David Shepherd E-Book

J C Jeremy Hobson

• Herausgeber: Quiller
• Kategorie: Sachliteratur, Reportagen, Biografien
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 403

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

In 1975, David Shepherd wrote The Man Who Loves Giants – an autobiography. Even though he was only forty-four, he had already achieved more than most could have in three lifetimes. In the intervening years, until his death in 2017, he painted a huge variety of subjects, founded the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation, renovated and restored everything from steam engines to dolls' houses, and appeared on both radio and television. 'Being the extrovert I am,' he once said, 'I like things large and exciting … especially elephants …' However, this enthusiasm wasn't restricted to animals, it extended to his love and ownership of several full-sized steam engines, including locomotive number 92203, otherwise known as Black Prince. David's friends ranged from showbiz celebrities to well-known sportsmen and women, and British and European royalty to internationally influential politicians and presidents. He was awarded the Order of the Golden Ark by Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands for his services to conservation in Zambia, and the Order of Distinguished Service, First Class, by President Kaunda. Her Majesty The Queen presented David with the OBE and CBE. David's first gallery successes were not of the African wildlife for which he is now best known. London scenes, planes, boats and trains have long featured in his portfolio – as do English landscapes and bygone rural life. Since David's autobiography, no book has dealt so comprehensively with his life, painting, and conservation work as this biography by J. C. Jeremy Hobson, professional author and David's youngest son-in-law. With access to family archives and photographs, private diaries and reminiscences, this is a unique portrait of a remarkable man.

Leseprobe

First published 2022

Quiller An imprint of Amberley Publishing Ltd

Copyright © J. C. Jeremy Hobson, 2022

The right of J. C. Jeremy Hobson to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

ISBN 9781846893322 (HARDBACK) ISBN 9781846893414 (eBOOK)

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without the permission in writing from the Publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Typesetting by SJmagic DESIGN SERVICES, India. Printed in the UK.

Quiller

An imprint of Amberley Publishing Ltd

The Hill, Merrywalks, Stroud, GL5 4EP

Tel: [phone]

E-mail: [email protected]

Website: www.quillerpublishing.com

For Avril, David’s wife – who sadly passed away just as these pages were at the very last stages of going into print.

‘The man may be the head of the home but the wife is the heart’

Kenyan (Kikuyu people) proverb

CONTENTS

Author’s Note

Acknowledgements

Foreword by Dame Judi Dench and David Mills

Introduction

1Patriarchs, Matriarchs, Siblings and Early Life

2The London Scene

3Home Is Where the Art Is

4A Life in Miniature

5Dotty about Dogs – and Other Animals

6Family, Friends and Royal Connections

7‘A Man of Africa’

8Wildlife Matters

9Railway Mania – a Full Head of Steam

10Flying High – Aeroplanes and a Military Connection

11Roadshows and Audiences

12The Last Word

Ode to David Shepherd – By Mark Carwardine

Honours and Awards

David Shepherd ‘Collectables’

The David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation

AUTHOR’S NOTE

In writing this biography I’ve attempted to portray the artist not only as a young man (apologies to James Joyce for paraphrasing the title of his first novel!) but, as all good biographies should, throughout all aspects of his life: both professional and personal.

Although I’d written over thirty published books beforehand, this was to be my first-ever biography of length. I had previously drawn brief word sketches of many people for magazine articles but never before had to consider anything so detailed. It was then, a daunting task, and one made even more daunting by the fact that it was up to me to create what is likely to be a final account of one man’s eighty-six-year lifespan – and a life that certainly included more than most!

A focus on accuracy is obviously most important in any form of non-fiction writing: it’s even more crucial when someone’s life is already so well documented in books, magazines, radio, television recordings and in the minds of many who have personal reminiscences of meeting their ‘hero’ and is a ‘personality’ long admired; both for their artistic talent and contribution to wildlife throughout many parts of the world. Added to which, when one considers I’ve also written this biography in the capacity of being one of the subject’s sons-in-law and that, with any obviously unintentional error I might incur the possible wrath of relatives, then it’s probably quite possible to understand the trepidation with which I undertook the task!

Some discrepancies are inevitable – even David’s own notes and recollections of particular events vary! Also, as I researched various sources, I began to realise that some of David’s paintings which appear as illustrations in various books and magazine articles have been attributed different names. With that in mind, wherever I mention a particular painting within the text, I have given it the title with which I think it was originally catalogued and hope that by doing so, it doesn’t cause any confusion.

Writing this biography has been an illuminating insight into the life of a man I thought I knew quite well. It wasn’t long into the project that, through my research and talking with many who knew David through different stages of his life, I began to realise that I was acquiring an overall knowledge of a most amazing person. Therefore, should I ever decide to apply and subsequently choose ‘David Shepherd: wildlife artist, conservationist and family man’ as my specialist subject on a future BBC Television Mastermind programme, I’d like to think I might acquit myself with a reasonable number of points!

