The secret was out; ‘his anecdotes are many, o u t r a g e o u s, and largely unrepeatable.’ Whilst we had been busy filming on a smelly lily pond the ‘joker’s joker’ had been languishing in the bar of the Kirkstone Foot Hotel just outside Ambleside saying that, ‘he was a lousy lover but loved to practice.’ Oh deary me. Worse was to come.
‘…baby, you’ve got to be a bit dotty.’ At least we were described as ‘bright and vivacious’.
We loved going to the cinema in Ambleside. David Blagden, our sailing director, had a small part of a prison officer in the movie Kidnapped, that we went to watch. It starred Michael Caine, Trevor Howard and Lawrence Douglas, with Jack Hawkins, Donald Pleasence and Gordon Jackson, but sadly not Ronald Fraser. He was still in the bar.
Suzanna Hamilton’s perspective on the day is not so very different but it is in purple.
Mediculs. A sure sign that our movie was both over-schedule and over budget, with nothing much anyone could do about it but keep going. We still had to capture the houseboat. And make that splendid gentleman walk the plank.
Sophie Neville will be giving illustrated talks on making the movie at the Southampton International Boat Show in September 2023. For more info please click here
If you would like to read more, Sophie’s diary is included within her ebook of ‘The Secrets of Making Swallows and Amazons (1974)’ available from online retailers and Amazon Kindle for £2.99 here
Sophie Neville 
I love the stories about Ronald Fraser; a true actor legend, if possibly for dubious reasons!
It sounds as if Ronald Fraser was an actor of a certain era. It makes me smile when I hear tales of slightly dubious anecdotes and a passion for propping up a bar. It does seem a sign of the times they lived in. I have found though, that some actors are such big characters themselves, that they lack that certain something that makes them play others believably. I remember Paul Newman being in an interview, where he could barely make a sentence as himself, yet with a script and direction, what an actor! Truly marvellous people.
Apparently Ronnie Fraser appeared in 53 movies. He had a lot of good friends but I fear in the end that they were all boozers. Journalists used bars back then, whereas these days they trawl the internet.