The Truth Shall Make Ye Fret - Voices of Discworld – with Marc Burrows and Jon Culshaw

Episode Date: November 6, 2023

The Truth Shall Make Ye Fret is a podcast in which your hosts, Joanna Hagan and Francine Carrel, read and recap every book from Sir Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series in chronological order. This week, a special Double Feature (ooOOooh) featuring Marc Burrows and Jon Culshaw! We chat to Marc about the Edinburgh Fringe; his rave reviewed live show, The Magic of Terry Pratchett; and his ultra-exclusive Footnotes interviews.But wait, there’s more! Marc has very kindly shared the audio from his interview with voice actor extraordinaire Jon Culshaw, star of the Watch arc in the new Discworld audiobooks. Hear about Culshaw’s love for Discworld and the process of finding voices for Vimes, Vetinari, and various other Ankh Morporkian heroes.Find us on the internet:Twitter: @MakeYeFretPodInstagram: @TheTruthShallMakeYeFretFacebook: @TheTruthShallMakeYeFretEmail: [e-mail]: www.patreon.com/thetruthshallmakeyefretDiscord: https://discord.gg/29wMyuDHGP Want to follow your hosts and their internet doings? Follow Joanna on twitter @joannahagan and follow Francine @francibambi Things we blathered on about:LIVE DATES - The Magic of Terry Pratchett Buy Marc's books Glom of Nit - Substack Listen to Audiobooks narrated by Jon Culshaw - Audible.co.uk The Dark Room – Mr John Robertson Music: Chris Collins, indiemusicbox.com 

Hello and welcome to the Treeshamer key frat, a podcast in which we're usually reading and recapping every book from Taubrutsch. It's Discord series one as time in Cronlogs, Glowder. I'm Joanna Hagen. I'm Francie Carrol. We've got a very special episode today, quick note on spoilers. We will avoid spoiling any major future events in the Discord series past thud, and of course we're saving any and all discussion of the final Discworld level, the Shepherds Crown, until we get there,

so you dear listener can come on the journey with us. On the overnight train to Edinburgh, which is a segue into our special guest. The award-winning, good for us Joanna, thank you. Mathik. The award-winning, one of the award award winning biographers of Terry Pratchett. Mark, I'm joining us today. Welcome up. Hello, I was recently described by Pat Harkin, who I believe was also been a guest recently, as almost 51% of the current biographers of of satari pratchae. And I've been described by Rob Wilkins as the mono award winning.

Rob of course is just one the huge owe for his biography and will occasionally remind me that he is now won three awards for his book to my one. But who's counting? but who's counting? That's certainly nobody on this call. Rob's counting. So am I, but I don't know. It's a yes, but I love you to be back. Hiya. Good to see you, man.

You've been traveling. I happen to, in the last, let's see, in the last three months, I have been to Edinburgh, as we will discuss in Scotland, which I do believe is a country. I know it's a country where my girlfriend is from, and she will absolutely glare at me if I don't say that Scotland is a proper country. She's glaring at me now. Okay, I'm going down a black line, don't you?

I know Scotland is a country, don't worry. So yeah, I've been to Scotland, and then I went to Spain, and then I went to France, and to Versailles for Manning's birthday, which is amazing. And then I've been to Ireland to the Irish Discworld Convention. And now I'm in Bristol where I've recently re-homed myself. You sound like a rescue cat. I am very much like a rescue cat. And I will piss on the carpet and scratch you.

But once I calm down, I'm very much like a rescue cat in the, I will piss on the carpet and scratch you. But once I calm down, I'm good company. I put it in a fellow way and I'm absolutely fine. Yeah, it's been a very busy few months. I'm really looking forward to doing nothing for a good rest of the year. Perfect. That sounds great. Mark, while you were in Edinburgh, you, as we're going to talk about, interviewed quite a few people related to the

world of Terry Brighton. I draw it to give you the context of why I was in the student peak course. Yeah, absolutely. So I was performing a show, a one man stand-up show at the Edinburgh Fringe. If you don't know the Edinburgh Fringe, it's a big, it's basically the entire month of August is taken over in the city of Edinburgh in Scotland by comedians and artists and and drama students and actors and improvisers who are the closest thing to deserving the scorpion pit that the French has and all that sort of thing every backroom of above a pub and seller and cupboard is converted into

a venue for shows for performances. It is the biggest arts festival in the world. It's incredible. I perform there many, many times. And this year I took up a show called The Magic of Terry Pratchett, which is based on my mono award winning book. You have seen, you two saw the early preview of The Magic of T right when we did a little collab a few months ago. That was only the third ever performance, I think, in Berry. Thanks to all the listes who came, because it was really nice to meet people. I've met a lot of them again since then. The show's come on a lot since then. It went really well. It's a comic lecture come one man show about the life and work of

saturday pratchet and it's funny and people cry at the end and occasionally people heckling in appropriate places. But yeah, I did it at the end of a fringe in a big 150 cc space sold out quite a few times. I was one of the top 40 best reviewed shows at the fringe which when you consider there over 4,000 shows. I was going to ask yeah, oh excellent. That's a good percentage. Well, four star reviews, five star reviews, all went to my head. I drank champagne and did drugs out of a shoe. I did drugs out of a shoe and it's not a champagne off a mirror.

I woke up in a, I woke up in A&E with a terrible head cold. No, it was, it was a good time to have a boil, but as part of the show, what basically I did the first an hour of the show, and then I did a second hour immediately afterwards, meaning I did two back-to-back stand-up shows across an entire month, which almost killed me. And I'm never going to do again, especially since I was also doing a late night standup show of a comment of properly like standup. But the second show was in a smaller room, just next door, and it would be the sort of nerd out show.

Well, I would call it like the Doctor Who Confidential, the Throne's Cast, the Inserts Bonus Podcast, Extra Show, BBC Three Companion thing here. Press the red button to get to the next room. Exactly, yeah. And so that's what it's so, and every day, most days I had a guest, and I would talk about the show and talk about Terry some more,

and I, because the main show is very power-pointy and very, very kind of structured. So I do a much looser Q&A, much like we did at the preview and Barry, when the second, first half, I did the show, second half, the three of us took the stage and and pissed about basically. And so I did a I did a pissing match on. I had some really good guests. People were like Mitch Ben Stuart Goldsmith, people like Rob Wilkins, the try award winning, the second biographer of Cetary Pratchett. And yeah, it was John Robertson who just

showed up with the dark room. It's very good. Julia Burton, who's an amazing comic, Vicks Layton, who's an amazing comic. Basically, anybody at the fringe who I'd heard of rumour was a Terry Pratchett fan. I hunted down and got them to come and talk on my show. And it was a lot of fun. Perfect. So you did a month for this. A month of three standup shows a day, three hours of standup a day plus I gemmied it, did a couple of other spots, some 10 minutes here and there every day. I'm never doing that. Have you recovered yet? I have now.

Yeah, I have. The last it was, I have, honestly, I've never been as tired in my entire life We normally the fringe show has finished on the Sunday the last Sunday of August But some of them the ones in big event is basically the ones that are bringing in a bit of money So which mine included they asked to do the last day as well the Monday Bank holiday Monday, and I remember getting up Bank of the Monday and thinking I have got nothing There is nothing left in the tank. I am completely scooped out My voice was barely holding together. I and I was just and I was I couldn't face I couldn't face me Everything and I I got to the gig and the gig was fine and the gig was good

And in fact because the show after me wasn't on that day, I over ran and did next year, 15 minutes. And then I did the same with the last, I called the second show, The Foot Notes. I did the same with The Foot Notes show, although I turned out I'd been misinformed and the was to show after mine for that one. And they were not happy.