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, my love and grateful thanks to Avril and all of the Shepherd family who have helped enormously with the compilation of this biography; in particular, the Shepherd ‘girls’: Melinda, Mandy, Melanie and Wendy – big hugs to you all! Also their various offspring: Thomas, Elliot, Robin, Rosie and Annabel, Emily and Georgina (known to all as ‘Peanut’), Luke and Justin. David and Avril’s great-grandchildren (Katie, twins Oliver and Matilda, Henry and Freyja) are too young to have known David but they will, as time goes by, most surely acknowledge the part their great-grandfather played in both the world of art and wildlife conservation. Thank you also to Judy Crago, David’s sister, for her reminiscences – like her brother, she is a great character and an enormous amount of fun!

Jonathan Shepherd, David’s nephew and archivist of the paternal side of the family, has been diligent in his research of family history on my behalf and much of what appears in the section dealing with David’s early life would not have been possible without his assistance. Long-time family friends Pamela Jackson and Jayne Le Cras have shared with me their experiences and obvious love of David, his family and his work. Mark Carwardine, conservationist, broadcaster and author, was kind enough to provide me with several wonderful anecdotes (and permission to include his poem Ode To David Shepherd, which he read at David’s seventieth birthday celebrations – to the accompaniment of laughter and rapturous applause) even though he was, at the time we were in communication, by his own description, ‘bobbing about in a boat in the Sea of Cortez’ – the wonders of email and modern technology!

Grateful thanks too to Sue Rose – David’s PA for the last eight years of his life (and someone who, from circumstances, most certainly got to know David far better than she ever envisaged when she initially applied for the job). Thanks to Jean Winch – business adviser since 2002, and Karen Botha, past CEO of the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation (DSWF). Also, Kay Roudaut who has a long involvement with DSWF and is the one nowadays responsible for artist liaison and trading – but who, in the past, accompanied David to talk show venues on many occasions. Her input regarding the latter was invaluable.

Particular and most effusive thanks to Julian Birley, one of David’s long-term friends and fellow steam locomotive enthusiasts: like David, he is gloriously enthusiastic to the point of obsession – there’s no wonder the two of them got on so well! Thanks also to Wilfred Mole for his input regarding steam locomotive Avril, and to railway book author and one-time steam engine driver, Geoff Burch. The undoubted knowledge of all three has been invaluable in assisting me on that important part of David’s life. Stephen Moor and ‘The Grumblies’ are a team of model railway lovers who regularly helped David with troubleshooting and maintenance of his model railway at Brooklands Farm. As I would be the first to admit that I know nothing about such things, I am therefore, very appreciative of their assistance with technical matters regarding the railway – also for their wonderful anecdotes and reminiscences of their Mondays spent with David at Brooklands whilst working on his lay-out.

Others to whom thanks are most definitely due include John Bulmer, who really got behind this particular project and discovered the whereabouts of several of David’s earliest (and sometimes unknown/forgotten) paintings on both this book’s behalf and for the future benefit of the Shepherd family. Thank you to Lisa Pool, Elaine Green and Elaine Lavender of the East Somerset Railway. Thanks too, to Rachel Fannen of the Chesterfield Museum; to Rupert Fogden and Candida Lord of Mallams Auctioneers, Oxford; and to Jonathan Pertwee.

Photographically, my most sincere gratitude to Philip Reeson (www.reeson.com) for his kindness in permitting use of the portrait jacket cover photo of David … and also to Elliot Hobson and everyone who took the various photographs (including the photos of David’s paintings) which appear in this book. The names of some have, over time, sadly been lost and they cannot therefore be individually thanked but their input is very much appreciated.

Thank you to Kevin Robertson of Noodle Books regarding the use of David’s introduction in Artist Among the Ashes. Talking of such things, I have included several quotes taken from both the original and the revised editions of David’s autobiography, The Man Who Loves Giants; David Shepherd: The Man and His Paintings; David Shepherd: My Painting Life and A Brush With Steam, all four of which were published by David & Charles. Obviously the words and copyright are David Shepherd’s (and, since his death, the Shepherd family) and so I was able to use any information gleaned from there at will. I was, nevertheless, extremely grateful to David & Charles for giving their ‘thumbs-up’ via Ame Verso, their current publishing director.

As well as having been fortunate in having access to the Shepherd family archive and private material, I have also drawn much general information and inspiration from various articles and letters in magazines, books and internet forums. I have, quite cheekily, included extracts from the introduction David wrote in his great friend Rolf Rohwer’s 2012 book Campfire Tales, knowing full well that, as great friends of the family, Rolf’s widow Carole, son Rolf and daughter Kirsten will have no objection whatsoever! Irrespective of that, in accordance with my understanding of the UK’s copyright laws, I have not necessarily sought permission to quote very minor extracts from other sources – but have, in all cases, mentioned the origin within the text and would like to assure anyone concerned that I have not taken any quote and used it out of context … or to the detriment of what was intended by the author. In instances where more than a few words have been used, every reasonable effort has been made to contact possible copyright owners.

