Black Country champion of rural life
FOR TV viewers in the 1970s and ’80s Phil Drabble, presenter of One Man and His Dog, was the archetype of the countryman, but few realised that his roots lay in the industrial Black Country.
He was born in 1914 in Bloxwich, where his father was a general practitioner. Phil did not enjoy a happy childhood; his mother died when he was nine years old and he was bullied at school, but he found an escape searching for butterflies and birds in the surrounding wastelands, instilling in him a life-long passion for wildlife and the countryside. He was sent to Keble College, Oxford, to study medicine but dropped out to be an engineer instead. His father got him a job at a local firm but Phil later joined Salters, where he rose to join the board of directors. He was also on the board of the Midland Engineering Employers Association. In 1941 his first article, on Staffordshire Bull Terriers, was published in The Field, the magazine on country matters and field sports first published in 1853. This led to a second career writing about the countryside. 1947 saw Phil make his radio debut, in a programme on Black Country bull rings and in 1952 he first appeared on television.
That same year Phil Drabble published his book The Black Country, part of the Regional Book Series produced by the London publishers Robert Hale Ltd. In the book he looked at the history and character of our region and celebrated the industry and drive that shaped it and the people that live there.
The following year Phil and his wife Jess bought a cottage with 90 acres of land at Abbots Bromley and set up a nature reserve.
Phil gave up his job with Salters and devoted himself to the countryside, his writing and television career. One Man and His Dog began broadcasting in 1976, with Phil as the host until he retired in 1993. That same year he was appointed an OBE.
On Turnberry Road, Bloxwich, the pub One Man and His Dog is named in Drabble’s honour.
Phil Drabble continued to write about and campaign for nature for the rest of his life and passed away, around 18 months after his wife, in 2007, aged 93.