First Lines: Shaking Hands with Death

In 2010, Sir Terry Pratchett gave the 34th Richard Dimbleby Lecture from the Royal College of Physicians in London. Titled Shaking Hands with Death, it dealt with his ‘embuggerance’ — a rare form of early onset Alzheimer’s — and our right to a dignified death.

Terry Pratchett — Shaking Hands with Death (transcript)

Following his death in March 2015, and after previously being collected in A Slip of the Keyboard, it was published again as a tiny stand-alone volume.

Book read
Terry Pratchett — Shaking Hands with Death
First line
Firstly I must express my gratitude and grateful thanks to the Dimbleby family for asking me to give this lecture today.