As a point of interest, the song Wish Me Luck as You Wave Me Goodbye, as mentioned in the ‘Man of Africa’ chapter, was written by Phil Park and Harry Parr-Davies and was first published by Chappell Music Ltd.

FOREWORD

Long before we became friends with David we were both huge fans of his art, especially his wildlife paintings, which totally captured the spirit of the animals in all their glory. Particularly his magnificent elephants, which back in the 1970s adorned millions of walls in houses throughout the land, treating us to a glimpse of exotic Africa long before safari holidays became affordable to the masses.

The first time meeting David was when he came to the British Wildlife Centre (BWF) in order to study water voles for a future project of his. We immediately bonded over our shared passion for nature and wildlife, and on leaving with a promise of water voles for his pond at Brooklands Farm, it heralded the start of a wonderful friendship – a friendship which really blossomed when we got to know David’s wife Avril and there was often just the four of us just enjoying each other’s company … so many lovely memories!

On one occasion, after lunch at Brooklands, David very proudly showed us a secret little door in the wall panelling, which he opened to reveal a tiny room – not a doll’s house but a mouse house, home to three perfectly dressed inhabitants with all their furniture perfectly to scale. We were so enchanted by this appealing scene that, rushing back home … [Judi] painted a miniature mouse portrait that we sent to David to hang on the wall in the tiny room ... much to his great amusement!

On another memorable occasion we all spent a glorious few days relaxing and having fun on Tresco in the Isles of Scilly, where we enjoyed many an hour watching the red squirrels in the Abbey Gardens. The introduction of the squirrels to the Gardens had been one of the BWF’s first conservation projects, which in turn had been originally inspired by the work David’s Foundation was doing to save endangered species around the world – species that are on the edge of extinction that desperately need all the help they can get.

What a wonderful legacy David has left us … all those exquisite paintings and a highly respected world-famous Foundation. His enthusiasm and dedication were unparalleled and he continues to be an absolute inspiration to us all …

Dame Judi Dench CH, DBE, FRSA and David Mills MBE

Judi Dench and her ‘chap’ (Judi dislikes the word ‘partner’!) David Mills, were good friends with David and Avril, and Judi has been an avid supporter of the DSWF for over a decade.

David Mills is the creator of the British Wildlife Centre based at Lingfield, Surrey (www.britishwildlifecentre.co.uk), which is home to over forty British species of wildlife ranging from harvest mice to deer. The centre houses Britain’s first-ever ‘walk-through’ red squirrel enclosure – and the couple first met when David invited Judi to officially open it in 2010.

INTRODUCTION

In 1975, David & Charles published The Man Who Loves Giants – an autobiography by David Shepherd. Even though he was only forty-four years of age, he had, by that time, already achieved more than most could have contemplated in three lifetimes. In the second of his two appearances on BBC Radio’s Desert Island Discs in 1999, interviewer Sue Lawley described David as being ‘one of life’s lucky people’ – an untrue statement as he of all people was definitely very much of the opinion that one should create one’s own luck and that life was very much what you made it.

Passionate in everything he did, be it art, wildlife conservation or when involved in one of his many eclectic interests, as his eldest daughter Melinda remembers, he quite often went to extremes ‘… particularly about musicals, which he absolutely adored … especially Me and My Girl, various productions of which he saw forty-nine times … including once taking Mum, myself and my sisters to New York to see it on Broadway!’

Guys and Dolls was another favourite musical which David and the family saw together on many occasions. As Avril recollected: ‘David was strange – he’d much prefer to see the same show lots of times rather see a new one … he was the same with films too; goodness knows how many times we went to see Gone with the Wind … Once, he booked a whole row of the stalls for family and friends to see one particular viewing.’

Whether cinema or London shows, David was always enthusiastic regarding what he loved. According to Melinda: ‘During some performances, Dad would get very animated and excited … so much so that, as we got older and more potentially embarrassed, as daughters we would almost fight to make sure that the only seat next to him was filled by Mum as she was the only one of us likely to be able to restrain his extrovert enthusiasm.’

Brought up on Gilbert and Sullivan, music of many kinds was a source of joy to David. It was indeed an eclectic mix ranging from show tunes to Abba, from Abba to Mahler and much more in between. However, at least as might be assumed from his choices of music made for his two appearances on radio’s Desert Island Discs (see Chapter 11) it would appear that his love of Sibelius’ Symphony No. 1 in E Minor and Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 in E-flat Major (his overall record of choice on both occasions) remained with him throughout a long period of his life – as did the Glenn Miller composed Tuxedo Junction.

‘A curious man’

Famously, David’s career as an artist was launched in 1962 when Boots (primarily a chemist shop) mass-produced a copy of a canvas he had painted called Wise Old Elephant, with, as David once described it, a framework of ‘filthy little pieces of wood around the edges’. Despite its enormous success (over 250,000 copies were sold in a very short space of time) he made virtually no money from it due to the fact he’d been paid a one-off fee by the producers of the print. At the time, the painting came in for much criticism from the established, somewhat highbrow art world. ‘I was called Britain’s top pop artist but I had some dreadful publicity,’ David was to tell a newspaper reporter many years later.

