Richard Smyth

2015 marked the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta and Arachne Press celebrated with an evening of stories, poetry and song on the subject of Liberty, now collected together in book form. The call out continued until the end of the year, and here are the collected and eclectic responses, from authors and poets from all corners of the UK and further afield, including Sarah Evans, Nick Rawlinson, Helen Morris, Owen Townend, Alison Lock, Peter de Ville, Cassandra Passarelli, David Guy, Carolyn Eden, Brian Johnstone, Andrew McCallum, Bernie Howley, Jeremy Dixon, Liam Hogan, Jim Cogan, Katy Darby, David Mathews, Anna Fodorova, Cherry Potts, Richard Smyth.

'Generous, moving and alive. A gift' - Tim Dee, author of Greenery'Intelligent, thought-provoking and always, always interesting' - Cal Flyn, author of Islands of Abandonment'Smyth writes with warmth and engaging perception about our relationship and understanding of the natural world on our doorsteps' - Jon Dunn, author of The Glitter in the Green'Fresh and tender and playful' - Patrick Galbraith, author of In Search of One Last SongWeren't they richer, rock pools, wasn't the seashore busier, when I was a kid?Richard Smyth had always been drawn to the natural world, but when he became a father he found a new joy and a new urgency in showing his kids the everyday wild things around them. As he and his children explore rockpools in Whitley Bay, or the woods and moors near his Yorkshire home, he imagines the world they might inhabit as they grow up. Through different objects discovered on their wanderings - a beech leaf, a jay feather, a limpetshell - Smyth examines his own past as well as that of the early natural historians, weaving together history, memoir, and environmentalism to form a new kind of nature writing: one that asks both what we have lost, and what we have yet to find.

My name is Richard Smyth, and this is my story. I was raised from ten sisters and six brothers, and yes, I did have a mother at the time I was being raised up. I was never good at school, so I did quit it. I was too young to work, so I tried to get in the army, but since I was too young, I had to get my mother's permission.The army took me, but that did not last long at all. They said to me, "You have to go back home."I said, "Why?"They said to me, "All your brothers are at war, and we have to leave one home so that the last name must go on."So they sent me back home and said, "We're sorry, son. Maybe some other time."When I got back home, I got a job at Ford Motor Co. I stayed there for five years.Now I am married and have five wonderful kids--three girls and two boys--but life has its ups and downs. Again I was working and taking care of my kids and taking care of my wife too. I said to God, "When is it going to stop?" He never answered me. Any time I was going by in my life, it got even worse in my life. I started asking, "How can I stop feeling the way I do?" I was driving down the road, hoping when I go through this red light, it would be all over, but nothing happened, so again I yelled out to God and said, "Take me from this miserable life," and ran through the red light. Again nothing happened.Then something happened to my life. There was a call from the police. They told me I needed to come in and give my statement, so I did. The police had no evidence on what happened; it was hearsay--she said, he said. But don't get me wrong, this was my way out of this life. So I took it, and before I knew it, a new life started.I went to prison for ten years and loved every bit of it. I went back to school every day for eight hours and took up A A, N-A classes . I even took up Bible classes too. As I graduated from all the courses, I had a lot of time on my hands now. I started praying to God, "What do you want me to do?" I then started looking through the Bible and found my days and nights were going by fast.Next day I went to the library to learn more about this man they called Jesus. Before I knew it, I was reading all kinds of Bibles.From the time I got locked up, I never once forgot about my kids. Every day I wrote to each one and told them, "I love you all, but God has a mission for me."The next day I was led to go back to the library and get some Bible off the shelves, and I did. As I was reading, my heart told me to write it down, so I did for about ten years. Now everything is on scripts. It was about ten thousand pages.Then I met this man, and he told me, "This is way too many pages. You need to break it down some."So I did. Then I let this man look at what I had left. He said to me, "Break it down more."Now I was getting so flabbergasted. I said, "What are you doing to me?"The man told me, "You just got to trust me. I know what I'm doing. If you send all of your paperwork in, they will throw it away. It is too much for them to read."So again I watered it down for them to read. I got done; the man said it's ready. So I put all my scripts away and waited for God. God granted my parole and sent me home to my kids, where I finished this book. It was in 2017 when I got done with it. I sat on it for five years, then my dreams started for about a week, the same dreams over and over. So I sent it to the Christian Faith Publishing Inc.

'Generous, moving and alive. A gift' - Tim Dee, author of Greenery'Intelligent, thought-provoking and always, always interesting' - Cal Flyn, author of Islands of Abandonment'Smyth writes with warmth and engaging perception about our relationship and understanding of the natural world on our doorsteps' - Jon Dunn, author of The Glitter in the Green'Fresh and tender and playful' - Patrick Galbraith, author of In Search of One Last SongWeren't they richer, rock pools, wasn't the seashore busier, when I was a kid?Richard Smyth had always been drawn to the natural world, but when he became a father he found a new joy and a new urgency in showing his kids the everyday wild things around them. As he and his children explore rockpools in Whitley Bay, or the woods and moors near his Yorkshire home, he imagines the world they might inhabit as they grow up. Through different objects discovered on their wanderings - a beech leaf, a jay feather, a limpetshell - Smyth examines his own past as well as that of the early natural historians, weaving together history, memoir, and environmentalism to form a new kind of nature writing: one that asks both what we have lost, and what we have yet to find.

