Michael Morpurgo: Author on War Horse and a life of writing

War Horse writer Michael Morpurgo is coming to Yorkshire. He talks to Chris Bond about children’s literature, Ted Hughes and the importance of the First World War.

WHEN War Horse was published in 1982 it didn’t exactly set the book world alight.

“It wasn’t a huge success,“ says author Michael Morpurgo. “It didn’t bomb but it didn’t do brilliantly either. It was runner-up in the Whitbread Prize, but it never sold more than 2,000 copies a year for the next 25 years.”

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But after being picked up by the National Theatre and then given a Hollywood makeover by Steven Spielberg, it has become a global phenomenon, selling more than a million copies and translated into 40 languages.

Now, War Horse – The Concert is coming to City Varieties, in Leeds, next month. This musical version features readings by Morpurgo interspersed with songs from folk maestro John Tams and Barry Coope.

Morpurgo worked with Tams on the original stage version and is full of praise for him. “He’s responsible for creating the songs which to a large extent make that work. He’s created a great show where I read from the book and he works in all his marvellous songs from War Horse and we get to perform in the City Varieties, one of the world’s greatest theatres.”

Although the stage version has been rightly praised for the puppet creations of the Handspring Puppet Company, Morpurgo says the music and songs play a crucial role, too. “Without the music, War Horse the stage play wouldn’t fall apart but it’s the music that is the glue holding the whole thing together.”

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Given the popularity of War Horse it’s surprising to learn that the book itself was somewhat overlooked until, out of the blue, Morpurgo received a phone call from the National Theatre saying they wanted to turn it into a stage play. “When they said they wanted to make a play using puppets I was gobsmacked, flattered and at the same time I thought it was ridiculous.

“But when they showed me what they intended to do, I thought if we did it right then it could be something extraordinary, which is what happened.”

In 2009 the play was spotted by Kathy Kennedy, the producer who works with Steven Spielberg. “She went to watch it because her daughter loves horses and they were both bowled over by it. She rang up Spielberg who flew over and within a week he’d seen it, loved it and a year later he was making the movie.”

Is he happy with the film? “I don’t think you’re ever totally happy with any adaptation, but I think both the film and the play capture the spirit of the story. Spielberg has his own storytelling genius and he did it in a totally different way although he stayed closer to the plot of my book. But I have huge admiration for both the film and the stage versions because they kept true to themselves.”

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As well as appearing at the City Varieties, Morpurgo is at the Ilkley Literature Festival tomorrow, along with the acclaimed ensemble Coope, Boyes and Simpson, where he will tell the story of the famous Christmas truce in 1914 when the Germans and the British ceased fighting for a football match in No Man’s Land.

It’s an incident that fascinates Morpurgo. “They ate sausage together and shared schnapps. The war could have ended if people had then refused to fight, but the next day they went back to the trenches. It’s a moment in history that could have changed the way the world is today,” he says.

“Middle class children my age were brought up on the poems of the First World War, what Ted Hughes called that ‘huge, senseless war’, where the great powers sorted out who should be top dog. It’s not the way we should sort out difficulties in the world, but when we see images of coffins coming back from Afghanistan it reminds us that this war thing we do still goes on today.”

It’s a subject that Morpurgo returns to in his latest children’s book, A Medal For Leroy, which is based around the story of the only black soldier to serve with the British Army in the First World War. “It’s about how people deal with the issue of race, because it was an issue back then and it certainly still is today.”

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Morpurgo started writing books in the 1970s while he was working as a primary school teacher in Kent after the children in his class said they were bored by a book he was reading them. Since then he has written more than 120 books “too many”, he says jokingly. So what made him concentrate primarily on being a children’s author? “I write for myself and I write for the child in me,” he says. “I have a loyal audience and maybe that helps. I’ve been a child, which seems a silly thing to say, but it’s important.

“I can remember what it’s like being a child and I’m also a father and a grandfather so to a large extent children have been part of my domestic and professional life. But the minute you start thinking you’re writing for an 11 or 12 year-old then you probably start patronising them and they will spot this straight away.”

Morpurgo moved to Devon where he started the charity Farms For City Children, to help poor, inner-city children experience rural life. It was here that he met and became friends with Ted Hughes, who lived on a neighbouring farm and became his inspiration and mentor.

“When I missed out on winning the Whitbread Prize for War Horse, the first phone call I had when I got home was from Ted Hughes who said ‘let’s go fishing.’ We were in a tea shop afterwards and he leant forward and said, ‘About last night, those prizes don’t count for anything. You have written a fine book, Michael, and you will write a finer one’.

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“For a young writer to hear that from someone like Ted Hughes was incredible – it made me feel 10ft tall.”

War Horse The Concert, City Varieties, Leeds. Nov 16. For tickets call the box office on 0113 243 0808.

Morpurgo: An author’s life

Michael Morpurgo started writing stories in the early 1970s, in response to the children in his class at the primary school where he taught.

In 1976, he, along with his wife Clare, started the Farms For City Children charity, to help youngsters from poor inner-city backgrounds to experience life on a farm.

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He has written more than 120 books including The Butterfly Lion, The Mozart Question and Why the Whales Came.

In 2003 he was appointed Children’s Laureate.

War Horse was made into a film by Steven Spielberg last year starring, Jeremy Irvine, Emily Watson and Benedict Cumberbatch.

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