Interviewed on many occasions by reporters and journalists, their attention was important in that any publicity would help David in his phenomenal fundraising efforts for wildlife conservation and in increasing public awareness for the need for steam locomotive preservation. It was, though, sometimes difficult to establish from the tone of their subsequent articles exactly what they thought of him. In her 2002 article for The Argus, journalist Angela Wintle, wrote:

Shepherd is a curious man. He has so much energy he can barely control himself, and his emotions are never far from the surface. In two hours, his behaviour veers from wild fury to helpless laughter.

He is excitable, enthusiastic and talks non-stop, frequently breaking into raucous laughter which mutates into a whinny … He wallows in nostalgia and loves ‘music which stirs the emotions’. He can’t paint when he hears Sibelius: it moves him to tears … In his head, he lives in a Bridesheadian age of steam trains, hackney carriages and cricket on the village green … He never tires of repeating his fund of stories and tells me he has an ‘ego the size of a planet’.

You can’t help liking him though. He has a natural warmth and an infectious enthusiasm.

Infectious enthusiasm

His warmth and infectious enthusiasm were qualities that endeared him to many, including Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, and it was ‘enthusiasm’ that he mentioned when, asked by her in conversation during a sitting for a commissioned portrait in 1969, ‘How do you manage to paint the Ark Royal one day and me the next?’, he replied, ‘There’s no difference, Ma’am … The common denominator is enthusiasm.’ The theory regarding the lack of any difference was something obviously long-held by David as it was mentioned in a catalogue for a 1954 exhibition of his paintings where the introduction included the following observation: ‘David Shepherd rightly holds with the principle of approaching any subject with the same outlook – as a thing of pictorial beauty – no matter whether it be an avenue of beech trees, a piece of furniture, a portrait, or a jet airliner.’

Enthusiasm aside, he could certainly see beauty in whatever he painted, especially when it came to wildlife and nature. As David himself once wrote: ‘Whether it is an English beechwood, a scene of elephants in Africa, or locomotives at Nine Elms, nature creates the most fantastic colours in the evening … in nature, as well as being beautiful, trees are so important … tragic though the loss of buildings might be, bricks and mortar can be rebuilt; you can’t do the same with wildlife – and it’s not so easy with trees either.’

It was David’s concern for the natural world and what negative effects the human population was having on it (some intentional, some through ignorance and/or lack of thought) which caused the artist to use his success for its benefit by selling paintings to raise money initially for the World Wildlife Fund (now ‘rebranded’ as the World Wide Fund for Nature) and then for his own charitable foundation.

It is important to realise that, back in the late 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, David was a ‘celebrity’ every bit as famous as the easily recognisable names of today and, as a consequence, was greatly in demand for appearances on radio and television (see Chapter 11). Such public platforms gave all-important opportunities to enthusiastically champion his cause. So, despite what may be thought by a younger generation, the BBC Television presenter Chris Packham is most certainly not the first to use his status to promote awareness of the devastating changes to the environment via his support for the Extinction Rebellion group, or his concern for the world’s wildlife and habitat. Along with the likes of Peter Scott, David Attenborough and Professor David Bellamy, David Shepherd was championing similar causes well over half a century ago.

Childhood hero and friend

David was an inspiration to many and a childhood hero to some – including railway buff Julian Birley and media presenter, wildlife photographer and conservation activist Mark Carwardine. Both were to become great friends of David’s. Mark’s first opportunity to meet his hero was when he was working at the WWF where David was a trustee: ‘He had so much energy and enthusiasm and charisma that when he left the room, it felt like a tornado had just passed through.’ He was tireless; even at the age of seventy-seven. He told an interviewer for Surrey Life magazine that: ‘Although I spend most of my daylight hours painting in my studio – I still complete about fifty commissions a year – I venture out to gather reference material and, if I’m lucky, to paint in situ.’

Julian Birley, in addition to becoming a personal friend, is also the former chairman of the North Norfolk Railway where David’s steam locomotive Black Prince (see Chapter 9) is now kept:

Over the years that I knew David he inspired such fun. The madder the idea the more he wanted to do it. David and I used to drive from Brooklands [David and Avril’s home in East Sussex] to the North Norfolk Railway … on a regular basis for a number of years. We used to laugh our way up and laugh our way back. I never tired from listening to his wonderful stories from painting the portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, who apologised for being late for a meeting with him as she had been ‘up the road having coffee with her daughter’, to being pushed along the rails in an adapted 1937 Ford Popular car through the African bush by a 100-ton Victorian steam locomotive (see Chapter 9).

During much of David’s life, his eclectic interests collided, although in the following example they were, fortunately, metaphorical rather than physical. In August 2009, on the occasion of the fiftieth birthday of his beloved steam engine Black Prince, which, before being moved to the North Norfolk Railway, was kept at the Gloucester and Warwickshire Railway, a fly-past of Second World War planes was organised. Aeroplanes from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight of which David was a great supporter and fundraiser (see Chapter 10) flew low in salute over the celebrations which, although fun and included a huge birthday cake, were primarily intended as a fundraiser for the DSWF.

