Biography – Sophie Neville

Author Interview: Sophie Neville

by Francesca Tyer –

How old were you when you first read Arthur Ransome’s books? Did you have a favourite storyline or character?

My father devoured the Swallows and Amazons books as they were published in the 1930s. I was a slow reader but must have started the series aged about ten or eleven as I’d read seven of the twelve by the time we arrived in the Lake District to make the film in 1973. I enjoyed the practical aspects of the books and most readily identified with Mate Susan, although I counted all the characters my friends. Ransome published thirty other books. Some are heavy going, but I enjoyed his autobiography.

Sophie Neville as a child ~ photo: Martin Neville

Have you re-read the books since your childhood? If so, how has your perception of the books and the characters, in particular Titty, changed?

I’ve re-read most of the books in the Swallows and Amazons series and gain something new each time I read Swallows and Amazons, recently appreciating how important Titty’s imagination was to progressing the story. Her ideas take the plot forward. I ended up writing an article on how Swallows and Amazons can be seen as an allegory to missionary work undertaken by Arthur Ransome’s great aunts, one of whom received a Boxer arrow in her bonnet for her efforts in China.

Simon West and Sophie Neville on Peel Island in 1973

Do you think playing Titty influenced your own personality? If so, how?

Titty helped me to look beyond the saucepans and concentrate on creative endeavors rather than getting bogged down by management and administration. Acting in the film instilled in me a work ethic, responsibility and striving for excellence. Looking back, the part was a huge burden to lay on the shoulders of a twelve-year-old but it was worth it. The film has had an enduring quality and is still broadcast today. I find constant interest when I’m in social or sporting situations. For me, it has truly been a case of ‘Swallows and Amazons Forever!’

Sophie Neville rowing to Cormorant Island — Sophie Neville as Titty and Stephen Grendon as Roger rowing to Cormorant Island

Do you remember what you wanted to be before you became an actress? Did a writing career ever interest you as a child?

I acted professionally from the age of ten until I was twenty-one, going into television production at the BBC before I became a writer. I’ve also worked as a safari guide, wildlife artist and – thanks to Titty – as a cartographer. You can see a few maps I drew on my website here.

I’ve undertaken quite a bit of charity work, fundraising and acting as webmaster for The Waterberg Trust. I can’t remember having strong career ambitions as a child but knew art to be my strongest subject. I have a visual brain that flits about. Keeping a diary and constant letter writing has helped me develop my writing and has given me a huge quantity of material to draw upon.

Suzanna Hamilton with Sophie Neville as Titty busy writing the ship’s log

What led/inspired you to become a producer?

Claude Whatham was a ground-breaking director who inspired all those around him, but directing became a viable option at Opera Camp, annual amateur productions we took part in over our summer holidays as teenagers. I began directing plays at university and developed a burning desire to direct for television, always ‘looking for the shot.’ By producing documentaries, I got to direct and put them together, editing voice-overs into a narrative arc. I would now like to adapt my own stories for film, so have Final Draft software on my laptop and Witness Films Ltd registered as a UK company, but although I have a couple of ideas out to tender, I’ve been concentrating on polishing my historical novels.

The director and cast of Swallows and Amazons — Director Claude Whatham with his cast of Swallows in 1973

I’ve read that before filming Swallows and Amazons, you were in a production of Cider with Rosie. Was playing Titty anything like your experience of playing Eileen Brown?

Claude Whatham directed bother Cider With Rosie (1971) and Swallows and Amazons (1974) so the experience was similar. I also appeared in a Weetabix commercial he made in the Cotswolds. All three productions were set in roughly the same period, but Titty’s costumes, designed by Emma Porteous, were easiest to wear. Cider With Rosie was the most daunting production as I had to play the piano, which required three days of intensive practice. Titty only had to draw, write and row a boat, which was much more my thing.

Titty working on the chart - copyright StudioCanal — Titty working on the chart

Working with Virginia McKenna was amazing. Hugely inspirational and one of our most iconic British film actresses, she taught me a great deal – and still does.

Virginia McKenna playing Mother in Swallows and Amazons

What were your favourite and least favourite parts of the filming process?

We loved eating iced buns on set but hated hanging around in the cold. There was a lot of waiting for clouds to pass in the Lake District where I spent days clad in nothing but a thin cotton dress and enormous pair of navy blue gym knickers. I became more interested in the technical aspects of filming rather than acting, which for us children was more a case of ‘Let’s pretend.’

