I WISH to set the record straight for fans of best-selling writer Sir Terry Pratchett.

Yes, Sir Terry was once a journalist on the Bucks Free Press which I now edit.

But no, he did not base his legendary Discworld character ‘Cohen the Barbarian’ on me.

I have been told there is a discussion on this very subject among a branch of fans after the Bucks Free Press collaborated with the Friends of High Wycombe Libraries to set up a website featuring the author’s short stories while he worked on our paper.

My name is on this library site endorsing the project so Discworld fanatics are bound to make the connection.

To set the record straight, I joined the Bucks Free Press in 1989 long after Mr P had left. Furthermore, I have never met or talked to him, although my reporters have, so there is no evidence he even knows of my existence.

Finally, the character of Ghenghiz Cohen, or Cohen the Barbarian as he is known, was first introduced in a novel called the Light Fantastic which was published in 1986 – a full three years before I joined the team.

Hopefully, this puts the matter to rest once and for all and you will all accept it is nothing but a sheer Cohen-cidence.