Nicholas Evans, who has died aged 72 after a heart attack, was the unlikely author of the bestselling novel The Horse Whisperer (1995), which became a Robert Redford film. Unlikely because the book, set in Montana, was a first novel by a British television producer, and landmark because the book sold for a record price at auction, and justified its sale price.
Evans had previously left a successful position as number two to Melvyn Bragg on the South Bank Show, where he produced many of the flagship programmes of the television arts series, including profiles of Patricia Highsmith, John Le Carré, Laurence Olivier, Francis Bacon and, most crucially, the film director David Lean, who became a friend and wondered why Evans was making a film about him, and not something he wanted to do for himself.
