Speaking about Richard Pilbrow at the National Theatre

Richard Pilbrow told me that the most difficult thing he ever had to do was to persuade Mrs Ransome to grant him the rights to make ‘Swallows and Amazons’ into a movie.

But he did. He found funding from EMI Films and asked Dame Virginia McKenna to play Mother.

Neville Thompson put together a great crew

with Denis Lewiston as DoP,

the Oscar winning set dresser Ian Whittaker,

and the avant guard director Claude Whatham fresh from making ‘That’ll Be the Day’ with David Essex and Ringo Starr.

Filming on location in the Lake District wasn’t easy.

How they lit the scenes on Peel Island I do not know.

It rained so hard that Simon Holland had to order black drapes from Pinewood Studios so they could shoot the night scenes in Mrs Batty’s dusty barn.

But the film worked because Richard had insisted that the children playing the lead characters could sail.

The film didn’t make much at the box office but it worked well on television.

I’m told it has been broadcast more than any other British Film. Having a U certificate it has allowed many parents a lie-in on Sunday mornings.

Families assure me that they have watched the VHS or DVD thirty times or more. StudioCanal remastered it for cinemascope Blu-ray and we filled the big northern cinemas.

The good news is that, fifty years after the premier in Shaftesbury Avenue,

we are restoring the dinghies: Swallow and Amazon for families to sail.

I wrote up the diary I kept on location as a twelve year-old. Richard sent me the flags.

At the 50th Anniversary celebrations this April a man in the audience stood up to say that as a young doctor, he was working at a hospital on Good Friday. As he walked around he found peace in every ward, sick children snuggled up and happy. They were all watching ‘Swallows and Amazons’ on television. Richard’s gift.

Richard and Molly’s dream became an inspiration to many.

Here you can see Richard and Molly with Claude Whatham, Neville, Fred, Abigail, Suzanna Hamilton and me at the sailing audition held in Burnham-on- Crouch. Simon West who was cast as Captain John went on to win the Optimist British Championships and represented the UK overseas.