Book:Unseen Academicals

Unseen Academicals
Cover art by Paul Kidby
Co-author(s)
Illustrator(s)
Publisher	Doubleday
Publication date	13 Oct 2009
ISBN	0385609345
Pages	320
RRP
Main characters	Mr. Nutt, Trevor Likely, Glenda Sugarbean, Juliet Stollop
Series	Ankh-Morpork Series
Annotations	View
Notes
All data relates to the first UK edition.

Cover blurb

"Football has come to the ancient city of Ankh-Morpork – not the old fashioned, grubby pushing and shoving, but the new, fast football with pointy hats for goalposts and balls that go gloing when you drop them. And now, the wizards of Unseen University must win a football match, without using magic, so they're in the mood for trying everything else.

The prospect of the Big Match draws in a likely lad with a wonderful talent for kicking a tin can, a maker of jolly good pies, a dim but beautiful young woman who might just turn out to be the greatest fashion model there has ever been, and the mysterious Mr Nutt. (No one knows anything much about Mr Nutt, not even Mr Nutt, which worries him, too.)

As the match approaches, four lives are entangled and changed for ever. Because the thing about football – the important thing about football – is that it is not just about football.

Here we go! Here we go! Here we go!"

Characters

Major Characters

• Glenda Sugarbean
• Juliet Stollop
• Trevor Likely
• Mr Nutt
• Lord Vetinari
• Madame Sharn
• Pepe
• Andy Shank

Wizards

• Wizards of Unseen University
  • Mustrum Ridcully
  • Rincewind
  • The Librarian
  • Chair of Indefinite Studies
  • Lecturer in Recent Runes
  • Senior Wrangler
  • Ponder Stibbons
  • Dr Hix
  • Bengo Macarona, for clarity it should be noted that merely one person has matriculated as Bengo Macarona.
  • Professor of Recondite Phenomena
  • Professor of Illiberal Studies
  • Professor Maidenhair

• Wizards of Brazeneck College
  • Archchancellor Henry
  • Adrian Turnipseed
  • Able Baker

Minor Characters

• Ankh-Morpork United:
  • Charles Barton
  • F. Brisket
  • H. Capstick
  • Joseph Hoggett, captain
  • J. W. Rickett
  • Jimmy Wilkins
• Mrs. Atkinson
• Miss Healstether
• Doctor John Lawn
• Igor at the Lady Sybil Free Hospital
• Lady Margolotta
• Rufus Drumknott
• Algernon Stollop
• The sisters of perpetual velocity
• William de Worde
• Glang Snorrisson
• Rudolph Scattering
• "Fartmeister" Carter
• Employees at Unseen University
  • Mrs Whitlow
  • Natchbull Smeems, the Candle Knave
  • Downbody
  • Bledlow Nobbs (no relation)
  • Bledlow Ottomy
  • Bledlow Hipney
  • Concrete

Cameos and Mentions

• Sergeant Angua
• J.P. Bunderbell
• Herr Fassel
• Frugal, a philosopher of the Bonk School
• Constable Haddock
• Bluejohn
• Hwel the Playwright
• Dave Likely
• Piggy Love
• Herr Doktor Maspinder, another philosopher of the Bonk School
• Ofleberger, a philosopher of the Bonk School
• Pondlife, a student at UU
• Low King Rhys Rhysson
• Mr. Shine
• Martin Sogger
• Trousenblert, yet another philosopher of the Bonk School
• Vonmausberger. Did we mention he is a philosopher of the Bonk School?
• Dustworthy Swithin
• Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler
• Death
• Bill Rincewind
• Sam Vimes
• The Luggage
• The Postmaster General (Moist von Lipwig)

Locations

• Ankh-Morpork
  • Unseen University
    • The Night Kitchen
    • The vats
    • Uncommon Room
  • Dolly Sisters
  • Dimwell
  • Tenth Egg Street
  • The Hippo
  • Lady Sybil Free Hospital (mentioned)
  • Patrician's Palace
  • Shatta
  • Treacle Mine Road
• Genua
• Pseudopolis
  • Brazeneck College
• Sto Lat
• Uberwald (mentioned)
  • AKA The Evil Empire (mentioned)

Things and Concepts

• Hunt the Megapode
• Bu-Bubble
• Cabinet of Curiosity
• Compendium of Odours by Brakefast
• Dark War
• Discomforting Misusage, by Birdcatcher
• First Prodostian War, lost by the Maranids
• Five Hours and Sixteen Minutes Among The Goblins of Far Uberwald
• Goblins
• Grapeshot's Therapeutic Squeezer
• Hex
• Micromail
• Orcs
• Pex (mentioned)
• Retribushium
• Ritual Aggression in Pubescent Rats
• The Shove
• The Speech of Trolls by Postalume
• The Ankh-Morpork Times
• Trespassers' Society of Ankh-Morpork
• Trumpet of Equestrianism by Spout
• We Can Rule You Wholesale
• Beauty Arising from the Pease Pudding Cart Attended by Cherubs Carrying Hot Dogs and Pies
• The whistle of Evans the Striped
• Blit
• Crab Bucket

Foot-the-ball sides

• The Angels
• Dimwell Old Pals
• Dolly Sisters Football Club
• Unseen Academicals
• Ankh-Morpork United
• Treacle Mine Tuesday ("the Miners")
• Cockbill Boars
• Pigsty Hill Pork Packers
• Naphill United
• Whopping Street Wanderers ("the Whoppers")
• Lobbin Clout

Gameday Iconograph

Lineup

• Front: Librarian
• First Row, from left: The Luggage-The Chair of Indefinite Studies- Mr. Nutt
• Seated: Dr. Hix-Ponder Stibbons-The Lecturer in Recent Runes-Trevor Likely
• Standing: Glenda Sugarbean-Senior Wrangler-Bengo Macarona-Mustrum Ridcully-Rincewind-Havelock Vetinari-Juliet Stollop

Roundworld comparisons

That hack from Stratford-on Avon wrote a play about horny teenagers in Verona, Italy. This Discworld story centers on horny teenagers (well, not Glenda) who are fans of different foot-the-ball sides, but then again it doesn't. The name Dimwell seems close to Millwall, area and football club in London noted for the belligerence of their supporters. Uberwald is a roundworld reference to Germany. The orcs are symbolic for modern Germans. All books that Nutt cites have German titles. Today, Germans have problems with their place in history, because of their role in the war, just like the orcs, even several generations afterwards. Uberwald actually translates as over the forest as does Transylvania. The books have German titles because Freud is the father of psychology.

See also:

Annotations for Unseen Academicals

The Ankh-Morpork Football Association Hall of Fame playing cards

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