Maurice Samuel Wiggin (1912 – 1986) was an English journalist and memoirist. As a journalist, he worked on a wide variety of titles, including the ''

Birmingham Gazette The ''Birmingham Gazette'', known for much of its existence as ''Aris's Birmingham Gazette'', was a newspaper that was published and circulated in Birmingham, England, from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries. Founded as a weekly publicatio ...

'' and the ''

Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, wh ...

.'' His books include memoirs (with a particular focus on his

Black Country The Black Country is an area of the West Midlands county, England covering most of the Metropolitan Boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell and Walsall. Dudley and Tipton are generally considered to be the centre. It became industrialised during it ...

upbringing), fishing guides, and contemplations of country life.

Life

Wiggin was born in Bloxwich in 1912. His paternal grandfather, James Wiggin, was the co-founder of J. & J. Wiggin Ltd., a manufacturer of metal parts for the saddlery industry and

Old Hall Old or OLD may refer to: Places *Old, Baranya, Hungary *Old, Northamptonshire, England *Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, Mai ...

branded stainless steel tableware. Wiggin attended

Queen Mary's Grammar School Queen Mary's Grammar School (QMGS) is a boys' grammar school with academy status located on Sutton Road, Walsall, England, about a mile from the town centre and one of the oldest schools in the country. The sixth form is coeducational. Admis ...

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield. Walsall is t ...

, and received a Third class degree from the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in contin ...

. His career as a journalist began at the ''Birmingham Evening Despatch''. At the age of 26, he was appointed editor of the ''

'', and later moved to London where he worked as the literary editor of the '' Daily Express.'' During World War II, he joined the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

, trained as an aircraft fitter at

MOD St Athan Ministry of Defence St Athan or MOD St Athan (Welsh: Maes awyr Sain Tathan), formerly known as RAF St Athan, is a large Ministry of Defence unit near the village of St Athan in the Vale of Glamorgan, southern Wales. It was the designated site f ...

, and took part in the

Normandy landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

. He had married his wife Kay by this time. After the war, Wiggin resumed his career in journalism. As a features editor on the ''

Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

'', he commissioned essays from

George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalita ...

, including ''

The Moon Under Water "The Moon Under Water" is a 1946 essay by George Orwell, originally published as the Saturday Essay in the '' Evening Standard'' on 9 February 1946, in which he provided a detailed description of his ideal public house, the fictitious "Moon Und ...

''. For the ''Sunday Times'', he was an angling correspondent and an influential television critic of long standing. In 1969, Wiggin appeared on a

BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

television programme called ''Colourful One'', where he discussed what viewers might expect from the launch of the first British

colour television Color television or Colour television is a television transmission technology that includes color information for the picture, so the video image can be displayed in color on the television set. It improves on the monochrome or black-and-white t ...

transmissions. Wiggin retired to Herefordshire and died there in 1986.

Writing career

His books reflected his lifelong interests in

working class The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colo ...

life, country pursuits, motoring, and literature. ''Life with Badger'', tales of an obese pet cat, was a collection of sketches that originally appeared in the ''

Sunday Graphic The ''Sunday Graphic'' was an English tabloid newspaper published in Fleet Street. The newspaper was founded in 1915 as the ''Sunday Herald'' and was later renamed the ''Illustrated Sunday Herald''. In 1927 it changed its name to the ''Sunday G ...

''. Both ''Life with Badger'' and ''The Memoirs of a Maverick'' were serialised by

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of Talk radio, spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history fro ...

Henry Williamson Henry William Williamson (1 December 1895 – 13 August 1977) was an English writer who wrote novels concerned with wildlife, English social history and ruralism. He was awarded the Hawthornden Prize for literature in 1928 for his book '' Tark ...

, author and fellow country pursuits enthusiast, who was championed by Wiggin, dedicated the novel ''The Power of The Dead'' (1963) to him.

Books

* ''My Court Casebook'' (1948) * ''The Passionate Angler'' (1951) * ''Fishing For Beginners'' (1953) * ''In Spite of The Price of Hay'' (1953) * ''Teach Yourself Fly Fishing'' (1958) * ''Troubled Waters'' (1960) * ''My Life on Wheels'' (1963) * ''The Angler's Bedside Book'' (1965) (editor) * ''Life with Badger'' (1967) * ''The Memoirs of a Maverick'' (1968) * ''A Cottage Idyll'' (1969) Thomas Nelson * ''Sea Fishing For Beginners'' (1970) * ''Faces at the Window'' (1972)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wiggin, Maurice 1912 births 1986 deaths 20th-century English journalists 20th-century English memoirists People from Bloxwich The Sunday Times people Alumni of the University of Oxford English newspaper editors Daily Express people Royal Air Force personnel of World War II London Evening Standard people Military personnel from the West Midlands (county) Royal Air Force airmen