John Constable's The Skying Years Novel + The Play

DUST JACKET FRONT FLAP 'David's style of writing Cumulus reminds me of the Irish playwright, Brian Friel' Not a coincidence as Friel lived in the rural north west of Ireland, and David grew up and often lived in north west Wales. WELSH PLAYWRIGHT AND ACADEMIC WILLIAM LEWIS After a close read of 'Cumulus and Cirrus', The 'Skying Years': 'The play clearly draws on considerable research and knowledge-building related to art history, climate change, and the contemporary practices of media organisations. I learned about Constable's interest in changing skies and clouds, about cloud science in the early nineteenth century, and about Constable's life. 'Among the play's real strengths, I particularly liked the way the contrast is drawn between his deep awareness of the ways in which changes in skyscapes presage change in weather patterns; and the ambivalence articulated in some areas of contemporary social life regarding climate change.' I 'also liked the way in which the Cumulus sections depicted the lasting friendship between John Constable and Edward (John) Fisher.' SOCIOLINGUIST MARILYN MARTIN-JONES Congratulations on publishing the book DR EBEN MUSE, READER IN BOOKSELLING, BANGOR UNIVERSITY DUST JACKET BACK FLAP Climate, soils, vegetation were influential parts of David Eagar's Birmingham Geography degree. Then, in London there was a heady mix of copy editing with Unilever's Barry Day, the pure joy of playgoing at the new National Theatre's Old Vic, living near Regent's Park, and exposure to fine art galleries. Throw into the mix a childhood spent among the raw landscapes of Anglesey's west coast, and his father's love of countryside, of Bernard Shaw, and of Glyndebourne's early days. John Constable's capacity to encapsulate scenes and skies so engagingly came to David's notice one evening in 1964 at a public lecture in the Barber Institute of Fine Arts' Grade 1 Listed art deco building. David's concerns around ecological balance also sprang to life six decades ago. DUST JACKET BACK COVER (part) Climate has become a matter of attention, from extreme weather events to statistics about how weather has been changing. The January 2025 global temperature was nearly 0.1 degrees Celsius higher than the January 2024's world record (EU Copernicus climate service). Its 1.75 Celsius above pre-industrial levels is well above the international Paris Agreement target to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5. On 6 February 2025, the BBC reported scientists saying, in other words, it looks like the world's getting hotter faster than was predicted. Evidence for climate change was around before our present century. The originator of this book, David Eagar, was aware of environmental issues for decades. Retiring from a career mostly in countryside planning, he wanted to find a dramatic way of illustrating one of our many environmental challenges. Two centuries ago, the British painter John Constable became supreme in capturing the detailed complexity of skies. At its zenith, in 1820-22, was the series of fifty paintings he made of skies seen from north London's Hampstead Heath. David Eagar - and no relation of playwright David Edgar - chose John Constable to be the principal character in this drama. The 'Skying Years' is the name John Constable himself gave to those three years. So exceptional and important, these paintings frequently feature in exhibitions. Here, in 'The Skying Years', we follow the artist as he and a friend devise a weather game for children. In the second Part we are in the present day, in the world of television production. All six 'characters', who really lived their lives two centuries ago, return in our day in a drama set around some of the many climate issues we are facing. 2026 is the 250th anniversary of John Constable's birth on 11 June 1776. He and his wife Maria Bicknell are buried at St-John-at-Hampstead parish chuch. Tate...