W. R. Mitchell, English journalist and author (d. 2015) was born on January 15, 1928.

William Reginald Mitchell was a British writer who was the editor of Dalesman magazine for twenty years and over a sixty-year period wrote over 200 books, hundreds of articles, and delivered many talks on the history and physical and natural evolution of North Britain, with particular emphasis on The Yorkshire Dales, Lancashire and the Lake District. These include biographies, social history, topography, and natural history of the regions. In the course of his career Mitchell made and collected many taped interviews with people of these regions - now housed at the Universities of Leeds and Bradford - representing a unique archive of dialect and history.