Edit] Public figure

Richard Adams

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For other people named Richard Adams, see Richard Adams (disambiguation).

Richard George Adams
Richard Adams reads from Watership Down at exhibition of Aldo Galli paintings in Whitchurch, Hampshire, UK
Born	(1920-05-09) 9 May 1920 (age 92) Newbury, Berkshire
Occupation	Novelist
Nationality	English
Notable work(s)	Watership Down
Influences[show] · Ronald Lockley

Richard George Adams (born 9 May 1920) is an English novelist who is best known as the author of Watership Down. He studied modern history at university before serving in the British Army during World War II. He completed his studies after the war and joined the English Civil Service. In 1974, two years after Watership Down was published, Adams became a full-time author. He is now semi-retired.

Contents [hide]

• 1 Early life
• 2 Author
• 3 Public figure
• 4 Personal life
• 5 Books
• 6 References
• 7 External links

Edit] Early life

Adams was born on 9 May 1920 in Wash Common near Newbury, Berkshire, United Kingdom. He attended Horris Hill School from 1926–1933, and then Bradfield College from 1933–1938. In 1938, he went to Worcester College, Oxford to read Modern History. In July 1940, shortly after the declaration of war between the UK and Germany, Adams was called up to join the British Army. He served in the Middle East and India, but saw no action against either the Germans or the Japanese.

After being released from the army in 1946, Adams returned to Worcester College to continue his studies for a further two years. He took the degrees of Bachelor of Arts in 1948 and Master of Arts in 1953.^[1] After his BA graduation in 1948, Adams joined the British Civil Service and held the rank of Assistant Secretary to the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, later part of the Department of the Environment. It was during this period that he began writing fiction in his spare time.

Edit] Author

Adams had originally begun telling the story of Watership Down to his two daughters, and they insisted that he publish it as a book. It took two years to write. In 1972, after seven other publishers had turned down the manuscript for Watership Down, Rex Collings agreed to publish the work.^[2] The book gained international acclaim almost immediately, and established Adams as one of the foremost contemporary English writers.

Over the next few years Watership Down sold over a million copies worldwide. It has become a modern classic, and in 1972 was awarded both the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Award for Children's Fiction. To date, Adams' best-known work has sold over 50 million copies worldwide. In 1974, following publication of his second novel, Shardik, he left the Civil Service to become a full-time author. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1975.^[3]

At one point, Adams served as Writer in Residence at the University of Florida^[4] and at Hollins University in Virginia.^[5]

Adams was the recipient of the inaugural Whitchurch Arts Award for inspiration in January 2010, presented at the Watership Down pub in Freefolk, Hampshire.^[6][7]

edit] Public figure

In 1982, Adams served one year as President of the RSPCA^[8] He also made a voyage through the Antarctic in the company of Ronald Lockley, the well-known ornithologist.

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