Kenneth Grahame was born in Edinburgh in 1859. He was educated at St Edward's school, Oxford, but because of family circumstances he was unable to enter Oxford University. He joined the Bank of England as a gentleman clerk in 1879, rising to become its Secretary in 1898. In 1899 he married Elspeth Thomson and their only child, Alistair, was born a year later. He left the Bank in 1908 on health grounds. That same year, The Wind in the Willows was published. The book was not an immediate success, and he never attempted to write fiction again. However, the popularity of the novel grew steadily and, by the time of Grahame's death in 1932 it was recognised as a children's classic.

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