“I just respect Terry Pratchett so much and how he confronted dementia.”
– by Melvyn Brooks
“Hello, it’s Melvyn here. Not a very nice day, horrible day, overcast, getting about with rain.
Listened to the news in the middle of the night, like I do most nights, I listen to Radio 5, and Terry Pratchett’s last book has come out very poignantly and I never read any of his books but from what I’ve been told they say 100 million books of his have been sold, so he must have done something right. And it’s just so sad that he’s no longer with us and I just respect the man so much and how he confronted dementia.
And I often read poems and I love Siegfried Sassoon and I just picked out one of his poems that I think would be apt just to quickly read. It’s called Great Men.
The great ones of the earth
Approve, with smiles and bland salutes, the rage
And monstrous tyranny they have brought to birth.
The great ones of the earth
Are much concerned about the wars they wage,
And quite aware of what those wars are worth.
You Marshals, gilt and red,
You Ministers and Princes, and Great Men,
Why can’t you keep your mouthings for the dead?
Go round the simple Cemeteries; and then
Talk of our noble sacrifice and losses
To the wooden crosses.
And he certainly sacrificed quite a bit of his personal life, because he actually said that he’d got dementia and he confronted it full on. And when he was found out till the day he died was 8 years, which was a long time for someone to bear. I think he was a fantastic guy and there’ll be more behind him, which I find sad. But hey ho, life goes on.”
