In 1942 the RS Surtees Society was conceived by Sir Kenneth Pickthorn and minuted in the Michaelmas term papers of the Cambridge Conservative Association. This decision was not immediately put into effect.

Forty years later, Peter Simple of the Daily Telegraph nudged the Society into wakefulness. While Sir Charles Pickthorn was out of the country on business, the Peter Simple column solemnly announced (as fact) his establishment of the RS Surtees Society. At the time not a single Surtees title was in print.

Sir Charles Pickthorn threw himself vigorously into the task of re-printing them. As support flooded in he rapidly effected the complete re-publishing of the Surtees canon.