"Tarka the Otter (film) Tarka the Otter is a 1979 film directed by David Cobham. It is based on the novel of the same name by Henry Williamson. ""Tarka the Otter"" was voted 98th in Channel 4’s poll of the ""100 Greatest Family Films"". The role of Tarka was played by an otter called Spade. The principal animal handler for the film, Peter Talbot, published an e-book called ""Tarka and me"" with the sub-title ""a ripple of ancient sunlight"". The sub-title alludes to Williamson's view of nature being uniquely connected by this story to that of Gavin Maxwell. Talbot trained"
"the time the book was published, otters were generally regarded as vermin, but ""Tarka"" (and more specifically its later film adaptation) is credited with inspiring a transformation in public attitudes to otters. The book remains well-known, and is often used to promote the area of North Devon where it is set. The Tarka Line railway line to Barnstaple, and Tarka Trail long distance footpath and cycle path, are named after the book. Although Williamson's reputation as a writer was affected in the wake of his support for Oswald Mosley and many of his works are now little read, ""Tarka"" has"
"continued to be an influential work. Rachel Carson once wrote that Williamson's work had ""deeply influenced"" her and said that ""Tarka the Otter"" and ""Salar the Salmon"" would be two of three books she might take to a desert island. Ted Hughes, who later became friends with an elderly Williamson, repeatedly cited reading the book as an important experience for him, while the author Roger Deakin wrote that he admired the ""beauty and ice-clear accuracy"" of Williamson's writing and described ""Tarka"" as a ""great mythic poem"". Others to whom the book was significant included the nature writers Kenneth Allsop and"
"after the otter in Henry Williamson's book ""Tarka the Otter"" which is set in the area. It is one of the railway lines supported by the Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership, an organisation formed in 1991 to promote railway services in the area. The line is promoted by many means such as regular timetable and scenic line guides, as well as leaflets highlighting leisure opportunities such as walking or visiting country pubs. The Tarka Line rail ale trail was launched in 2002, the first of several such schemes which encourages rail travellers to visit pubs near the line. The trail"
"is its president. The Flax of Dream - a tetralogy following the life of Willie Maddison A Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight - a series of 15 novels following the life of Phillip Maddison from his birth in the late 1890s till the early 1950s, based loosely on Williamson's own life and experiences. Other Works Henry Williamson Henry William Williamson (1 December 1895 – 13 August 1977) was an English army officer, naturalist, farmer, and writer known for his novels on natural and social history, and his advocacy of ruralism. He won the Hawthornden Prize for literature in 1928 with his"
"Great Torrington Great Torrington (often abbreviated to Torrington, though the villages of Little Torrington and Black Torrington are situated in the same region) is a small market town in the north of Devon, England. Parts of it are sited on high ground with steep drops down to the River Torridge below, with the lower-lying parts of the town prone to occasional flooding. Torrington is in the centre of Tarka Country, a landscape captured by Henry Williamson in his novel ""Tarka the Otter"" in 1927. Great Torrington has one of the most active volunteering communities in the United Kingdom. There were"
"under the house. The children are put to bed and the woman waits with her dog, Alligator, for the snake to re-appear. Near dawn the snake emerges and it is killed by the woman and dog. It shows the eternal struggle of a lonely woman against what nature produces towards her. ""The Drover's Wife"" first appeared in ""The Bulletin"" magazine on 23 July 1892. It was subsequently published in ""Short Stories in Prose and Verse"", Lawson's 1894 collection of short stories and poetry. Since its initial publication it has become one of Henry Lawson's most re-published works. In 1968, the"
"""Angels & Insects"" in 1995 directed by Philip Haas and starring Mark Rylance as William Adamson and Kristin Scott Thomas as Matty Compton. Morpho Eugenia Morpho Eugenia is a 1992 novella by A. S. Byatt first published in complete form with ""The Conjugal Angel"" as ""Angels & Insects"". Named after a butterfly species, it details the key events of the life of a Victorian naturalist, William Adamson, at first seemingly struggling to move up in class and settle down with a beautiful, mysterious aristocrat, Eugenia. When he begins a study of garden ants with the household tutor, Matty Crompton, he"
