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Information about Denys Watkins Pitchford

Denys James Watkins-Pitchford MBE (25 July 1905–October 1990) was a British author, illustrator and countryman who wrote under the pseudonym BB.

Early life

He was born in Lamport, Northamptonshire on the 25th July 1905, second son to the Revd. Walter Watkins-Pitchford, the rector of All Hallows Church in Lamport. His childhood home was Lamport Rectory, set in the Northamptonshire countryside. He had a great love of the outdoors and enjoyed hunting, fishing and drawing, all these things were to influence his writing greatly. He was educated at home by his father until 1920 when he went to Northampton School of Art; while there, he won a scholarship to study in Paris. On returning to England he completed his studies at the Royal College of Art. In 1930 he became an assistant art master at Rugby School where he remained for seventeen years. While at Rugby School he was to begin contributing regularly to the Shooting Times and start his career as an author and illustrator. Deciding that the name Denys Watkins-Pitchford was too long and unwieldy he wrote under the nom de plume of 'BB' (a large size of shot used for shooting wild geese) which he felt was more easily recognizable, but he maintained the use of his given name as that of the artist in all his works. Watkins-Pitchford told his friend and fellow countryman Jack Hargreaves (presenter of the 1970s British television series "Out Of Town") that the name "BB" would also suggest "big shot" to some readers (BB shot being a larger variety used by wild-fowlers like Watkins-Pitchford). The joke was self-deprecatory, rather than egomanical, chosen as it was years before the fame which he later enjoyed.

Writing career

Enlarge picture
The Little Grey Men (1942)
His first book The Sportsman's Bedside Book, a book that had grown from an article he had written for the Shooting Times, was published in 1937 by Eyre & Spottiswoode. It was the only book 'BB' did not completely illustrate himself; the publishers insisting that artist G. D. Armour's drawings be included as well. His second book and first work of fiction, Wild Lone (1938), was the story of Rufus, a one-eared fox, and was to become a classic of its time. This time it was completely illustrated by himself using for the first time his trademark scraper-board technique, a style of art that had until then only been used for advertisements.

He wrote two more books Manka: The Sky Gypsy and The Countryman’s Bedside Book, before writing his first children’s book Little Grey Men (about "the last gnomes in England"), this was published in 1942 and won the 1942 Carnegie Medal. Down the Bright Stream (1946) continued the adventures of the gnomes from Little Grey Men; The Forest of Boland Light Railway (1955) and The Wizard of Boland (1973) comprise another well-loved series of gnome stories. Little Grey Men was televised on ITV in the United Kingdom in the 1970s (though not under the original title) and the popular Brendon Chase was also adapted for television (again ITV) in the early 1980s.

In 1949 he had a book published called Be Quite and go A-Angling under the pseudonym of "Michael Traherne", an experiment he did not repeat. In total he wrote more than fifty books, contributed to more than twenty other books by different authors, and also illustrated over forty more. His last book, A Fisherman's Folly was published in 1987.

His books

  • (1937) The Sportsman's Bedside Book
  • (1938) Wild Lone
  • (1939) Manka
  • (1941) Countryman’s Bedside Book
  • (1942) Little Grey Men
  • (1943) The Idle Countryman
  • (1944) Brendon Chase
  • (1945) The Fisherman’s Bedside Book
  • (1945) The Wayfaring Tree
  • (1948) Meeting Hill
  • (1948) The Shooting Man's Bedside Book
  • (1948) A Stream in your Garden
  • (1948) Down the Bright Stream
  • (1949) Be Quiet and go A-Angling
  • (1950) Confessions of a Carp Fisher
  • (1950) Letters form Compton Deverell
  • (1950) Tide's Ending
  • (1952) The Wind in the Wood
  • (1953) Dark Estuary
  • (1955) The Forest of Boland Light Railway
  • (1957) Alexander
  • (1957) Ben the Bullfinch
  • (1957) Wandering Wind
  • (1957) Monty Woodpig's Caravan
  • (1958) Monty Woodpig & his Bubblebuzz Car
  • (1958) Mr Bumstead
  • (1958) A Carp Water
  • (1959) The Wizard of Boland
  • (1959) Bill Badger’s Winter Cruise
  • (1959) Autumn Road to the Isles
  • (1960) Bill Badger and the Pirates
  • (1961) Bill Badger's Secret Weapon
  • (1961) The White Road Westwards
  • (1961) The Badgers of Bearshanks
  • (1961) Bill Badger's Finest Hour
  • (1962) Bill Badger's Whispering Reeds Adventure
  • (1962) September Road to Caithness
  • (1962) Lepus The Brown Hare
  • (1963) Bill Badger's Big Mistake
  • (1964) The Pegasus Book of the Countryside
  • (1964) Summer Road to Wales
  • (1967) Bill Badger and the Big Store Robbery
  • (1967) A Summer on the Nene
  • (1967) The Whopper
  • (1968) At the Back O' Ben Dee
  • (1969) Bill Badger's Voyage to the Worlds End
  • (1971) The Tiger Tray
  • (1975) The Pool of the Black Witch
  • (1975) Lord Of the Forest
  • (1976) Recollections of a Longshore Gunner
  • (1978) A Child Alone
  • (1979) Ramblings of a Sportsman Naturalist's
  • (1980) The Naturalist Bedside Book
  • (1981) The Quiet Fields
  • (1984) Indian Summer
  • (1985) The Best of BB
  • (1987) Fisherman’s Folly

