10. He Wrote Sci-Fi After Failing As An Astronomer
Pratchett was always a fervent campaigner for genre fiction, a writer of science fiction and fantasy himself who was reportedly infuriated whenever such works were disregarded in favour of literary novels. He believed he owed a debt to the science fiction/fantasy genre which he grew up out of, devouring books by HG Wells and Arthur Conan Doyle as a child. The interest in science fiction waned a little over the years, coming back with a vengeance with his Stephen Baxter collaborations, but it was actually those books he read as a child which put him on the path to becoming an author, rather than any fantasy tomes. The young Pratchett was a keen astronomer, owning a telescope and hoping to pursue it as a career when he was older. Unfortunately he didn't quite have the requisite mathematical skills and instead applied his interest in the cosmos to fiction; which worked out pretty well, since when he grew up he could afford to put an observatory in his garden.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