"the interior of the house at Hill Top Farm. The storyline was inspired by an invasion of rats Potter experienced after purchasing the place. The tale was published by Frederick Warne & Co. in October 1908 in a large 5 by 8 format (rather than the series usual 4 by 5) and dedicated to Potter's long deceased pet rat, ""Sammy"" or Mr. Samuel Whiskers. In 1926, the book was republished as ""The Tale of Mr. Samuel Whiskers"" in the small format of the series. The book's large 5 by 8-inch format allowed Potter to include black and white line drawings"
"it is not clear whether she is gleeful at their futile attempt to catch Harrison, or whether she has had a change of heart and, in the heat of the moment, is spurring the hunters on. The text is written in the modernist mode, without a set structure, and with many shifts in the narrative. Millie (short story) Millie is a 1913 short story by Katherine Mansfield. It was first published in ""The Blue Review"" in June 1913, and was republished in ""Something Childish and Other Stories"" (1924). Mr. Williamson has been murdered, supposedly by an English handyman. Millie's husband"
"The breeder eventually agreed, on condition Misty remained on the Beebe Ranch until she was weaned, and that the animal was eventually returned to him from Henry's Illinois home for breeding. Henry made the purchase, and returned to the Midwest with an outline of her story. Several months later, Misty arrived by rail. In 1947, Henry's book ""Misty of Chincoteague"" was published, about the desire of the Beebe children to have a pony of their own—Misty, daughter of the untamable Phantom. The book became an immediate best seller, and the following year was designated as a Newbery Honor Book by"
"which take place outside Scotland. Ring of Bright Water Ring of Bright Water is a book by Gavin Maxwell about his life in a remote house in coastal Scotland where he kept several wild otters as pets. First published in 1960, it became a best seller and is considered a literary masterpiece, eventually selling over two million copies. A fictionalised film of the same name was made from it and released in 1969. The book describes how Maxwell brought a smooth-coated otter back from Iraq and raised it at ""Camusfeàrna"" (the name he used for his house at Sandaig near"
"The Owl and the Pussycat ""The Owl and the Pussycat"" is a nonsense poem by Edward Lear, first published during 1871 as part of his book ""Nonsense Songs, Stories, Botany, and Alphabets"". Lear wrote the poem for a three-year-old girl, Janet Symonds, the daughter of Lear's friend poet John Addington Symonds and his wife Catherine Symonds. The term ""runcible"", used for the phrase ""runcible spoon"", was invented for the poem. ""The Owl and the Pussycat"" features four anthropomorphic animals – an owl, a cat, a pig, and a turkey – and tells the story of the love between the title"
"Gavin Maxwell Gavin Maxwell FRSL, FIAL, FZS (Sc.), FRGS (15 July 19147 September 1969) was a Scottish naturalist and author, best known for his nonfiction writing and his work with otters. He wrote the book ""Ring of Bright Water"" (1960) about how he brought an otter back from Iraq and raised it in Scotland. The otter was of a previously unknown sub-species which was subsequently named after Maxwell. ""Ring of Bright Water"" sold more than a million copies and was made into a film starring Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna in 1969. The title ""Ring of Bright Water"" was taken"
"Ring of Bright Water Ring of Bright Water is a book by Gavin Maxwell about his life in a remote house in coastal Scotland where he kept several wild otters as pets. First published in 1960, it became a best seller and is considered a literary masterpiece, eventually selling over two million copies. A fictionalised film of the same name was made from it and released in 1969. The book describes how Maxwell brought a smooth-coated otter back from Iraq and raised it at ""Camusfeàrna"" (the name he used for his house at Sandaig near Glenelg), on the west coast"
"Henry Patterson (author) , a 1907 book about the eponymous pair of lions who attacked workers building the railroad bridge. The book has been made into several films; mostly famously ""The Ghost and the Darkness"", starring Val Kilmer and Michael Douglas, which, in spite of mostly poor reviews, won an Academy Award for editing in 1997. Tsavo Tsavo is a region of Kenya located at the crossing of the Uganda Railway over the Tsavo River, close to where it meets the Athi River. ""Tsavo"" means ""slaughter"" in the language of the Kamba people. Until the British put an end to"
