and journalist, best known for writing the Swallows and Amazons series of children's books
. These tell of school-holiday adventures of children, mostly in the Lake District
and the Norfolk Broads. Many of the books involve sailing; other common subjects include fishing
and camping
. The books remain so popular that they provide a basis of a tourist industry around Windermere
and Coniston Water
—the two lakes that Ransome used as the basis for his fictional North Country lake.
He also wrote about the literary life of London, and about Russia before, during, and after the revolutions of 1917.
Ransome was born in Leeds
; the house at 6 Ash Grove, in the Hyde Park
area, has a blue plaque
over the door commemorating the event.
BETTER DROWNED THAN DUFFERS IF NOT DUFFERS WONT DROWN.
: Swallows and Amazons (Chapter 1), 1930
They found, like many explorers before them, that somehow, in their absence, they had got into trouble at home.
: Swallowdale (Chapter 4), 1931
When a thing's done, it's done, and if it's not done right, do it differently next time.
: Swallowdale (Chapter 8), 1931
"Only, the beastly Arctic won't freeze,"
: Winter Holiday (Chapter 3), 1933
Softly, at first, as if it hardly meant it, the snow began to fall.
: Winter Holiday (Chapter 5), 1933
A pigeon a day keeps the natives away
: Pigeon Post Title page and Chapter 4), 1936
Grab a chance and you won't be sorry for a might-have-been.
: We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea (Title page), 1937
A lot of things were lucky," said Daddy, and suddenly, while they were walking along, brought his hand down on John's shoulder and gave it a bit of a squeeze. "You'll be a seaman yet, my son." And John, for one dreadful moment, felt that something was going wrong with his eyes. A sort of wetness, and hotness... Partly salt... Pleased though he was, he found himself biting his lower lip pretty hard, and looking the other way.
:We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea (Chapter 23), 1937
She's got a rum job, but she knows how to do it, and to have a job and know how to do it is one of the best things in this life. And if only she stops hankering after Cambridge...
: Missee Lee (Chapter 26), 1941