Ralph Wightman (26 July 1901 – 28 May 1971) was an English lecturer, journalist, author, and radio and television broadcaster. He wrote many books on farming and the countryside and in the 1950s and 1960s became a well-known national figure, especially as a regular guest on the

BBC radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering ...

programme ''

Any Questions? ''Any Questions?'' is a British topical discussion programme "in which a panel of personalities from the worlds of politics, media, and elsewhere are posed questions by the audience". It is typically broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Fridays at 8 p ...

Life

A younger son of Tom Wightman, a farmer and butcher of

Piddletrenthide Piddletrenthide () is a village and civil parish in the English county of Dorset. It is sited by the small River Piddle in a valley on the dip slope of the Dorset Downs, north of Dorchester. In the 2011 census the parish—which includes the ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

, Wightman was educated at

Beaminster Grammar School Beaminster Grammar School, known in its final years as Beaminster and Netherbury Grammar School, was a small grammar school in the town of Beaminster, in Dorset, England, founded about 1868 and closed in 1962. History An earlier Beaminster Gramma ...

and Armstrong College, Newcastle, part of the

University of Durham , mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills ( Psalm 87:1) , established = (university status) , type = Public , academic_staff = 1,830 (2020) , administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19) , chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen , vice_cha ...

, where he graduated BSc in

agricultural chemistry Agricultural chemistry is the study of chemistry, especially organic chemistry and biochemistry, as they relate to agriculture—agricultural production, the processing of raw products into foods and beverages, and environmental monitoring and r ...

.The Ralph Wightman Story
at dorset-ancestors.com, accessed 1 February 2014‘WIGHTMAN, Ralph’, in '' Who Was Who 1971–1980'' (London: A. & C. Black, 1989 reprint, ); online edition by Oxford University Press, December 2007 From 1923 to 1927 he was a lecturer on agriculture for

Devon County Council Devon County Council is the county council administering the English county of Devon. Based in the city of Exeter, the council covers the non-metropolitan county area of Devon. Members of the council (councillors) are elected every four years to ...

, then from 1927 to 1930 for

Wiltshire County Council Wiltshire County Council (established in 1889) was the county council of Wiltshire in the South West of England, an elected local Government body responsible for most local government services in the county. As a result of the 2009 restructur ...

, before in 1930 returning home as Senior Agricultural Adviser to

Dorset County Council Dorset County Council (DCC) was the county council for the county of Dorset in England. It provided the upper tier of local government, below which were district councils, and town and parish councils. The county council had 46 elected council ...

. He gave up that work in 1948 to become a

freelance ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance ...

writer and broadcaster, having begun to give talks on radio in the 1930s. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

Wightman began to broadcast once a week to the United States on English country life, and altogether he gave 290 such "Trans-Atlantic talks". His radio work nearer home included a feature on the

BBC Home Service The BBC Home Service was a national and regional radio station that broadcast from 1939 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 4. History 1922–1939: Interwar period Between the early 1920s and the outbreak of World War II, the BBC ...

programme ''Country Magazine'', every week focussing on an aspect of country life in a different place around England. As a broadcaster specializing in farming and the countryside, Wightman was soon seen as the natural successor to his

mentor Mentorship is the influence, guidance, or direction given by a mentor. A mentor is someone who teaches or gives help and advice to a less experienced and often younger person. In an organizational setting, a mentor influences the personal and p ...

A. G. Street, and from the 1950s on he established himself as a national figure, known for his books, his column in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'', and his radio and television work. On 15 April 1957 he was

Roy Plomley Francis Roy Plomley, ( ; 20 January 1914 – 28 May 1985) was an English radio broadcaster, producer, playwright and novelist. He is best remembered for devising the BBC Radio series ''Desert Island Discs'', which he hosted from its inception i ...

guest on ''

Desert Island Discs ''Desert Island Discs'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942. Each week a guest, called a "castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight recordings (usua ...

