Fred Archer : Biography

		" When I started to write, it seemed to be in my very being. It just came. "
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	Fred Archer as a young man.
How does a man born to the land, on a farm in 1915 in the Vale of Evesham, become a celebrated chronicler of life in rural England? A Tale Well Told For Fred Archer it was partly chance. Partly the love of a true tale well-told. And partly the sheer stubbornness of a farmer who spent a lifetime facing the harsh winds of country life - and the changes they brought as the shire horse gave way to the Fordson tractor, then the combine harvester. Picture a nervous farmer, already half a century on the land, asked by his local Guild to "give a talk" as a replacement speaker. Embarrassed, but undeterred, Fred wrote a humorous story and read it out - word for word. The laughter and applause of his friends and neighbours were like water to a seed.

So, Fred sat down at the kitchen table of Stanley Farm, Ashton-under-Hill and wrote a book. His wife Joyce and daughters Shelagh and June listened as he read it out loud, chapter by chapter. Then Joyce typed it up and they sent it to Hodder and Stoughton publishers in London. It was 1967 and Fred's first book, The Distant Scene, was published.

		A book a year... Over the next three decades, Fred wrote almost a book a year, eventually settling with local publishers Sutton. Within his pages are fun and folly, the blue skies of hope and storm clouds of war, cider and village sweethearts, and characters so real that even an Archer pseudonym didn't always disguise their origin. The widow of one rather colourful local gentleman once remarked, "Everything Fred Archer wrote about my husband was absolutely true."

"Everything Fred Archer wrote about my husband was absolutely true."		Success brought acclaim from authors like Auberon Waugh, Bernard Miles, Ronald Blythe and Laurie Lee, who all admired Fred's ability to describe country doings, sayings and thought. It also put him high in the league of titles borrowed from public libraries - a good yardstick of popularity.

		The television cameras loved him too, especially when he demonstrated his one man revival of rural traditions like "singing the pig" and "shin-kicking" as a participant sport. Because Fred wrote about the places and people he loved most - his books always bore them the respect he knew they deserved. For proof, look no further than his own words "I felt it would be such a pity if, when these characters died, their sayings, customs, ways of life, how they dressed, should vanish with them." Thanks to Fred Archer's powers of observation and memory, and above all his truthful turn of phrase, they never will.

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