Titty Walker
From Arthur Ransome Wiki
Titty Walker is Able Seaman of the Swallow, third-oldest and the most imaginative of the Walker family children.
Titty's exploits were often central to the adventures, for example capturing the Amazon (SA), the candle-grease incident (SD) and finding the well at Camp Might Have Been (PP).
[edit] native prototype
Titty is based on Mavis (Titty) Altounyan, third-oldest/third-youngest of Arthur Ransome's young friends in the Altounyan family.
Mavis's nickname was not an abbreviation of Laetitia, but comes from a children's poem or fairy tale called Titty Mouse and Tatty Mouse:
[edit] Might as well get this off my chest
Arthur Ransome recognised the mild humour or embarrassment with Titty's name:
- You must be John and you're Susan. And that's Roger. Which is the one with the funny name? (Daisy, SW19)
The BBC TV adaptation of Swallows and Amazons re-named the character as Kitty; the rest of us just got over it.
