Strong Winds series allusion to Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons series as well as other works, particularly R.L. Stevenson's "Treasure Island" and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "Song of Hiawatha". Cassandra Jardine, reviewing for "The Daily Telegraph", wrote ""The Salt-Stained Book"... is not just a homage to the Swallows and Amazons stories. Donny and Anna, Jones's fictional characters, live in the contemporary world, escaping social workers, rather than pirates. There's far more emotion than in Ransome's books" but "they share the same confident, risk-taking spirit..." Amanda Craig, reviewing "The Salt-stained Book" for "The Times" "...wasn't sure about the historical framing device that gives the novel
Richard Gordon (English author) in both. The later spin-off TV series were written by British comedy writers. In 1974, he walked off the set of "This is Your Life" when Eamonn Andrews appeared with the red book. He later changed his mind and the show was transmitted a week later. Gordon's wife Mary Ostlere was also a physician, and the couple had four children. He died on 11 August 2017. Richard Gordon (English author) Richard Gordon (born Gordon Stanley Benton, 15 September 1921 – 11 August 2017 and also known Gordon Stanley Ostlere), was an English surgeon and anaesthetist. As Richard Gordon, Ostlere wrote