Gösta Knutsson(1908-1973)
- Writer
- Actor
- Director
He was born in a well-off family with two older sisters. His father was
a wholesaler. During his childhood he spent the summers on a farm
outside Tranås, Småland. One summer, 1923, he bought a cat without
tail, something which later inspired him to write his novels for
children, 'Pelle Svanslös'. He was never interested in making pranks
like other small boys, but preferred to read, something his sister
taught him at the age of 4. After conscription he began university
studies in Uppsala and studied greek, latin and ancient cultures. But
he spent the most of his time at the Stockholm Fraternity, which in
time made him president of the Student's League as well as editor of
the student's newspaper. He became the Uppsala correspondent for
Sveriges Radio, Sweden's state-ruled radio corporation. As a radio
journalist he introduced the quiz show to Sweden. He was also making a
radio program for children and introduced Peter No-Tail, the cat with
no tail. It became an immediate success the first novel was published
1939. He totally wrote 12 novels about this cat. The novels made him
rich and he and his wife could live in a ten-room-house in Uppsala, as
well as a summer-house in Denmark.