Adam Nicolson, FSA,FSA Scot,FRSL (born 12 September 1957) is an English author who has written about history, landscape, great literature and the sea. He is also the 5th Baron Carnock, but does not use the title.
He is noted for his books Sea Room (about the
Shiant Isles, a group of uninhabited islands in the
Hebrides); God's Secretaries: The Making of the
King James Bible; The Mighty Dead (US title:Why Homer Matters) exploring the epic Greek poems; The Seabird's Cry about the disaster afflicting the world's seabirds; The Making of Poetry on the Romantic Revolution in England in the 1790s; and Life Between the Tides, a boundary-crossing account of the tides in human and animal life.
He has made several television series (with Keo Films) and radio series (with Tim Dee, the writer and radio producer) on a variety of subjects including the King James Bible, 17th-century literacy, Crete, Homer, the idea of Arcadia, the untold story of Britain's 20th-century whalers and the future of Atlantic seabirds.
Between 2005 and 2009, in partnership with the
National Trust, Nicolson led a project which transformed the 260 acres (110 ha) surrounding the house and garden at
Sissinghurst into a productive mixed farm, growing meat, fruit, cereals and vegetables for the National Trust restaurant.[2] And between 2012 and 2017, together with the
RSPB, the
EU and
SNH, Nicolson and his son Tom were partners in a project to eradicate invasive predators from the Shiant Isles, Outer Hebrides, Scotland. In March 2018, the islands were declared rat-free.[3]
Nicolson met his first wife, the writer Olivia Fane, when he was a student at Cambridge University. They married in 1982, and had sons Thomas (born 1984); William (born 1986); and Ben (born 1988).[citation needed] They were divorced in 1992 and since then he has been married to the writer and gardener
Sarah Raven, with whom he has two daughters: Rosie (born 1993); Molly (born 1996). The family live at Perch Hill Farm [5] in Sussex.
Power and Glory: The Making of the King James Bible (US title: God's Secretaries) (HarperCollins, 2003) (2011 reissued in UK as When God Spoke English)
Seamanship (HarperCollins, 2004)
Men of Honour: Trafalgar and the Making of the English Hero (US title: Seize the Fire: Heroism, Duty, and the Battle of Trafalgar) (HarperCollins, 2005)
Earls of Paradise (US title: Quarrel with the King) (HarperCollins, 2008)
Sissinghurst: An Unfinished History (HarperCollins, 2008; US revised edition Viking, 2010)
Arcadia: The Dream of Perfection in Renaissance England (a revised paperback edition of Earls of Paradise) (HarperCollins, 2009)
The Smell of Summer Grass (an updated edition of Perch Hill) (HarperCollins, 2011)
The Gentry: Stories of the English (HarperCollins, 2011)
The Mighty Dead: Why Homer Matters (US title Henry Holt: Why Homer Matters) (HarperCollins, 2014)
The Seabird's Cry: The Life and Loves of Puffins, Gannets and Other Ocean Voyagers (HarperCollins, 2017) (US Henry Holt: The Lives and Loves of the Planet's Great Ocean Voyagers (2018))
The Making of Poetry: Coleridge, the Wordsworths and their Year of Marvels (HarperCollins, 2019; Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2020)
The Sea is Not Made of Water: Life Between the Tides (HarperCollins, 2021; Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Life Between the Tides 2022)
How to Be: Life Lessons From the Early Greeks (HarperCollins 2023; Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Television
Atlantic Britain Channel 4, 2004
Sissinghurst BBC 4, 2009
When God Spoke English: The Making of the King James Bible BBC 4, 2011
The Century That Wrote Itself BBC 4, 2013
Britain's Whale Hunters BBC 4, 2014
The Last Seabird Summer? BBC 4, 2016
Radio
Homer's Landscapes 3 x 45 mins, BBC Radio 3, 2008
A Cretan Spring 5 x 15 mins, with Sarah Raven, BBC Radio 3, 2009
Dark Arcadias 2 x 45 mins, BBC Radio 3, 2011
References
^Adam Nicolson. Prepared for Anything. The Times Magazine, 25 June 1994. pages 24–30.
