Ode to Ronald Blythe

Ronald Blythe rode his bicycle from his house in the Suffolk hamlet of Debach to the neighbouring town of Charlsfield in the summer of 1967.

When Akenfield, a portrayal of a rural life that was quickly vanishing from view, was released in 1969, it was immediately hailed as a classic.

Blythe's fame thanks to Akenfield may have obscured the numerous other products of his lengthy years of writing

The best contemporary author about the English countryside, according to his contemporaries and many readers, is Blythe, who passed away at the age of 100.

A Treasonable Growth, Blythe's first book with Forster as an influence, was released in 1960. In 1963, he published The Age of Illusion

Blythe turned rejected a film offer from the BBC but eventually agreed to a proposal from fellow Suffolkite and theatre director Peter Hall.