Arnold Haskell (1903-1981) was an English ballet critic who became a passionate advocate for Australia. He first came here - admitting to some trepidation - with the Monte Carlo Russian Ballet in 1936. He reported back to England for magazines such as the Dancing Times while writing articles and reviews for several Australian newspapers and journals, notably the Home, expounding on the urgent need for ballet schools and commenting admiringly on the size and strength of Australian girls. In particular, he held that if it developed a professional ballet company, Australia would be able to 'use' the ballet 'to prove to the world what is obvious to any conscientious observer, that it has a vigorous and truly national school of art and a deep tradition of musical appreciation'. In 1938 he returned to research a book, confessing to readers of the Home that 'When I try to write of my love for Australia I am as helpless as one who scrawls his loved one's name a hundred times on his blotting pad.' His book about Australia, Waltzing Matilda, was published in 1944.
