Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Shepherd and best-selling author of The Shepherd's Life, farming in the Cumbrian Fells.
On the island
Eight records
reminds me of being eight or ten years old and watching Zulu
A New EnglandFavourite
the best bit of poetry about 1980s England
reminds me of being 20 years old putting a drystone wall up and thinking 'I'm gonna write something'
Way Over Yonder in the Minor Key
I play it when I'm trying to psych myself to write
Chateau Lobby #4 (in C for Two Virgins)
I just chose it because I love it
She had the guts to potentially throw it all away and risk everything to fight for the things that she believed in
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:47When I think of the Lake District, what comes to mind first is the fantastic smell of it … I wondered if you did [know what it is]. What is that?
The first thing that's going through my head is no … I don't think it smells 'cause that's my normal … maybe at this time of year I can imagine what you're talking about … There's a lot of woodland in our valley, and it does smell very damp and leafy and probably moldy … but mostly it just smells clean.
Presenter asks
2:25How would you describe the landscape that you're rooted in?
I think the Lake District's a really special place. It's not only beautiful in the natural sense … but it has a very unique farming culture that goes back like five thousand odd years. No one really knows, at least a thousand years. I didn't realize that that was unique really. I just grew up in it … it's only really when I got into my late teens and my twenties and realized how different we were from lots of other people … that you realize how special it is.
Presenter asks
8:28You mentioned being a sheep nerd and how nerdy shepherds can be about sheep. I've read that you can tell sheep from each other, but also that you can see the kind of family history of the sheep a little bit.
The keepsakes
The book
Ernest Hemingway
I can't think of a better book about the sea than that.
The luxury
an endless supply of paper and pen
I want an endless supply of paper and pen, so I can just work on my poetry, work on my C writing, keep some kind of journal about what's happening and yeah, I wanna write.
So we're talking full-on nerdy … So if you point to one of my sheep, I can tell you what its mother was, what its father was, I can tell you what it's bred in the preceding three, four, five, ten years, and which other sheep in the flock it's related to. And this is not some sort of weird showing off for shepherds, it's actually really important because the genetics of the different families in the flock matter … the great sheep from the 1970s are spoken about and remembered … there are sort of flock books where the photographs from every year going back to the 1920s of the important sheep are captured.
Presenter asks
25:46In 1995, when you were 21, you met Helen, who would go on to become your wife. Tell me about when you met. How did she change you at the time?
Helen came along just when I needed what Helen brings to my life … Helen's more grown up than me, more sensible than me, and doesn't butt with any of my nonsense … 20-year-old me was sort of edging towards being a bit more grown up … and Helen came along and said, 'Look, what the hell are you doing? You're being a jerk. Stop the clowning round thing.' So, almost overnight, I did … and I built a life with Helen … Helen said, 'Look, you're brainy, you're bookish and you're not getting on very well with your dad. You need to go back to school.' So I did … I went back and I did classes at nights at adult education college in Carlisle … I had this teacher who … said, 'you need to apply to go to Oxford or Cambridge.' … he helped me not only to apply to Oxford but to go and have an interview and I got in without even finishing my A levels which is insane.
Presenter asks
28:23What made you decide that you wanted to go to university in your mid-twenties?
I wasn't really sure that I did … but I had this teacher that pushed me in that direction … one of the historians I liked the most was this guy called AJP Taylor and he taught at a college in Oxford at Magdalen College. And I thought, well they probably won't let me in, but I'll go and have a day looking at the college where he taught … So I went down and had an interview … I was in my mid twenties by then … I just gave them back as good as I could … about two thirds of the way through the interview I could just see them smiling … I came out of the room … I thought, yeah, they were lapping that up … still, even then, when I had this letter in my hand, I thought, well, do I do it? I'm so attached to where I live that it was like a wrench for me. If I go there, does that mean I no longer belong here?
Presenter asks
36:47Your book The Shepherd's Life was published to great acclaim in 2015 and it came about as a result of your presence on social media. You started tweeting about your life as a shepherd. What made you decide to do that?
Actually, all the good things that have happened in my life have not really been intentional. And using Twitter was the same. I didn't really want to do it … some of them persuaded me to post pictures … I couldn't really believe that there were so many people interested in our mundane day-to-day work … I have a simple rule … it's all about the sheepdogs, the sheep, the landscape … before you know it, you've got like 100,000 people around the world following that … I think what I really like about people talking to farmers on social media is it's bridging that [disconnect] … we need to talk to each other, don't we? Even when it's difficult.
“I'm head over heels in love with the landscape where I live and the work that I do, so I love all the seasons. I don't really have a favourite.”
“And this isn't even surprising to shepherds, by the way. This is not some unique attribute of mine. So if you point to one of my sheep, I can tell you what its mother was, what its father was, I can tell you what it's bred in the preceding three, four, five, ten years, and which other sheep in the flock it's related to.”
“I remember having a conversation with my dad a couple of days later where I said, 'Am I going to go and do this?' And he's like, 'You idiot. Of course you're going to go do it. I don't need your help on this farm. You're a pain in the ass anyway. Go and do it.'”
“I want you. I want the you version of this. Write your essays like you're you, where you came from and what you're about and what your values are, and find your own voice. And it's one of the best pieces of advice anybody ever gave me.”
“I think my way of doing that, which might not please my new friends, is I'm gonna forget about home and I'm just gonna knuckle down and, goddamn it, I'm gonna make this island thing work.”
“I couldn't think of a luxury item, but I just want something to write with. That's what I am. I'm a guy that does stuff and writes about it. So I want an endless supply of paper and pen, so I can just work on my poetry, work on my writing, keep some kind of journal about what's happening and yeah, I wanna write.”