Posted in 'Soapbox' for want of a more appropriate forum section
Some years ago the missus bought me a secondhand dog-eared hardback copy of The Lakeland Peaks by W A Poucher. It has been a useful complement to my Wainwrights and, first published in 1960, has a real period flavour.
The routes are briefly described in text and illustrated by the author's black-and-white photographs. In fact, mountain photography was Poucher's main hobby and the book includes plenty of hints and tips about composition, light conditions, film speeds and exposures.
RecentlyThe Lakeland Peaks has been republished in paperback. I flipped through a copy in Sean McMahon's shop in Keswick last week and noticed that Poucher's original crude annotation on the photos has been replaced with typeset labels.
Coincidentally, BBC Radio 4 broadcast a documentary about W A Poucher yesterday (Monday 14 May) and it will be available on iPlayer for a week. The programme contrasts Poucher's hobby - mountaineering and photography - with his day job as a perfumiere.
His career included a spell with Yardley (he devised their famed 'Bond Street' scent) and led to a friendship with Elizabeth Taylor. As an aside, the documentary reveals that when singer Grace Jones famously attacked Russell Harty live on air, the other guest was a bemused W A Poucher.
The documentary might interest anyone who has read Poucher's mountain guidebooks or taken an interest inupland photography. Or, indeed, any perfume freaks among the OM fraternity. Here is a link to the appropriate iPlayer page on the BBC website.