Italics in entries mean the titleholder also holds a previously listed barony of greater precedence. ^* Also a Lord in the
Peerage of Scotland, ^• Also a Baron in the
Peerage of Ireland
Adam Nicolson, FSA,FSA Scot,FRSL (born 12 September 1957) is an English author who has written about history, landscape, great literature and the sea. He is also the 5th Baron Carnock, but does not use the title.
He is noted for his books Sea Room (about the
Shiant Isles, a group of uninhabited islands in the
Hebrides); God's Secretaries: The Making of the
King James Bible; The Mighty Dead (US title:Why Homer Matters) exploring the epic Greek poems; The Seabird's Cry about the disaster afflicting the world's seabirds; The Making of Poetry on the Romantic Revolution in England in the 1790s; and Life Between the Tides, a boundary-crossing account of the tides in human and animal life.
He has made several television series (with Keo Films) and radio series (with Tim Dee, the writer and radio producer) on a variety of subjects including the King James Bible, 17th-century literacy, Crete, Homer, the idea of Arcadia, the untold story of Britain's 20th-century whalers and the future of Atlantic seabirds.
Between 2005 and 2009, in partnership with the
National Trust, Nicolson led a project which transformed the 260 acres (110 ha) surrounding the house and garden at
Sissinghurst into a productive mixed farm, growing meat, fruit, cereals and vegetables for the National Trust restaurant.[2] And between 2012 and 2017, together with the
RSPB, the
EU and
SNH, Nicolson and his son Tom were partners in a project to eradicate invasive predators from the Shiant Isles, Outer Hebrides, Scotland. In March 2018, the islands were declared rat-free.[3]
Nicolson met his first wife, the writer Olivia Fane, when he was a student at Cambridge University. They married in 1982, and had sons Thomas (born 1984); William (born 1986); and Ben (born 1988).[citation needed] They were divorced in 1992 and since then he has been married to the writer and gardener
Sarah Raven, with whom he has two daughters: Rosie (born 1993); Molly (born 1996). The family live at Perch Hill Farm [5] in Sussex.
Power and Glory: The Making of the King James Bible (US title: God's Secretaries) (HarperCollins, 2003) (2011 reissued in UK as When God Spoke English)
Seamanship (HarperCollins, 2004)
Men of Honour: Trafalgar and the Making of the English Hero (US title: Seize the Fire: Heroism, Duty, and the Battle of Trafalgar) (HarperCollins, 2005)
Earls of Paradise (US title: Quarrel with the King) (HarperCollins, 2008)
Sissinghurst: An Unfinished History (HarperCollins, 2008; US revised edition Viking, 2010)
Arcadia: The Dream of Perfection in Renaissance England (a revised paperback edition of Earls of Paradise) (HarperCollins, 2009)
The Smell of Summer Grass (an updated edition of Perch Hill) (HarperCollins, 2011)
The Gentry: Stories of the English (HarperCollins, 2011)
The Mighty Dead: Why Homer Matters (US title Henry Holt: Why Homer Matters) (HarperCollins, 2014)
The Seabird's Cry: The Life and Loves of Puffins, Gannets and Other Ocean Voyagers (HarperCollins, 2017) (US Henry Holt: The Lives and Loves of the Planet's Great Ocean Voyagers (2018))
The Making of Poetry: Coleridge, the Wordsworths and their Year of Marvels (HarperCollins, 2019; Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2020)
The Sea is Not Made of Water: Life Between the Tides (HarperCollins, 2021; Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Life Between the Tides 2022)
How to Be: Life Lessons From the Early Greeks (HarperCollins 2023; Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Television
Atlantic Britain Channel 4, 2004
Sissinghurst BBC 4, 2009
When God Spoke English: The Making of the King James Bible BBC 4, 2011
The Century That Wrote Itself BBC 4, 2013
Britain's Whale Hunters BBC 4, 2014
The Last Seabird Summer? BBC 4, 2016
Radio
Homer's Landscapes 3 x 45 mins, BBC Radio 3, 2008
A Cretan Spring 5 x 15 mins, with Sarah Raven, BBC Radio 3, 2009
Dark Arcadias 2 x 45 mins, BBC Radio 3, 2011
References
^Adam Nicolson. Prepared for Anything. The Times Magazine, 25 June 1994. pages 24–30.
Italics in entries mean the titleholder also holds a previously listed barony of greater precedence. ^* Also a Lord in the
Peerage of Scotland, ^• Also a Baron in the
Peerage of Ireland