Terry Pratchett's unfinished works destroyed by steamroller, per his wishes

Though Sir Terry Pratchett may have passed, his wry sense of humour lives on.

Just before the bank holiday weekend (Friday, 25 August), a hard drive containing the fantasy novelist’s unfinished work was destroyed by a John Fowler & Co steamroller.

Rob Wilkins — manager of the Pratchett estate — posted an image of the hard drive to Twitter from the Great Dorset Steam Fair, the vintage steamroller, named Lord Jericho, pictured in the background.

Just over half an hour later, another photograph was uploaded, the device having been smashed and the caption reading: “There goes the browsing history…”

Pratchett’s close friend Neil Gaiman had previously told The Times the author 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”.

Gaiman — who authored The Sandman, Coraline, and American Gods — added that he was “ridiculously glad that hasn’t happened yet.” Many fans shared a similar sentiment, hoping the peculiar ritual would never take place, but were respectful nonetheless when it did.

The destroyed hard will be displayed at the celebratory Salisbury museum exhibit Terry Pratchett: HisWorld between 16 September and 13 January 2018.

Pratchett died in March 2015, having been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2007. Following the diagnoses, he became an advocate for assisted dying, presenting the 2011 BBC documentary Terry Pratchett: Choosing to Die to much controversy.

Two of his books were published posthumously: the final Discworld novel The Shepherd’s Crown and The Long Utopia, assisted by Stephen Baxter.