Michael Morpurgo: Author discusses his newest book 'Cobweb'

Saturday Morning with Jack Tame

Michael Morpurgo is a literary treasure.

The author of War Horse and Private Peaceful, he’s written around 150 books, loved particularly among children and young people.

He’s returned with yet another novel, Cobweb following a little dog heading to London in the aftermath of Britain’s triumph at Waterloo.

Morpurgo told Jack Tame that much like many of his stories, Cobweb was inspired by a friend of his who walked 250 miles from the West Coast of Wales to London on a drovers’ road.

Drovers’ roads are the paths farmers would use to bring their livestock from their farms to the market, as back before vehicles and public transport became common, walking was the only way to reach the big cities.

While researching drovers’ roads, Morpurgo realised that their stories, and the stories of drovers’ dogs in particular, aren’t well known.

“And I thought, that's a story that mostly no one knows, so why don't you tell it? Tell that tale? So that's what I did.”

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