Nature Book Reader June 2020 - Flipbook - Page 70
A Nature Book Reader
CERI LEVY
Ceri
maker. and writer . He has collaborated on
Ceri Levy
Levy isis aadocumentary
gonzovationist,film
filmmaker
three books with the graphic artist Ralph Steadman.
Tarka The Otter byby Henry
Henry Williamson
Williamson
I have always had a soft
spot for otters and Tarka
The Otter as well as Gavin
Maxwell’s Ring of Bright
Water made me smile and
cry in equal measure as a
kid. I never understood how
two books about otters could
end up with so much otter
death! Either of these books
could make it into my top
three just because after
all these years I still
remember the magic that
otters weaved upon me as
I grew up. But if push came
to shove then Tarka wins
because of one fact.
My father, who was a
writer, was a member of The
Savage Club in St. James’s.
It was one of those timeless,
gentlemen’s clubs, where
the odour of brandy and
cigar smoke, mixed with a
leathery aroma, was written
large upon my young senses.
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I imagined it as the place
where the wager was set
for Phileas Fogg to complete
his eighty-day journey.
I was about nine or ten
and I loved the club as it
was full of books, stuffed
animals, comfortable
Chesterfields and snooker
tables upon which I was
allowed to play snooker,
standing atop a dining
chair, with a sawn off cue.
I met many names from
the day, including Arthur
Askey and Arnold Ridley,
and once had lunch with
Henry Williamson, the
author of Tarka, himself.
He was a wonderfully
charming man, who
teasingly refused to sign
my autograph book, which
my father always insisted I
carried with me at all times.
Finally we had some sort of
play fight over lunch and
