Discworld Comes to Somerset

Feb 13, 2008
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Discworld Comes to Somerset

People talking about the eccentricity of the English need only look to the town of Wincanton in Somerset, which not only has been twinned with the fictional town of [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2549557.stm] Ankh-Morpork [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ankh-Morpork], but now bears some of the same streets.

For those not familiar with Sir Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, it's about a disc-shaped world that rests on the back of four elephants. The elephants stand on the back of a giant turtle, Great A'Tuin, who swims through space. If you can accept that, and that Death rides a horse called Binky, you've got a reasonable idea of the books.

Ankh-Morpork is the main town of the books and as a tribute to the author, developer George Wimpey [http://www.georgewimpey.co.uk/] presented Wincanton residents with a list of 14 possible names for new street names, based on the famous streets of Ankh-Morpork.

The two winning streets turned out to be Peach Pie Street and Treacle Mine Road, home of the "Glorious People's Republic!" [http://wiki.lspace.org/wiki/People%27s_Republic_of_Treacle_Mine_Road]

Pratchett seems to find the whole thing rather amusing. "It's a lovely idea, to do something for the sheer joy and incongruity of doing it. I have to say well done to Wimpey for having the guts to do this. It's nice that an organization should unbend and join in the fun," he said.

"These are nice names, even though I say it myself. Personally, I'd pay good money to live somewhere called Treacle Mine Road," he continued.

But, like in any normal Discworld story, there has been a long struggle to get it accepted.

Back in 2003 [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/3002242.stm], the government steadfastly refused to have official "twinning" status added to the roadsigns as "twin towns actually have to exist". Luckily, Vetenari [http://wiki.lspace.org/wiki/Havelock_Vetinari] seems to have had a word with them and now the roadsigns proudly display their loyalty.

Source: The Librarian [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Librarian_(Discworld)]


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Doug

New member
Apr 23, 2008
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Great nerdy and powerful spirit, this is nice! Always enjoyed the books, and its amusing to see them get into the 'mainsteam' enough for people to change road names.
 

Ophiuchus

8 miles high and falling fast
Mar 31, 2008
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I can't really consider myself a Discworld fan - enjoyed the point 'n' click games but never got around to reading the books - but it makes me smile to see something as silly as having a real town twinned with a fictional one. I'd be proud to live on Peach Pie Street, if only for giggles.
 

Sir Ollie

The Emperor's Finest
Jan 14, 2009
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That is awesome and i'm a fan of the discworld series plus you got to love this

 

Blue biro

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Apr 7, 2009
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Wow OK imagine my surprise and discovering this. I actually live in Wincanton and yes, it is true, we are twinned with Ankh-Morpork (spelling, sorry not actually a Discworld fan). I don't think the streets are actually named yet. There's a new housing estate being built and I think that's where the street names are going to end up, although I'm not sure. Our twinning is linked with a shop we have in the high street called The Cunning Articifer. The shop used to have a giant soft ape in the window and is, according to the owner Bernard, the only Discworld Emporium in England. I've only been in twice but it is, something umm different? The strangest thing personally is that the shop holds some sort of themed weekends where Discworld fans come up in full fancy dress for some sort of event. They're pretty interesting to witness a Barbarian and a wizard walk past some poor bemused old lady.

Sorry although I'm not actually a Discworld fan I had to comment on this as it's just so strange to find this on the Escapist.
 

Shaenightbird

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Apr 7, 2008
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I love Terry Pratchett's work, especially the Discworld series. I'd be happy to live on either Peach Pie Street or Treacle Mine Road. Huzzah for Wincanton! Or would that be Ankh-Wincanton now?
 

Doug

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Apr 23, 2008
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Blue biro said:
The strangest thing personally is that the shop holds some sort of themed weekends where Discworld fans come up in full fancy dress for some sort of event. They're pretty interesting to witness a Barbarian and a wizard walk past some poor bemused old lady.
Discworld cosplay!? lol, let me guess, the Barbarian guy was pretty old, and had a wooly hold all on?
 

GonzoGamer

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Apr 9, 2008
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The Pratchetts (his daughter is quite talented too as some Overlord fans might already know) are awesome.

Ook!