ONE of the most famous children's books of all time should actually be read as an exploration of the author's homosexuality, an academic has claimed.
Oxford author Kenneth Grahame wrote the Wind in the Willows as a 'gay manifesto', according to Peter Hunt, a professor at Cardiff University.
A new book by Prof Hunt called The Making of the Wind in the Willows claims that the gay subtext is 'hiding in plain sight.'
The Wind in the Willows follows the adventures of an all-male cast of woodland characters.
"It is a certainly a story of maleness and companionship", Prof Hunt told the Times.
Certain passages have been identified that hint at homoeroticism including a description of Mole and Rat 'tumbling between the sheets in great joy and contentment.'
Mr Grahame was educated at St Edward’s School in Woodstock Road.
Despite being married with a child, good circumstantial evidence shows he was gay, according to Prof Hunt.
He was a secretary at the Bank of England until he left abruptly in 1908 which may have been because bosses knew and disproved of his sexuality.
Much of the classic children’s work, inspired by Mr Grahame's experience of messing about on boats in Cookham, was written while he lived in Blewbury.
The author died in 1932, 35 years before homosexual acts were decriminalised, and is buried in Holywell Cemetery.