Friends of David were frequently surprised by unexpected and quite often generous invitations. Stephen Moor, spokesman for ‘The Grumblies’ (see Chapter 4) who used to descend on Brooklands most Mondays to help maintain and improve David’s quite extensive model railway layout, remembers that ‘After just a few visits to Brooklands David invited us to the Gloucester and Warwickshire Railway to spend a day with him, his beloved loco and the RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight crew. It was a private day and the RAF guys had a go at driving and firing the engine … at one point I found myself on the footplate getting ready to leave the station with a famous squadron leader pilot in the engine-driver’s seat … it was a quite surreal moment!’

Big boy’s toys

His love of steam locomotives aside, another measure of David’s success and enthusiasm for the mechanically large was the acquisition of an old London Routemaster bus (see Chapter 2) which was liveried in DSWF colours and spent time down at the East Somerset Railway before being eventually sold. Although undoubtedly sensible from the point of view of publicity for the Foundation, it is doubtful that even David would have denied that he’d bought it mainly for the joy of possession. As daughter Mandy comments, ‘Such things were “trophies”; a measure of his success.’

Another of David’s acquisitions was a flatbed Bedford three-ton lorry, on the back of which the daughters loved travelling. Three of the four would frequently load up on the open back – seated on garden chairs – with their parents up front in the cab and pop down for weekend visits to see Melinda, their eldest sister, whilst she was at St Michael’s boarding school in Petworth, West Sussex (see also Chapter 6). Great fun, but certainly illegal nowadays and imagine Melinda’s embarrassment as they all rolled up at her somewhat prestigious place of education and parked up alongside the other parents’ swish vehicles!

A huge lover of Land Rovers – and a great supporter of the British motor industry – David owned several during his lifetime. Before the days of compulsory seat belts, Avril would take their children and those of neighbours to school in a safari wagon type, and one, bought on a whim purely because it happened to be registered for the year in which he and Avril married (1957) was kept in the barn of Maesgwyn, their cottage in Wales. Apart from its use to David out in the wilds of the Brecon Beacons, it was also a vehicle in which several of the grandchildren learnt to drive during their stays up there. For her fiftieth birthday, David bought Avril a Willys jeep – totally forgetting the fact that she couldn’t drive it due to there being no power steering and a need to double declutch every time a gear change was required. It was, though, accompanied by something rather more feminine in the shape of an emerald necklace!

Then, of course, there was the famous incident when, at David’s seventy-fifth birthday celebrations held at The Dorchester organised as a fundraising event, one of the lots up for auction was a motorised scale model of a Land Rover ‘Wincotts Toylander 2 with trailer in DSWF livery’ intended for youngsters. Keen to demonstrate its versatility, David squeezed his six-feet-two-inch length into the driver’s seat – and promptly drove it off the stage. It caused great amusement to the audience and to David himself who narrated the tale in that year’s ‘round robin’ newsletter included with cards sent to friends and family each Christmas.

***

The Cowley assembly line and lost paintings

Unbeknown to many, several of David’s earlier paintings featured artwork of car factories and industry. In February 2020, a canvas of his entitled The Morris Oxford No. 3 Assembly Line, Cowley, dated 1955, came up for sale at Mallams Auctioneers, Oxford. It was sold, together with a page from that year’s Nuffield organisation’s company magazine Teamwork, in which David’s painting of the assembly line was mentioned:

… impervious to the hubbub and curious states … a young London artist has been setting on canvas his impression of the Morris Oxford coming off the line … We were a trifle disappointed to find that he belies the usual conception of an artist – no beard or floppy hat, no bow-tie or even sandals! The only unusual thing that we could discover was that apparently he lives on tea and boiled sweets. Certainly none can remember him stopping for a regular meal …

Although the painting was referred to by David in his original autobiography of 1975 and is thus known, no one in the family had, prior to the auction, ever seen this particular painting. Nor were they aware of the fact that Chesterfield Museum is nowadays the owner of his painting Kariba First Turbine ‘showing a turbine at Markham Works with two men working on it and orange scaffolding above it’. It was apparently labelled thus for an ‘Illustrating Industry’ exhibition held in 1958. Given David’s prolific output, there must be many others that remain unknown.

***

David as a fashion icon

Events at The Dorchester and elsewhere might have required David to don a dinner jacket but, never one to be a part of the crowd, his preferred choice from the wardrobe was most often his favourite of a dark green rather than the more traditional black. Despite being usually seen in his trademark safari jacket or gilet, he could scrub up quite well when lounge suits or dinner jackets were required. An Evening Standard article of 18 April 1960, mentions that, ‘One would not guess Mr. Shepherd to be an artist when first meeting him. A stockbroker would be more likely. “I have no time for artists who go around looking scruffy and unwashed,” he said. “If you are going to paint you must be successful and look successful.”’

