Don't recall anyone inspiring my interest in wildlife but a lot of people tried to put me off! Most of my peers at school were into sport and vandalism (not necessarily in that order) and treated anyone who could name most of the birds, mammals and insects you were likely to find in darkest Surrey with the utmost suspicion. Adults weren't much better, the best I could hope for from that quarter was "it's just a phase - he'll grow out of it". Well I'm 47 now and I haven't grown out of it yet!
Dave P.
P.s. I use the Advanced Book Exchange (
AbeBooks: New & Used Books, Textbooks, Rare & Out of Print Books) to search for secondhand copies of out-of-print books. The site has 6 copies of Bird Watching as a Hobby by W. D. Campbell listed, all but one of them in the UK. Have a look at
this link.