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Michael Morpurgo honoured for his contributions to rural life

Michael Morpurgo, acclaimed author of War Horse, King of the Cloud Forests and Kensuke’s Kingdom, has been honoured by the West Devon council for his contributions to rural life.

Image: farms for city children logo

Now a Freeman of the Borough of West Devon, Morpurgo has been credited with bringing "honour and distinction" to the value of rural life. Alongside his wife Clare he set up the charity Farms for City Children in Iddesleigh in 1976. The charity aims to expand the horizons of children from towns and cities all over the country by offering them the chance to spend a week in the countryside on one of the three farms – in Pembrokeshire, Devon and Gloucestershire.

"Michael and Clare Morpurgo and their team have achieved a remarkable experience for inner city children, introducing them to our rural way of life," explained the Mayor of West Devon, Councillor John Hockridge.

Michael Morpurgo has written more than forty books and won the Whitbread Award, the Smarties Award, the Circle of Gold Award, the Children’s Book Award and has been short-listed for the Carnegie Medal four times. His novels have been adapted for film (My Friend Walter, Why the Whales Came) and stage (including, Kensuke’s Kingdom for the Polka Theatre and Why the Whales Came for Alibi). Michael received an OBE in December 2006 for his services to literature.

War Horse, the incredibly moving story about one horse’s experience in the deadly chaos of the first world war, has become one of the most popular plays in the West End and on Broadway, and a film adaptation of the story directed by Steven Spielberg will be released later this year.

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