Mark Wallington (born 1953 in Swanage) is a writer, perhaps most famous for his humorous "Boogie" travelogues, [1] both serialised on BBC Radio Four.
He was working as a gardener in North London in 1979 when he began his writing career working with Dick Fiddy, submitting sketches to Not the Nine O'clock News and Dave Allen at Large . They later scripted the BBC sitcom All Night Long. In 1982 Wallington walked the South West coast path with his urban dog, Boogie. He wrote up the journey in 500 Mile Walkies which became a best seller. Boogie up the River followed in 1989. In 1991 Wallington published a novel, The Missing Postman, and then scripted the TV series of the same name starring James Bolam. His second novel, Happy Birthday Shakespeare (1999), was also turned into a TV two-parter.
Wallington's further TV work includes Station Jim (2001) and The Man Who Lost His Head (2007). In 2005 he published The Day Job, an account of his gardening days, and in 2012 The Uke of Wallington, the story of his journey through Britain with a ukulele.In 2013 'The Auto Biography' was published, the story of British Motoring from Golden Age to Gridlock.
He is married with two sons, Francis and Daniel.
The Wind in the Willows is a children's novel by the Scottish novelist Kenneth Grahame, first published in 1908. It details the story of Mole, Ratty, and Badger as they try to help Mr. Toad, after he becomes obsessed with motorcars and gets into trouble. It also details short stories about them that are disconnected from the main narrative. The novel was based on bedtime stories Grahame told his son Alastair. It has been adapted numerous times for both stage and screen.
John Boynton Priestley was an English novelist, playwright, screenwriter, broadcaster and social commentator.
Paul Edward Theroux is an American novelist and travel writer who has written numerous books, including the travelogue The Great Railway Bazaar (1975). Some of his works of fiction have been adapted as feature films. He was awarded the 1981 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his novel The Mosquito Coast, which was adapted for the 1986 movie of the same name and the 2021 television series of the same name.
Andrew Wynford Davies is a Welsh screenwriter and novelist, best known for his television adaptations of To Serve Them All My Days, House of Cards, Middlemarch, Pride and Prejudice, Bleak House, War & Peace, and his original serial A Very Peculiar Practice. He was made a BAFTA Fellow in 2002.
Winston Mawdsley Graham OBE, born Winston Grime, was an English novelist best known for the Poldark series of historical novels set in Cornwall, though he also wrote numerous other works, including contemporary thrillers, period novels, short stories, non-fiction and plays. Winston Graham was the author's pseudonym until he changed his name by deed poll from Grime to Graham on 7 May 1947.
Frederick McCarthy Forsyth is an English novelist and journalist. He is best known for thrillers such as The Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File, The Fourth Protocol, The Dogs of War, The Devil's Alternative, The Fist of God, Icon, The Veteran, Avenger, The Afghan, The Cobra and The Kill List. Forsyth's works frequently appear on best-sellers lists and more than a dozen of his titles have been adapted to film. By 2006, he had sold more than 70 million books in more than 30 languages.
The Pennine Way is a National Trail in England, with a small section in Scotland. The trail stretches for 268 miles (431 km) from Edale, in the northern Derbyshire Peak District, north through the Yorkshire Dales and Northumberland National Park and ends at Kirk Yetholm, just inside the Scottish border. The path runs along the Pennine hills, sometimes described as the "backbone of England". Although not the United Kingdom's longest National Trail, it is according to The Ramblers "one of Britain's best known and toughest".
Terence Joseph Nation was a Welsh screenwriter and novelist. Especially known for his work in British television science fiction, he created the Daleks and Davros for Doctor Who, as well as the series Survivors and Blake's 7.
Eric Clifford Ambler OBE was an English author of thrillers, in particular spy novels, who introduced a new realism to the genre. Also working as a screenwriter, Ambler used the pseudonym Eliot Reed for books cowritten with Charles Rodda.
David Edward Williams, known professionally as David Walliams, is an English comedian, actor, writer, and television personality. He is best known for his work with Matt Lucas on the BBC sketch comedy series Little Britain (2003–2006) and Come Fly With Me (2010–2011). From 2012 to 2022, Walliams was a judge on the television talent show competition Britain's Got Talent on ITV. He is also a writer of children's books, having sold more than 37 million copies worldwide.
Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog), published in 1889, is a humorous account by English writer Jerome K. Jerome of a two-week boating holiday on the Thames from Kingston upon Thames to Oxford and back to Kingston. The book was initially intended to be a serious travel guide, with accounts of local history along the route, but the humorous elements took over to the point where the serious and somewhat sentimental passages seem a distraction to the comic novel. One of the most praised things about Three Men in a Boat is how undated it appears to modern readers – the jokes have been praised as fresh and witty.
Leslie Thomas, OBE was a Welsh author best known for his comic novel The Virgin Soldiers.
James (Joseph) Hanley was a British novelist, short story writer, and playwright from Kirkdale, Liverpool, Lancashire, of Irish descent. Hanley came from a seafaring family and spent two years at sea himself, during World War I. He published his first novel Drift in 1930. In the 1930s and 1940s his novels and short stories focussed on seamen and their families, and included Boy (1931), the subject of an obscenity trial. After World War II there was less emphasis on the sea in his works. While frequently praised by critics, Hanley's novels did not sell well. In the late 1950s, 1960s, and early 1970s he wrote plays, mainly for the BBC, for radio and then for television, and also for the theatre. He returned to the novel in the 1970s. His last novel, A Kingdom, was published in 1978, when he was eighty. His brother Gerald was also a novelist.
Robert Cedric Sherriff, FSA, FRSL was an English writer best known for his play Journey's End, which was based on his experiences as an army officer in the First World War. He wrote several plays, many novels, and multiple screenplays, and was nominated for an Academy Award and two BAFTA awards.
The Tenth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who. He is played by David Tennant in three series as well as nine specials. As with previous incarnations of the Doctor, the character has also appeared in other Doctor Who spin-offs. Tennant's time as the Tenth Doctor is highly regarded among fans of the show and is considered one of the most iconic incarnations of the character, often ranked alongside Tom Baker's Fourth Doctor.
The Eagle of the Ninth is a historical adventure novel for children written by Rosemary Sutcliff and published in 1954. The story is set in Roman Britain in the 2nd century AD, after the building of Hadrian's Wall.
Benjamin Myer Fogle, is an English broadcaster, writer and adventurer, best known for his presenting roles with British television channels Channel 5, BBC and ITV.
Stephen James Backshall is a British naturalist, explorer, presenter and writer, best known for BBC TV's Deadly 60.
Wallington is a small village and civil parish in the North Hertfordshire district, in the county of Hertfordshire, England, near the town of Baldock. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 Census was 150. Nearby villages include Rushden and Sandon. It shares a parish council with Rushden.
Alvin Rakoff is a Canadian director of film, television and theatre productions. He has worked with actors including Laurence Olivier, Peter Sellers, Sean Connery, Judi Dench, Rex Harrison, Rod Steiger, Henry Fonda and Ava Gardner.