They were not happy. But I got through the show. I got, once I got into the show, I had a drink. It's all, you know, the adrenaline comes. Dr. Theatre, as they say, the show was a really great performance. It was one of my favorites of the whole run. I just basically, you know, when these people say, I just left it all on the stage. It was, it was really like, I've got nothing else. I'm just, this is it. There's Scrape. And I was a really weird experience about, I've got nothing else. I just, this is it. There's scrape. And I was a really weird experience about,

I know, 45 minutes after the second show finished, where I was sat in the box office room in the office, back sort of behind talking to the staff there and getting my stuff together. And I became very aware of the adrenaline leaving my body and very aware that that adrenaline leaving my body. And very aware that that was all that was keeping me upright and suddenly realizing that I could feel myself

just sort of crumbling. And I literally had to go, do you know what guys, I've gotta go home. I need to go back to my hotel and get some sleep because there's nothing here. And then the next day I was supposed, I was selling books, obviously. And I had to go back to the venue to pick up the books I had left. And I was meant to drop like these boxes of books somewhere else. And I just, and then get the train home. And I just,

I just couldn't, I had nothing. I had a minor breakdown in the premier in breakfast buffet on my own. Eklan Album title. Yeah. Also the who's the Mungus hasn't? The night before, because my digs had kicked me out. I'd been staying in these kind of posh student halls for the whole run, and then they kicked me out that day, and I had to get a premiere in for the last night. And I was really looking forward to a nice comfy night's sleep, and through the window, all I could hear was... Oh, fuck.

And it kept waking me up one night. So the next day I was I was a mess. I I vomited on the way to the train stage. I had to ring up a friend of mine and just go, I cannot get these books. I am not I can't I just can't do my picking them up for me. And then I just like got on the train home. And I don't need I don't even know how I made it onto the train. And I just never felt that level of exhausted in my entire life. And I've done the fringe before. This is not my first fringe. I've done the full run before, but I've never done three hours of standard training before.

I've no idea how I did it and it was a silly thing to do. But yes, I mean it's November now, so I nearly so as we're as we're talking it's Halloween I'm sure I don't know when this is going out, but Yeah, so I had nice holiday in Spain with my girlfriend What happened when I went to Spain is well, I decided not to do any work I did take my laptop with me. I just taught my iPad which does have a keyboard But I was not gonna do any proper work and I wrote the first 10,000 words of another so oh that's very Excellent Yeah, it is which is now 30,000 words. And the

books I should be writing, I'm not because I'm writing a novel. Well, that's exciting. That's a very exciting way to procrastinate. Yeah, it's just I'm incapable of not monetizing my hobbies. I wouldn't know anything about that. No, no, Joanna. So the good side of it, it must have been fantastic to get such I wouldn't know anything about that. No, exactly. I don't do anything about that. No, I don't do anything about that. No, I don't do anything about that. No, I don't do anything about that.

No, I don't do anything about that. No, I don't do anything about that. No, I don't do anything about that. No, I don't do anything about that. No, I don't do anything about that. No, I don't do anything about that. No, I don't do anything about that. No, I don't do anything about that.

No, I don't do anything about that. No, I don't do anything about that. No, I don't do anything about that. No, I don't do anything about that. No, I don't do anything about that. No, I don't do anything about that. No, I don't do anything about that. No, I don't do anything about that.

No, I don't do anything about that. No, I don't do anything about that. No, I don't do anything about that. No, I don't do anything about that. No, I don't do anything about that. No but I've never been a show that has meant so much to me either. There's a lot of me in it. I don't talk about myself very much, but there's a lot of my sense of humor and my personality and things I care about and it's very much about, it's not just about this mandatory project, it's about the power of storytelling and how stories affect our lives and how we live the stories that we tell about ourselves versus the stories that we are top, the other people tell about us versus the stories we used to explain the universe. Obviously, that's all very disc world. That's that's, you know, the fundamental tenant at disc world. But it's, it's quite an emotional story to tell, obviously, it took a lot to do, but I was so proud of it.

And I had huge fans in every day, so you kind of felt like you couldn't let them down. But I also had people who'd never heard of Terry, well, they'd heard of Terry, but they'd never read one of his books, they'd read one of his books years ago. And I actually had a, in the first week, I got pulled aside by some woman outside the venue

who just said, oh, I saw your show yesterday. I was wanting to say say I went with my husband because he's a big fan, but he couldn't go in the end because he was ill. And I thought, what the hell, I've got the ticket and it's the best thing I've seen. And I've got a lot of that sort of thing. A lot of the reviews were from people saying,

I've never read a Terry Pratchett book, but I still love the show. And I just, I hope, you know, you hope that would happen. And you write it trying to like you know I wanted it to do that. I was what I wanted to happen but you never know if you pulled it off and the numbers were great. The first time I got on the sold out board outside the venue I was I was just over the moon and because it wasn't the gilded balloon which was a really respected venue and normally I'm on the free french which which is great if you've ever been to the

French, the free French is kind of the bread and butter of the French these days. But yeah, it was, it was so much fun and I was so proud of what I did. I'm still proud. I know that show is going to run and run. I did it in London a couple of weeks ago at the Green to Be Theta. I did it at the Irish Disgloch Convention and then I'm off on tour next year. I did it at the Irish Disco convention and then I'm off on tour next year. Yeah. Currently 20 are 20 on shows, put to the minute across January, February, March, April. Why me?

Are they up on your site? Yes, the but there's still quite a lot to come that haven't been 100% confirmed yet, but there's about I think 14 or 15 on my on my mother is like, her at UK, but yeah, the first show is in Belfast in January. And then I have a bit of break. And then about a month later, I basically, I'm doing it like once or twice a week for the next month and a half.

Belfast will be flattered that they're the one city you needed a month to recover from. Exactly. And I've been to Belfast. So I'm really excited about that. But yeah, all over the place, art centers, propag theaters up and down the country. I mean, that's exciting.

So yeah, I really, I mean, it's been nice to have some time to do other stuff, but yeah, it's, I'm gonna be, I'm gonna be, I'm quite pleased I don't have to think or talk about Terry Pratchett for the next two months though, because I feel a bit, I feel a bit pratcheted out now, and I need a, I feel like I need a bit of a rest. And then I thought, God, I'm, God, imagine how Rob Wilkins feels. And then presumably counts his money and he's fine. So, um,

also probably doesn't do three hours of stand-up a day for a month at the French. No, that's true. He did come up though. He did, he came up and did, um, he came up and did, did the Q&A afterwards and he sat at the back of the ring with the, which was really nerve-racking because he's in the show. There's a video with him in the show that he did especially for it. And I talk about him in the show and I was like, I was desperate. I was really hoping nobody would, would, would notice him because it didn't want to distracts from it. Um, Colin Smith came to see it in London, which was also quite nerve-racking because Colin features in the show too. Yeah.

And sent me some corrections afterwards, which is a very, Colin Smive thing to do. They're very minor, they're very minor corrections. He's also asked me if I could change the photo of him that I used. And the more I did it, the more I'd meet people who've met Terry. There's a bit in the show where I talk about

what Terry does on his first day as a journalist. And I don't want to spoil it if anyone who's not seen it, but there's a famous story Terry tells about what happened to him as his first day as a journalist. And I go into the truth of that. And a guy like pulled me out a side afterwards and went, I used to work at the book's repressor Terry. I can tell you exactly what he did. Oh, you must have been like half kicking yourself. I can tell you if you want what Terry did on these first days of journalists. I mean, yes, please.

I feel like I should bleep that. Yeah, yeah, split it. Yeah, I will. But then if anybody wants to know, they can tweet Mark. But yeah, so I met lots, I met people who knew Terry, I met lots of fans. I could always tell when there was a big disc world fan there because they'd be sat in the front row. They always big, big fans always see on the front row and they always cry.

And I was also, I couldn't believe I was allowed to do this. They always big big fans always see on the front row and they always cry And I was also I couldn't believe I was allowed to do this. I was given permission to Hand out a little booklet and every show That had four of Terry's 1970s newspaper stories and that hadn't been republished since anywhere They're not the new ones that have been found. These are nonfiction newspaper stories, columns. And I was given permission to reproduce a bookler of Terry Pratchett's stories. It's called Tales from Round World. I've now done a slightly expanded version to sell at the other shows. And it's called Terry Pratchett, Tales from Round World. It's a Terry Pratchett

book called Tales from Round World. And then a Terry Pratchett book, called Tales from Roundwork, and then underneath it says annotated and compiled by Mark Burrows. And I'm really proud of that because I think there's a lot of stuff there, there's a lot of stuff there that people have never read, but it's really good. Terry wrote some great stuff in the 60s, 70s,

not great non-fiction stuff. I on earth, the interview he did with Roll Dal in 1968. And that's in there. And an interview he did with a witch, a self-confessed IRL witch in 1973. And there's loads of stuff in that interview that pops up in Discworld Books. Like, I'm pretty sure it's the first time in print

he makes the joke about which is dancing without their draws and how that in the English climate that doesn't really work. And there's stuff about old women who mistakenly mistaken for being witches who meet Grizzly ends and how unfair that is. And you can see all these ideas. And then there's a couple of satirical pieces, you were in the late 70s, and you can see the voice of Discworld coming there. There's a letter, the article's called, about Sheenows where her lot are. It's a letter from a working mum from Bristol writing to Prince Charles about him suggesting that young men could keep themselves off the streets by volunteering. And it's her thoughts about that.

