H. E. Bates Lydia". His most popular creation was the Larkin family in "The Darling Buds of May". Pop Larkin and his family were inspired by a colourful character seen in a local shop in Kent by Bates and his family when on holiday. The man (probably Wiltshire trader William Dell, also on holiday) turned up to the shop with a huge wad of rubber-banded bank notes and proceeded to spoil his trailer load of children with Easter eggs and ice creams. The television adaptation, produced after his death by his son Richard and based on these stories, was a tremendous success. It
Martha E. Cram Bates Martha E. Cram Bates Martha E. Cram Bates (August 25, 1839 – March 23, 1905) was an American writer, journalist, and newspaper editor. She was widely known throughout the Grand Traverse region, and throughout the State of Michigan as well, having been closely identified with literary work since childhood. She was, perhaps, the first woman in the state who engaged in regular newspaper work, having been connected with the "Grand Traverse Herald", of which her husband, Thomas Tomlinson Bates, was editor, since 1876. Martha Elizabeth Cram was born in Northville, Michigan, August 25, 1839. She was the daughter of Mr.