Kenneth Grahame (1859–1932) was a Scottish-born writer and a senior official of the Bank of England, the author of The Wind in the Willows. The adventures of Mole, Rat, Badger and the boastful Mr. Toad began as bedtime stories for his son.
Works
The Wind in the Willows
An orphaned childhood
Kenneth Grahame was born in Edinburgh on 8 March 1859. After his mother died when he was five and his father, unable to cope, left the family, he was brought up by his grandmother at Cookham Dean, beside the Thames in Berkshire. The river and its banks became the setting of his book.
He did well at St Edward's School, Oxford, but his family would not pay for university. In 1879 he joined the Bank of England as a clerk.
The Bank and the books
Grahame rose to become Secretary of the Bank of England in 1898. In his spare time he wrote essays for magazines, collected in Pagan Papers, and two books about childhood, The Golden Age (1895) and Dream Days (1898), much admired in their day.
In 1899 he married Elspeth Thomson. Their only child, Alastair, nicknamed Mouse, was born in 1900, partly blind and in fragile health.
The Wind in the Willows
The tales of Toad, Mole, Ratty and Badger started as bedtime stories for Alastair and continued in letters written to him in 1907. They were published as The Wind in the Willows in October 1908; American publishers had refused it, and reviewers were puzzled.
Grahame retired from the bank the same year. In 1920 Alastair died while a student at Oxford. Grahame lived quietly at Pangbourne, on the Thames, until his death on 6 July 1932.
Anecdotes
A shot at the Bank
In 1903 a man came to the Bank of England and fired three shots at Grahame, all of which missed. The man, said to be mentally ill, was overpowered and taken away.
Toad of Toad Hall
A. A. Milne, the author of Winnie-the-Pooh, adapted the book for the stage as Toad of Toad Hall in 1929. Milne loved the novel and helped make it famous.
Frequently asked questions
Who are the main characters of The Wind in the Willows?
Mole, the Water Rat (Ratty), Badger and Mr. Toad of Toad Hall, who is obsessed with motor-cars.
Where is The Wind in the Willows set?
On the banks of an English river and in the Wild Wood nearby, inspired by the Thames around Cookham Dean, where Grahame grew up.
What did Kenneth Grahame do for a living?
He worked at the Bank of England for nearly thirty years and was its Secretary from 1898 to 1908.