Eric Robson: 'My fault'

A writer and broadcaster will attempt to debunk the reputation of Alfred Wainwright as an old curmudgeon.

Eric Robson will speak next month about the young ‘Jack the Lad’ fun-loving character unknown to many television viewers who only saw the taciturn guidebook author in his later years.

Robson, who is chairman of the Wainwright Society, famously interviewed the Kendal-based writer for a series of television shows where there were long silences and monosyllabic answers from Alfred Wainwright.

But the broadcaster intends to show the gentle Wainwright, who was a pioneering environmentalist; the shy man who changed the lives of tens of thousands of people and Wainwright as an artist, cartographer, poet and philosopher, who redefined people’s relationship with mountain landscapes.

His Wainwright’s Reflections Wandering the Lakeland Fells presentation will take place at the Friends of the Lake District fundraising dinner in October.

Alfred Wainwright, 'Jack the Lad'?. Photo: Wainwright estate

Robson said he will go in search of the young and vibrant Alfred Wainwright whose love of life and adventure informed all his later works.

He said: “Mountain myth would have us believe that Wainwright was a something of a curmudgeonly old duffer.

“My fault, I’m afraid, because the first time most of his fans saw him in the flesh was as an old man in the television series I made with him.

“In this talk I’m going to try to set the record straight by introducing you to a younger, full of fun, Jack-the-lad Wainwright.

“You’ll hopefully never think of him as an old misery ever again.”

All proceeds of the Rheged event on 4 October will go to the Friends.

Advance booking for the evening is essential. Tickets are on sale at £29.50 each.

Anyone interested should contact Friends of the Lake District by 26 September on 01538 720788, by email or by booking online.