Once AW was becoming well known outside Lakeland, and rumours of his massive sales started leaking out, several London publishers tried to tempt him away from the Westmorland Gazette, or to contribute illustrations to their books. In the main he refused all offers, apart of course from doing the drawings for Molly Lefebure’s two children’s books.
In 1976 he received a letter from Richard Adams, who had achieved international success with his first novel, Watership Down, in 1972. He was a Lakeland lover and had bought AW’s guides from the beginning. He had written a novel set in Lakeland about two dogs who have escaped from a laboratory where animal experiments are being held – exactly a subject which would appeal to AW, though Mr Adams had no idea when he first wrote that AW was even an animal lover.
He sent AW his manuscript and they exchanged several letters – though they never met. AW became very enthusiastic, so much so that he offered to do the job for no money – though Mr Adams thinks that Peter Carson of Penguin the publisher did insist he had to receive some money for his work.
AW also took it upon himself to help Adams with the plot, not just the artwork.
The Plague Dogs came out in 1977 and contained 20 of AW’s drawings and 8 diagrams, including the endpapers.
38 Kendal Green
KENDAL, Cumbria
2nd October 1976
Dear Mr Adams,
I was rather under the impression that your absence in the U.S.A. would mean a hiatus in the arrangements for publication of ‘The Plague Dogs’ and that nothing much would be happening until your return after Christmas. But events are clearly moving apace. I have had three communiqués from you since I got back from Scotland with a streaming cold after a week of rotten weather and have also now heard from Mr Carson – proposing an early meeting to discuss the illustrations. Enthusiasm is clearly running high, and impatiently.
Referring to your letters. That of September 15th dealt in detail with the comments I made after reading the manuscript and there are now few points on which we differ. But (pages 39 and 42) there is no doubt that the beck flowing into Coniston Water from the east is Yewdale Beck, not School Beck. The use of place-names in the dialect is all right in conversation, but in ordinary narrative is too likely to make the reader think he has spotted a mistake, especially as the accompanying maps will use only official Ordnance spellings – however, your proposed introductory note should explain this. Perhaps I have the impact on the general reader too much in mind: for instance 99% or more will think ‘thorough the fog’ (page 66) is a printer’s mistake, and ‘Low Door’ (page 243) an author’s mistake; very few will recognise the sources you use and I would have thought it better to write down to the general standard of your reading public. I still maintain that a shooting party coming up from Hall Dunnerdale would be seen from the summit or west side of Caw but not from the east (page 137). Otherwise I think we are pretty well in agreement.
Not with any thought of influencing your preference for introducing actual persons and actual places into the story, I still personally doubt whether these touches of authenticity are worth the risk of upsetting those who are spotlighted, especially as they mean nothing to any but a handful of your readers. I still quake when I think of all the potential trouble that could arise from your mention of Lawson Park.
I thought the comments of John Guest, enclosed with your letter of September 24th, were really splendid. First mention of A.R.S.E. is funny, but it ceases to be when kept up through 400 pages. And I think the quote on page 33 he objects to is just a bit too contrived, too artificially clever, and unnecessary in the context. We don’t mind giving offence to the bureaucrats and politicians, but not the dear old ladies who leave their money to the anti-vivisection societies. We want to enlist sympathy, not alienate it by the use of expressions never heard in Leamington Spa. Yes, I agree with John. Less so on the potted biographies of the secondary characters, which to me coloured the story and did not hold it up at all. I think the reference to Duncan Sandys should be omitted – dangerous ground, this. And, most of all, I do so agree that the book should end with the re-union of Snitter and his master. This is the perfect end to the story. To carry on thereafter for a few more pages gives the impression that, having recounted the tale and brought it to a natural and logical conclusion, you were reluctant to say finis. The interest of your readers is fully satisfied by the re-union of Snitter and his master. After that, nothing else matters. Let them put the book down with the happy thought of the re-union, and ponder that eminently satisfactory end with closed eyes for a few minutes. Any other written words are an interruption of a train of happy thoughts.
Anyway, I am really writing to let you know that Peter Carson is seeking a meeting with me to discuss the illustrations when he gets back from a holiday in Spain. This seems to me rather premature because the author himself has not yet seen, and approved or not approved, the proposed drawings and diagrams, and I have therefore suggested to him that I should send them on to you to look at while he is away from home, and give you a chance to express opinions or choices. On the diagrams the route followed is indicated by a dotted line; if Peter agrees to a thin red line I shall have to take the dots out and draw the route separately for overprinting in red. If there are other changes resulting from revision (e.g. the omission of A.R.S.E.) these amendments will also be necessary on the diagrams. In fact, I think you should regard the diagrams merely as drafts at this stage, and I will do them again when all doubts are settled. Having looked at them and decided what you would like to include, and what not, perhaps it would be a good idea to send them on to Peter to await his return on October 22nd so that he too can be studying the matter before we meet.
