~ In today’s Daily Mail and Mail Online – third article down on the website ~
While I was at Rugby School unveiling the commemorative plaque in honour of Arthur Ransome, invited as President Elect of The Arthur Ransome Society, Richard Kay’s office at the Daily Mail was desperately trying to reach me.
~ Unveiling the Arthur Ransome plaque at Rugby School on 21st November 2013 ~
They were keen to ask about ‘The Secrets of Filming Swallows & Amazons’, which had already started to outsell Stephen Fry and Julian Clary in the category of Stage & Theatre memoirs on Amazon Kindle. It has also outranked pre-orders of June Brown’s autobiography ‘Before the Year Dot’ about her life as an actress. I worked with her on Eastenders when the soap opera first started back in the 1980s.
I woke up this morning to find an email from Hayley Dixon of The Telegraph saying that she had seen that my new behind-the-scenes book of Swallows & Amazons was out, and asking me to ring her. By one o’clock her article appeared in The Telegraph online, featuring my book trailer.
I then heard from Paul Kendall of the Sunday Telegraph’s magazine, Seven, who had read about my book launch in Richard Kay’s column today. Hayley had told me it was in the Daily Mail, but I had only just bought a copy myself.
Paul wrote:
Sophie Neville 
Fantastic Sophie, congratulations 🙂 My own progress is slow but I am loving what I have read so far. I used to get a new Arthur Ransome book for Christmas – now I may have to ask for a Kindle so I can read your book in bed, reading it on my PC is too like being at work… 🙂
Thank you. I have a Kindle app on my iPhone, in case I get stuck in the traffic, but an iPhone is not the kind of thing you can easily read in bed.
CONGRATULATIONS! The Telegraph article did you proud!
What is the white area to which the plaque appears fastened?
But their HEADLINE ! I shall never live it down. Apparently there is an even worst one in the Times today – my husband came into Harwich on the ferry from Holland at 6.45am this morning to find a photo of me next to a caption about X-rated something… I’m rushing out to buy a copy.
All publicity is good publicity when you’ve written such a great book as yours, Sophie – I think a few article writers are showing themselves up as having not read it yet. Such as referring to the parrot’s real name as ‘Tilly’ when his name was ‘Beauty Proctor’ 🙂
I thought the Daily Mail had it worded the most accurately with the phrase ‘gently lifting the lid on antics’ 😉 x
There are so many good stories from making that film. I am longing for Lesley Bennett to get in touch as she kept a very detailed diary – in the most beautiful italic hand-writing. At thirteen, she was a little older than me and had more time to observe the crew. I’d love to see Kit Seymour’s diary too. I am sure it would be most amusing.
I am part through reading your wonderful biographical experience of filming S&As Surely it must have been difficult filming scenes of a story you knew so well?. Though I know of course this is standard practise of necessity!.
Happy Memories.
Knowing the books well helped enormously. It meant we hardly ever had to learn lines. We just sang out the dialogue we all knew from reading the books.
I am so glad you are enjoying the filmography. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Congratulations! It really is a brilliant book.
The latest edition is a huge improvement. Those who downloaded the original can re-load the latest draft of the ebook free of charge.
I think it’s the latest version that I am reading on Kindle.
Oh good. Are all the links to the behind-the-scenes footage working? You do need to have Wifi.
They have been so far and I am up to the beginning of Chapter Fourteen.