And it's something along the lines of, I saw your article on page four of the Sun and was so impressed. I cut it out, leaving, although I was pointed out by our shame, our shame and our daren. I mentioned it, pointed out by our Shane that on the back was on the reverse was page three and I had left the young lady there upon in nothing but two socks and a sailor hat. And how perfect literary pratch it is that sentence, the young lady there upon with nothing but two socks in the sailor hat. So, um, yeah, I like it. Yeah. As proud as I was doing the show, I was also really proud that I got, that I got to present these wonderful pieces of writing for people who'd never read them before. Yeah. So technically, I know there are two pratchet-related books out this often. Technically there's three.

But one of them is only available from my live shows. It was an amazing experience. And I don't think I'll ever have an Edinburgh Friends like that again. I'm gonna go back next year for a short run and just do, I think we're looking at it now and doing a short run. But then this show is gonna run and run.

I imagine it's gonna be on, it's basically gonna be on off, but it can be on tour in one way or another forever. I'm doing other Discworld Convention next year as well. The International Discworld Convention in Birmingham in August. Oh lovely. We'll see it again then. Yep. Yes. Well, you get to see the... Yeah, I was hoping you get you you you you you you'll be there and you get to see the finished version. The proper version. Yeah, exciting. I mean, come sit and culturester. Oh yeah, no, that's good in place actually.

So the footnote show then, the interview show for the hardcore fans afterwards, how did that come about? Was that always planned or? Yeah, well, it's partly because when I've done the show in, like we did in Bereson Edmonds, like we did a second half of the show that was much looser, which was a Q&A. And I can't remember if I interviewed you or you interviewed me. But then we just... Like the audience just interviewed us.

Yeah, exactly. People always have questions. They always want to talk. They always want to talk about their favorite books. They want to ask me if I'd ever met Terry and what my favorite books is or ask me what I thought of this or that new TV show or what I thought was going to happen in the future or all of this sort of things. Or what I thought of this or that new TV show or what I thought was going to happen in the future or all of this sort of things or what I knew about this thought that. Or they just wanted to share their own stories of Terry. People have always wanted to come together and talk about it and every time I've done a reading from the book the same things happened.

So I really wanted to keep that but there was no time in the main show. Yeah. So I really wanted to keep that, but there was no time in the main show. Like, it's only an hour long, and I struggled to keep everything in that hour. So basically, I asked the Guilded Balloon, the venue, if I, if they'd mind, if I told people at the end of the gig, I'm going to be in the bar. If you want to come and talk to me about Terry, and you've got any questions, come meet me in the bar. We'll have a little, I'm basically having this idea that there'd be like almost like a, a little salon in the bar afterwards every day. And I, you know, just a chance for people to chat. And they said, oh, we can do better than that. Why don't you have a small venue and we'll charge people £5 for a ticket. And then, and then I thought, oh, I can't charge people £5 just to ask me questions. I'm going to have to write a show now.

Oh, I can't charge people five pounds just to ask me questions. I'm gonna have to write a show now. So I wrote a 20 minute kind of opening section where I talk about the show and I talk about how it came about and some extra stuff about Terry, where I tell Terry's favorite joke on stage and you have to come and see it to do that,

but it was always my favorite bit of the entire day every day. And then I don't leave room for questions to the audience. And then I also thought it would be good to have a guest that basically I thought that will fill some time. That's the idea is that I can do, I can do 20 minutes, then we have 10 minutes of interview in a guest, then we have 10 minutes of audience Q&A. What usually happened is we'd have 10 minutes of me at the top and then 40 minutes of Q&A, but it's yeah, that's how that came about. So one of the specific people you interviewed, you very kindly provided us with the audio for today. Yes, do you want the background of this one? Because it's not, because it's not my finest moment,

but I feel like I should give you some context. We will have some context? Yeah, let's start with the context for this one. So every, as I said, every day I did this bonus show and I had a special guest. Now every single day, the main show would do between 80 and 150 people. And it was always felt busy, it was always fun. It sold out every sort of Friday, Saturday, Sunday. It was like, you know, so I was very proud of that. And I'd come off stage and I'd do this big show

in a big room to loads of people. And then I go straight next door to the smaller space, which only held about 40 people. And usually I'd have an audience with about 20, like hardcore fans. The main show was meant to be accessible to everybody. You didn't have to be a big fan. The second show was more for hardcore fans. And usually I'd get about 20 people and Rob did it. We sold it out. But usually it would be between sort of 15. I think the lowest I'd got had been like 12, but the Edinburgh French that is, you know, that's still good numbers. There are people who got no people or one person and then went on Twitter and said so. And then mysteriously in a massively, and then mysteriously got loads more people due to the

very, very clever piece of PR they've done. The same with the one they did the year before, right? Yeah, not that I'm being cynical. Anyway, so normally the number's good. Now, I really wanted to get John Cullshaw. John Cullshaw, the brilliant impressionist and comedian and actor, who has been the voice of the new Discworld audiobooks for the God series. And he was also doing a show at the French in the same venue as me. He was in a much bigger room, obviously. He was in like, there's sort of 500 capacity space.

And it was immediately before mine. His show was, I think, three to four. And mine was four to five, or something like that. So I desperately wanted to get John Culture. And it told me ages to track him down and find an email and his agent didn't reply to my email and then so I managed to ask a friend of a friend of a friend and I eventually got an email for John Coulshaw. I dropped him a line and he said, I'd love to do it, absolutely of course, can I do it today? And this is a Wednesday and I thought, and I tried to say, you're a big're a big guest. I'd rather you did one of the weekend shows. And then I've got some time to also, you know, advertise it a bit. Now, well, no, I can't really do the weekend. I'd love to do today. I was like, Oh, okay,

this is Wednesday. Okay, you can do Wednesday. Bear in mind, smallest audience, I'd had say far 12 biggest 40 for this second show. Seven tickets. We sold seven tickets. Seven tickets. That was it. And I was mortified. I was so embarrassed because it was the biggest, apart from Rob, in fact, John Cauter was more famous in Rob Wilkins. I get it apart from Rob. He was the most significant guest that I'd had. And I was so embarrassed and so devastated. He was so lovely. He couldn't have been nice about it. And I basically said, do you mind, I'm basically thinking on my feet, was like, well, can we do the show anyway? It's a fringe, this always happens. It's like, doesn't happen to you. I'd been to see his show that day. It sold out to like 500 people. It was around. It always went

up 15 minutes late because it took that long to get everybody in their seats. But so he was very sweet about it, very nice about it. And I basically, I thought on my feet and said, you might have I recalled this for a podcast. I have some friends who do a Terry Pratchett podcast and I think this will be great content for them. And he said, oh, yes, of course, of course, and then he lovely turns me in, he said, don't be embarrassed, Mark, it's fine. We just changed the context. We put on our broadcasting hats. And I was like, I was, thank you so much.

Of course, how do I, how do I plan to record this? I would have recorded it in beautiful crystal clear detail, I love setups and proper microphones. I'd have taken a feed from the desk. All I had was two minutes in my iPhone. So the interview you're going to hear was recorded by my iPhone on the mixing desk at the back of the room. Fortunately, Francine's audio skills dramatically cleaned this up. It sounded substantially worse before Francine got her hands off. Yes, remember this guys, I did, I did do something to it. So I should apologize for the audio quality.

