Alfred Wainwright may have had autism, biographer says

Book discusses famous fell walker’s obsessiveness and need for a ‘compulsive rigidity’ as he compiled intricate Lakeland guidebooks

He was famed for his stubborn nature, insisting his intricate Lakeland guidebooks be printed in his own handwriting and balking at any outing that would involve him missing an episode of his beloved Coronation Street. Now a new biography of the renowned fell walker Alfred Wainwright by one of his closest associates argues that he may have been on the autistic spectrum.

The claim is made by Richard Else, a Bafta-winning film maker who coaxed Wainwright on to television in the 1980s and became so close to him in his later years that they were often mistaken for father and son. The pair made three BBC series and travelled more than 5,000 miles together, exploring the Lake District, Scotland and the Pennine Way, as well as Wainwright’s own creation – the Coast to Coast walk.

Continue reading...