Product Description

Johnny Kingdom is the English countryside made flesh. He has lived his whole life on Exmoor, from his childhood catching moles to sell their skins, to his early wild days of adventure as a poacher, to today, when the demands of wildlife photography make extraordinary patience rather more useful than the ability to run fast ...He embodies a way of life that may soon be gone for ever. His life story, accompanied by BBC2's landmark documentary series, is highly entertaining and completely enchanting. In "Johnny Kingdom - A Wild Life on Exmoor", we see how integral the both the landscape and the creatures of Exmoor have been to Johnny's often hair-raising life story. The beauty of Exmoor, captured in lavish colour photographs in this book, forms a stunning backdrop to his story. Johnny lives in the same area near Exmoor as his father and his father before him. Married to his childhood sweetheart, he took on his father's official job as the local gravedigger (and his unofficial living as a poacher) before a horrific accident made him change his lifestyle and seek solace in the less physically demanding work of wild-life photography. Johnny's book is full of hilarious and captivating stories of his escapades, from how he spent the night in a jail cell with a red deer, to how he persuaded the local badger population to run along a mini assault course, turning wheels and tilting up and down on see-saws. Johnny is a wonderfully charismatic raconteur. His television series and this amazing book are bound to confer on him the title of national treasure.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #184958 in Books
• Published on: 2006-10-10
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

Guardian, October 7 2006
"Kingdom's enthusiasm and eccentricity pull you along "

Sunday Telegraph, 8 October 2006
"Johnny Kingdom... might yet become a hero of our times"

Sunday Express, 8 October 2006
"Johnny Kingdom's simple, eloquent footage shows the beasts of
Exmoor going about their timeless business... it's a treat!"

Customer Reviews

Charming
Have just finished reading this. The book is just as charming and eccentric as it's author. Johnny Kingdom's personality and humour shine through. This was a very enjoyable read, though the description of his haemerrhoid treatment may make your eyes water! Very funny, touching and interesting read.

A WONDERFUL READ
I have become a huge fan of the eccentric and appealing Johnny Kingdom who appears on BBC2 on Friday nights so bought his book. It is brilliantly entertaining - he writes so graphically and the book is full of the most fantastic stories. It really does make you laugh and make you cry and it is a perfect Christmas present for anyone who enjoys a really great autobiography or loves the countryside.

A Kingdom in Heaven
This will surely become one of the classic country life biographies.
Johnny Kingdom has a sparse, simple and elegant writing style that brings his life straight to the mind of the reader. Don't be misled by the simple use of language. Here you will find no literary extravagances or wordy flourishes but, rather, a fascinating story fascinatingly told. Johnny Kingdom takes the reader into his world, from his harum scarum childhood and "school failure" days, through his early manhood and poaching activities to maturity as a country-wise and country-loving film maker.
Mr Kingdom paints a vivid series of pictures in this delightful narrative and gives a feeling of immediacy and reader involvement that puts to shame many of our more "literary" writes as we share in his joys, pains, escapades, tragedies and, above all, his delight in his moorland heaven.
I am of his generation, I remember school days so similar to those described and I lived on and near, and know and love, Exmoor. I now live in Germany and his programmes and his book are vivid reminders of what I miss. My German wife, who has only spent a couple of days on Exmoor, was entranced by the programmes and is now rivetted by the book, constantly calling me to hear the latest stage of her surrogate journeys through Exmoor and to ask me about people, events and places described.
She keeps saying she wants to move back to Britain and to live in North Devon.
Thank you Johnny Kingdom!