I hope to be in touch with Gerald Gray within the next few days.
It’s Vermont I would most like to see at this time of year!
Yours sincerely,
AWainwright
AW could spend just as much time and energy writing to ordinary readers, not just famous authors, and give his forthright views and opinions
In March 1976 a Mr Brian L. Kershaw of King’s Heath, Birmingham, clearly an early computer buff, took issue with a sentence in AW’s Fellwanderer where he wrote ‘Machines are monsters and they produce little horrors.’
Mr Kershaw said they could do worthwhile things, and to prove it he had fed into his computer details of all the fells in the seven Pictorial Guides, along with the grid references, summits and starting points. He then produced a computer print-out that must have been a massive document – horrifying AW.
38 Kendal Green
KENDAL, Cumbria
6th March 1976
Dear Brian,
To say that I was struck dumb by the remarkable document accompanying your letter of 26th February would be to put it mildly. Here was the enemy, suddenly attacking me when I was unprepared for shocks, at first bemusing and confusing me as do the unintelligible hieroglyphics on electricity bills, but gradually my dazed eyes started to recognise names I knew well…. Esk Pike, Crinkle Crags, Three Tarns, Cam Spout – these were Lakeland names, surely, and the long columns of figures, daunting at first sight, took on a meaning when I studied them more closely. Perhaps I should have read your letter first, and been warned!
Well, you seem to have proved something; I’m not sure what. I didn’t realise these modern mammoth contrivances had a human streak, after all, and it is rather a revelation to find the monsters wrestling with the relative statistics of ascents of the Lakeland Fells. 1984 is with us. A computer installed on Esk Hause will tell you all you want to know. Should we go on to do Scafell Pike, or feed into the machine weather prospects, physical condition of each member of the party, time of day, and see whether it think it would be safer to turn back and go home? Fellwalking made easy, at last!
I think you have done a wonderfully imaginative job, but a rather frightening one if it is a foretaste of the sort of planning we might expect in the future. No, not for me. Give me my old dog-eared maps, which I can understand and which never go wrong.
I concede that you have certainly proved something, but nothing that has any appeal for me. If anything you have confirmed my impressions of new-fangled machines and in no way induced in me a liking for them. This document you have produced is the stuff of which nightmares are made. Heaven help us if these soul-less instruments take over the planning of our leisure as well as all else.
Your achievement is inspired and indicates a fertile imagination that, if applied instead to matters beyond the compass of computers, could well contribute to the sum of human knowledge. This horoscope is free.
The document is quite amazing and opens up all manner of possibilities. But not for me. I am too old-fashioned, thank goodness.
As you say, it must be the way you are built.
Yours sincerely,
AWainwright
However Mr Kershaw wrote back saying that he was still an ordinary human being, who loved steaks and smoking a foul pipe which makes ladies cough, and that the point of computers was that they were the future but they should remain our slaves.
c/o Westmorland Gazette
KENDAL, Cumbria
24th March 1976
Dear Brian,
Your second letter pleased me much more than your first. In fact, it delighted me immensely, not so much for its sentiments, which coincide with mine, but for the artistry with which you can use words. There is a compelling literary talent in your choice of expression, in your linking of phrase and passage, in your observation of the seemingly trivial (sheep suddenly spotting a walker) and inspired interpretations (question-mark floating above its head), the whole being a joy to read and deserving a wider public. You have the rare knack of translating simple incidents into a jolly good prose that reads better than poetry and since your subject is the Lakeland everybody loves your words could strike a chord in the hearts of the multitudes of inarticulate admirers of the district who think the place lovely but do not notice the little details that build up into the complete picture. Curtains of rain, lambs calling for their mums, a raven circling a crag: these things are the essence of Lakeland. These are the things many visitors never notice, a few never forget.
You are mis-employed, wrestling day after day with four computers, even though you do contrive to get some fun out of them. I noted your originality previously, and it shines through your second letter, embroidered this time with a beauty of expression and command of language that lifts you far above the common herd. Maybe it’s dealing with robots that has sub-consciously determined you never to become one. Even your typing is meticulous, perfect.
What I am saying is that, on the little evidence I have, you have a talent you should be using not on programming computers but on writing for the greater joy of kindred souls, Lakeland lovers, who would hunger for your every word. First write a best-seller, an original epic of Lakeland. Then quit your job. (I hope your missus isn’t looking over your shoulder). Then go all romantic: take over Millican Dalton’s cave under Castle Crag; live like a hermit; give to an adoring world the best that is in you.
