Arise, Sir Terry

My favourite living author, Terry Pratchett, was awarded a knighthood in the New Year's Honours List that was announced at the end of December. I was delighted by the news as Pratchett's...er, Sir Terry's...hmm, Sir Terence's?...nah, Sir Terry it is on this blog. Sorry, where were we?

Oh, yes. I was delighted because Sir Terry's writing style is absolutely wonderful in my opinion, and his most famous creation, Discworld (a flat world balanced on the backs of four elephants which, in turn, stand on the back of a giant turtle, Great A'Tuin) has previously been described on this blog as "sublimely lunatic", and I stand by that description.

The strange thing is that I am not normally much of a chap for the fantasy genre. Even "The Lord of the Rings" and Harry Potter required the movies to provide incentive for me to read them. I picked up my first Discworld book, "Monstrous Regiment", solely on the advice of a friend who seemed to share similar literary tastes to mine. I've read about a dozen or so of the Discworld books so far, and only wish I could put life on hold for a while to be able to read the rest of them. One reason why I like Sir Terry's writing so much is because one of his influences is my favourite author of all time, P. G. Wodehouse. The Discworld novels have a wonderfully entertaining style about them, just like Wodehouse's stories, and a fair dose of spot-on satire as well.

While reading the BBC article announcing the Honours List, I was stunned to discover that Sir Terry suffers from a rare form of early-onset Alzheimer's disease. It is such a shock to think that the man's wonderfully imaginative brain, that has provided me with so much delight, may slowly be shrivelling up and dying.

Sir Terry has donated $1 million to the Alzheimer's Research Trust, and an internet campaign has been set-up called "Match It for Pratchett", which aims to raise another million for the same purpose. Please do what you can, and also spread the word. I have put a permanent link to the site on the left of my blog if you need to find the site later on.

PS: Great quote from Sir Terry: "Wikipedia, eh? Must be accurate then!"

Do They Know Its Christmas?

The video of the 1984 charity single by the British and Irish super-group Band Aid.

Touching story

I have already mentioned my love of Wikipedia in a previous blog post, It is the first place I turn to nowadays to find out more about...well, just about anything. And while it is very, very good, being that it is open for anyone to edit, and that there is no rigorous peer-review procedure, it is not unfallible. (Then again, neither is the gold standard amongst encylopaedias, Encyclopædia Britannica.)

BBC Radio personality and comedian, Martin Kelner, sometimes prefaces his references to Wikipedia as "that unimpeachable source", while I refer to it as "The Source of All Knowledge", or TSOAK. As a rebuttal to that, my blogger friend, Charlottalove, calls it TSOaAK (the small 'a' standing for 'almost').

I visit Wikipedia almost every day, and I particularly enjoy the featured articles and the "Did you know..." sections. I've even been known to while away slow hours (and even not-so-slow hours) browsing some of the 2.4+ million articles. In fact, all my knowledge of Israel's military history was acquired at the feet of TSOAK.

Earlier this month, the "Did you know..." section had a link to the entry for the Podgórski sisters, The blurb read:

Did you know...that the Podgórski sisters—six-year-old Helena and her teenage sister Stefania—harbored thirteen Jews for over two years in the attic of their house during the Holocaust?

"No, I did not know that. A teenager and a six-year-old did that? For two years? Tell me more."

So Wikipedia told me more. And I am...humbled by these two amazing siblings. The world is a better place because of people like the Podgórski sisters.

Here is their entry in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's website.

I have chosen to publish this post today as it was on 27 July, 1944, that Przemysl was liberated by the Soviet army, and the war ended for the Podgórski sisters and their 13 Jewish friends.