Jay Appleton at Hull University in the 1960s (cropped)

Jay Appleton (1919 – 27 April 2015) was a British geographer who proposed "habitat theory" and advanced the notion of "prospect-refuge".

Biography

Appleton was born in

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

in December 1919. He moved to Stibbard, near

Fakenham Fakenham is a market town and civil parish in Norfolk, England. It is situated on the River Wensum, about north west of Norwich. The town is the junction of several local roads, including the A148 from King's Lynn to Cromer, the A1067 to Norwi ...

in Norfolk, at the age of eighteen months. In 1940, he moved south to

Diss Diss or DISS may refer to: *Diss, Alberta, a place in Canada *Diss, Norfolk, a market town in England, United Kingdom **Diss railway station **Diss Rugby Club ** Diss Town F.C. *Diss grass, a Mediterranean grass *Diss (music), a song whose primary ...

, but ten years later a university appointment took him back to Yorkshire, and he lived in Cottingham until his death. Jay Appleton in January 2013

Academic career

Appleton was an alumnus of the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in contin ...

and the

University of Durham , mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills ( Psalm 87:1) , established = (university status) , type = Public , academic_staff = 1,830 (2020) , administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19) , chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen , vice_ch ...

where he attended King's College, which is now

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a UK public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is a red brick unive ...

. He retired in 1985 as an Emeritus Professor of

Geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, a ...

Hull University , mottoeng = Bearing the Torch f learning, established = 1927 – University College Hull1954 – university status , type = Public , endowment = £18.8 million (2016) , budget = £190 millio ...

. He was a Human Geographer with a special interest in transport and in 1962 he published "The Geography of Communications in Great Britain". In 1970, he wrote a report for the

Countryside Commission The Countryside Commission (formally the Countryside Commission for England and Wales, then the Countryside Commission for England) was a statutory body in England and Wales, and later in England only. Its forerunner, the National Parks Commissio ...

on "Disused railways in the countryside of England and Wales". In 1975, Appleton published ''The Experience of Landscape'', in which he proposed the '' prospect-refuge theory'' of human aesthetics. The theory states that taste in art is "an acquired preference for particular methods of satisfying inborn desires". The two desires are for opportunity (prospect) and safety (refuge). Tracing these two desires gives us a means of understanding successful and enduring aesthetics, and the ability to predict the same.

Other work

During the early 1950s, he began writing

Norfolk dialect East Anglian English is a dialect of English spoken in East Anglia, primarily in or before the mid-20th century. East Anglian English has had a very considerable input into modern Estuary English, which has largely replaced it. However, it has r ...

stories and reading them from Birmingham on the Midland Region Programme of the BBC. More stories were specially written to mark the opening of the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

studios at St Catherine’s Close in

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the Episcopal see, See of ...

in 1958. He was also a published poet.The Poetry of Habitat
from Amazon.com

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Appleton, Jay 1919 births Alumni of the University of Oxford English geographers 2015 deaths Scientists from Yorkshire Academics of the University of Hull Alumni of King's College, Newcastle