I could be wrong. Your letter reads as though written without hesitation, the words coming easily, not laboured. If so, I think I am right.
Sorry about this, Mrs Kershaw. But I do feel that you should be prodding Brian to get away from his wretched machines and settle in lovely Borrowdale.
AW
I hope this letter makes up for my first reaction!
The ones pointing out mistakes, or what they believed were mistakes, still got proper replies. A Mr K.K. Gibbs wrote to say that from the top of Barrow he had not been able to see Fleetwith Pike, which was what AW had indicated, and in fact he had checked with others and they had not been able to see Fleetwith Pike either. In his reply, AW for once is a bit weaselly, suggesting he realised he might not have been totally accurate.
c/o Westmorland Gazette
KENDAL, Cumbria
13th August 1977
Dear Mr Gibbs,
Thank you for the kind comments in your letter of 30th July, addressed to the Westmorland Gazette, and the interesting enquiry it contains.
I am unlikely to have an early opportunity of re-visiting Barrow to check the accuracy of the published view, but have been consulting the map again and looking at the contours. I think most certainly that Fleetwith Pike is visible from the summit, and that, on a clear day, it will be seen backed and overtopped slightly by Kirk Fell. A lot depends on weather conditions, but I think it most likely, after reading your letter, that the distant peak was Kirk Fell and that you did not notice Fleetwith Pike in front of it and slightly lower in elevation. Although my views cannot be comprehensive simply because of lack of space I usually selected the most prominent in cases where one summit was overtopped by another. Or it may be that on the occasion of my visit Fleetwith Pike stood out clearly while the higher Kirk Fell was obscured by mist or haze.
I notice that in my views from Fleetwith Pike and Kirk Fell there is no mention of Barrow. This is understandable because from these viewpoints it appears quite insignificant against the background of Skiddaw.
Yours sincerely.
AWainwright
At other times, he was adamant he had not made a mistake.
c/o Westmorland Gazette, KENDAL
14th June 1977
Dear Mr Swallow,
I read your letter with profound dismay.
It is inconceivable that I made an error in quoting the O.S. number on Wild Boar Fell’s column. My eyes are not all that good, and the numbers are placed in an awkward place and not always easy to decipher, but I cannot believe that I got my figures wrong.
There are two possibilities to account for the discrepancy you mention. One is that I got on some other summit thinking it was Wild Boar Fell. The second is that you did the same. Neither is even remotely likely. The answer can only be that the number has been changed since my visit.
This opens up the dreadful possibility that the numbers of other trig columns in the district may also have been changed, with dire consequences for me. Therefore I should be extremely glad if you would check the numbers I have quoted when engaged on other expeditions in the area, and report if you find any changes.
I agree about the walk up from Aisgill. But just at present Wild Boar Fell is out of favour with me. But thanks a lot for writing with the sad news.
Yours sincerely,
AWainwright
c/o Westmorland Gazette
KENDAL, Cumbria,
19th November 1979
Dear Mr Swallow,
There has been a sequel to our correspondence about the number of the Ordnance column on Wild Boar Fell.
A few weeks ago I had a letter from a walker who told me that I had made a mistake in the chapter on Black Combe (in ‘The Outlying Fells’) where I quoted the Ordnance column number as 2953. The number, he reported, was 11602. I was confident that I had not been in error, and told him so.
Unknown to me he then wrote to the Ordnance Survey to settle the matter, and has just sent me their reply, from which I learn that all their columns are inspected every ten years and repaired if necessary. Latterly they have been finding many vandalised and the number plates stolen, no doubt as mementos. Their records show that an inspection of the one on Black Combe in July 1976 showed that a complete rebuilding was needed and this was done. As the former number plate 2953 could not be found, a new one with the number 11602 was affixed.
The same thing must have happened on Wild Boar Fell – we were both right!
Yours sincerely,
AWainwright
By the end of the 1970s, AW was beginning to complain even more about getting old, about his eyesight fading, and his lack of enthusiasm for ever going abroad.
1st September 1978
Dear Mr Houghton,
It was nice to hear from you again.
Yes, the Cuillin from Elgol is reserved for you. I have now finished the 5th and 6th Scottish books and sent them to the printers. The 6th includes Skye, and I expect publication next spring, after which I will be able to let you have the drawing. During the making of the book I visited some of the Western Isles that were quite new to me, and I can recommend to you Harris in particular, Jura and Mull rather less so and Islay not at all.
I must be an old stick-in-the-mud, having never greatly wanted to leave for foreign parts, and, being now well into my seventies, cannot work up enthusiasm for going abroad although my wife is always urging a visit to Switzerland. Someday, perhaps. Thanks for the invitation to see your film. Someday, perhaps.
