Richard George Adams (Newbury, Berkshire, 1920 – Oxford, 2016) was an English novelist who became internationally known for a children's book about rabbits. He is remembered as a leading figure in animal fiction, a genre he gave a grounded, naturalistic tone.
Born in Wash Common, near Newbury, in 1920, Adams was educated at Horris Hill and Bradfield before reading Modern History at Worcester College, Oxford, from 1938. Called up in 1940, he served in the British Army in the Middle East and India, though he never saw direct combat against German or Japanese forces. After the war he returned to Worcester to finish his degree and then joined the Civil Service, eventually reaching the rank of Assistant Secretary in the housing and local government ministry.
According to the familiar account, the story of Watership Down began as a tale he told his daughters during a car journey. After several publishers turned the manuscript down, the novel appeared in 1972 and sold more than a million copies worldwide. Its distinction lay in treating rabbits with a realism that was unusual in anthropomorphic fiction. In 1974, following Shardik, he left the civil service to write full time.
Adams was also a committed advocate for animal welfare. He served two years as president of the RSPCA and campaigned against fur. The Plague Dogs satirises animal experimentation, government and the tabloid press. His legacy lives on chiefly among readers who first met the warren of Watership Down as young people, and in the serious, unsentimental tradition of the animal fable.
Key works
- Watership Down (1972): a group of rabbits sets out to find a new home after their warren is destroyed.
- Shardik (1974): a fable of power and faith centred on a sacred bear.
- The Plague Dogs (1977): two dogs escape from a laboratory and cross the English moors.
- Maia (1984): a retelling of myth in which the living and the dead meet.
- The Day Gone By (1990): Adams's autobiography of his childhood and youth.
Curiosities
A story for his daughters
Adams first told the tale that became *Watership Down* to his two daughters on a car journey. They later insisted he publish it.
Two children's prizes
Adams won both the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, the two most prestigious British children's book awards. He was one of six authors to win both.
Original Filopedia text based on Wikipedia (es) and Wikipedia (en) and Wikidata.