A hard drive containing Sir Terry Pratchett’s unpublished works has been destroyed by a steamroller, just as the late author wanted.
Following his death in 2015 after a battle with Alzheimer’s, his friend, author Neil Gaiman, revealed that the fantasy writer wanted ‘whatever he was working on at the time of his death to be taken out along with his computers, to be put in the middle of a road and for a steamroller to steamroll over them all’.
Sir Terry’s hard drive was steamrollered at the Great Dorset Steam Fair, by a vintage John Fowler & Co steamroller named Lord Jericho.
Rob Wilkins, the former personnel assistant of late British author Terry Pratchett, destroying a hard drive containing Pratchett’s remaining unpublished work in accordance with the late author’s wishes at the Great Dorset Steam Fair in Blandford
Pratchett’s hard drive was steamrollered at the Great Dorset Steam Fair, by a vintage John Fowler & Co steamroller named Lord Jericho
The crushed hard drive containing the remaining unpublished work of late British author Terry Pratchett destroyed by Rob Wilkins, the writer’s friend and collaborator
Sir Terry is thought to have left 10 unfinished novels in some form, although it is not clear which were on the drive
Rob Wilkins, who manages the Pratchett estate, tweeted that the unfinished books had been destroyed.
‘About to fulfill my obligation to Terry @SalisburyMuseum @Wiltshire-flo,’ he wrote on Twitter, while posting a picture of a hard drive next to a steamroller.
He followed up with a picture of what appeared to be a broken hard drive, writing: ‘There goes the browsing history…’
The object will go on display at the Salisbury Museum in September, in its new exhibition, Terry Pratchett: His World.
The exhibition’s curator, Richard Henry, said the steamroller did not manage to crush the hard drive completely – despite weighing more than six tonnes.
Rob Wilkins, who manages the Pratchett estate, tweeted that the unfinished books had been destroyed
‘The piece of stone underneath it got completely annihilated, but the hard drive was then put in a stonecrusher,’ he said, adding that it is now ‘a little worse for wear’.
Pratchett is thought to have left 10 unfinished novels in some form, although it is not clear which were on the drive.
Henry, a fan of the Discworld author for many years, said he did not wish to know how many books were on the drive as it could ‘ruin the magic’.
Terry Pratchett: His World opens on September 16 and will include artwork by the author and some of the treasured items he once owned.