So you're going to, so what you're going to hear in a bit, I guess when we get to it, is myself and John Kohlshaw, on stage at the Edinburgh Fringe, discussing John's approach to the audio books, which by the way, are really good. I think I say this in the interview, which by the way, are really good. I think I say this in the interview, but I genuinely was, I was listening to each of the new readers,

because they're not good. India Ramra, doing the witch boxes is amazing. Jason Isaac's doing the, doing moving pictures is really, really good. Come in, listen to Matthew Bain and doing, doing the truth. The truth, and that's great. But I heard, I listen to Guard's Garks,

and I enjoy John Coulshaw doing it so much because he's such a good voice actor. I mean, he differentiates the characters so well that I just rolled straight into Man of Tarm's. And then after Man of Tarm's I rolled straight into Fiat of Clay and then straight into Jingo and then straight into Fiat of Elephant. And then I think by the time you're hearing the interview I was halfway through Nightwatch. And it's really odd because I was

unstaged talking to him, listening to him do these voices. And I'd been listening to Nightwatch and before, for the French, I'd only pretty much been listening on my walks to and from the venue before I went to sleep at night. I'd been listening to John Corshaw read these books. So suddenly I was on stage with him and the voice was right there. It was an experience and also a feeling I, because I've also spent time. I interviewed Nigel Plainer who did the first load of one of British Discworld audiobooks for the book and you know same thing sat there listening to that voice and then two weeks ago at the Irish Discworld Convention I was one of the judges of the masquerade costume competition alongside Stephen Briggs and after so me Stephen Briggs and Jan Clark and Nehaakin, I'll do the way around,

went and sat in a little room to discuss who should win the masquerade. And I was listening to Stephen Briggs's voice. It was another one of those things where I was like, wow, I'm ticked off all the audio book readers, but the really surreal world was John Kohlshaw, because I had been listening to it literally that morning and to go to sleep the night before. So it was a really odd experience to do it, but also he's so generous with doing the voices, which I really, really liked. Like every impressionist I've ever met,

he's happy to just jump into the voice. And he really flips between them, doesn't he? No, no, little hesitation, following it together, just makes that. Straight in. And it's so cool. So I really like to do that. The only pre-rear prep I did apart from this, the books, is Rob Textmeer, when I told him I was doing it, to say, I should ask him about Patrick Moore, because he meant he, you will hear this in the, in the interview, but he used to go to Patrick Moore stargazing nights with Terry and Rob. And he was like, you need to get him to talk about Patrick Moore because that way you'll get a Patrick Moore impression.

But he started talking about Patrick Moore, but he didn't do an impression. He started actually talking about him very earnestly. And I was like, oh, he's not going to do an impression now. He's being asked. He's being all serious. And then he did eventually slip into, he did slip it in. And that was very, very happy with that. So yeah, and you get the full range of John Corshaw impressions as well. The Boris Johnson is in there.

It was a delight. It was such a thrill. I noticed like him speaking in his normal voice, so to speak, he keeps that story to have a cadence in between, doesn't he? As well. I wonder if he's gone his normal voice, so to speak, he keeps that story telecadence in between, doesn't he? I wonder if he's on to broadcasting voice now, he said that. Well, yeah, well, also on stage voice, because I'd just seen him do his, like that morning, I'd seen him, or at the afternoon, I'd seen him do his stand-up show, which obviously is impressions, but the impressions are linked with bits of context and it's the same voice,

it's absolutely the same voice. So I think he was doing his on stage voice, but also he's an impressionist, he's a broadcaster, he has beautiful diction and it was a treat to hear it. Do you have, I mean obviously apart from say Rob Wilkins and lovely John Colshaw whose interview we've got today, did you have any kind of favorite conversations you had doing that one or any favorite interview is? There's a, it's a comic called John Robertson, who is Australian comic. He does a show called The Dark Room, which is one of the best things you can, you'll see.

If you have it, if John Robertson is the Dark Room is coming near you, go to see it. It's, it's like it's like it's an interactive text-based role-playing game. Dennis, a stand-up show. It's like a cross-between Nightmare with the audience. It's like Nightmare, the TV show that you were both too young for, combined with the audience from the Rocky Horror Show. Oh, wow. I, because everyone who went and seen it before,

and it's, there's a bit where he goes, where he starts it properly and he goes, you were awake to find yourself in a dark room, and then everyone around me went, you were awake to find yourself in a dark room. And I went, oh my God, how I missed it. But he was, he's, John is a big, toe-practic fan, so he came on a couple of times

and he was always really fun and really interesting. And then Mitch Ben was really good. He has some stories about Meetin Terry that were great. Rob was fantastic. And he put Robin for an audience and he that's up. He's really good. And Robin, I, the, the burrows Wilkins double act is now pretty well oiled. So we bounce off each other very well. But he told me, he gave us some plots on stage, well, this world novel has never happened that I hadn't heard about before, including the death of Lord Veterinary and how Terry had planned to kill off Lord Veterinary. He told that story on stage and it's got an excellent twist at the end,

which you probably can see, can't you put it, it's, yeah, it was really cool. And then, you know, but also, like you didn't have to have like big fans doing it for its work. I made friends with the box office manager because she was a huge Terry Pratchett fan. Her name was Jasmine, who Joanna met three days ago

when we went to see Rihanna Pratchett's talk. And Jasmine was very lovely. She was lovely. She was the box office manager of the Guided Balloon, but she loved Terry Pratchett. So soon she realised who I was. She was like, oh, I love Terry Pratchett. I can't wait to see your show. And she was so like, effervescent, and she had so much, so many interesting things to say

on the subject of Terry Pratchett when we were discussing the books. I was like, you've got to come on a beer guest and she was one of the best guests I did because she had this brilliant light touch and she asked everyone in the audience which three Discworld characters they would comprise stuff which is a really good question.

Not which characters is your favourite, which are the three that make up you. That's cool, I love that. Which you're now all thinking of. Yeah. And that's a fan of that question, because you picked one for me when I saw you a few days ago. I love it. I'm just going to bring up this drama, what? Yeah, that's not...

I don't think we need to get in. Bringing out my staring spoon. Come on. I don't think we need to talk about how you said nubby nubs was one of them. Inferno's. Well, he goes on spoon. He does have his own spoon. Inferno's. I I spoke to out for young Nanny on. After I asked you to. That also felt well, that also felt better. Hey, let me think, let me do Francine, hang on. Francine is Susan Tiffini and William DeWord. Oh, no, that's pretty flattering. Do you know what yours are? I think mine are Jeffrey, a character on the horizon, King Verance, the second. And I think a bit William DeWord as well. Nice. And what were your other two Joanna? I actually

can't remember now. I said lady civil. Oh nice. Yeah. I can't remember who the second one was. I mean, Angua, I'd say. Oh, I think you're so fabulous. Which is... Can I say? Yeah, I did say Agnes. You do have great hair and a lovely personality. Yeah, no, that is true. That's what my people say about me. And I do do very amusing tricks with my boils. So, maybe I'm a anyway. And your love language is having handfuls of mollusks thrown in. Is the only ways can be with the firmly thrown Welk. And a squint in both eyes, yes.

Right, much like the two-eyed squint, we're getting a little off track. So, a quick look at audio books before we go to the second half of the podcast, the new audio books. Have you finished listening to them? I've listened to one from each reader. I haven't listened to all of them, but I have listened to at least one book from each reader, which I wanted to do. Do you think there's a particular narrator you feel like really nailed the stories? I mean, everyone, none of them are bad. Everyone does pretty well. Some of them are much better than others. The ones where you really notice Jason Isaacs doing moving pictures. Now, Jason Isaacs is a Hollywood character actor. Because he's a Hollywood guy because he's a movie guy, he gets all those incline all those um, uh, all those little nuances that are in that book. Yeah.

Um, John, as well, just you'll hear it. There's a wonderful job. John Corsford is a wonderful job. The other one, the best, actually, I think the best, the lot is in dear verama, um, doing the witch's books. I don't know if you're aware of her. She's in Graeme Throne. She was one of the Sandsnakes. She was in the recent Obi-Wan Kenobi show. She's also done quite a lot of voice acting. I was quite surprised looking her up to find out

she's been in a lot of my favourite video games. Hase, it doesn't surprise me because she's really, really good. She does Nanny Og as Cornish. Perfect. Oh, my God, come over here. And she finds jokes in Nanny's dialogue that I don't think Terry even wrote. I genuinely think she finds inflections in the performance and squeezes jokes out of it. There aren't even on the page. I'm gonna get a broad listen to that then. That's got to be. And it's really worth it.