"the end of World War I, Beston began writing fairy tales under the name ""Henry Beston"". In 1919, ""The Firelight Fairy Book"" was published, followed by ""The Starlight Wonder Book"" in 1923. During this time, he worked as an editor of ""The Living Age"", an offshoot of ""The Atlantic Monthly"". He also met his future wife Elizabeth Coatsworth, a fellow author of children's literature with whom he had two daughters, Margaret and Catherine.[3]:97 They lived at Hingham, Massachusetts, and Chimney Farm in Nobleboro, Maine.[6], during this time. ""The Outermost House"", now considered a Cape Cod nature literary classic, was written"
"while admiring them for their own regard for and knowledge of the otter, and despite being personally friendly with his local hunt, the violence and cruelty of some of his descriptions of hunting is clear. Locations featured in the book include Braunton Burrows, the clay pits at Marland, Morte Point, Hoar Oak Water and the Chains. The book begins and ends in the vicinity of Torrington. Williamson wrote with a descriptive style which some, such as Ted Hughes, have characterised as poetic: in his memorial address for Williamson, quoted by Roger Deakin in his book ""Waterlog"", Hughes described him as"
"was introduced to Henry Williamson by the well-known literary critic Sir John (Jack) Squire. Kermode had made linocuts from his war experiences and wanted someone to write short caption-like paragraphs. The result was the highly acclaimed ""Patriot’s Progress"", today considered as an important contribution to the literature of World War I. Kermode also provided a cover design for a cheap edition of ""Tarka the Otter"", published in 1929. He is also known to have illustrated ""The Specialist"" by Charles Sale and ""Moscow Has a Plan"" by M. Ilin (Jonathan Cape, 1931). Kermode wrote on the subject of colour linocuts applied"
"work is often compared to the prose of Henry Lawson, particularly the seminal work, ""The Drover's Wife"", which presented a considerably less romantic view of the harshness of rural existence of the late 19th century. Paterson authored two novels; ""An Outback Marriage"" (1906) and ""The Shearer's Colt"" (1936), wrote many short stories; ""Three Elephant Power and Other Stories"" (1917), and wrote a book based on his experiences as a war reporter; ""Happy Dispatches"" (1934). He also wrote a book for children ""The Animals Noah Forgot"" (1933) Contemporary recordings of many of Paterson's well known poems have been released by Jack"
"perspective than traditionally published works. A White Heron ""A White Heron"" is a short story by Sarah Orne Jewett. First published by Houghton, Mifflin and Company in 1886, it was soon collected as the title story in Jewett's anthology ""A White Heron and Other Stories"". It follows a young city girl named Sylvia who came to live with her grandmother in the country. She meets a young ornithologist hunter seeking to find a rare bird that he recently spotted in the area. As the story progresses, Sylvia is challenged with whether or not she should tell the hunter she saw"
"1959. Also, the word ""albatross"" is used in Letter II, Volume One of Mary Shelley's ""Frankenstein"", in which Robert Walton is speaking to his sister and states, ""…but I shall kill no albatross…"", an allusion quite clearly referring to the poem by her close acquaintance, Coleridge. The novel was first published in 1818, long before the term was introduced into the Oxford Dictionary. Charles Baudelaire's collection of poems Les Fleurs du mal contains a poem entitled L'Albatros about men on ships who catch the albatrosses for sport. In the final stanza, he goes on to compare the poets to the"
"A White Heron ""A White Heron"" is a short story by Sarah Orne Jewett. First published by Houghton, Mifflin and Company in 1886, it was soon collected as the title story in Jewett's anthology ""A White Heron and Other Stories"". It follows a young city girl named Sylvia who came to live with her grandmother in the country. She meets a young ornithologist hunter seeking to find a rare bird that he recently spotted in the area. As the story progresses, Sylvia is challenged with whether or not she should tell the hunter she saw the bird. She also discovers"
"the Fox"" (""Le Roman de Renart"") which was used by Geoffrey Chaucer's in the ""Canterbury Tales"". At the time, the student humour magazine at Rutgers was called ""Chanticleer"", and one of its early arts editors, Ozzie Nelson (later of ""The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet"" fame) was quarterback of the Rutgers team from 1924 to 1926. The Chanticleer mascot was unveiled at a football game against Lafayette College, in which Lafayette was also introducing a new mascot, a leopard. However, the choice of Chanticleer as a mascot was often the subject of ridicule because of its association with ""being chicken."""
