Editing Terry Pratchett (section)

==Early life and education==
Pratchett was born on 28 April 1948 in [[Beaconsfield]] in [[Buckinghamshire]], England, the only child of David (1921–2006), a mechanic, and Eileen Pratchett (1922–2010), a secretary, of [[Hay-on-Wye]].{{sfn|Cabell|2011|p=3}}<ref name="odnb">{{Cite odnb|title=Pratchett, Sir Terence David John (Terry)|doi=10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.110260|date=10 January 2019|last1=Sawyer |first1=Andy |author-link=Andrew Sawyer}}</ref> His maternal grandparents came from Ireland.<ref>{{Cite news|date=26 September 2012|title=Only in Ireland would somebody make me a Professor.|url=http://www.theirishworld.com/only-in-ireland-would-somebody-make-me-a-professor/ |access-date=5 April 2019|archive-date=30 December 2019| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191230192449/https://www.theirishworld.com/only-in-ireland-would-somebody-make-me-a-professor/|url-status =dead |newspaper=[[The Irish World (London)|The Irish World]] |last=Hennessy |first=David}}</ref> Pratchett attended Holtspur School, where he was bullied for his [[speech impediments]].<ref name="Khomami2017">{{Cite news|last=Khomami|first=Nadia|date=3 February 2017|title=Terry Pratchett docudrama reveals moment author realised he was 'dead'|language=en-GB|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/feb/03/terry-pratchett-docudrama-author-dead-alzheimers|access-date=13 September 2020|issn=0261-3077}}</ref> He was disliked by the [[head teacher]], who, Pratchett said, thought "he could tell how successful you were going to be in later life by how well you could read or write at the age of six".<ref name="Khomami2017"/>

Pratchett's family moved to [[Bridgwater]], Somerset, briefly in 1957.{{sfn|Cabell|2011|p=3}} He passed his [[eleven plus exam]] in 1958, earning a place at [[High Wycombe Technical High School]],{{efn|Pratchett gave his eleven plus exam in 1958 according to biographer Marc Burrows,{{sfn|Burrows|2020|loc=chpt. 1}} and in 1959 according to Craig Cabell.{{sfn|Cabell|2011|p=3}}}}<ref>{{cite web|title=Discworld heroes were old masters|publisher=Bucks Free Press|date=13 February 2002|url=http://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/archive/display.var.49775.0.discworld_heroes_were_old_masters.php|access-date=28 July 2006|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926222944/http://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/archive/display.var.49775.0.discworld_heroes_were_old_masters.php|archive-date=26 September 2007}}</ref> where he was a key member of the debating society{{sfn|Burrows|2020|loc=chpt. 3}}<ref>J. R. Hughes U6A, "The Senior Debating Society 1965", in ''Cygnet, Wycombe Technical High School Magazine'', May 1966, Vol. 2, no. 1, p. [20].</ref> and wrote stories for the school magazine.{{sfn|Burrows|2020|loc=chpt. 3}}<ref>Stories in the ''Technical Cygnet'': "Business Rivals" (later to be revised and published under the title "The Hades Business"), 1: 8, December 1962, pp. 18–29; "Look for the Little – Dragon?" and "The Searcher" 1: 9, March 1964, pp. 28–29; "Solution" 1: 10, July 1964, p. 25; and "The Picture" 1:11, May 1965, p. 12.</ref> Pratchett described himself as a "non-descript" student and,<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Asher-Perrin |first=Emmet |date=28 April 2015 |title=Terry Pratchett is (Supposedly) the Most Shoplifted Author in Great Britain for a Reason |url=https://www.tor.com/2015/04/28/terry-pratchett-is-the-most-shop-lifted-author-in-great-britain-for-a-reason/ |magazine=[[Tor.com]]}}</ref> in his ''[[Who's Who (UK)|Who's Who]]'' entry, credited his education to the Beaconsfield Public Library.{{sfn|Cabell|2011|p=3}}<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5185|title=Terry Pratchett|encyclopedia=[[The Literary Encyclopedia]]|access-date=1 July 2009|date=20 September 2002|last=Smith|first=Kevin P.}}</ref>

Pratchett's early interests included [[astronomy]].{{sfn|Burrows|2020|loc=chpt. 1}} He collected [[Brooke Bond#Cards|Brooke Bond tea cards]] about space, owned a telescope and wanted to be an astronomer, but lacked the necessary mathematical skills.{{sfn|Burrows|2020|loc=chpt. 1}} He developed an interest in science fiction and attended [[science fiction convention]]s from about 1963–1964, but stopped a few years later when he got his first job as a trainee journalist at the local paper.<ref name="sfw">{{cite web|publisher=[[SciFi.com]]|url=http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue449/interview.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080115061550/http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue449/interview.html|archive-date=15 January 2008|title=Terry Pratchett on the origins of Discworld, his Order of the British Empire and everything in between|date=2005|access-date=17 February 2008}}</ref> His early reading included the works of [[H. G. Wells]], [[Arthur Conan Doyle]], and "every book you really ought to read", which he later regarded as "getting an education".<ref name="peschel">{{cite web|publisher=Bill Peschel|url=http://www.planetpeschel.com/wp/2006/09/interview-with-terry-pratchett/|title=Interview with Terry Pratchett|date=14 September 2006|access-date=17 February 2008|archive-date=27 May 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130527001248/http://planetpeschel.com/wp/2006/09/interview-with-terry-pratchett/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Pratchett published his first short story, "Business Rivals", in the High Wycombe Technical School's magazine in 1962. It is the tale of a man named Crucible who finds the Devil in his flat in a cloud of sulphurous smoke.<ref name="bfp">Bucks Free Press, p.&nbsp;121 Sir Terry Pratchett Tribute. 20 March 2015.</ref> "The Hades Business" was published in the school magazine when he was 13, and published commercially when he was 15.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=Kevin P. Smith, Sheffield Hallam University, The Literary Encyclopedia |url=http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5185 |title=Terry Pratchett |date=20 September 2002 |access-date=6 June 2007}}</ref>

Pratchett earned five [[O-levels]] and started [[Advanced Level (UK)|A-level]] courses in Art, English and History.{{sfn|Burrows|2020|loc=chpt. 2}} His initial career choice was journalism and he left school at 17, in 1965, to start an apprenticeship with Arthur Church, the editor of the ''[[Bucks Free Press]]''. In this position he wrote, among other things, more than 80 stories for the ''Children's Circle'' section under the name Uncle Jim. Two of the stories contain characters found in his novel ''[[The Carpet People]]'' (1971).<ref>''Bucks Free Press'', issues of 8 October to 23 December 1965, and 20 January to 3 March 1967.</ref> While on [[wikt:day release#Noun-employment|day release]] from his apprenticeship, Pratchett finished his A-Level in English and took the [[National Council for the Training of Journalists]] proficiency course.{{sfn|Burrows|2020|loc=chpt. 3}}<ref name="smythe">{{cite web |publisher=Colinsmythe.co.uk |url=http://www.colinsmythe.co.uk/terry-pratchett |title=Terry Pratchett and his Works |access-date=4 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170518113536/http://colinsmythe.co.uk/terry-pratchett/ |archive-date=18 May 2017 |url-status=dead}}</ref>