Richard Adams was born on May 9, 1920, in Newbury, Berkshire. After earning a degree from Worcester College, Oxford, he married Barbara Elizabeth Acland on September 20, 1949; the couple subsequently had two children. At the age of 50, Adams, who worked as a civil servant and had never had anything published, produced a bulky typewritten manuscript. His story, an animal fantasy about rabbits, had delighted his daughters and he was anxious to see it published. Initially four publishers and four literary agents turned it down. However, finally a small publishing house, Rex Collings, accepted the manuscript. The 2,000 copies printed by Collings sold well. When Penguin reprinted the book in paperback and promoted it as a novel for children, it sold over one million copies. Adams's unwanted manuscript had become the best-selling novel Watership Down. ...