Arthur Ransome (1884 – 1967)

They remain popular to the point that they are a basis of a tourist industry around Lake Windermere and Coniston Water - the two lakes that Ransome used as the basis for his fictional lake.

Earlier in his life, Ransom was a newspaper reporter, writing mainly for the famous Manchester Guardian (now the Guardian). He wrote about 30 nonfiction books on topics ranging from Oscar Wilde to Russia before gaining success with the Swallows and Amazons series.

In 1913 he visited Russia to study folk lore. In 1916, he published Missee Lee, in which some of the S&A children hang out with a female pirate. The eventual success of his children's books enabled him to give up reporting.