That's a nice song,' said young Sam, and Vimes remembered that he was hearing it for the first time. It's an old soldiers' song,' he said. Really, sarge? But it's about angels.' Yes, thought Vimes, and it's amazing what bits those angels cause to rise up as the song progresses. It's a real soldiers' song: sentimental, with dirty bits. As I recall, they used to sing it after battles,’ he said. 'I've seen old men cry when they sing it,’ he added. Why? It sounds cheerful.' They were remembering who they were not singing it with, thought Vimes. You'll learn. I know you will.

His family moved to Bridgwater Somerset briefly in 1957 following which he passed his eleven plus exam in 1959 earning him a place in John Hampden Grammar School. He 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's first novel The Carpet People was publiTerry Pratchettd in 1971 and since his first Discworld novel (The Colour of Magic) was publiTerry Pratchettd in 1983 he has written two books a year on average.

His latest Discworld book Snuff was at the time of its release the third-fastest-selling hardback adult-audience novel since records began in the United Kingdom selling 55000 copies in the first three days. Sir Terence David John "Terry" Pratchett OBE (born 28 April 1948) is an English author of fantasy novels especially comical works. In December 2007 Pratchett announced that he was suffering from early-onset Alzheimer's disease.