Successful he may have been but, in general terms clothes-wise, unlike Avril, David could never ever have been classed as a fashion icon – although on at least one occasion, he and all the family did appear in an article which featured their attire rather than, as was more common, focus on the artist’s painting or wildlife conservation. In the Sunday Express Magazine of 20 May 1990, David, Avril and their daughters were all seen wearing ‘designer’ clothes for a photo shoot at Winkworth Farm. Prior to that, some publicity and press photos of David show him wearing the fashion trends of the time (in the ’70s, for example, slightly flared trousers with a colourful kerchief or scarf around his neck) but that was most definitely Avril’s doing as David himself didn’t really care what he wore. Life was too full to worry about such fads! In her 2002 interview with David (see above) journalist Angela Wintle described David as adopting ‘… the Stewart Granger safari look even in deepest Sussex. He is tanned and dressed in regulation game warden garb: jeans, khaki shirt unbuttoned to the chest (he often sports a medallion) photographer’s jacket, Timberland boots and copper bracelet … all that is missing are the dry plains of the Serengeti and a herd of wild elephants’.

***

Fit for a queen

Sartorial elegance to one side, David would, when painting, generally favour a particular pair of trousers – for no other reason than practicality. Talking to Stacey Heaney of the Ulster Star in 2011, David said: ‘I bought a pair of painting trousers at a market. I could have gone to Harrods and paid a fortune, but I bought them at a market thirty years ago, and as I paint I wipe my brush on my right leg. I remember my painting the portrait of the Queen Mother at Clarence House [where David had been told to dress casually and wear what he would normally wear for painting] and she looked at me and said, “That’s an interesting colour combination you’ve got.” I still use those trousers and they are so stiff from paint that they all but stand up on their own.’

***

A disciplined work ethic

Elephants obviously featured in a great deal of David’s paintings. They, alongside his extremely atmospheric portrayals of the days of steam locomotives, are the ‘giants’ for which he is perhaps best recognised. Although in order to obtain the atmosphere and accuracy for which his artwork is known it was necessary to spend time out and about, making sketches and taking photographs, most of the final paintings were done in his studio (see Chapter 3). As one should, he treated the studio as his workplace and went to it daily as assiduously as any London commuter. He was dedicated to his art and extremely disciplined.

Typically, when at home, his studio hours would be 8 a.m. to 10.30 a.m. before a half-hour break for coffee. Back to the studio until lunchtime and then another painting stint from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. or thereabouts. His work ethic meant that little or nothing would, or should, disturb his daily routine – and in that, he was lucky in having Avril ready and willing to keep family life and daily happenings on an even keel. That’s not to say that he was a distant parent; all four daughters remember him as being a brilliant father when they were young.

Although outwardly confident and an amazing self-publicist, he was somewhat insecure and needed constant praise. He was also egotistical. Pamela Jackson, a BBC production assistant who became a family friend (see Chapter 6) and who was also an avid collector of David Shepherd prints, remembers his first visit to her home near Bristol many years ago where ‘David … went from room to room seeing how many of his prints we had – saying “that’s one of mine, that’s one of mine.” It was like a whirlwind going through the house!’

Chocoholic and a technophobe

He was certainly a man of many parts. Egotistical, outspoken (particularly on the subject of wildlife) complicated, enthusiastic, a lover of fun – and of chocolate! Few lunchtime meals could conclude without a visit to the pantry to pick up a bar of Dairy Milk or similar and, on occasions such as Christmas or birthdays when the family was gathered and, after the meal, all moved into the drawing room for coffee, it wasn’t unknown for David to pick up a tin of Roses or Quality Street and throw them randomly at anyone and everyone who was sitting about him.

In an evening, in his later years, if nothing – in his opinion – was worth watching on live-time television then David would delve into the most obscure Sky channels in order to find and avidly peruse programmes dealing with either aircraft or ship disasters. Quite exactly what the fascination was, he never really explained but there are several of his most immediate family who, forced by politeness to watch such things with him, will forever remain scarred! It may just possibly have been the profile of planes that interested him – after all, as a painter of commercial aircraft in his younger years, there would always have been an interest in accuracy. It could not, however, have been because of his interest in their technical mechanics.

Despite a fondness for Land Rovers (in a 2012 interview for Ink Pellet magazine, when asked his favourite book title, David remarked, ‘I don’t have time to read but if I did then the Land Rover Handbook would be my choice!’) and having a basic understanding of what made a steam locomotive power its way along the tracks, David was not, by any stretch of the imagination, fond of the complications of technology. He left others to deal with business that required the use of a computer, and his lack of tolerance when some inanimate piece of equipment failed to do as he wanted is legendary. Once, when transcribing a Dictaphone recording of David’s spoken word into written copy for a book, his secretary of the time was so engrossed in getting the words down on paper that she failed to register what she was actually writing. Thus, it was only when the hard copy manuscript was first read as a draft that it was noticed that much of the information David had recorded was interspersed with several swear words and expletives at points where the machine had obviously refused to behave in the manner which he would have wished.