It's 1920s England, and the coastal town of Gravely is finally enjoying a fragile peace after the Great War. John Lowell, a naturalist who writes articles on the flora and fauna of the shoreline, and his wife Harriet lead a simple life, basking in their love for each other and enjoying the company of John's visiting old school friend, David. But when an American whaler arrives in town with his beautiful red-haired daughters, boasting of his plans to build a pier and pleasure-grounds a mile out to sea, unexpected tensions and temptations arise. As secrets multiply, Harriet, John and David must each ask themselves, what price is to be paid for pleasure?

A group of teenage boys take turns assessing each other’s changing bodies before a Friday night disco… A grieving woman strikes up an unlikely friendship with a fellow traveller on a night train to Kiev… An unusually well-informed naturalist is eyed with suspicion by his comrades on a forest exhibition with a higher purpose… The stories shortlisted for the 2021 BBC National Short Story Award with Cambridge University take place in liminal spaces – their characters find themselves in transit, travelling along flight paths, train lines and roads, or in moments where new opportunities or directions suddenly seem possible. From the reflections of a new mother flying home after a funeral, to an ailing son’s reluctance to return to the village of his childhood, these stories celebrate small kindnesses in times of turbulence, and demonstrate a connection between one another that we might sometimes take for granted. The BBC NSSA is one of the most prestigious prizes for a single short story, with the winning author receiving £15,000, and four further shortlisted authors £600 each. James Runcie is joined on the judging panel by a group of acclaimed writers and critics including: Booker Prize shortlisted novelist Fiona Mozley; award winning writer, poet and winner of the Desmond Elliott Prize, Derek Owusu; multi-award winning Irish novelist and short story writer, Donal Ryan; and returning judge, Di Speirs, Books Editor at BBC Radio.

It's 1920s England, and the coastal town of Gravely is finally enjoying a fragile peace after the Great War. John Lowell, a naturalist who writes articles on the flora and fauna of the shoreline, and his wife Harriet lead a simple life, basking in their love for each other and enjoying the company of John's visiting old school friend, David. But when an American whaler arrives in town with his beautiful red-haired daughters, boasting of his plans to build a pier and pleasure-grounds a mile out to sea, unexpected tensions and temptations arise. As secrets multiply, Harriet, John and David must each ask themselves, what price is to be paid for pleasure?

The 18th century was a wealth of knowledge, exploration and rapidly growing technology and expanding record-keeping made possible by advances in the printing press. In its determination to preserve the century of revolution, Gale initiated a revolution of its own: digitization of epic proportions to preserve these invaluable works in the largest archive of its kind. Now for the first time these high-quality digital copies of original 18th century manuscripts are available in print, making them highly accessible to libraries, undergraduate students, and independent scholars.The Age of Enlightenment profoundly enriched religious and philosophical understanding and continues to influence present-day thinking. Works collected here include masterpieces by David Hume, Immanuel Kant, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, as well as religious sermons and moral debates on the issues of the day, such as the slave trade. The Age of Reason saw conflict between Protestantism and Catholicism transformed into one between faith and logic -- a debate that continues in the twenty-first century.++++The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition identification: ++++British LibraryT106974With a half-title.London: printed for J. Robinson, 1752. 30p.; 8

A Guardian ‘Readers’ Choice’ Best Book of 2017Birdsong is the soundtrack to our world. We have tried to capture its fleeting, ephemeral beauty, and the feelings it inspires, for millennia.In this captivating and lively account, Richard Smyth explores science, music, literature, landscape and the thousand different ways in which birdsong has moved us. A bright song on a lonely street can lift our mood, bringing comfort, wonder or joy. But can we learn to listen, really listen, to what the birds are saying? Or do they just tell us back our own tales?

This book is a treasure trove of English oddities, crammed with the most curious stories, remarkable facts and unexpected goings-on from the country’s long and convoluted history. From frogs’ legs at Stonehenge to knicker elastic in the Blitz, this is England – the unauthorised biography.

A Guardian ‘Readers’ Choice’ Best Book of 2017Birdsong is the soundtrack to our world. We have tried to capture its fleeting, ephemeral beauty, and the feelings it inspires, for millennia.In this captivating and lively account, Richard Smyth explores science, music, literature, landscape and the thousand different ways in which birdsong has moved us. A bright song on a lonely street can lift our mood, bringing comfort, wonder or joy. But can we learn to listen, really listen, to what the birds are saying? Or do they just tell us back our own tales?

After the Battle of Hastings, King Harold’s tattoos were used to identify his body.Elizabeth of York was the model for the Queen in the first deck of cards.Queen Victoria appears on the 1851 Census. She lists her occupation as ‘the Queen’.Henry VIII used a wheelchair and wore glasses. This fun little book, with 400 fantastic facts about British royal history and more than 100 illustrations, will delight fans of British history everywhere!

Phantom in the library! The bizarre true story of a Victorian haunting revealed! King cholera! The day that death came to the Dock family! Exploding mummies! The weirdest events of the blitz examined! A Yorkshire tragedy: Fifteenth-century murder at Calverley Hall! Leeds has one of the darkest histories on record. From the fatal Dripping Riot of 1865, sparked by the theft of two pounds of congealed fat, to the violin-playing killer Charles Peace, said to still haunt the city’s prison cells, you will find all manner of horrible events inside this book. With plague and disease in the city slums, dreadful disasters in Roundhay Park, and riots in the city centre, this is the real story of Yorkshire’s first city.