardsman', who patrols the streets of his mind. Vimes is an effective and brutal hand-to-hand fighter, who specialises in "dirty fighting". He also prefers non-lethal takedowns whenever possible. During heightened states of mind, such as when confronting his darker side and/or when near death, he is able to see Death , (this happened in The Fifth Elephant and Thud! , although he
24272-533: Was a ZX81 ; the first computer he used properly for writing was an Amstrad CPC 464 , later replaced by an IBM PC compatible . Pratchett was one of the first authors to routinely use the Internet to communicate with fans, and was a contributor to the Usenet newsgroup alt.fan.pratchett from 1992. However, he did not consider the Internet a hobby, just another "thing to use". He had many computers in his house, with
24436-483: Was a key member of the debating society and wrote stories for the school magazine. Pratchett described himself as a "non-descript" student and, in his Who's Who entry, credited his education to the Beaconsfield Public Library. Pratchett's early interests included astronomy . He collected Brooke Bond tea cards about space, owned a telescope and wanted to be an astronomer, but lacked
24600-456: Was an English author , humorist , and satirist , best known for the Discworld series of 41 comic fantasy novels published between 1983 and 2015, and for the apocalyptic comedy novel Good Omens (1990), which he co-wrote with Neil Gaiman . Pratchett's first novel, The Carpet People , was published in 1971. The first Discworld novel, The Colour of Magic , was published in 1983, after which Pratchett wrote an average of two books
24764-511: Was announced that Pratchett would be knighted (as a Knight Bachelor ) in the Queen's 2009 New Year Honours. Afterwards he said, "You can't ask a fantasy writer not to want a knighthood. You know, for two pins I'd get myself a horse and a sword." In 2010, Pratchett created his own sword from deposits of iron he had found in a field near his home as he believed a knight should have a sword. Ten honorary doctorates were conferred on Pratchett: from
24928-405: Was bullied for his speech impediments . He was bothered by the head teacher, who, he said, thought "he could tell how successful you were going to be in later life by how well you could read or write at the age of six". Pratchett's family moved to Bridgwater , Somerset, briefly in 1957. He passed his eleven plus exam in 1958, earning a place at High Wycombe Technical High School , where he
25092-467: Was donating $ 1 million (about £494,000) to the Alzheimer's Research Trust (later called Alzheimer's Research UK), and that he was shocked "to find out that funding for Alzheimer's research is just 3% of that to find cancer cures". He said: "I am, along with many others, scrabbling to stay ahead long enough to be there when the cure comes along." In April 2008, Pratchett worked with the BBC to make
25256-578: Was founded in AM 1561 by King Veltrick I. They had full copper armour and a copper shield inscribed " Fabricati Diem, Pvncti Agvnt Celeriter " ("Make the Day, the Moments Pass Quickly", Veltrick's motto). Four days later Veltrick's son assassinated him, and became Veltrick II. Since he had little interest in maintaining a police force, the equipment of the Watch quickly deteriorated. At this time there were four separate forces: Public opinion of
25420-475: Was left on alcohol and cheap boots. All that changed when Carrot Ironfoundersson came to the city. A human raised by dwarfs , Carrot joined the Watch and set out to help the city. Around the same time, a dragon assaulted the city, and the Watch was instrumental in its defeat. The whole series of events forced Vimes to sober -up long enough to uncover who was responsible for summoning the Dragon , after which
25584-650: Was made an adjunct Professor in the School of English at Trinity College Dublin in 2010, with a role in postgraduate education in creative writing and popular literature. Pratchett won the British Book Awards ' "Fantasy and Science Fiction Author of the Year" category in 1994, the British Science Fiction Award in 1989 for his novel Pyramids , and a Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel in 2008 for Making Money . He won
25748-524: Was memorialised in graffiti in East London. The video game companies Frontier Developments and Valve added elements to their games named after him. Users of the social news site Reddit organised a tribute by which an HTTP header , " X-Clacks-Overhead: GNU Terry Pratchett ", was added to web sites' responses, a reference to the Discworld novel Going Postal , in which "the clacks" (a semaphore system, used as Discworld 's equivalent to
25912-474: Was mostly what was there. But Colon and Nobby have a street-level knowledge of Ankh-Morpork on a par with his own, and are good at sensing tension in a crowd. Both also survived the Glorious 25 May when, in the aftermath of a coup in Night Watch , an assortment of police and hangers-on (including a then-apprentice assassin named Vetinari ) took out the remnants of the outgoing regime's secret police, though at
26076-430: Was set the moment he turned away from his wedding to chase an assassin who had just made an attempt on the Patrician's life. Lady Sybil is a remarkably patient woman; she spent nearly the entirety of The Fifth Elephant attempting to inform her increasingly distracted husband that she was pregnant with their first child. Though he finds being affectionate in public embarrassing and is divided on disliking Sybil's status as
26240-569: Was shortlisted for the Hugo Award for Best Novel ; however, Pratchett recused himself, stating that stress over the award would mar his enjoyment of Worldcon . In the same year, A Hat Full of Sky won a Mythopoeic Award . In 2008, Making Money was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel . I Shall Wear Midnight won the 2010 Andre Norton Award , presented by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) as
26404-568: Was the UK's bestselling author of the 1990s. According to The Times , Pratchett was the top-selling and highest earning UK author in 1996. Some of his books have been published by Doubleday , another Transworld imprint. In the United States, where his books are published by HarperCollins , Pratchett had poorer sales, marketing and distribution until 2005, when Thud! reached the New York Times bestseller list. According to
26568-433: Was transported back in time in the company of a criminal named Carcer, whom he was trying to apprehend. Carcer robbed and killed the real John Keel, and Vimes had to replace him in order for his role in history to be fulfilled. Vimes' age is never explicitly given, and is not always consistent. Night Watch states that Vimes was sixteen years old when he joined the City Watch. Men at Arms mentions that Vimes had been in
26732-462: Was unable to do this in Night Watch ). Death himself is unsure whether Vimes should die or not in these cases, citing " quantum " as an explanation. At one point Death notes that if Vimes is having a 'near-Death' experience , Death is also forced to have a 'near Vimes' experience (as of Thud! Death has started bringing books to read during these occasions). On rare occasions, Sam Vimes has been described as completely happy, even if it's only for
26896-512: Was voiced by Stephen Thorne , and in the 1988 stage play Roger Bingham portrays him. In the Radio 4 adaptation of Night Watch, he was voiced by Sam Dale . Cecil Wormsborough St. John "Nobby" Nobbs is untidy, smelly, and about the size of a dwarf. He carries a certificate to prove he is, on the balance of probabilities , a human being. A running joke is the inability of others to believe this, despite—or even because of—the evidence. Samuel Vimes
#363636