Politically incorrect

Kitty Hoare was the first of David’s personal assistants and secretaries (see Chapter 3). Sue Rose was the last. Sue describes him fondly as being ‘emotional and gushy, good fun but hard work … he always wanted to be right … but we did some amazing things together’. On car journeys to various appointments, fundraisers, talks, railway visits and exhibitions – as he did with Julian Birley (see above) – he loved to make Sue laugh. She was someone new to whom he could tell his stories. At other times they sat in companionable silence, apart from when it came to road directions, where David always thought he knew best – and his knowledge better than the Satnav. But then, David had never in his life ever done anything he was told so he wasn’t likely to change in his later years!

Unorthodox (and sometimes, in all genuine innocence, very definitely politically incorrect) during the selection process for what eventually became Sue’s position as PA, as David looked through the list of applicants (apparently there were over 300) he happened to notice a photo of Sue attached to her CV. ‘Can I have this one? She’s blonde …’ This is perhaps not as sexist as might first be thought. Bearing in mind his love for his blonde wife and blonde daughters (several times Avril was mistaken for Melinda, Mandy, Melanie and Wendy’s sister rather than their mother – a fact which always delighted David) it is more likely that David saw her as the perfect person to fit into Brooklands and its lifestyle. Likewise, when the family’s business manager Jean Winch applied for her post in 2002 and came for interview, one of the first questions David asked of her was, ‘Do you like dogs?’ Fortunately for Jean, she did – and got the job.

Attempting the impossible!

David’s life would, were it ever to be made into a film, be considered somewhat unbelievable and (forgive the pun) one would think a degree of artistic licence would need to be involved. As an artist and conservationist – a fact for which, unknowingly, many generations of wildlife must surely be grateful – his life touched many metaphorically and physically, both within his own family and through his many and varied (quite often influential) friends. The ‘Three Generations’ exhibitions (see Chapter 4), which proved extremely successful as both Mandy and Emily began showcasing their work alongside that of their father and grandfather, was not unsurprising. Some exhibitions with other artists which David jointly shared at various stages of his life might, however, have raised an eyebrow or two. Whilst there might have been a synchronicity when David’s art was shown alongside the likes of internationally renowned English landscape artist Ashley Jackson; one running in conjunction with comedian and amateur cartoonist Spike Milligan was a little more unexpected.

On Twitter, at the announcement of David’s death on social media in September 2017, one reply commented, ‘His life was too large to fit into one simple, allowable 280-word tweet but, if you wrote a book about a man that did half of what David did, you would be told it wasn’t possible.’ The following chapters attempt the impossible!

1

PATRIARCHS, MATRIARCHS, SIBLINGS AND EARLY LIFE

It is well worth beginning this particular section by including a little information regarding David’s grandparents and parents, all of whom were fascinating characters and, like David and his siblings, achieved a great deal in their own particular spheres. David’s paternal grandfather, Richard, who was born in 1863, was, according to a newspaper obituary after his death in 1924:

A tall, commanding figure … who at Oxford distinguished himself as few men ever did, getting a First in Classical Moderations, a First in the Final Honours School of Jurisprudence, a First in the B.C.L. and an All Souls Fellowship – a combination of honours of which, though he never boasted of it, he was naturally proud … He had a profound knowledge of the law … For some years he had been leader of the Bar in Yorkshire … He was a very hard worker … and was never so happy as when immersed in briefs and law books … in his younger days he was a fast bowler in the Leeds cricket club, and in more recent years occasionally enjoyed shooting in Scotland.

Equally remarkable was Richard’s wife Mabel, second daughter of James Oxley and sister of great-uncle Henry (see various references elsewhere in this chapter regarding the latter). In a newspaper article of 1928, it was reported that ‘Mrs R. A. Shepherd (Mabel) one of the three daughters to receive £100,000 under the will of Mr J. W. Oxley, the Leeds banker who left nearly £3,000,000, is an invalid widow. Some years ago she was blown down in a gale. Her spine was injured and she has been kept to her bed ever since …’

Grandparents on David’s mother’s side were Montague and Mary Williamson. Montague was the son of a northern clergyman and followed his father into the church, being ordained at Exeter Cathedral in 1887. He moved to Cornwall in 1904, and, amongst other appointments, was rector of King Charles the Martyr Church, Falmouth, from 1918 to 1924. Subsequently, he became Archdeacon of Bodmin, 1924–39. In 1937 he was praised for fifty years of ministry; the Bishop of Truro describing Canon Williamson as having had ‘an inward gift of being practical … who never shirked an unpleasant duty’.

Montague’s wife was known to David, Peter and Judy as ‘Grumpy Granny’. It’s highly unlikely that they dared have called this to her face as she was, by all accounts, a very austere-looking typical Victorian lady who, like Queen Victoria herself, was only ever known to have worn black – but, like Victoria, perhaps only since the death of her husband who pre-deceased her by many years. Described as a ‘tyrant’ by her grandchildren, she lived on the outskirts of Bristol and was looked after for fifty weeks of the year by her daughter (also named Mary) who lived next door and, according to her niece, had ‘a miserable life’. As far as the two remaining weeks of the year were concerned, Mary senior’s care was the responsibility of her other daughter Joyce (Peter, David and Judy’s mother).

