Literature in the 1970s "Watership Down" by Richard Adams, a juvenile novel about a family of rabbits which found a home in mainstream literary circles. Joseph Heller's dramatic novel of middle age, "Something Happened", was the author's first book since "Catch-22" in 1961. James A. Michener also returned to prominence in the seventies, first with "Chesapeake", a story of four families interwoven throughout their interactions in the Chesapeake Bay area of Maryland, and later with "Centennial", a historical novel about a family living in Colorado in the time of the 1870s. In 1976, "Centennial" was adapted to a popular television miniseries. John Jakes would
Kingsclere and its sign proclaims it a "15th C. Rooming Inn". The nearby Watership Down is the setting for the 1972 novel of the same name by Richard Adams. Watership Down was also the site of the 1982 World Field Archery Championship put on by the Overton Black Arrows archery club from the nearby village of Overton. The actress Lavinia Fenton, most famous for her role as the first Polly Peachum in John Gay's The Beggar's Opera, was lover and then wife of Charles Powlett, 3rd Duke of Bolton of the parish. Their eldest son, Rev. Charles Powlett, was briefly vicar