And she gives Granny more of a kind of a brisk kind of London accent. A kind of like a working class London. And then she does Magra as a kind of a cross between Jane Horrickson, Carolina Hart. Which is fairly perfect for Magra. Yeah, which is this is kind of, yeah, just kind of sort of wide-eyed, sort of northern, and a little bit kind of a white hand. Yeah. But they're generally good, because if you've read, if you've listened to the original audiobooks, particularly the very early ones, I mean back then, audio books or books on tape as were, weren't taken very seriously. They were a niche thing. They weren't like a thing that loads of people listened to. They were, you know, they were almost an accessibility box tech to make sure that the people who struggled to read

might, and they weren't something they were really taken very seriously. And if you listen to the very, especially the earlier than I was playing at once, the audio quality is dreadful. Oh it is, yeah. And they weren't, they just weren't done, they're well performed, but they weren't, but they're not especially well produced. Now audio audio books are such a big thing. I totally see why they wanted to dictate why Robin Narrateria Tivira wanted to go back and produce, you know, produce them properly. Oh, absolutely. I think it's good for a really good job. And they've composed a huge sweeping or castoral theme that they use for all of it, which is way better than the kind of,

if you watch the old like that, I know, I know this is self-subject with Francine, but if you watch the 90s Cosgrove Hallcourt and Cartoon, like they have this, this jaunty, that's part of the I said, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da, la da da, la da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da, la da, la da da, la da, la da da, la da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da da, la da da, la da da, la da da da, la da da, la da da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da da, la da da da da, la da da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da, la da da da, la da da, la da da da da da, I haven't what I haven't heard yet is the is the stroke of the pen audio book where they basically

got everybody everyone who's ever done a project audio book and a few other people or has and I think almost everybody here has got a connection to Pratchett like Tony Robinson does one Nigel Plain does one Stephen Briggs does one John Kohlshed does one in D. Varamad does one and then it reanna Pratchett does one Rob Wilkins does one Conn Smythe does one and then it reanna pratch it does one Rob Wilkins does one consmire does one and then they get people like Claire Floyd does one. Oh amazing. I think the attendance got one in there. Yeah David. David. David. David. Jack. Yeah. Yeah. It's, you know, that's that's that's some heavy hitters. Yeah. So I'm really looking for I'm really looking forward to hearing that. Forward Neil Gaiman intro by Colin Smiles. I don't know who reads those.

Well, probably no game. Probably no game. And they're all, yeah, I mean, the column, they got Colin into the into the studio. So it's very likely that he, that he did his own. And Neil does tend to read his own, read his own prologs and forwards. So it'd be weird hearing a bit like that, not read by Neil Gaiman actually, if it was written by him. Well, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Find yourself trying to do a Neil Gaiman impression. Yeah, exactly. And he's got such a distinctive cadence. Yeah. And like Terry, he reads out, he wrote out, he writes out loud. He always reads his stuff out loud, which is why Neil's stuff always reads,

you can always perform it really beautifully. As much as I think we could babble on forever, we have still got a whole interview to listen to. So before we go to that, Mark, is there anything else you want to plug? Or anything? Well, not talked about that you want to talk about. So the tour is coming up. Yeah, please come if you've not seen the magic atari Pratchett and I'm sure many of you haven't. Although a lot of you had, I met a lot of truth on that you fret listeners over the over the run. But yes, please do come see me on tour.

You can find it on my website. Links will be down below. Yeah, and that's pretty much the main thing to be honest. Follow me on the site. I will continue to refer to as Twitter until I die or it dies or Elon Musk dies. And I will do my best to, yeah, I will do my best to keep people informed of that sort of thing. My possibly ill advised novel and other projects. And sign up to Mark's newsletter, which again will be next.

I'll be in the middle of the night. Glon of net. Yes, please do. Glom of net. Yeah, there will be a new glom of net soon. I tend to put bits of unpublished writing in my in glom of net as well. So my writing, not totally, I just just just described on the street. Any occasion. But if you find hard drives and grab a bit. Yeah. But if you find that if you go to my sub stack page, you can actually read

every edition they all have bits of writing from different books I'm doing. So yeah, I would recommend. Hopefully. All right, then. Would you mark like to introduce us to the second half of the podcast? Yes, absolutely. OK, so the interview you're

about to hear was recorded live at the Edinburgh at French Festival at the Guilded Balloon. Don't ask me what date, but it was a Wednesday. It's with a small but enthusiastic audience in the room. It has been beautifully cleared up by Francine and it features me talking in conversation with the great comic, Impressionist and actor John Kohlshaw. Enjoy. What I've done every day, I've tried to get a guest for the show, got some amazing guest Rob Wilkins, who's a guest of the people of Wixcombe, so you missed that, but that was really fun. You know, she's got a lot of good guests, John Robertson's been a guest, Miss Ben has been

a guest, all talking has been a guest. All talking about how much they love Terry. Now, my yesterday was you are privileged to be in the presence of and like the rest of the fucking audience, you didn't turn up. No. Um, like, uh, I've been hoping I can get all these time because they've been my constant companion during the French and I'll explain why when I was like, please ladies and gentlemen and those listening at home, because I'm

podcasting with you, please, well stay strong, come show. Thank you. Very tired. Good to see you. Thank you for having me along. You're welcome. I was driving. That's my thing. You were the first person on the list of the people I wanted to go on. Everybody. So I'm glad we finally got you. Rob Wilkins was second.

So. Thank you very much. So the reason I said that you've been my constant companion through this French is you did the guards boxers audios, isn't it? Has anyone who's seen your poster outside? Have you got that looks familiar from the marketing campaign? What have said?

That's the one. The person one. So, what I was doing this show, I knew those knew all you were going to come out, I listened to every single, there's a different reader plus strap, right? One for the wizards, one for the witches, one for the guards. And I was like, I'm going to listen to one of each, so if anyone has any question, and they're not my opinion, how would it be?

So I listen to a couple of listens, and enjoy them all. And then I've got to guard guards. And I enjoy so much of my nonsense. And I enjoy that so much of my nonsense of the okay. And Gego now, half of every night watch, and I've just been doing a little bit of order. I think you're doing a nice and job with those books.

I've really, really, really liked it. So what have we done with that? And I've got a lot of people. I don't know if you can say that, but just jump in and say that for a start. So I've got a lot of questions about the voices. You've chosen why you did them and about the experience of audience, but let's go back to the beginning.

How did you end up with that gig? How did that come about? I remember getting a phone call one afternoon from my voiceover agents who have been speaking to Rob Wilkins. And what I like to do, the Men of Time series, all eight volumes. And I've never said yes, so quick to end the thing.

And again, I was just finishing off a tour of playing Les Dawson at the time. A few, a few free days, I was starting to appear. So I had gaps to make a start on recording. So I meant several trips across to Croiden to Latin Crocodile with Neil Gardner and was a huge Terry Bradford fan. And that was all Terry's works backwards inside it and he was a great director and guide for this series. And I got going pretty much straight away, but I never said yes more quickly than I did to that request. The money was that good.

Oh, he was just... He went nothing like that. He went nothing like that. It went nothing like that. I first, my first connection with Terry practice work was Providence and Voices for some Costco of all cartoons. I remember the ones in the 90s, yes. So which voices did you do?

Well, I can't remember, was that a lot to go. But I did lots and lots. I did lots of various ones. And it was a very quick session because they had a lot to record in a short period of time. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. You know, Morrissey was in it,

from one of the great. Anyway, yes. And that was it, and I had a few sessions doing that. And it was just, it was just joyful. So that was my first Terry Pratchett connection. Inau'r ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymd and just when you think the punksland's coming, he'll change gear and it will change and then he'll go into another set of description. Rather like a sequence is wonderful jazz music and then just when you think that that punkslight is coming, there'll be something else. It rather reminds me of Rick Wakeman describing how when he was playing life on Mars over the David Burbank. You're expected of course. Yeah, I think Terry's writing is rather like that, as they unexpected, they unexpected, and then a little bit more.

And then almost in a footnote, there'll be another one you've heard it on. And it's just like watching a jazz musician in a literary form. There's no one does that like Terry. So if you read those books before you started, before you did the game. Yes, I was familiar with them, but doing the game, doing the voice recording, is brought into this life it distills your imagination a little more,

because you've actually got to do it with other voice artists. So it was a wonderful first introduction to the Terry. So that's in 1993 I think that was. So had you read the books that you did, the card series before you did the audio? No, I happened to, I was discovering them for the first time. I was completely captivated into it. Because I think Terry's writing draws you in, and in the way that Sam Vimes, the first volume sees it, he's a drunk, he's almost, you don't expect him to be the hero.

