The Man Who Wrote Lassie – Alumni Stories, Greg Christie

When Greg Christie discovered by accident that the most American of all novels “Lassie Come Home” was actually written by a Yorkshireman he knew he wanted to write the life story of Hunslet boy Eric Knight. Greg, however had no education, he applied to student English Literature and was accepted on the strength of the five years of research he had conducted on his own account.

Greg realized in 2005 that Eric Knight’s archive at Yale University advised by his tutor to apply to the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust for a travelling fellowship. Out of a field of over a hundred, Greg won the award and spent his summer at the libraries of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.

On his return, Greg won the Biographers Club Prize for his original research, and wrote and presented “The Man Who Wrote Lassie” on BBC Radio Four.

Greg finished his MA in 2010 at YSJU and embarked on a lecture tour of the USA speaking in schools and colleges, libraries and universities from New Mexico to New York, Boston to Los Angeles.

In March, Greg received his invitation to Buckingham Palace along with three hundred other fellows at the invitation of Her majesty the Queen, Patron of the Churchill Trust, for a grand reception celebrating the life of Winston Churchill. Greg said, “The Queen shook my hand, congratulated me on my Knight project and then turned her attention to my guide dog, Captain, saying “What a beautiful dog!” The whole occasion, Greg said was magnificent, wonderful food and lots of champagne