We had another rather wet day in the Lake District, but what they did shoot was excellent. In the story, it was the day John and I discovered the Secret Harbour and rowed Swallow around from the Landing Place. It must have been worth waiting for the weather to clear in oder to capture those limpid, watery scenes.
The Secret Harbour looks very different over the course of a year. It is at its most dramatic when the water levels are low and more rocks are exposed, but one thing is certain, it is always a safe haven for a dinghy. I was sad that the sequence in the book where Titty watches a dipper from her rock was never included in the film, but then I have never seen a dipper there. I rather think they prefer shallow, fast flowing streams were caddis fly lavae can be found but if Arthur Ransome wrote about a dipper there must have been one there in 1929.
I’m not sure Albert Clarke achieved horizontality with this particular photograph but it somehow gives one an idea of Titty’s tippy task. Albert was a sweet man. His task was to take stills of the film and for the film. This must have been tricky as his large format camera clicked. He had to grab shots while not intruding on the sound track. He was later the Stills Photographer on The Hound of the Baskervilles when Ian Richardson played Sherlock Holmes, Return of the Jedi, and Porridge. Porridge, which starred my all-time hero Ronnie Barker who inspired me to go into television production. When I was a nineteen-year-old student I appeared in Charlie Farley and Piggy Malone, a sort of serial within The Two Ronnies, which he directed and appeared in as both anti-hero and baddie. To my great delight, and his surprise, I put on round glasses, a yash-mak, a Southern American accent borrowed from Molly Friedel and learnt that anything was possible if you really wanted it to happen.
But then some things happen anyway. I never knew that bringing small boat neatly into shore would result in being on the cover of an LP. You can still buy it all these years later from Amazon. The only question is – Do you have a gramophone or turn-table to play it on?
I can’t believe Terry let me travel in the front on his white Range Rover, let alone change the gears. I can only think that Simon and I were taken back after the other children had gone home, and can just imagine us swinging around the lanes on that beautiful road back to Ambleside.
Terry Smith was our Wardrobe Master who must have had an annoying day if gas had been leaking into his bus. He was the distinctive man with curly red hair and strong, freckled arms in charge of our costumes. Goodness knows where he laundered them. Terry went on to work on some amazing costume dramas, movies that included Chariots of Fire, Lady Jane, Willow and Restoration. Mum’s tame otter Bee was auditioned to be in Willow. I’ve written about it in my book Funnily Enough. Mum was most indignant becasue they wanted her otter to wear a tutu. She didn’t know that Terry Smith was to be the Wardrobe Assistant. It might have made a difference. Instead they featured Val Kilmer in dialogue with a possum.
You can read more about the making of Swallows and Amazons here:
Sophie Neville 
Yes, I have a copy of the LP (e-bay) and didn’t realise exactly what the sleeve photo was! (that will teach me to look more closely). As for playing it, a turntable which plugs in to a USB socket on your PC (less than £50 these days).
Great blog, some fascinating insights in to the S&A film. I watched the film again recently, and as a life long fan of the books I was pleasantly surprised at how good it was and that it had stood the test of time
I look forward to more revelations!
I also have the LP, and the means to play it, even now! What a shame Bee didn’t appear in ‘Willow’ but I can well appreciate your mother’s point of view.
I’m sure actually filming ‘Willow’ would have been fine! It ended up being rather a high-profile film.
Yes, it’s a shame your mother was put off, but I completely share her opposition to dressing up animals.
We had fun dressing our dog in ballet clothes but he was far from being classified as a wild animal.
Yes, that’s entirely different, isn’t it. Your dog probably enjoyed the attention!
Asian short-clawed otters are very social and love showing off so I don’t think Mum’s tame otter would have minded but the costume may have got grubby pretty quickly.
Instant grubbiness would probably be a sign of Bee enjoying herself! But I can still appreciate your mother’s antipathy to the idea.