“The Wind in the Willows” is a classic children’s story about England and the English. However, it was actually written by Scotsman. The book describes the adventures of “Mole”, “Badger”, “Toad” and “Ratty”.
Together, they represent all the characteristics of the English, both good and bad. The leader was always the astute, charming, affable, heroic “Rattty”. However, the hero was uneasy outside his own routine. He always did the right thing, but more than anything else, he simply enjoyed “just messing about in boats”. The inspiration for the character was an academic who was born in Cornwall before attending Trinity College in Oxford.
Arthur Quiller-Couch, like his literary counterpart, was a larger than life character. He was born in 1863. He wrote 36 novels during his lifetime. However, like Ratty, he believed that there was “nothing, absolutely nothing, half so much worth doing, as simply messing about in boats”.
In 1910, he was knighted. In 1912, he became the “King Edward VII Professor of English Literature” at Cambridge University. He retained that title for the rest of his life. He was a Fellow of Jesus College in Cambridge, and remained a Fellow until he retired from academic life.
However, in 1911, Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch was proud to become the Commodore of the club of which he was a life-long member, the Royal Fowey Yacht Club in Cornwall.
In his spare time, Retty composed poetry. Sir Arthur Quiller- Couch created “The Oxford Book of English Verse 1250 -1918”.
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