Arthur Ransome

Arthur Ransome (January 18, 1884–June 3, 1967) was a British children's author. He is best known for writing the Swallows and Amazons series of children's books, which tell of school-holiday adventures of children, mostly in the Lake District and Norfolk Broads areas of England, and mostly involving small sailing boats. They remain popular to the point that they are a basis of a tourist industry around Windermere and Coniston Water — the two lakes that Ransome used as the basis for his fictional lake.

Swallows and Amazons

He settled in the Lake District. He decided not to accept a position as a full-time foreign correspondent and instead he wrote Swallows and Amazons in 1929. This was the first of the series that made his reputation as one of the best English writers of children's books.

Related Topics:
Lake District - 1929

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The Walker (Swallows) children in the book were apparently based on the Altounyan family, whose mother and their Collingwood grandparents were old friends of Ransome's. Later he denied the connection, claiming he only gave the Altounyans' names to his own characters, as he appears to have been upset by people thinking that the characters were not original creations.

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Ransome's writing is noted for his very accurate descriptions of locations and activities in his books. His move to East Anglia brought forth a change of location for four of the books. Ransome's own interest in sailing and need to provide an accurate description caused him to undertake a voyage across the North Sea to Flushing. This was described in his book We Didn't Mean To Go To Sea, where the fictional "Goblin" was actually based on his own boat Nancy Blackett (which was in turn named for a character in the series).

Related Topics:
East Anglia - Flushing - Nancy Blackett

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There are two (or possibly three) of the Swallows and Amazons books which are not completely realistic. Peter Duck was originally intended to have been a story made up by the children themselves but this introductory passage was dropped from the published book (though Peter Duck himself is mentioned in Swallowdale as a character who the children created) and it appears to be a straightforward story except that the plot is much more fantastic than most Swallows and Amazons books.

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Similarly, a trip to China as a foreign correspondent provided an imaginative springboard for Missee Lee, in which the Swallows and Amazons, sailing around the world in the ship Wild Cat from Peter Duck, together with Captain Flint (the Amazon's uncle Jim Turner), are captured by Chinese pirates.

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There is more controversy over the final book of the series Great Northern?. The plot and action appears to be realistic but the internal chronology does not fit the usual run of school holidays.

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