33-473: Richard George Adams FRSL (10 May 1920 – 24 December 2016) was an English novelist. He is best known for his debut novel Watership Down which achieved international acclaim. His other works included Maia , Shardik and The Plague Dogs . He studied Modern History at Worcester College, Oxford , before serving in the British Army during World War II . After completing his studies, he joined
66-649: A bachelor's degree in 1948, proceeding MA in 1953. After graduating in 1948, Adams joined the Civil Service , rising to the rank of Assistant Secretary to the Ministry of Housing and Local Government , later part of the Department of the Environment . He began to write his own stories in his spare time, reading them to his children and later on, to his grandchildren. Adams originally began telling
99-486: A fellwalker and author. The conclusion of the book involves two real-life characters, Adams' long-time friend Ronald Lockley , and the world-famous naturalist Sir Peter Scott . Having seen a manuscript, both men readily agreed to be identified with the characters and opinions that Adams had attributed to them, as is shown in Adams' preface to the book. In 1982, The Plague Dogs was adapted into an animated feature film of
132-519: A baronet of St Mary Magdalen, Oxford ) descended from the Acland baronets of Columb John . 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 became Watership Down , are Juliet and Rosamond. Adams celebrated his 90th birthday in 2010 with a party at
165-535: A series of major new initiatives and 60 new appointments championing the great diversity of writing and writers in the UK". Initiatives included RSL Open (electing new Fellows from communities, backgrounds and experiences currently under-represented in UK literary culture), RSL International Writers (recognising the contribution of writers across the globe to literature in English) and Sky Arts RSL Writers Awards. In 2021,
198-542: A significant contribution to the advancement of literature, including publishers, agents, librarians, booksellers or producers, or who have rendered special service to the RSL. Paid membership is open to all and offers a variety of benefits. The society publishes an annual magazine, The Royal Society of Literature Review , and administers a number of literary prizes and awards, including the RSL Ondaatje Prize ,
231-505: Is a novel by English author Richard Adams , first published in 1977 by Allen Lane . The book centres around the friendship of two dogs that escape an animal testing facility and are subsequently pursued by both the government and the media . As in Adams' debut novel, Watership Down (1972), the animal characters in The Plague Dogs are anthropomorphised . The Plague Dogs features location maps drawn by Alfred Wainwright ,
264-477: Is later intensified with the fear that the dogs could be carriers of a dangerous bioweapon , such as the bubonic plague . Adams stated in the book's introduction that "There is no such place in the Lake District as Animal Research (Scientific and Experimental). In reality, no single testing or experimental station would cover so wide a range of work as Animal Research. However, every 'experiment' described
297-513: Is one which has actually been carried out on animals somewhere." The location of "ARSE" (an acronym for Animal Research, Scientific and Experimental, and British slang for buttocks ) was based on the remote hill farm of Lawson Park , now run as an artist residence by the contemporary art organisation Grizedale Arts . Like its predecessor Watership Down , Martin Rosen directed and adapted The Plague Dogs into an animated feature film , which
330-577: The Antarctic in the company of the ornithologist Ronald Lockley . Just before his 90th birthday, he wrote a new story for a charity book, Gentle Footprints , to raise funds for the Born Free Foundation . In 1949, Adams married Barbara Elizabeth, daughter of RAF Squadron-Leader Edward Fox Dyke Acland, son of the barrister and judge Sir Reginald Brodie Dyke Acland , whose father, the scientist Henry Wentworth Dyke Acland (himself created
363-463: The Benson Medal for lifetime service in the field of literature . The RSL runs a membership programme offering a variety of events to members and the general public. Membership of the RSL is open to all. The RSL also runs an outreach programme, currently for young people and those in prison. The RSL administers two annual prizes, two awards, and two honours. Through its prize programmes,
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#1732773271056396-577: The British Civil Service . In 1974, two years after Watership Down was published, Adams became a full-time author. Richard Adams was born on 10 May 1920 in Newbury , Berkshire, the son of Lillian Rosa (née Button) and Evelyn George Beadon Adams, a doctor. He attended Horris Hill School from 1926 to 1933 and Bradfield College from 1933 to 1938. In 1938, he went to Worcester College, Oxford , to read Modern History . In July 1940, Adams
