{{Short description|British writer (1877–1968)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}} '''Percy William David Izzard''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|OBE}} (September 1877 – 17 June 1968) was the first regular agricultural and horticultural correspondent in the popular press and wrote for the ''Daily Mail'' for a period of 50 years.<ref>Obituary in ''Gardeners Chronicle & New Horticulturist'', Vol.153, 1968</ref> He authored several books on gardening.
== Biography == Percy Izzard studied at King's College London but dropped out and went looking for a job to support his family after his father died. He started as an errand boy for the ''Daily Express'', and joined the ''Daily Mail'' in 1909 where he covered the funeral of Edward VII the following year.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Suffield-Jones |first=Nigel |title=Percy Izzard Remembered |url=https://www.berkshiregardenstrust.org/percy-izzard-remembered |access-date=26 November 2024 |website=Berkshire Gardens Trust |language=en}}</ref>
His family was not able to identify at which point in his life Izzard turned to gardening and botanic.<ref name=":0" /> However, he was amongst the contributors to the ''Daily Mail'''s women's page from 1909 onwards, becoming a regular fixture alongside other contributors such as William Beach Thomas and Helen Colt.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Piggott |first1=Robert |title=The Daily Mail rose: advertising, gardening and suburban aspirations in the Edwardian period and after |journal=Media History |date=2022 |volume=28 |issue=4 |pages=482–493 |doi=10.1080/13688804.2021.1937973}}</ref> He was noted for his book ''Homeland: A Year of Country Days'', a collection of 365 of his "Country Diary" columns from the ''Daily Mail'', with black-and-white illustrations by his wife Florence Louise Izzard and Will G. Mein.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=24 October 1918 |title=Homeland: A Year of Country Days |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/102143a0 |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=102 |issue=2556 |pages=143–143 |doi=10.1038/102143a0 |issn=1476-4687}}</ref><ref>Review in ''The Bookman'', Vol.55, 1918 p.37</ref><ref>Review in ''The Near East'', Vol. 15, 1919, p.51</ref> Glorifying UK's great countrysides in the ''Daily Mail'' during World War I turned out to be an effective morale booster for the troops. During the 1920s, he moved into a house crafted to display his horticultural work.<ref name=":0" /> During World War II, he released ''Grow it Yourself: Daily Mail Practical Instruction Book on Food from the Garden in War-Time'' (1940) in the midst of the government's Grow More Food campaign.<ref>{{Cite web |date=18 December 2021 |title=Collecting ‘Dig for Victory’ Memorabilia |url=https://www.keymilitary.com/article/collecting-dig-victory-memorabilia |access-date=26 November 2024 |website=www.keymilitary.com |language=en}}</ref>
In April 1953, he was sent in the Himalaya to report on the successful British Mount Everest expedition for the ''Daily Mail''.<ref>{{Cite web |date=25 May 2007 |title=The Apotheosis of Percy Izzard |url=https://ticotimes.net/2007/05/25/the-apotheosis-of-percy-izzard |access-date=26 November 2024 |website=The Tico Times |language=en-US}}</ref>
He was claimed by his son, the writer Ralph Izzard, to have been the inspiration for William Boot in the Evelyn Waugh novel "Scoop".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-ralph-izzard-1563493.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220525/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-ralph-izzard-1563493.html |archive-date=25 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Obituary: Ralph Izzard |work=The Independent |date=14 December 1992 |publisher=}}</ref> He was an authority on roses and the Percy Izzard rose (hybrid tea rose) was named for him.<ref name=":0" /><ref>''Bulletin of the Garden Club of America'', 1959, p.14</ref>
== Other roles ==
* Member of the Linnean Society<ref name=":0" /> * Member of the Council of the Royal Bath and West of England Society<ref name=":0" />
== Notable works == *''Homeland: A Year of Country Days'' (1918) * ''Daily Mail Garden Plans'' (1929) * ''Breeds of British Poultry'' (1933) * ''Grow it Yourself: Daily Mail Practical Instruction Book on Food from the Garden in War-Time'' (1940)
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Izzard, Percy}} Category:1877 births Category:1968 deaths Category:English gardeners Category:British garden writers Category:English rose horticulturists Category:Daily Mail journalists Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire
{{UK-nonfiction-writer-stub}}