Death and after

In 1989 he was appointed to the Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE). He died a year later in October 1990.

In January 2000 Tom O'Reilly founded the BB society, to act as a focal point for BB collectors and enthusiasts, it now has a membership of about 400. To mark the centenary of his birth in 2005 an official archive of his works was opened in Rugby School Library.

Trivia

Inside all of his books appeared the quotation
The wonder of the world
The beauty and the power,
The shapes of things,
Their colours, lights and shades,
These I saw.
Look ye also while life lasts.


This quote, so apt for his works, has sometimes been thought to have been another one of 'BB'’s creations but it was in fact copied from a tombstone in a north-country churchyard by his father.

External links

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions; in decreasing order of seniority, these are:
  • Knight Grand Cross or

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July 25 is the 1st day of the year (2nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 0 days remaining.

Events

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20th century - 21st century
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1987 1988 1989 - 1990 - 1991 1992 1993

Year 1990 (MCMXC) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1990 Gregorian calendar).
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A pseudonym (Greek: ψευδόνυμον, pseudo + -onym: false name) is an artificial, fictitious name, also known as an alias
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Lamport is a village and civil parish in the Daventry district of the county of Northamptonshire in England. Nearby are Lamport Hall and the Northampton & Lamport Railway.
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Royal College of Art (RCA) is a university in London, England. It is the world’s only wholly postgraduate art and design institution, offering the degrees of M.A., M.Phil. and Ph.D..
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Rugby School

Motto Orando Laborando
(By praying, by working)
Established 1567

Type Independent school
Religious affiliation Anglican

Headmaster Patrick S J Derham MA

Founder
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Shooting Times and Country Magazine, more commonly known as the Shooting Times, is the leading British shooting and firearms magazine, published by IPC Media. The magazine also features articles on hunting, fishing, deer stalking, gamekeeping, gundogs and wildlife.
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A pen name, nom de plume, nom de guerre, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author for various reasons. Authors may use a pen name to replace a long, difficult, or uninteresting name, or a name likely to be confused with the name of another writer
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Shooting Times and Country Magazine, more commonly known as the Shooting Times, is the leading British shooting and firearms magazine, published by IPC Media. The magazine also features articles on hunting, fishing, deer stalking, gamekeeping, gundogs and wildlife.
..... Click the link for more information.
Eyre & Spottiswoode was the London based printing firm that was the King's Printer, and subsequently, in April 1929, a publisher of the same name.

History

William Strahan established his printing house in London in 1739 and by 1769 had a share in both the King's Printing
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Scratchboard or scraperboard is a technique where drawings are created using sharp knives and tools for etching into a thin layer of white China clay that is coated with black India ink.
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The Carnegie Medal in Literature was established in the UK in 1936 in honour of Scottish philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. It is awarded to an outstanding book for children and young adult readers.
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Motto
"Dieu et mon droit" [2]   (French)
"God and my right"
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Brendon Chase is a children's novel by Denys Watkins-Pitchford, writing as "BB". It was published in 1944, but is set in 1925. It was later made into a 13-part TV serial, adapted by James Andrew Hall, produced by Southern Television in association with RM Productions and
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Brendon Chase is a children's novel by Denys Watkins-Pitchford, writing as "BB". It was published in 1944, but is set in 1925. It was later made into a 13-part TV serial, adapted by James Andrew Hall, produced by Southern Television in association with RM Productions and
..... Click the link for more information.
Bill Badger and the Pirates is a novel with a canal-side setting for children, written in 1960 by the prolific author Denys Watkins-Pitchford,[1] who wrote under the pseudonym "BB".
..... Click the link for more information.
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions; in decreasing order of seniority, these are:
  • Knight Grand Cross or

..... Click the link for more information.
Rugby School

Motto Orando Laborando
(By praying, by working)
Established 1567

Type Independent school
Religious affiliation Anglican

Headmaster Patrick S J Derham MA

Founder
..... Click the link for more information.


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