Buzz
Like many beloved classics, Watership Down came close to never being published. After facing at least seven rejections, Richard Adams, who was 54 at the time and working as a civil servant, nearly self-published the book. It was only when Rex Collings, a small London-based publisher, agreed to take it on that the novel saw the light of day. Collings famously wrote to a friend, saying, “I’ve just signed a novel about rabbits, one of which has telepathic abilities. Do you think I’ve lost my mind?”
Collings' choice might have seemed insane, but it paid off. In 1972, he printed a small batch of 2,500 copies, which sold out quickly. The book went on to win the prestigious Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Children’s Prize, sold over 50 million copies worldwide, and launched Adams into a second career. While Watership Down remained Adams’ greatest success (he acknowledged this in a 2007 interview, saying, “You can't expect another miracle like Watership Down. One's enough for any lifetime!”), Adams continued to write, with his final novel, Daniel, released in 2006. At 94, he shared in a 2014 interview with the Telegraph that he was still at work, dreaming up a tale about an ordinary boy caught in the midst of the Spanish Armada battle on a ship's deck.
Here are a few things you might not have known about the iconic phenomenon that became Watership Down.
1. Watership Down wasn’t originally titled Watership Down.
Rex Collings, the bold publisher who took a gamble on the then-unknown Richard Adams, was the one who proposed the title Watership Down. The initial title was Hazel and Fiver, named after the gentle leader Hazel and his visionary brother Fiver, whose prophecies of their home’s destruction drive the group’s remarkable journey.
2. Fiver's ominous prediction turned out to be unsettlingly accurate.
Watership Down begins in Sandleford Warren, an actual location in rural Berkshire, England, which is likely home to many rabbits. Unfortunately, its days might be numbered: In February 2012, the West Berkshire council approved a plan to demolish and develop the area into 2000 new homes, despite protests from Adams and others. However, as of now, the project, named Sandleford Park, remains in the early stages of planning.
3. Watership Down was originally a tale Adams created to entertain his daughters …
Adams shared with the BBC in 2007 that the story began during a long car journey: He and his two daughters were on their way to Stratford-upon-Avon to watch Judi Dench perform in Twelfth Night. His eldest daughter asked for a story to pass the time. "It had to be spontaneous, so I just made it up on the spot: 'Once upon a time, there were two rabbits named, let’s see, Hazel and Fiver, and I’m going to tell you about some of their adventures,'” he explained. “What followed was essentially the heart of Watership Down.” Over the next few months, the tale continued during the school run; Adams revealed to The Telegraph in 2014 that he would go to sleep thinking about the story, ready to share the next morning. In many ways, the evolving narrative was Adams' effort to be a consistent, reliable presence in his daughters' lives: “I’ve always felt that parents should spend a lot of time with their kids. Many don’t, you know.”
The girls insisted that he write down the story that followed, though it took 18 months before Adams finally sat down to pen it.
4. ...But it’s not exactly a children’s book.
When Watership Down was released in the U.S. in 1974, The New York Times' reviewer pointed out that while the story initially seemed like it was for young girls, he doubted it was truly “aimed at children,” explaining, “I can’t imagine many readers under 13 or 14… having the patience or the ability to understand the complex allegorical layers necessary to get through a 426-page epic about a rabbit community.” Adams agreed—but not because of the book's length or its dark, somewhat bleak content. He later mentioned, “I’ve always said Watership Down isn’t for children. I say: it’s a book, and anyone who wants to read it is free to do so.”
5. Adams enjoys that his book is frightening.
Parents were taken aback by the amount of death and violence in a book about anthropomorphized rabbits. One of Adams' daughters confessed she couldn’t sleep after hearing the stories, and his wife, Elizabeth, even suggested he remove the scene where Bigwig is caught in a snare. When a 12-year-old fan asked why the book was so frightening, Adams replied, “Good stories should be thrilling, and if they are thrilling, they will inevitably be scary in parts!”
6. The rabbits were inspired by WWII officers ...
Lieutenant Richard Adams led C Platoon in the 250 Company’s Seaborn Echelon, and, as he explained in his autobiography, he drew inspiration for Watership Down and its characters from the men of the 250 Airborne Light Company RASC—especially their involvement in the Battle of Arnhem. The battle, which took place over nine days in September 1944 around the Dutch towns of Arnhem, Oosterbeek, Driel, and Wolfheze, resulted in heavy losses for the Allied forces, including Adams' company. Adams notes that two characters were directly based on real people. Hazel was inspired by Adams' commanding officer, Major John Gifford, a man he described as “quietly brave” and an “excellent organizer” who rarely raised his voice, adding, “Everything about him was calm, sharp, and unpretentious.” Gifford survived the war, but Captain Desmond “Paddy” Kavanagh, on whom Bigwig was based, did not. Kavanagh, who was bold, fearless, and a “sensationalist,” was killed in action outside Oosterbeek while providing cover for his platoon at just 25 years old.
As for Adams, in 2014 he shared that he felt a greater connection to Fiver: “I’m a bit timid, not much of a fighter … but I can contribute something in terms of intuitive knowledge.”
7. ... But they also acted like, well, rabbits.
Adams had a solid understanding of group dynamics under extreme pressure, which was supported by his knowledge of actual rabbit behavior. To further study these creatures, Adams turned to British naturalist Ronald Lockley’s 1964 book, The Private Life of the Rabbit. After the novel was published, Adams and Lockley became close friends and, as friends do, took a trip to Antarctica together. Later, they worked together on a book about their adventure.
8. Adams didn’t want people to overanalyze it.
In the four decades since Watership Down was published, readers have assigned various interpretations to the novel, with some theorists focusing on its folkloric aspects or attempting to read it as a religious allegory. Adams rejects these interpretations: “It was meant to be simply a story, and it still is. A story—a jolly good one, I must admit—but just a story. It wasn’t intended to be a parable. That’s important. Its power and impact come from being a story told in the car.”
9. It even sparked its own role-playing game.
In 1976, the bestselling novel met another rising trend: role-playing games. Dungeons & Dragons had been released in 1974, creating a new and unexpectedly profitable market for genres ranging from space operas to the Wild West to Ancient Japan. Fantasy Games Unlimited saw an opportunity and created Bunnies & Burrows, adapting Adams’ rabbit world into a D&D framework. Players assumed the role of “intelligent rabbits” struggling to survive food shortages and outwit humans. However, unlike D&D, B&B hasn’t quite endured through the years.
10. Art Garfunkel recorded a song inspired by it.
Considering it, anthropomorphized rabbits living in an idealized yet perilous natural world seem like an obvious theme for a folk song. In 1978, Art Garfunkel was chosen to perform 'Bright Eyes,' written by Mike Batt, a song that is widely regarded as the theme song for the animated adaptation of Watership Down. The track, which Garfunkel later included in his 1979 album Fate for Breakfast, topped the UK singles chart that year.
11. Adams regrets not starting his writing career earlier.
Before Watership Down, Adams had never written anything. In a 2015 interview with The Guardian, he remarked, 'I was 52 when I realized I could write. I wish I'd known earlier. I never saw myself as a writer until I became one.' Adams also acknowledges that nothing he’s written since has matched the success of his first book: 'I try to think positively, telling myself, 'Look at Watership Down—if you can achieve that, you can do anything.' Of course, you can’t expect another success like that, but it does give you the confidence and motivation to keep writing.'
