Richard Adams (1920 - 2016) was an English novelist best known as the author of Watership Down, first published in 1972. He served in the British Army during the second world war, and then joined the civil service.
He originally began telling the story of Watership Down to his two daughters during long car journeys and they insisted it he publish it as a book. It was awarded the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, and went on to sell millions of copies throughout the world. In 1975 Adams was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
