The Atlas Man - former Keswick lecturer, David Wright

While reading the Eastern Daily Press the editor of Keswick Hall Old Students' Club, spotted an article about a book written by David Wright, ex-lecture at Keswick, and asked the author for a few words on the inside story and the Keswick Hall connection:..

A few words from the 'Atlas Man'

"There's the Atlas man!" - a comment overheard today as I walked to the Post Office in Mulbarton. A few years ago we presented copies of 'Philips Children's Atlas' to Mulbarton First School, and we were interviewed in an assembly. I had never been called an 'atlas man' before today: that assembly must have made a bigger impact and I had realised. Really it all started at Keswick Hall. In one of the 'teaching of geography' sessions, I began with these words: "The world is exciting; atlases are boring". Later on I said the same words to Philips the publishers - and so eventually Philips Children's Atlas was born.

"Start where the kids are - and take them forward" - another Keswick Hall concept - was a key to our planning. So we hunted for 'realia' that would connect with children's lives and with distant places: coins, stamps, can labels etc. A Keswick Hall ex-student sent us a drawing by a Zambian pupil of his village - an ideal illustration.

The child-centred Keswick Hall approach has survived translation into other languages - German, Japanese, Greek, Norwegian, and, in 2002, Russian. The Atlas sells even better in Germany and the USA than in the UK. Our ideal was an atlas interesting enough to have at home and accurate enough to use at school.

This Atlas is now into its 9th edition. It has survived and been adapted for various versions of the national curriculum, for 15 new countries in Asia, and for the literacy hour: there is plenty of child-friendly text to read. Recently it gained the Royal Geographical Society logo on the cover. The tenth edition should appear in 2002. As I write this, the one millionth copy should be being sold somewhere in the world, and hopefully another boy or girl will be helped to discover the excitement and variety of our planet.

Many thanks to Keswick Hall students for their ideas on making the world seem interesting to children.

David Wright

'Philips Children's Atlas' by David and Jill Wright is published by George Philip at £9.99.
David Wright lectured at Keswick Hall from 1969 to 1981; Jill Wright lectured part-time.


Click on the Web Sites button to find David and Jill's own website.