You expect that Carrot is going to be the hero. But then Sam Vimes, in a a way that reflects life. He has a mixture of his own dupsham and his own wisdom and his own nows. He's got a little bit sense of nows and that guides him forward and makes certain things happen. And then the look seems to be on his side. It's as if some other force of love was watching him thinking. This fellow has what it takes when he needs to be in a position of the leader. Maybe more than that. It's if he's chosen to let them really work for soundfires. And his ascendancy just follows on from there. So I remember I interviewed Ajahn Kainer, a book, who did the first half of the original

paper group. I met that, talking to him about his first. He said, I flexed a lot before, I tried not to be dealt with, surprised by the jokes. So you have a thing, did you read them, like, did you pair by reading the books, or did you discover them in the industry yet? I read the books to prepare for the recording. So you go through and you annotate all the characters, give them a different colour, so when you're reading in that practical setting. So you know who's who? That's the craigsaw. Yes exactly. So I've read it that way,

but it didn't feel like preparing a script, you just feel completely drawn into this universe and to the imagination of Terry Bradgett, which is a wonderful, I always say that recording those books over all of those monsoon, little grey recording mocks in Pride and from October to February, to have Terry Bradgett to the imagination as you are of George Canyon was a very special thing. I think it's a trouble for you, not you, but that's 90's. Now, especially I can remember doing some doctor in Warview at Wux. The first one I ever did was the Ark in Space. I was very familiar with that story, but I'd also been very familiar with just doing boy service grants, we do 40 seconds, 60 seconds, just to pick it, lots and lots and lots of

takes in a very meticulous way, on one script over a short time, but then to just let the slow go into my audio. It's like learning a new code of book, but you shouldn't get into it. You soon just lap stack, read lost hand, just get into it with them. And that way you see these worlds, guys, the way you read it. So where does each voice come from? Because you do quite, you do something different, everyone else is ready to go. And that you've got to know them, look to them, and make characters. Almost every other version of I've heard of those books,

he does Vines as London. And you go essentially, Sean B. They say, hey, when did those voices come from? Like for me, this is why I think my mind, Vines, Sean B and I thought, yeah, all right, one does not send people to that noise office. To Nobby, was there a bit of steps on that?

Maybe a little bit, I was thinking, or Ken Campbell. Ah, yeah, that's what I thought. And then, the thing of Ken Campbell, you know, exactly. To me, Nobi was very hostile, and he was kind of, you know, looking around like this, you know, his voice, that is sort of a proud,

this small compact beat. I saw Ken Campbell in my imagination, and Kohlang, to me, sounded like Ronnie Barker in, Ronnie Barker in Open All Abbers last time. Yeah, maybe he was actually based on Mr. Backhouse, my English literature teacher in the 18s, who had this sort of a lanky shirt on, but he was a dependable character within the police force, and it also allows him to think like, oh, you're a bit embarrassed, lanky, but he's got to be surprised,

I should think not caught a lot, you know what, Mr. Vives is not going to tolerate this, so he seemed to be that sort of soul, he came up with being in charge, with a rather revolving capability, and that ability to be surprised and kept people up, yes that's right, I'm fully in control, there's no one who's happening but good discreeters are built, which is an absolutely perfect for the character. So it's so, the advantage is the key one, right? So how did you get to that? You can only just say what's in your imagination, on the studio wall, there's a beauty illustration of the Conn and Copia of Teddy's characters. And sometimes is the cigarette in his mouth. And to me, it was just short beam.

You know, just that kind of thing. He's so much got now. He's very real. He's a real person. You know, Noah's old lady's, he'll pretend what the result of him is practicality. That now guides him. And he's able to adapt. Ym yn ymwch, ymw down and give it some real, as you need to. Yeah, and that situation, That's a little bit different.

That's what it means. This is that. So that it comes out, which is a little different to some learn. But yeah, that, the granite, grit and granite and now experience, and able to make decisions like that. To me, that's what some times, like that. And it consciously want to be different to the other brilliant narrations that they've been

from Tony Robinson and Nigel, playing a wonderful, I look the way they're very journeyed. There's a lightness, there's a bouncing along sensibility and there's a little bit of rhythm that they brought to me, at Moorboke and the whole sense of the city watch, on a menacing series. My imagination took me to a place as if it had been directly bi-gently sculpted. You know, this is very medieval. It's pretty, it's oily, serious things happen. And you know it's that kind of, yeah.

You know, you need someone with a mouse of some kind, just to navigate that. Yes, and I get all across the side of the corner, we're going to solve this out. And it's not me, you come with me and you can... Oh, I don't want to... What do you write out to that for? I don't write out to that for. And they all come on, then Vettanari. When I saw the image of that in the heart, or that was just Christopher Lee. Not to a different level altogether.

His words, Sennhe, he doesn't overstate things, it will be just a case there. I allow you to think about that. You will not go against. It will not be wise. That kind of feeling. So these characters caught up with a few books. So, a cost and serif. So, was there a collaboration on the certain voices? Because violence, I haven't read, I think, is Catherine Parkinson with Mrs. Regiment? I haven't heard that one yet. Yeah. Violence times up in Mrs. Redmond. So does she have a, you as a reference?

Does she do you? Does she do you? Do she want to be a writer? No, I'm not sure. The was a sort of a guide list of broadly where all the characters have been placed. So you could do something like that Not necessarily a carbon company, but your own take upon it

But so long as it was in that area, so there was some continuity So yes, I did hear some other takes on various characters But you know, here at Armour and Dunn and Andy Circus have done here And he thought, right, okay, well, that's our ballpark. That's our voice bunker, so we'll take it through the dead. And then, of course, you've got this continuity of having a PSR film as the death. Yes.

Which, really, was it? He gets that voice really, what is it? He manages to make it sound do me and warm, and once, which is almost impossible. Yes. So he's talking to me around here and this. That kind of thing, yes, I am deaf. I have a wee part, but this is a good thing. There'll be some simply, simpleises, a life where lived,

the reading, so bit positive. Now come with me, as he said, there's a lot of me. You need to build lighter you know you're showing people the footnotes and you know of course let me just leave this with you you guys anyway back to the story exactly what he does he's just the right side of his interest so but those of course get more complex right the violence gets more complex oh yes he does it becomes so as an it's not just a voice over job, that's an action job, and it becomes as an actor that you're

finding more things in that role as it goes along. So how did you tackle that? Did you find yourself like walking on the character more outside? Was there a natural progression just in Terry's words? I think there's a natural progression in it, as you go through the series and the characters become more benedined and You see that those worlds much more in your mind's eye that guides you You often hear that writers live by a sense that

Many writers have said you know let the characters guide you as you're writing, let them guide you, which is a lovely, um, narrative view to describe it, isn't it? Which is how Terry used the right to the end, especially, he said, with rhymes, especially, he knew what rhymes would do. That I said, he would just give rhymes a job and watch what rhymes do. That's it. That's it. I think it's similar when you're performing it, when you start to build up that back of familiarity, that that leaves it and this gives you the moods that you follow. I think by the time I got to Jinggo, which is the fifth one in, yeah, yeah, by that time, you're familiar. You find the imagining of these worlds in your mind's eye. You know where you are.

All of these descriptions of vines can walk along the cobblers. And you know, in these thin, salt boots. By the feeling of the cobblers, how they move and the shape of where the dips are, where the cracks are. You know, it's exactly where it is, almost like fingertips with braille. Yeah, you know, as far as in the city, just by walking them on it.

So, Jin goes an interesting case. I was gonna ask you about Jigo, particularly, because Jingo is a story that involves character-like middle eastern characters. And one thing you start wondering, when you get to that point, I was like, I wonder how he's going to tackle this, because that is a fine line between a character

between a familiar voice and between something that perfectly can see little bit of effects if you get it wrong. So how did your roasts go? Just to understand the really, reflect the accent, but just to understand it, don't make it too caricatured, you don't make it too over-the-top-do gratuitous, don't make it like, you know, something out of a dressing up box, make them real characters,

reals are a bit, create an engine in the tone, and just play it as straight as you can, but relating to where they are and who they are. Yeah. Just take it, just don't go over the top of it with the answers to that. Next question, that's what I was talking about. The conversations have been not being put on about grace, so I'm afraid it's.

