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Myers Literary Guide:
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The North-East
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ERNEST THOMPSON SETON (1860 - 1946) Seton was actually born Ernest Evan Seton Thompson at 43 Beach Road, South Shields, where there is a plaque. The family, which included ten sons, emigrated to Canada in 1866. Seton gained experience as a naturalist by trailing and hunting in the prairie country of Manitoba, and used this knowledge as the basis for his animal stories; his artistic training enabled him to illustrate his own books. His most popular book was Wild Animals I Have Known (1898), about which he lectured to the Newcastle Lit and Phil in 1904. A curious work was his The Natural History of the Ten Commandments (1907), moralistic tales purporting to show wild creatures obeying the commandments. Seton fought for the establishment of reservations for the Indians, and parks for threatened wildlife species. He later became chairman of the committee which established the Boy Scouts of America. As well as further books on scouting and woodcraft, he wrote an autobiography, published in 1940. Seton's writings greatly influenced Lord Baden-Powell (q.v.) in setting up the Boy Scout movement. Other admirers have included Gavin Maxwell, George Orwell (qq.v.) and Richard Adams, who acknowledges Seton's influence on Watership Down, the best-selling rabbit saga of recent years. In his Plague Dogs, Adams has the 'Tod' (fox) speaking pure Geordie - tappy-lappying and all!
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