***

‘Great-uncle Henry’

Peter, David and Judy’s great-uncle is of great importance in the Shepherd story as it was through him that family wealth was obtained. Henry Oxley was seemingly a reclusive character, who had no children. He was great friends with the well-known sculptress Phyllis Bone, who had a house nearby his at Newton Stewart and who also had the honour of being the first woman to be elected a full member of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1944.

Born in 1869, Henry lived in grand style for much of the year at Spenfield House, Leeds, but he also owned Penninghame House and its surrounding estate near Newton Stewart in Scotland. In 1928, on the death of his Leeds-based banker father James, Henry was fortunate enough to inherit the bulk of a vast fortune – amounting to some £2.8 million (equivalent to approximately £120 million at today’s values). He was not so fortunate in the fact that ‘Estate Duty’ (Inheritance Tax) of 40 per cent had to be paid (over £1 million). On Henry’s death in 1948, his estate was required to pay Estate Duty at a rate of 75 per cent. On that occasion, over £1.1 million in tax was handed over to the taxman (equivalent to approximately £35 million today).

Interestingly, after being used variously as a private home, a First World War hospital, an open prison for eighty-five inmates and latterly, a holistic centre, Penninghame House, together with 100 acres, came back on the market as a private dwelling in June 2019 with an asking price of £2.6 million.

***

David’s parents

David’s father Raymond was born in Leeds in 1899 and spent his childhood at the family home, Cumberland Priory. Before the Second World War, he had owned a small advertising agency in London and, during the war, he was a second lieutenant in the 9th Field Training Regiment, Royal Artillery, working as an education officer, giving talks to the troops on current affairs. After inheriting money from his great-uncle Henry in 1948, he bought and ran Frimley Hall Hotel, near Camberley. Family history has it that, along with its purchase, Raymond also inherited a number of long-term residents, mainly old people, who paid £7 per week and complained endlessly! It was the very last thing he wanted, as David was to amusingly remember in later life:

Father wanted a young place that would draw people from far and wide to dine and dance. Being very tactful and sensible, he took things very gently at first. For example, the first major change was to transfer the rice pudding from Tuesday to Wednesday, and the blackberry and apple pie from Wednesday to Thursday. This created a major eruption amongst the guests, who had had the same food every day since they arrived before the war. In fact, sitting on the same cushions, in the same position, in the same armchair throughout the war they probably did not even know it was being fought … After our first dinner dance, most of them left and the hotel gradually took on a marvellous reputation which was soon to become known far and wide.

Away from his complaining residents and hotelier duties, Raymond was a great car enthusiast (especially enjoying the excitements of Talbots and Bentleys) and was also keen on steam railways (both full-size and model) a hobby which was inherited in full by both his sons.

***

The maggot now standing on platform one

In connection with his father’s model railway (of which more in Chapter 4) David’s recollections of his early life included both Raymond’s railway and an apparent early interest in wildlife:

Even in those very early days … I must have been crazy about animals. I remember asking my father if I could use one of the cupboards which were part of his railway for my very own ‘natural history museum’. He was not too happy about it but he agreed, and one of my earliest memories is of picking up a dead song thrush … This became the prize exhibit amongst all the feathers and sea shells I had collected from our holidays … I was far too young, however, to realise that things gradually happen to dead bodies. My dad was rather cross with me when, returning one evening from his London office, he found ‘Watford Station’ to be unusually busy. The platform was crowded with maggots wriggling all over the place like drunken commuters. One had even managed to squeeze into the miniature ‘Gents’ but had got stuck because it was too fat to get out again.

***

It is perhaps just as well that Raymond’s wife Joyce’s care duties towards her mother Mary only amounted to two weeks of the year (see above) as she was an extremely busy lady throughout her life. Born in 1897 and christened Margaret Joyce Williamson (but always known as Joyce) she was brought up in Devon and absolutely adored the country life, dogs, horses and ponies and cattle.

The Williamsons were regarded by David and his brother Peter as being the intellectuals of the family. Their uncle, Charles Williamson (Joyce’s brother), most certainly was. As a schoolmaster teaching Classics, he was also an author who wrote books in Latin (actually in Latin, not on the subject of). One of his tomes, The English Tradition in the World, was considered ‘a political philosophy for today’. Partly autobiographical, it traced the effects of the English countryside on the growth of the ‘English Tradition’ but, not content with just dealing with how it might have affected life in Britain, Charles went on to discuss the value of that same tradition in all parts of the world.

Joyce rode all her adult life. She owned and bred Welsh Mountain ponies, kept pigs and milking cows (Jerseys) at Frimley Hall, Aberdeen Angus at Oakhill House – and had the honour of owning the champion at Perth Bull Sale (then the biggest and most prestigious such sale in the country). She was also president of the Farnham and District Fatstock Association before eventually giving up farming altogether and moving to Wastlands, a house at Ewhurst, near Cranleigh.

Vying for attention