Tinkering with science (Image: Russell Sach/Scopefeatures.com)

Terry Pratchett, author of more than 70 books, has died aged 66. He had early-onset Alzheimer’s. Here we reproduce our interview with him about tinkering with science, his battle with Alzheimer’s and the odds of escaping from a crab bucket.

TERRY PRATCHETT’s garden is as full of meandering paths, sudden dead ends and hidden gems as one of his Discworld novels. Copper-hued fish navigate their way through a weed-choked pond, a tray of Venus flytraps sits in a greenhouse that overflows with chillies the length of a child’s arm, and beady-eyed tortoises quietly crouch in a herbarium. …