"of Scotland. He took the otter, called Mijbil, to the London Zoological Society, where it was decided that this was a previously unknown subspecies, and it was named after him: ""Lutrogale perspicillata maxwelli"" (or colloquially, ""Maxwell's otter""). The book's title was taken from a poem by Kathleen Raine, who claimed in her autobiography that Maxwell had been the love of her life. Her relationship with Maxwell deteriorated after 1956 when she indirectly caused the death of Mijbil. A reviewer in the ""Sunday Herald"" described the book as having ""inspired a generation of naturalists"" and referred to it as a ""classic"
"caterpillar for Lewis Carroll's ""Alice in Wonderland"", c. 1865. The caterpillar is seated on a toadstool and is smoking a hookah pipe; the image can be read as showing either the forelegs of the larva, or as suggesting a face with protruding nose and chin. H.G. Wells wrote about intelligent ants destroying human settlements in Brazil and threatening human civilization in his 1905 science-fiction short story, ""The Empire of the Ants."" He made use of giant wasps in his 1904 novel ""The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth"": In 1917 the ghost story author Algernon Blackwood"
"this place as I am suffering now."" Raine blamed herself thereafter for all Maxwell's misfortunes, beginning with Mijbil's death and ending with the cancer that took his life in 1969. Maxwell's ashes were scattered on the site of his house ""Camusfeàrna"". Gavin Maxwell Gavin Maxwell FRSL, FIAL, FZS (Sc.), FRGS (15 July 19147 September 1969) was a Scottish naturalist and author, best known for his nonfiction writing and his work with otters. He wrote the book ""Ring of Bright Water"" (1960) about how he brought an otter back from Iraq and raised it in Scotland. The otter was of a"
"Windsor Castle (novel) Windsor Castle is a novel by William Harrison Ainsworth serially published in 1842. It is a historical romance with gothic elements that depicts Henry VIII's pursuit of Anne Boleyn. Intertwined with the story are the actions of Herne the Hunter, a legendary ghost that haunts Windsor woods. The first mention of ""Windsor Castle"" comes in a letter to Crossley 17 November 1841: ""I am just now finishing ""Old St. Paul's"" and am consequently very busy [...] I have made all arrangements to start my Magazine at Christmas next, and have engaged Tony Johannot (the artist), who is"
"the son of the vicar of the Parish of Malmesbury. She learnt to read and write from her mother and was tutored by a Mr Carter and a governess. Some of her early influences were the books by Ernest Thompson Seton. Her early books were based on experience in taking care of wild animals and these included ""Tommy White-Tag, the fox"" (1912) followed by more personal titles in a series called ""The Library Of Animal Friends"" which included ""Tom, my peacock""; ""Moses, my otter"" (1927) and ""Katie, my roving cat"" (1930). In ""Diana, My Badger"" published in 1929, she described"
"The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or The Roly-Poly Pudding The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or The Roly-Poly Pudding is a children's book written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter and first published by Frederick Warne & Co. in October 1908 as ""The Roly-Poly Pudding"". In 1926, it was re-published as ""The Tale of Samuel Whiskers"". The book is dedicated to the author's fancy rat ""Sammy"" and tells of Tom Kitten's escape from two rats who plan to make him into a pudding. The tale was adapted to animation in 1993. The theme of the tale is the childhood sin of disobedience."
"vultures and their feathers, and later that day, as he went on a run, he noticed four turkey vultures keeping watch over a roadkill deer. One of the vultures began flapping and dropped a feather at Hanson's feet. Moved by this coincidence, Hanson decided then to write a book about feathers. Basic Books first published ""Feathers"" in hardcover in 2011. In 2012, Basic Books published it in paperback as well, and the book has also been published as an ebook and audiobook. An essay-length adaptation titled ""The Multiple Miracles of Bird Feathers"" appeared in the January–February 2012 edition of ""Audubon"","
"There is little written evidence for Herne the Hunter before the 1840s, and the details of his original folk tale have been filtered through the various versions of Shakespeare's ""The Merry Wives of Windsor"". Officially published versions of the play refer only to the tale of Herne as the ghost of a former Windsor Forest keeper who haunts a particular oak tree at midnight in the winter time, wearing horns, shaking chains, and causing cows to produce blood instead of milk: The earliest written account of Herne comes from ""The Merry Wives of Windsor"" in 1597: An early, pirated version"
"The Oak Openings The Oak Openings; or, The Bee Hunter is an 1848 novel by James Fenimore Cooper. The novel focuses on the activities of professional honey-hunter Benjamin Boden, nicknamed ""Ben Buzz"". The novel is set in Kalamazoo, Michigan's Oak Opening, a wooded prairie that still exists in part today, during the War of 1812. After returning from his European travels in the 1830s, Cooper was persuaded by his niece's husband, Horace H. Comstock, to invest in Michigan real estate. The Potawatomi had ceded much of their land in central Michigan by 1833 and their former territory became known as"