Friends across the ages

Englishman Beverley Nichols and North Carolina native son Roy C. Dicks could have been best friends -- or at least fond acquaintances.

Both were drawn to theater, music, literature and gardening. Both were well-educated, possessing sparkling intellect with a penchant to turn a clever phrase. Nichols took great pride in a dapper appearance. As does Dicks. The two gentlemen never met. Yet, their lives are inextricably intertwined.

Nichols, who died in 1983, wrote more than 60 books, which included novels, poetry, mystery and children's literature, and short stories. He composed songs, was a playwright and contributed weekly columns for the London Sunday Chronicle and Woman's Own magazine.

Though well known during his lifetime for his travel writing and essays on religion, politics, and celebrities, Nichols is best remembered for his series of books about his homes and gardens. This is mostly due to the efforts of Dicks, a Raleigh resident and frequent N&O contributor, who has become a scholar on the life of the British writer and has traveled around the world presenting dramatic readings and lectures on gardening passages from Nichols' books.

Since 1996, Dicks has been featured at Kew Gardens in London, New York City, the Northwest Flower Show in Seattle, Portland and, closer to home, Fearrington Village. On March 7, he will bring Nichols to life at the JC Raulston Arboretum.

Beginning with "Down the Garden Path" (1932) and continuing through 12 other books, Nichols follows the makeovers and moods of each of his unique homes and landscapes. Filled with remarkable characters, darling pet cats (with numbers or letters for names), and definite opinions about what does and doesn't belong in a well-manicured garden, Nichols' literary renderings ended in 1968 with "Garden Open Tomorrow".

All but two of Nichols' books were out of print until 1998 when Dicks approached Timber Press, which subsequently re-released the three "Merry Hall" volumes, several cat books ("Cats ABC" and "Cats XYZ") and "Garden Open Today" and "Garden Open Tomorrow." At Timber Press' request, Dicks penned the foreword to "Garden Open Today" and has helped research and index all of the new releases.

"It is safe to say that Roy Dicks is a world-class Beverley Nichols expert. New Beverley Nichols fans can credit the current availability of the 'Merry Hall' trilogy largely to Roy's enthusiasm," says Rebecca Ragain, a publicist at Timber Press. "He was instrumental in convincing Timber Press to reprint the three books."

So, what prompted Dicks to become a scholar on the life and works of Nichols?

"My current obsession with English writer Beverley Nichols is all J.C. Raulston's fault," Dicks says. "He was the one who suggested I read Nichols' most famous gardening book, 'Down the Garden Path,' and then loaned me a biography about him."

With this simple start, Dicks delved into a quest for the 60 titles by Nichols, visited all four of Nichols' home and garden sites in England, and searched for as much information on the British writer as he could gather. Further prompting by the late Raulston led to Dicks' blending his thespian talents (he has performed 65 roles on stage, directed 34 theatrical productions, and served as co-founder and artistic director of the Raleigh Ensemble Players for 10 years) with his voluminous research.

"Much of the appeal of these gardening titles," Dicks says, "comes from his [Nichols'] particular way with words, mixing the actions and reactions of the common gardener with flights of literary fancy and dry, British humor to produce such thought-provoking statements as, 'The design a gardener imposes must be constantly modified and sometimes totally transformed by a hand stronger than his own -- the hand of Nature. Maybe the art of gardening is simply the knowledge of how to hold that hand, and how to clasp it in friendship.' "

Few lines are more endearing than Nichols' lament in "Merry Hall" (1951): "Some fall in love with women; some fall in love with art; some fall in love with death. I fall in love with gardens, which is much the same as falling in love with all three at once. For a garden is a mistress, and gardening is a blend of all the arts, and if it is not the death of me, sooner or later, I shall be much surprised."

Nichols' writing is remarkable in its very self-conscious first-person examination of the forging of a gardener through his highs and lows, happy coincidences and terrific mistakes all delivered with pithy British wit. Dicks' interpretation is just as remarkable, prompting the late Raulston to describe the premiere reading in 1996 as "uniquely entertaining and emotionally moving ... employing a range of emotions from moments of tears to moments of riotous laughter."

Yes, I believe that the proper Englishman and the Southern gentleman could have been friends -- if not distance and time separated them.