Alfred Ollivant

Alfred Ollivant (1874–1927) was an English novelist who was commissioned in the Royal Artillery and invalided out after a riding accident left him with a spinal injury; he wrote his first book lying on his back. That book, Owd Bob, published in 1898 and known in America as Bob, Son of Battle, is the story of a Cumberland sheepdog and his rival and became a classic of animal fiction, filmed several times. He went on to write novels of Sussex life and speech, including Two Men and its sequel One Woman, and he lived for many years near the Downs that his books describe.