Richard George Adams was an esteemed English author, born on May 9, 1920, in Wash Common, Newbury, Berkshire, England. His parents, Lilian Rosa and Evelyn Beadon Adams, were a doctor and a housewife, respectively. After attending Horris Hill School from 1926 to 1933, Adams continued his education at Bradfield College until 1938. He then pursued Modern History at Worcester College, Oxford, but his studies were interrupted by the outbreak of World War II.
After serving in the British Army from 1940 to 1946, Adams returned to Worcester College to complete his studies, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1948 and a Master of Arts in 1953. Before becoming a full-time author, he worked as a senior civil servant in the Department of Agriculture, later part of the Department of the Environment, from 1948 to 1974. During this time, he began telling the story of Watership Down to his daughters, Juliet and Rosamund, who encouraged him to publish it as a book.
Watership Down was eventually published in 1972, selling over a million copies in record time in both the United Kingdom and the United States. The book won both the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize in 1972, establishing Adams as a successful author. His best-known work has sold over 50 million copies worldwide, surpassing the sales of his other books. In 1982, Adams became the President of the RSPCA and contested the 1983 general election as an Independent Conservative in the Spelthorne constituency.
Adams's literary career spanned various genres, including science fiction, fantasy, and literature & fiction books. He was particularly famous for writing the Watership Down and the Beklan Empire novel series. His goal as an author was always to tell a good story that readers could not put down. During his later years, Adams wrote a picture-book for younger children, 'The Adventures of Eggbox Dragon,' which was published posthumously in 2017. He died peacefully on Christmas Eve 2016, leaving behind a rich literary legacy.