Sophie Neville became inadvertently well known as a girl when she starred as ‘Titty’ in the 1974 movie ‘Swallows and Amazons’. Forty years later, she was persuaded to bring out an ebook on ‘The Secrets of Filming Swallows & Amazons’. This attracted so much attention in the Times and Telegraph that she was commissioned to write ‘The Making of Swallows and Amazons’, now published by The Lutterworth Press. Amusing and appropriate for all ages and doesn’t spoil the magic of the film.
Although useless at sailing, Sophie became President of The Arthur Ransome Society in 2014 and began giving talks at cinemas and literary festivals from Cornwall to Essex. She was commissioned to write articles for the Daily Telegraph, Country Life and DVD Extras for Revelation Film, along with forewords for ‘Swallowdale’ by Arthur Ransome, ‘Swallows, Amazons and Coots’ , ‘An A-Z of Cumbria and The Lake District on Film’, and ‘Boats Yet Sailing’. Since then, she has contributed chapters to other books such as Write Well and Merry Christmas Everyone.
Whilst living in Africa, Sophie put together two illustrated memoirs: Ride the Wings of Morning and Funnily Enough, which won a Rubery Book Award, was serialised in iBelieve magazine and hit #1 in Humour on Amazon Kindle in the UK. She has just brought out a 2nd edition with additional illustrations available online.
Sophie appeared on BBC Antiques Roadshow in 2021, has been speaking on BBC Radio and nearly capsized on ITV News. You can listen to her on Radio Cumbria here and find behind-the-scenes photos with links to BBC iPlayer here.
The original film of ‘Swallows and Amazons’ was last broadcast in the UK on 10th June 2022 and is streaming on Amazon Prime where you can watch the trailer.
Sophie has a degree in Anthropology from Durham University and background in television production. She began working at the BBC as an assistant on drama serials such as ‘Doctor Who’ and ‘Eastenders’ before making her first documentary for Channel 4 while driving from London to Johannesburg. After directing a number of comedy dramas for BBC Education, she produced an Inset series, set up a Blue Peter summer exploration of South Africa and worked freelance for the BBC Natural History Unit in Botswana and Namibia. As trustee of The Waterberg Trust, she has organised five challenge rides in Southern Africa where she was based for twelve years, working as a wildlife artist, cartographer and horse safari guide.
The Lutterworth Press bring you an interview with Sophie Neville here
email: sophie@sophieneville.co.uk
Sophie Neville 