Pratchett makes Alzheimer's donation

Author Terry Pratchett has announced that he is donating £500,000 to help find a cure for Alzheimer's.

The 59-year-old revealed last December that he had been diagnosed with a rare form of the disease.

He slammed the lack of funding available to sufferers during a speech at the Alzheimer's Research Trust conference in Bristol, saying he wanted to "kick a politician in the teeth".

He said: "There's nearly as many of us as there are cancer sufferers, and it looks as if the number of people with the disease will double within a generation. It's a shock and a shame, then, to find out that money for research is 3% of that which goes to find cancer cures.

"Perhaps that is why, for example, that I know three people who have successfully survived brain tumours but no-one who has beaten Alzheimer's."

Pratchett will give the money to the Alzheimer's Research Trust charity.

He is best known for the popular Discworld series, which currently comprises 36 novels.