Romany of the BBC

One of the biggest influences on my early life as a budding naturalist was the books my father had written by the Rev George Bramwell Evens who broadcast wildlife programmes on the radio as "Romany of the BBC".

See here for more information: here

The stories of his adventures with his spaniel Raq exploring the countryside in his horse drawn romany caravan or 'vardo' absorbed me for hours and I read and re-read these books many times. Sadly, although they are still in my fathers bookcase, they are now in very poor condition having been handled by children and grandchildren many times over the 70-80 years or so since they were published.

The "vardo" was located in his memorial garden in Wilmslow Cheshire for many years but then moved to a permanent home in a museum in Bradford - see here for details on the Romany Society's homepage.

The BBC Radio also did a 'Witness' programme on Romany as a pioneer of wildlife broadcasting and this can be heard here.

I was reminded of all this recently when I visited my parents and saw the books lined up in the bookcase.