429-510: The RSPCA . He resigned in 1982, commenting that the Society "seemed to be more concerned with each other than with the animals". Adams was involved with Cruelty Free International . He was also a patron of Animal Aid . Besides campaigning against fur, Adams wrote The Plague Dogs to satirise animal experimentation (as well as government and the tabloid press). He also made a voyage through
462-693: The University of Florida and at Hollins University in Virginia. Adams was the recipient of the inaugural Whitchurch Arts Award for inspiration in January 2010, presented at the Watership Down pub in Freefolk , Hampshire. In 2015 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Winchester . Adams was a strong advocate of animal welfare . In 1980, Adams served two years as president of
495-576: The RSL Giles St Aubyn Awards for Non-Fiction, the RSL Encore Award for best second novel of the year and the V. S. Pritchett Memorial Prize for short stories. In 2000, the RSL published a volume that provides a description and history of the society, written by one of its fellows, Isabel Quigly . In 2020, the RSL celebrated its 200th anniversary with the announcement of RSL 200, "a five-year festival launched with
528-554: The RSL Council responsible for its direction and management, being drawn from the Fellowship. As an independent charity, the RSL receives no regular public or government funding, relying on the support of its Members, Patrons, Fellows and friends to continue its work. The RSL has about 600 Fellows, elected from among the best writers in any genre currently at work. Additionally, Honorary Fellows are chosen from those who have made
561-1038: The RSL launched "Literature Matters: Reading Together", a project aiming to make recreational reading accessible to young people across the UK. The society maintains its current level of about 600 Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature : generally 14 new fellows are elected annually, who are accorded the privilege of using the post-nominal letters FRSL. Past and present fellows include Samuel Taylor Coleridge , J. R. R. Tolkien , W. B. Yeats , Rudyard Kipling , Thomas Hardy , George Bernard Shaw , Arthur Koestler , Chinua Achebe , Ruth Prawer Jhabvala , Robert Ardrey , Sybille Bedford , Muriel Spark , P. J. Kavanagh , Hilary Mantel , and Sir Roger Scruton . Present Fellows include Margaret Atwood , Bernardine Evaristo , David Hare , Kazuo Ishiguro , Andrew Motion , Paul Muldoon , Zadie Smith , Nadeem Aslam , Sarah Waters , Geoffrey Ashe , J. K. Rowling , and Nick Cave . A newly created fellow inscribes his or her name on
594-473: The RSL roll book. The RSL's 2022–23 Open initiative aimed to recognise writers from backgrounds currently underrepresented in UK literary culture by electing 60 fellows over a two-year period from communities, backgrounds and experiences currently under-represented in UK literary culture, through drawing on a broad range of writers from "different parts of the UK, from different communities, different demographics", as Bernardine Evaristo noted. The * before
627-422: The RSL supports new and established contemporary writers. The Council of the Royal Society of Literature is central to the election of new fellows, and directs the RSL's activities through its monthly meetings. Council members serve for a fixed term of four years, with new members being elected by Council when members retire. The Royal Society of Literature comprises more than 600 Fellows, who are entitled to use
660-702: The White Hart in Whitchurch, where Sir George Young presented him with a painting by a local artist. Adams wrote a poetic piece celebrating his home of the past 28 years. Adams died on 24 December 2016 at the age of 96 in Oxford , from complications of heart failure and a blood disorder . Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature ( RSL ) is a learned society founded in 1820 by King George IV to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents
693-483: The name denotes an Honorary Fellow. The list is online at the RSL website. The RSL International Writers programme is a new life-long honour and award recognizing the contribution of writers across the globe to literature in English, and the power of literature to transcend borders in bringing people together, the inaugural list of recipients being announced in 2021. The Plague Dogs (novel) The Plague Dogs
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#1732773271056726-678: The next few years Watership Down sold over a million copies worldwide. Adams won both of the most prestigious British children's book awards, one of six authors to do so: the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize . 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. At one point, Adams served as writer-in-residence at
