Hundreds of fans queued for hours to meet their favourite personality, who spent the morning chatting and signing books, before being whisked away by helicopter to London for the second part of the book launch – his only other public appearance in the UK this year.

Pratchett himself chose to come to the tiny shop because it is believed to be the smallest Island bookshop in the country, with only three square metres of floor space.

This reflects the theme of his new novel, Nation, which is set on a small tropical island.

To set the scene, the Mengham store was specially decorated for the occasion. Customers walked through a jungle of foliage to reach the shop door.

There was even a live parrot inside the store, just like the one in the novel.

First in line was Susan Blight, of Eastoke Avenue, who had one of 200 official numbered tickets for the event.
She said: "I've read quite a few of his books and it was great to meet him!"

Hayling teenager Richard Strange, aged 13, and his two friends from Oaklands School, Will O'Rourke, from Emsworth, and Matthew Foster, from Denmead, got up at 5am to make sure they were first in the queue of non-ticket-holders.

They are all Pratchett enthusiasts and were thrilled when their favourite author found time to talk to them and sign their books.

Another keen fan is Dr Pat Harkin, who drove 260 miles from Leeds to join the crowds at Hayling.

He has met the author many times before and travelled on to the second part of the book launch, which took place later on the same day, at the largest book store in Europe: Waterstone's in Piccadilly.

The event created some excitement in Mengham, where queues extended in both directions along the pavements for more than two hours.

Some fans brought their own folding chairs and refreshments for the long wait.

The shop's owners were both delighted with the good humour of the crowd and the success of the book-signing.

AMONG the Pratchett entourage were his publicity director, Clare Hall-Craggs, his personal assistant Rob Wilkins, and a film crew, led by producer Craig Hunter and director Charlie Russell.

Rob Wilkins explained: "They are making a documentary programme about Terry, which will be screened on BBC2 in January, or February.

"It will touch on Terry's health problems. Many people now know that Terry has Alzheimer's disease.

"At first, he thought he had suffered a stroke – but he has been much better since he has had the correct diagnosis, because he has been receiving treatment for his particular variant of the disease.

"The crew have already filmed Terry working at home in Wiltshire and of course they wanted to come to the book launch.

"They also came with us recently when we spent nine days at UCLA (the University of California in Los Angeles), where Terry was seeing some of the most eminent Alzheimer's specialists.

"We learned about all the latest research and treatments. We also heard of some rather weird remedies, such as eating turmeric with warm milk, or wearing a special helmet which directs infra-red light into the brain!

"I think it will be a very interesting and informative documentary."

Clare Hall-Craggs added: "The book signing was a tremendous success. Terry wanted to do something special for the launch of Nation and Colin and Marie were the perfect hosts for such an event."

The new book is not part of the fantasy Discworld series. It is a rarity in the Pratchett catalogue: a stand-alone novel.

The action-packed story of a young girl shipwrecked on an island in the South Seas will appeal to younger readers, while older people will find a witty hidden commentary about politics, culture and the history of civilisation. Nation is published by Doubleday, priced at £16.99.