Richard Adams was born on 10 May 1920 inNewbury, Berkshire, the son of Lillian Rosa (née Button) and Evelyn George Beadon Adams, a doctor.[1] He attendedHorris Hill School from 1926 to 1933 andBradfield College from 1933 to 1938. In 1938, he went toWorcester College, Oxford, to readModern History. In July 1940, Adams was called up to join theBritish Army. He was commissioned into theRoyal Army Service Corps[5] and was selected for the Airborne Company, where he worked as a brigade liaison. He served inPalestine, Europe, and East Asia but saw no direct action against either the Germans or the Japanese.[6]
After leaving the army in 1946, Adams returned to Worcester College to continue his studies for a further two years. He received abachelor's degree in 1948, proceedingMA in 1953.[7]
Adams originally began telling the story that would becomeWatership Down to his two daughters on a car trip.[9] They eventually insisted that he publish it as a book. He began writing in 1966, taking two years to complete it.[9] In 1972, after four publishers and three writers' agencies turned down the manuscript,Rex Collings agreed to publish the work.[8] The book gained international acclaim almost immediately for reinvigoratinganthropomorphic fiction withnaturalism.[9][10]
At one point, Adams served as writer-in-residence at theUniversity of Florida[14] and atHollins University in Virginia.[3] Adams was the recipient of the inaugural Whitchurch Arts Award for inspiration in January 2010, presented at the Watership Down pub inFreefolk, Hampshire.[15][16] In 2015 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by theUniversity of Winchester.[17]
Besides campaigning against fur, Adams wroteThe Plague Dogs to satiriseanimal experimentation (as well as government and the tabloid press).[24] He also made a voyage through theAntarctic in the company of the ornithologistRonald Lockley.[25] Just before his 90th birthday, he wrote a new story for a charity book,Gentle Footprints, to raise funds for theBorn Free Foundation.[8]
Until his death, Adams lived with his wife in Church Street,Whitchurch, Hampshire, within 10 miles (16 km) of his birthplace. Their daughters, to whom Adams originally related the tales that becameWatership Down, are Juliet and Rosamond.[8][28] Adams celebrated his 90th birthday in 2010 with a party at the White Hart in Whitchurch, whereSir George Young presented him with a painting by a local artist. Adams wrote a poetic piece celebrating his home of the past 28 years.[29][30]
The Iron Wolf and Other Stories (1980), published in the US asThe Unbroken Web: Stories and Fables. Color Illustrations byYvonne Gilbert, b&w illustrations by Jennifer Campbell.ISBN978-0-517-40375-4
^Alternatively,six authors have won the Carnegie Medal for theirGuardian Prize–winning books.Professional librarians confer the Carnegie and select the winner from all British children's books.The Guardian newspaper's prize winner is selected by British children's writers, "peers" of the author who has not yet won it, for one children's (age 7+) or young-adult fiction book. Details regarding author and publisher nationality have varied.