759-553: The post-nominal letters FRSL . New fellows of the Royal Society of Literature are elected by its current fellows. To be nominated for fellowship, a writer must have published two works of literary merit, and nominations must be seconded by an RSL fellow. All nominations are presented to members of the Council of the Royal Society of Literature, who vote biannually to elect new fellows. Nominated candidates who have not been successful are reconsidered at every election for three years from
792-581: The same name . This book tells of the escape of two dogs, Rowf and Snitter, from a government research station in the Lake District in England, where they had been horribly mistreated. They live on their own with help from a red fox , or "tod", who speaks to them in a Geordie dialect. After the starving dogs attack some sheep on the fells, they are reported as ferocious man-eating monsters by an opportunistic journalist. A great dog hunt follows, which
825-428: The society's official roll using either Byron's pen, T. S. Eliot 's fountain pen , which replaced Dickens 's quill in 2013, or (as of 2018) George Eliot 's pen, with pens belonging to Jean Rhys and Andrea Levy being additional choices from 2020. From time to time, the RSL confers the honour and title of Companion of Literature to writers of particular note. Additionally, the RSL can bestow its award of
858-454: The story that would become Watership Down to his two daughters on a car trip. They eventually insisted that he publish it as a book. He began writing in 1966, taking two years to complete it. In 1972, after four publishers and three writers' agencies turned down the manuscript, Rex Collings agreed to publish the work. The book gained international acclaim almost immediately for reinvigorating anthropomorphic fiction with naturalism . Over
891-432: The voice of literature in the UK, the RSL has about 600 Fellows, elected from among the best writers in any genre currently at work. Additionally, Honorary Fellows are chosen from those who have made a significant contribution to the advancement of literature, including publishers, agents, librarians, booksellers or producers. The society is a cultural tenant at London's Somerset House . The Royal Society of Literature (RSL)
924-507: The way Adams first envisioned (before being prevailed upon by his editor and others who read his original manuscript), with the dogs swimming out to sea, hoping to find what Snitter calls "The Isle of Dog" in the novel (though Rowf grimly speculates that it's probably the Isle of Man ). After swimming for a while, Snitter eventually comes to the conclusion that he imagined the island. As he is about to give up and drown, Rowf claims to directly see
957-477: The year in which they were proposed. Newly elected fellows are introduced at the Society's AGM and summer party. While the President reads a citation for each, they are invited to sign their names in the roll book which dates back to 1820, using either T. S. Eliot 's fountain pen or Byron 's pen. In 2013, Charles Dickens ' quill was retired and replaced with Eliot's fountain pen, and in 2018 George Eliot 's pen
990-736: Was called up to join the British Army . He was commissioned into the Royal Army Service Corps and was selected for the Airborne Company, where he worked as a brigade liaison. He served in Palestine , Europe, and East Asia but saw no direct action against either the Germans or the Japanese. After leaving the army in 1946, Adams returned to Worcester College to continue his studies for a further two years. He received
1023-447: Was founded in 1820, with the patronage of George IV , to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent", and its first president was Thomas Burgess , Bishop of St David's (who was later translated as Bishop of Salisbury ). As of 2018, the RSL's patron is Queen Camilla , who took over in the role from Elizabeth II . At the heart of the RSL is its Fellowship, "which encompasses the most distinguished writers working today", with
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1056-404: Was offered as a choice, the first time in the RSL's history that a pen that belonged to a woman writer was an option. In 2018, the RSL honoured the achievements of Britain's younger writers through the initiative "40 Under 40", which saw the election of 40 new fellows aged under 40. In 2020, pens belonging to Andrea Levy and Jean Rhys were added to the choices offered to fellows for signing
1089-471: Was released in 1982. Unlike the book, there is the implication that the Tod might still be alive in the film; a hunter who found him says he and the others "caught" a fox, this could imply the Tod is merely playing dead. In contrast to the ending in all published editions of the book—which describes the dogs being rescued from the sea, cleared of carrying the plague, and united with Snitter's lost master—the film ends
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