Terry Pratchett was a British fantasy novelist whose work was turned into television series and movies, most notably Hogfather, Discworld and The Color of Magic.

The writer created more than 70 books, many of them existing in imaginative fantasy worlds, with cultural and political satire, selling 85 million copies worldwide. Pratchett’s Discworld is a planet of sorts, appropriately disc-shaped, and balanced on the backs of four elephants who are standing on the shell of a giant turtle. Over three decades and forty-plus volumes, the world of the novel grew, and was also developed into a popular video game series.

Soul Music was one of several television series to be based on a Pratchett novel, while Hogfather was a television movie from the Discworld series, as was The Color of Magic.

He was fond of saying that his best education came from the Beaconsfield Public Library, and an early interest in astronomy resulted in a love of science fiction. In 2009 he became Sir Terry when Queen Elizabeth II knighted him.

Pratchett died March 12, 2015, in Broad Chalke, Wiltshire, England. He was 66.