And you've heard that, and it's really exciting. I'm sure when you recall it, your switching voice the voice on the flight, you're not recording, you know, I'm going to do all of the love you're science. Now I'm going to do all the fret sides. You'll switch them just from the tail. I'd rather do that because when you just read one passage, that will then guide you as to how to set the next bit. There's a follow-up. So I'd rather not do it. It could be just too arbitrary to just record all of those chunks chunks record all the others and talk together like a jigsaw and rather than it flow so you're feeling the story and so you're feeling how to respond

to the previous section yeah and I'm not sure how to do it that let the story guide you. The other one I think is really great about I mean often if you know what I'm no but that's a dramatic book that's probably probably the closest, yes, right, thread. And the ending is emotional, and it's probably the most emotional thing you ever write. So, I'm looking forward to finding out, that was something like, you go into those books thinking, I'm doing these comedy books, these funny books, and they are funny. Even in no books, right, there's a bit of an environment, of course, ginger, and molasses, but you know, that's funny. There's loads of projects there, but when you get to that surprise you, you get to see that, and you go,

oh, you can see him getting better as a writer, and this is real, traumatic meat. Yes, I can remember those parts of the recordings. This is why it's rather like a UFO adoption, where you just get into the reading and time passes differently. And three hours have passed, which I only felt like ten minutes, because you're just sailing through this different mood, this different atmosphere, into these different depths. And they give you that feeling. It's almost as if time changes. 10 past 7 already. How can this be? It feels just like an instant. so welcome the different moods and chapters that come and they just mount up in this intriguing

way. It's really unexpected. For example, right, this is what, so you give it not be this cigarette tar soaked, slightly older voice, and he has night washing, got a little boy. Yes, exactly. You had to go up a gear. So, yeah, he was over here, and you know, this is, you know, the Ken Campbell version. I think you have to go a bit, you know, 50 years. He's sort of imagining this, a puppy, but he missed you, his puppy, but the backing tail, he had to place theaceration in this place, okay? You'll sound vines as well. And sometimes has to, okay, this is my yoga self-fine. The responsibility here, but it'll be far from it to me myself.

It's weird, but anyway, it's crackling with it. You'll sound the, you know, the inquisitiveness, and the building of the leash. You can see there the sound vibes that he's going to be. And to have the old sound vibes just supervising, to make sure that that stays on the right horse was there. I think only Terry could have imagined those two side- side by side worlds and to make that me interacting with the did. So one of the things that I do play this one about what he was doing

because obviously you know you pick him out saying the characters have not been distinct and he had a red head, he never read a head, he could eat, found him a thing. So when he got to Fred Kodon in Garth's guards, do you know what this is going? No, I don't, but I'll be following you. He gave it a dollar Irish accent because he just needed to pick an accent. It was interesting, it's not until he played that way, it's my mission. He told me this. Can't do it with normal Irish accent. But he didn't know that Fred Colom was a major character that would be in his seventh book.

And then was just left with this voice. They had to now do every single time. It was really listed, I bless them, try it very hard. And you get the call to it off, just pull it off. But you kind of go, okay, Frank, go on, let's know the narration of this version. All right, so do anything like that, why you kind of wear it, why you sort of wear it, okay,. So, do you like that? Why are you kind of white? Why are you so? But I can't express my past to the light. Let's instant what you think is instant of the character. How do you choose the voices for the central character? We were very lucky at the Land Recallio World recordings were going on. Neil Gardening, such a fat man, this post on Waller Waller, all those beautiful illustrations. And you just look at the various faces.

and you just look at the various faces. And this will trigger a sound in your mind that you think will be right for them. I'd remember Gaspot, the Wunderdog. You and Jason Eiser, do Gaspot, very similar. Oh, right, yes, you both do. I thought there must be some cross-reference like as you both did, so forth. Yeah, first of all, you used the Wunderdog,

going in that speed, you have to be positively're just in the dog, going to that speed. You have to be positively running back, looking at things like that. And then you just think of a little guy, you have the inquisitive copy. I'll go, oh, there's one here. I'll come. Can you walk, heavy reach up?

Yeah, that's right. Just scooting through, just being lucky, just being amiable and being lucky and having things on your side. I think we always would stop recording those times when a new voice had come along and we had to find out who is this character who should be put to it. I'd go back through the library of people I'd known that worked with, from anywhere really, I think, well, okay, let's do this character as... Sometimes I think of people I've worked for in the past, I remember I used to be a glass collector, and I was 15 years old, I was a glass collector and so on and so on. And one of the managers sounded a bit like this.

And I know that this was one of the characters, if it were one of the managers sounded a bit like this. I know all of this was one of the characters, if one of the Jerics, who were some of the other meetings in the squares, and so on. This was someone who I could refer to. And you could build lots and lots of them like that. Wherever you just read the library, you remind, just try to make lots of, make sure they're all contrasting. Then just write down a little footnote, so for when they come again, three volumes later. You can go back and go, okay, the manager of the bar is sitting down, so it's a cup, right?

Back to him, and he'll just click you in, but there's such a comic-alcohol care of characters that you've got to have your notes ready to refer back to him and he'll just click you in. There's such a conical character that you've got to have your bounce ready to refer back to you're in the sores of the characters. My favorite thing you do in the world and it's an incident that I mean it's one of those things that I'm sure you look to the one and I'm there with this. This is going to be amazing. I'm answer to it, okay, we're doing it. Bloody stupid Johnson. Yes, because everyone heard these audience. The guards audience, right? What have you done?

Right. Tell us what you're doing with Bloody Stupid Johnson. Well, Bloody Stupid Johnson, who else could Terry have been referring to? Quite honestly, say, I think that he's a... I think it seemed to be gifting over planes, really. And the more interesting to me, before I did that, that would tell you to approve this. Well, the people that don't. That's really who he meant. In terms of it, it's viewed by Boris Johnson, 1998.

It's holograph. I use a quote from it, and it's a sharp. And the quote says, Ashley, he meant. Well, Terry was interviewed by Boris Johnson in 1998 from Telegraph. I used a quote from it in the other show. And the quote is, Ashley, you could do this. The quote is, I still don't understand the appeal. If I didn't understand this, I would crit. If I didn't understand the appeal, his idea is I would crit. Let me just let me do this. Which one of the was saying that? Sorest Jopson says in the prize. I still am. Show him.

I'm going to get this exactly right. Before we move to the side, I was going to go to the left. Right. Let's get it. Let's get it. He's going to have to go to the left up now. He's going to have to go to the national good league championships. So he'll have to go to the league.

The signals have been terribly good over recent times, but the left top is on the chair now. And I think it was on our signal that I don't just think I was a franca. How do you think this is going to be helpful for you to do the very great approach to... You know, I was a beauty of this kind of speed, is it not always very good? Yes, I understand it, we get... That's from Johnston's Brightstight and the interview was very happy with it. That's from Johnston's bright side and interview with Terry Praschland. Yeah, I'm so if I feel bad for my scale of the success, but then if I did understand the formula, I crit it. I'm critting it. Is that what John's that for seven.

Yes, I think it is because it's sort of, it's just coupled together. What was it? Each word was welded to the last. I don't understand. I don't understand. I will read this old shepard. I didn't understand it. I'm still his idea. It's wrong. Yeah, but I interact with him. I do deal with how people are useful. Thank you for that. Let's build a career on that.

Yeah. Who else could he have meant? So he could have only have been that way. So maybe I could do it with myself. So Rob, Rob, he texted me earlier on. So I had 20s of these, like I put on my Instagram that you were coming on. And Rob said, ask him about the Stargate and that.

