Richard Adams, author of 'Watership Down' and described recently as a legend of literature, was born in Newbury in 1920 as the replacement for a baby brother who died in the great influenza epidemic of 1917-19. His mother was well over 40 at the time of his birth, and his was a solitary childhood spent in a large garden. Here he explains how his days spent watching bird, beetles and wild creatures around his home engendered in him a lifelong love of nature. His years at prep and public school, at Oxford and in the army are all vividly described, and their influence on the recurrent themes in his writing of battle, leadership, friendship, bullying, solitude and longing made plain.
Richard George Adams (born 9 May, 1920) is an English novelist best known as the author of Watership Down.
He originally began telling the story of Watership Down to his two daughters to while away a long car journey, and they insisted he write it as a book. When Watership Down was finally published, it sold over a million copies in record time in both the United Kingdom and the United States. Watership Down has become a modern classic and won both the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize in 1972.
Others of his books include Shardik, Maia, Tales from Watership Down, The Girl in a Swing and The Plague Dogs, the last two of which, together with Watership Down, have been filmed. His goal is to tell a good story, ideally one so good you can't put it down!
Richard Adams currently lives in Hampshire, England.
About the Author
Richard George Adams (born 9 May, 1920) is an English novelist best known as the author of Watership Down.
He originally began telling the story of Watership Down to his two daughters to while away a long car journey, and they insisted he write it as a book. When Watership Down was finally published, it sold over a million copies in record time in both the United Kingdom and the United States. Watership Down has become a modern classic and won both the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize in 1972.
Others of his books include Shardik, Maia, Tales from Watership Down, The Girl in a Swing and The Plague Dogs, the last two of which, together with Watership Down, have been filmed. His goal is to tell a good story, ideally one so good you can't put it down!
Richard Adams currently lives in Hampshire, England.
