BB's 1922 Diary & Sketchbook

A portrait of village life in the 1920s by Denys Watkins-Pitchford (BB), the  Northamptonshire writer and illustrator who would go on to write the Carnegie Award-winning children’s story The Little Grey Men, has been saved from obscurity with the publication of BB’s 1922 Diary & Sketchbook; the everyday thoughts of an aspiring artist and writer.

For over 90 years the diary and sketchbook lay forgotten until it was re-discovered and brought to life by Bryan Holden, its publisher and the honorary secretary of the BB Society which endeavours to keep alive the rich heritage of BB’s sporting, children’s, countryside and nature writings.

In 1922 when writing the diary, Denys Watkins- Pitchford (the future ‘BB’) is a callow youth living in a remote rural community in Northamptonshire. A student at Northampton School of Art, he is dependent on an allowance from his father, the local rector and despairing of ever becoming selfsupporting. He is barely able to buy art materials, to keep his bike in running order, afford cartridges for his shotgun - even his diary is part-written in pencil because he hasn’t the money to replace a lost fountain pen.

However, young Denys is cheered by simple everyday pleasures such as Morris dancing; growing fl owers and vegetables; trapping  vermin; fi shing for pike; shooting rabbits and pigeons for the pot; taming bullfi nches as pets and taking part in the many homespun
entertainments of a comfortable Edwardian household.

His burgeoning talent as a writer and illustrator shines forth from these pages in many incisive observations and descriptions of plants, insects, birds and beasts of the surrounding countryside, embellished with more than 140 wonderfully animated pen and ink
sketches. Reading these simple, yet intimate musings, one is privileged to share an insight into the life of a young man seeking to make his way post- WW1 in dire economic conditions such as we would recognise today.

BB’s 1922 Diary & Sketchbook; the  everyday thoughtsof an aspiring artist and writer is published in hardback clothbound limited edition (size: 185mm x 120mm, 192 pp with a printed cover, quarter bound and foil blocked) of just 675 numbered copies priced at £35 plus £5 p & p and 25 deluxe leatherbound copies at £190 plus £5 p & p. Available direct from

Roseworld Productions Ltd,
8 Park Road,
Solihull,
West Midlands,
B91 3SU.
Tel 0121 704 1002,
www.roseworldproductions.com or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.