Oh, yes. Yes. Well this was, this was an occasion where I didn't mean Terry. He was just the most enigmatic soul you could wish to meet. The person you'd expect him to be, he was exactly that. There's not many people who are recognisable from this sort of it, but Terry certainly was if he was a great friend with Sir Patrick Law, and on many recordings of the sky at night you would find Sir Terry would go along and he would join in with the star parties, the stargays and sessions. Many of them were, I don't know, one of the Perciot Meetiers shouts. And all sorts of sound recording devices that were lined up that could catch the sound

of Perciot Meetiers as they came in. And they sounded like some sort of, you know, 80s synthesizer, a famous, you know, as they appeared to the atmosphere. There was one memorable occasion for a total eclipse of the moon in 2007. It was a beautifully clear night very often, the weather doesn't play ball in astronomy, but this night it was and the impact of Moscow in Chelsea. It was the night of the eclipse and the world in its perfect cheer. There are

never been the sopactric was there ready to record the exceptions for this episode of the sky. these sections for this episode of the sky. I don't know, I don't know, everybody through the Luric lips. Dr Brian May was there, also, tell me about your impressions of just looking up skywards, chatting to Sir Patrick. That number of Brian Mays saying, you know, we're lucky, lucky, lucky, you know, in 2007, it's not better place to be than in of the scroll from the clips of the movie on the track. It was just so mystical. And as the moon passed into the shadow of the earth and turned this beautiful prequette almost as if Mars had come closer to have a visit. And then they're using Terry Pratt, who, just his silhouette, with the haps of the beard looking up once, with the eclipsed moon. And this was the, this was sort of seen that Terry himself could grin. It was as if he was in the middle of his own story. And it was quite an

out of appetite, body experience. And yeah, he would always be there. I think, at the time of Paphim was a funeral. We'd all come back to Farhling's many, many of his was strongly the doctor, all they would be lions, Dr. Brian May, Peter Katamau, who was a geology expert, but for other planets, he knows about all the rock formations on Mars and Titan. John Zonecki, who had sent probes to Titan as well,

very often you'd see it there in these occasions. And just to see everybody at Patrick Mossview Hall was a candle there. Patrick Hall was said, yes, might you roll me your back down. There's a gap. Lightly candle. Lightly candle, I promise. I promise I'll blow it out. I will. I will blow that candle lightly of a kiss, man. But it was normally in the next film by then, so you perhaps hadn't thought it through.

There was a camera that we did light. I'm not too sure whether we didn't blow it out. I think it was still going on before. Of course, he put it. St Patrick Freed, the rest of the universe, he'll be exploring Neptune. He'd have forgotten that he that he'd do that. But nevertheless Terry was there and there's one thing, this high-pounds of time, Lord Smith was there. But Terry was that kind of soul. I also loved the way he was, you know, he alluded it to the start, Terry made his death matter. Absolutely. I loved his descriptions. I was very moved

by his descriptions of how the sense of choosing yourself the time when you go. Rather than cutting life short, I was very moved by the way he described that that actually enhances your life. It's it, it, it lengthens it. Because I won't go today, no, there's a World Cup game on. No, I won't go today, it's a beautiful sunny day. No, I won't go today, somebody's going to visit me. I'm always finding the sense to hold on. That was very, very, and he came up with that,

because he said that because, he bore it in the US, he used nature's leap. So in Oregon and the US, youth knows your sleep, so they give you the driver, they give you the drug to take whenever you're ready to take. Most people never do, because it's always I've got another thing to do. Yeah, that is, yeah, it's the way you describe that was so very moving. It's only Terry who could really go there in that unique way. Patrick, what was that? Did you ever walk out once? Um, I was called Farley's? I think it was a coincidence. You think it's a coincidence? Uh, it probably looked into the the pump of far things. Yeah. And the universe and so on.

But no, no, no, no, I'm a divinist. I think it's not a problem at all. He was always very mischievous, uh, no, no, I'm a divot of nerves, I've had this before. He was always very mischievous, Patrick Mark. One occasion in his study, he would hold court. He'd be sitting in his chair that would be Brit Redbell the Curbs behind him. In this part of his house that had been built in the 1600s. And was one day one, was an electrical engineer, sort of doing a few little bit of maintenance around there. So Patrick,

if the electric snowman had a key, he would fall in. No, no, no, no, no, the lethal fears. No, the lethal fears. He would hold calls there. Very often Terry would be there too. We're getting pretty scared, we, with this great love of things. Terry's the telescope in Terry's observatory, some of the grounds at the house, it's called the Sir Patrick Moore Memorial Telescope. It was called that a couple of years before Patrick Moore died. He gave special permission to call him out. Yes, well, I'm not the memorialized yet, do a bit, you do a bit so that. I know I'm the last man on it, I do think I'm in 19, I'm there for that.

Don't poke it all, don't poke it all, I know I'm not gonna much time left and so and then spend the time as drunk as possible. I must be my gin. Which while accounts, a plan to Terry as well, give it a round in, and he has his coffee. We'll go and call him to rock. Right, so we're running off of you, but it's like, so I'd love some questions if anyone hasn't. I'd uh, for John, about the books, about for me, about Terry's life, about the show, and we'll do our best. So, yes.

To me, no, I think, you're absolutely right about that, but it yes to me no i think that's actually right up there to be honest with you know if there are any other real-life people that is very based his iris no actually uh... he's right is a friend to the book and also occasionally held charity options for people

uh... mister bob is a real person uh... who's the guy who's the net for my sir at the Sydney University? Dr. Hex. Dr. Hex. I've met Dr. Hex. He's a real person. So yeah, there's lots of people actually got involved. I don't know about more bigger characters. I mean also, his granny was granny by the backst. Esk was around the patch here. It's really exciting. They're all in borrowed from a lot of them. Apparently, now, he was literally somebody

who lived in the village right in front of him and just stole the carriage a whole set of them. Was there anything you came across when you went to that part from Laura Johnson? Were you meant to pass that pass? Yes, I wonder, I think the main one's really, not being as long as it was going to be Ken Campbell. Vimes was going to be short-being.

He's Jimmy Johnson, who else. But yes, he would always, his characters were so well conceived and imagined that it would always lead you quickly to somebody. He didn't make you, he didn't have to look around with too much, you know, it would snap into life very critically. He based Ritzlake, was part of the Blue Green, really pretty good, but Ritzlake was partly based

on Nicholas Lindhouse doing Robby Trotter. Which was what perfectly makes sense when you think about it, but it's also why the former romantic TV show, you're like, it's the wrong trotter brother I think that was what we did, I thought that I'd done the live video I think we went there, I was the star of the bloody army Now it's your point I said that when he got to Ritzwind, he just looks at everyone

Okay, I know why they've asked me now. Oh no. So there are some of it. I think in every case that person gets so much moves. It's a really good question. I'm not really a role playing game type of guy. I know that's massively under the minds of my knur� financials. I've heard it's great that the girl's game.

I don't even know what girl's means. It sounds like I have some reflux, but I had it very good. Yeah. The answer to all of this, if you book games, three, four video games, first of one, I know you're fine. I know a lot about it, sorry, but... I think going to reading an audiobook and taking on all the characters, that feels like a roleplay game to me,

because you're just taking that trip through and trying to fit them all together, and it does have a roleplay sensibility to it. And you could probably improvise on those characters now, I'm actually known so well. Yes, I think I've conducted a couple of interviews with Sam Bayern. You know, in the show, being starly, you know, I think I recorded a park into interviewing Sean B. Sam Bayern's, yeah. I'm just very close to the team, you Mae'n gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweith not be not so close to them and he'll be sure chaotic that they're not going to be able to think straight and they'll be long, they're weaknesses and then we can come in and just get it nailed down, you know. Right, I reckon that's a lot of questions. So, yes.

So you said, what would it be a possibility to read? Yes. Well, that was Terry's suggestion. Terry's on it, it's Alan and I. I was just wondering that the reason that this might make us never have a juice because Tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, but fine, okay. Sorry. Well, if you guys watch what she's into, what's the kind of stuff she likes? Guards, guards, it's a great starting point. The later ones are a bit richer, so night watch is a great starting point.

See, you play out, I think it's great. Hogfather, I think it's a great starter one. The parents can't watch, so it's such nice. Really? Because there's that all human life is there. The next stuff like nation, which has just been incredible, and it wasn't this one, that's a, not this one, just one of the best, it's probably the best one here ever. So yeah, there's no big, I don't like it. Describe it to me later and I'll tell you with your. Right, I think that's all we've got time for, because the next show, yeah, I'm

really going to be five or one. You are all in lovely, thank you so much, a small, perfectly fond by adorable people. I do this every day, different guests, every day, and it's always good, it's always good, it's always my favourite day, but please give it up for my it, we got it.