# Ralph Wightman > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Ralph_Wightman > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Ralph_Wightman.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Wightman > Source revision: 1353903184 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) **Ralph Wightman** (26 July 1901 – 28 May 1971) was an English lecturer, journalist, author, and radio and television broadcaster. He wrote many books on farming and the countryside and in the 1950s and 1960s became a well-known national figure, especially as a regular guest on the [BBC radio](/source/BBC_radio) programme *[Any Questions?](/source/Any_Questions%3F)* ## Life A younger son of Tom Wightman, a farmer, and butcher of [Piddletrenthide](/source/Piddletrenthide) in [Dorset](/source/Dorset), Wightman was educated at [Beaminster Grammar School](/source/Beaminster_Grammar_School) and [Armstrong College, Newcastle](/source/Armstrong_College,_Newcastle), part of the [University of Durham](/source/University_of_Durham), where he graduated [BSc](/source/Bachelor_of_Science) in [agricultural chemistry](/source/Agricultural_chemistry).[1][2] From 1923 to 1927, he was a lecturer on agriculture for [Devon County Council](/source/Devon_County_Council), then from 1927 to 1930 for [Wiltshire County Council](/source/Wiltshire_County_Council), before, in 1930, he returned home as Senior Agricultural Adviser to [Dorset County Council](/source/Dorset_County_Council). He gave up that work in 1948 to become a [freelance](/source/Freelance) writer and broadcaster,[2] having begun to give talks on radio in the 1930s.[1] During the [Second World War](/source/World_War_II), Wightman began to broadcast once a week to the United States on English country life, and he gave 290 such "Trans-Atlantic talks".[1] His radio work nearer home included a feature on the [BBC Home Service](/source/BBC_Home_Service) programme *Country Magazine*, which focuses on country life in a different place around England every week.[3] As a broadcaster specializing in farming and the countryside, Wightman was soon seen as the natural successor to his [mentor](/source/Mentorship) [A. G. Street](/source/A._G._Street), and from the 1950s on, he established himself as a national figure, known for his books, his column in *[The Guardian](/source/The_Guardian)*, and his radio and television work.[4] On 15 April 1957, he was [Roy Plomley](/source/Roy_Plomley)'s guest on *[Desert Island Discs](/source/Desert_Island_Discs)*, choosing music by [Elgar](/source/Edward_Elgar), [Vaughan Williams](/source/Ralph_Vaughan_Williams), [Mendelssohn](/source/Felix_Mendelssohn), [Strauss](/source/Johann_Strauss_II), [Parry](/source/Hubert_Parry), [Paul Robeson](/source/Paul_Robeson), and [Bill Haley](/source/Bill_Haley_(musician)).[5] In 1924, Wightman married Margaret Dorothy Wiggins. He died on 28 May 1971 at [Dorchester Hospital](/source/Dorchester_Hospital) after a severe fall in which he had broken his skull. His address at the time was Tudor House, [Puddletown](/source/Puddletown).[1][2] ## In popular culture Wightman was the model for the countryman Arthur Fallowfield, a comic character created by [Kenneth Williams](/source/Kenneth_Williams) in *[Beyond Our Ken](/source/Beyond_Our_Ken)*, notable for his Dorset accent and his catch-phrase "the answer lies in the soil".[6] ## Books - *Moss Green Days: talks on English country life* (Westhouse, 1948)[2] - *My Homeward Road* (London: 1950)[2] - *Arable Farming* (Country Books No. 5, 1951) - *Watching the Certain Things* (London: Cassell, 1951) - *Livestock Farming* (Country Books No. 7, 1952) - *Days on the Farm: with an introduction by Francis Dillon* (London: Hutchinson, 1952, illustrated by [Clifford Webb](/source/Clifford_Webb))[2] - *The Seasons* (London: Cassell, 1953) - *The Wessex Heathland* (London: Robert Hale, 1953)[2] - *Revolution on the Land* (Newman Neame, 1956) - *Rural Rides: with Ralph Wightman through Cobbett's England* (London: Cassell, 1957)[2] - *Hayfork and Combine* (Newman Neame, 1960) - *Abiding Things* (London: Cassell, 1962) - *[Portrait of Dorset](/source/Portrait_of_(book_series))*, (London, Robert Hale, 1st edition 1965)[2] - *Take Life Easy* (Pelham Books, 1968) - *The Countryside Today* (Pelham Books, 1970) - *Wallace's Ground* (Pelham Books, 1971) ## Notes 1. [The Ralph Wightman Story](http://dorset-ancestors.com/?p=1753) at dorset-ancestors.com, accessed 1 February 2014 1. ‘WIGHTMAN, Ralph’, in *[Who Was Who 1971–1980](/source/Who's_Who_(UK))* (London: A. & C. Black, 1989 reprint, ISBN 0-7136-3227-5); online edition by Oxford University Press, December 2007 1. John Reader, *Cities* (2005), p. 233 1. Michael Bunce, *The Countryside Ideal: Anglo-American Images of Landscape* (2005), p. 50 1. [Monday 15 April 1957 Roy Plomley's castaway is countryside expert Ralph Wightman](https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p009y8yh) at bbc.co.uk, accessed 1 February 2014 1. [Denis Gifford](/source/Denis_Gifford), *The Golden Age of Radio: an illustrated companion* (1985), p. 21 ## External links - [The Ralph Wightman Story](http://dorset-ancestors.com/?p=1753) at dorset-ancestors.com --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Ralph Wightman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Wightman) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Wightman?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.