FT258

Born in Chicago in 1938, Philip Kindred Dick sold his first story in 1952, his first novel in 1955, and went on to become one of the most celebrated science fiction writers of the 20th century (see FT161:42–46; 162:24–25).

He is now perhaps best known for his novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? which was the basis for Ridley Scott’s 1982 movie Blade Runner, starr­ing Hollywood crowd-puller Harrison Ford.

On 20 February 1974, Dick was recovering at home from the effects of sodium pentothal, administered after the extraction of an impacted wisdom tooth. Answering the door to receive a delivery of additional painkillers, he noticed that the delivery woman was wearing a pendant displaying what he later described as the “vesicle pisces”.