Swallows and Amazons (2016 film) of 6.7/10. On Metacritic, the film received a score of 65 out of 100, based on 9 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Writing in British daily newspaper "The Daily Telegraph", Lewis Jones noted that Arthur Ransome had written in his diary: "Saw the ghastly mess they have made of poor old "Swallows and Amazons"" after watching the BBC's 1962 series. Jones added, "I think he might have liked Philippa Lowthorpe's forthcoming film, though, which is true to the spirit of his book, and so attentive to period detail that at one point Mrs Walker smokes a cigarette". Jones outlined the
Michael Irwin (author) wrote the lyrics for Brunel (opera project) and other original musical works. In 2013 he wrote a novel, "The Skull and the Nightingale", which has received a number of positive reviews. Fiction: Non-fiction: Irwin has four children, a daughter from his first marriage to Donia Etherington, and two daughters and a son with his wife Stella. The couple lives in Canterbury, Kent. Michael Irwin (author) Thomas Arthur Michael Irwin, (born 3 May 1934) is a British Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Kent and author of several works of fiction, as well as scholarly books. His 2013 novel,