'', choosing music by

Elgar Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...

Vaughan Williams Ralph Vaughan Williams, (; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over ...

Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include sym ...

Strauss Strauss, Strauß or Straus is a common Germanic surname. Outside Germany and Austria ''Strauß'' is always spelled ''Strauss'' (the letter " ß" is not used in the German-speaking part of Switzerland). In classical music, "Strauss" usually re ...

Parry PARRY was an early example of a chatbot, implemented in 1972 by psychiatrist Kenneth Colby. History PARRY was written in 1972 by psychiatrist Kenneth Colby, then at Stanford University. While ELIZA was a tongue-in-cheek simulation of a Rog ...

Paul Robeson Paul Leroy Robeson ( ; April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass-baritone concert artist, stage and film actor, professional American football, football player, and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplish ...

, and

Bill Haley William John Clifton Haley (; July 6, 1925 – February 9, 1981) was an American rock and roll musician. He is credited by many with first popularizing this form of music in the early 1950s with his group Bill Haley & His Comets and million-sel ...

. In 1924, Wightman married Margaret Dorothy Wiggins. He died on 28 May 1971 at Dorchester Hospital, after a severe fall in which he had broken his skull. His address at the time was given as Tudor House,

Puddletown Puddletown is a village and civil parish in Dorset, England. It is situated by the River Piddle, from which it derives its name, about northeast of the county town Dorchester. Its earlier name Piddletown fell out of favour, probably because ...

In popular culture

Wightman was the model for the countryman Arthur Fallowfield, a comic character created by

Kenneth Williams Kenneth Charles Williams (22 February 1926 – 15 April 1988) was an English actor of Welsh heritage. He was best known for his comedy roles and in later life as a raconteur and diarist. He was one of the main ensemble in 26 of the 31 '' ...

in '' Beyond Our Ken'', notable for his Dorset accent and his catch-phrase "the answer lies in the soil".

Denis Gifford Denis Gifford (26 December 1927 – 18 May 2000)Holland, Steve, Obituaries: Denis Gifford', ''The Guardian'', 26 May 2000. was a British writer, broadcaster, journalist, comic artist and historian of film, comics, television and radio. In h ...

, ''The Golden Age of Radio: an illustrated companion'' (1985), p. 21

Books

*''Moss Green Days: talks on English country life'' (Westhouse, 1948) *''My Homeward Road'' (London: 1950) *''Arable Farming'' (Country Books No. 5, 1951) *''Watching the Certain Things'' (London: Cassell, 1951) *''Livestock Farming'' (Country Books No. 7, 1952) *''Days on the Farm: with an introduction by Francis Dillon'' (London: Hutchinson, 1952, illustrated by

Clifford Webb Clifford Webb RBA 1936, RE 1948 (14 March 1894 – 29 July 1972) was an English artist, illustrator and writer. He specialised in animal drawings. He was apprenticed as a lithographer, but served in the British Army (Wiltshire Regiment) during ...

) *''The Seasons'' (London: Cassell, 1953) *''The Wessex Heathland'' (London: Robert Hale, 1953) *''Revolution on the Land'' (Newman Neame, 1956) *''Rural Rides: with Ralph Wightman through Cobbett's England'' (London: Cassell, 1957) *''Hayfork and Combine'' (Newman Neame, 1960) *''Abiding Things'' (London: Cassell, 1962) *''Portrait of Dorset'', (London, Robert Hale, 1st edition 1965) *''Take Life Easy'' (Pelham Books, 1968) *''The Countryside Today'' (Pelham Books, 1970) *''Wallace's Ground'' (Pelham Books, 1971)

Notes

External links

The Ralph Wightman Story
at dorset-ancestors.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Wightman, Ralph 1901 births 1971 deaths English male journalists English broadcasters People from Dorset People educated at Beaminster Grammar School Alumni of Armstrong College, Durham