Watendlath drawing? Well, someday, perhaps.
Yours sincerely,
AWainwright
In a letter to a Mr Simmons, who was planning a directory of something called viewpoint indicators, AW generously says that he can publish anything from his books. This must have had his publisher screaming, if they ever found out.
c/o Westmorland Gazette
KENDAL, Cumbria,
12th November 1977
Dear Mr Simmons,
I have received your interesting letter of 21st November, and am sorry it has taken me so long to reply.
I am a little puzzled, however, by the nature and purpose of the directory you are planning. I am not sure that I understand what you mean by ‘viewpoint indicators’. There are, in fact, not more than half a dozen viewpoint indicators on the hills of the United Kingdom, certainly not enough to need a directory, and I am left wondering whether you mean the triangulation columns of the Ordnance Survey, of which, of course, there are several hundreds but which cannot be described as viewpoint indicators. A viewpoint indicator shows and names the most prominent objects in view, the details usually being engraved on a circular brass plate or recorded on paper protected by glass, but, as I say, there are very few in number.
The Ordnance columns, on the other hand, are customary features of mountain tops, and there are many of them. If these are what you intend to list, you should have the information vetted by the Ordnance Survey before your directory is published.
If you wish to publish anything from my books you are welcome to do so, but should bear in mind that many of the books were published some years ago and will not now necessarily be up-to-date.
I do not wish to discourage your efforts, but must say that, if I have interpreted your letter correctly, I cannot really see much need for what you propose to do.
Yours sincerely,
AWainwright
One of the simmering problems caused by the success of AW’s books was not just the increased numbers of fell walkers on popular paths, and the possibility of erosion, but the danger of trespassing. AW could be a bit cavalier in his suggested routes, often not being aware or ignoring the possibility that he was leading people over private property. He began, privately, to get several legal letters of complaint on behalf of owners, but no one in fact took legal action as by now AW was such a respected, popular and increasingly national figure.
38 Kendal Green,
KENDAL, Cumbria
12th September 1979
Dear Sirs,
Re Bryerswood Estate:
Three Dubs Tarn
The Editor of Westmorland Gazette has passed on to me your letter of the 7th for my observations. I think it might resolve the matter in question more quickly if I reply directly.
I am profoundly sorry if my mention of Three Dubs Tarn has caused inconvenience to your clients, and of course I will correct my reference to it to meet your wishes.
You will probably be aware, and no doubt your clients also, that people have walked over Claife Heights and occasionally visited Three Dubs Tarn since Victorian times. The Tarn has long been a subject for artists and photographers, and my own memory of it goes back fifty years. It was with this knowledge that I assumed that the owners had no objection to walkers visiting the tarn and that therefore there was tacit permission for them to do so, as is the case with so much privately-owned land in the district. I have, however, never seen or heard of any specific permission to do so.
Fortunately the book you refer to is continually re-printing and there should be little delay in having a correction made in future editions. I am not quite clear whether your client’s grievance is simply the statement that permission has been granted when in fact it has not (in which case it appears that all I need to do is delete the words ‘but walkers are permitted on them’), OR, more seriously, whether they now seek to exclude all walkers from the area, in which case I would propose to delete entirely the paragraph headed ‘A shorter version of the walk’ at the foot of page 82, substituting a note to the effect that the Tarn and approaches to it are on private land to which walkers are not permitted, and adding to the map on page 83 the word ‘private’ to the two paths leading to it.
Kindly convey my apologies to your clients, and, if you will please let me know what you want done it will be done.
Yours faithfully,
AW
Proof of AW’s growing national fame had been his MBE in 1967, and after that, several universities wanted to give him honorary degrees. He accepted an Honorary MA from Newcastle University in 1974 but from then on made a point of investigating whether they experimented on live animals in their laboratories, in which case, he preferred to decline, which was what he did in 1977 when Lancaster University offered him a D. Litt which at first he had accepted.
38 Kendal Green,
KENDAL, Cumbria
24th March 1977
Dear Mr Carter,
I have heard recently, with dismay, that animal experiments are conducted at Lancaster University as part of the curriculum of the Biology Department, and a recent press report, of which you will be aware, confirms that vivisection is practised. I was unaware of this when accepting the Senate’s invitation to receive an honorary degree in July next.
I deplore, and abhor, experiments on animals, and, as Chairman of Animal Rescue, Cumbria, cannot possibly agree to any association with an institution that encourages such practices.
Therefore I wish to give you notice that I hereby withdraw my acceptance of the Senate’s invitation. I regret the circumstances that have decided this action, but please understand that I cannot be persuaded otherwise.
Yours sincerely,
AW