Claude Whatham showing the 16mm camera to Simon West and Sophie Neville. Sue Merry and Denis Lewiston. — Claude Whatham showing the 16mm camera to Simon West and Sophie Neville. Sue Merry and Denis Lewiston can be seen behind us.

What were your first impressions of the Lake District? Had you ever been to the Lake District before filming Swallows and Amazons?

My parents had taken me to the Lake District as a three-year-old and loved going themselves, so it was a treasured destination in my family. I was dazzled by the lakes and mountains. Holly Howe (Bank Ground Farm) above Coniston Water is a very special place. I love gazing up into the Langdales and walking up into the fells. We were members of the Steam Boat Association, something I have written about in my book, Funnily Enough and I returned over Lockdown to appear in BBC Antiques Roadshow when Swallows and Amazons was profiled.

Sophie Neville aged four — Sophie Neville aged three in the Lake District

How detailed was the diary you wrote during the filming? Had you ever thought about turning your notes into a book before you were persuaded to write The Secrets of Filming Swallows and Amazons?

I’ve put every page of my diary kept whilst making Swallows and Amazons on my blog at Sophieneville.net/swallowsandamazons My mother kept them, nagging me to write them up for years. Finding the time was difficult but I got there in time for the 40^th Anniversary of the film’s release when StudioCanal brought out a DVD with an Extras package we appeared in.

Diary kept filming 'Swallows and Amazons 16th May 1973

What was the writing process like? eg. challenges

The challenge with adapting a diary is to eliminate inevitable repetition but something extraordinary or disastrous happened everyday whilst filming Swallows and Amazons. With so much filmed afloat or on islands, it was an incredibly difficult production to work on and made a story in itself. I enjoyed finally bringing the book to life and interacting with readers who so kindly sent in reviews and comments. Some love hearing what we all went on to do after the film. One reader did not want to know, but I included this as there were many interesting links and coincidences, especially since I worked on the BBC serialisation of Coot Club and The Big Six.

and favourite moments?

It is very exciting when the first paperbacks arrive. Every author enjoys unpacking that box.

The first edition of The Making of Swallows and Amazons

What is the most surprising thing you’ve learned as a writer?

I never guessed how many times I would need to re-work my books. Each one is read though and edited repeatedly, on and on until it flows well and reads flawlessly. Recording the audiobooks has opened up a whole new world. I narrated them myself, which was far more complicated than I imagined. It’s difficult to digest the fact that I am on Spotify and the audiobookstore. Funnily Enough is selling well on audible.

Do you have any events lined up to promote the book?

Yes, I list the events on my website sophieneville.net/events I’m hoping to be signing copies at the Royal Thames Yacht Club in April and Southampton International Boat Show in September.

I often give illustrated talks on how Swallows and Amazons was made and Q&As at cinema screenings. I’ve begun running workshops on photographing books at literary conferences, which is proving popular.

Giving a talk on how sailing sequences are filmed

Could you tell me a little bit about your other books?

Funnily Enough and Ride the Wings of Morning are illustrated memoirs that follow on from The Making of Swallows and Amazons, which is now in its 2^nd edition.

Merry Christmas Everyone and Write Well are anthologies to which I have contributed a chapter. I have written Forewords to four books, including the Czech version of Swallowdale by Arthur Ransome, and Swallows, Amazons and Coots by Julian Lovelock. I have a couple of non-fiction books waiting in the wings including The Secrets of Filming Coot Club. The first three chapters have already been included in DVD extras for the remastered version of the DVD.

Swallows And Amazons Forever! (Coot Club & The Big Six) SPECIAL EDITION [DVD]

Are you currently writing anything, either to do with Arthur Ransome or entirely separate?

I often write articles for magazines, which have connections to Swallows and Amazons, and have completed two historical novels, which are set in East Africa.

Finally, could you tell me about your other pursuits such as your litter picking, art and the combination of the two? Have art and conservation always interested you?

I have always been passionate about wildlife conservation, often giving talks about otters since they are the key indicator species we have been active in protecting as a family. I am taking part in the Race for Reading by litter picking whilst walking the coast to raise funds for the UK literacy charity SchoolReaders. I sometimes make collages out of the rubbish to attract attention to the composition of sea plastic. You can see examples of this and my paintings on Instagram @Sophienevilleauthor

Arthur Ransome at the Langham

An unsigned portrait by Cyrus Cuneo executed at the Langham Sketching Club c.1914

Arthur Ransome and the painter Cyrus Cuneo were both members of the Langham Sketching Club in London. An unsigned portrait of a balding, moustached gentleman, has come to light that is believed to be a sketch of Ransome dated between 1912 and 1914. He is wearing a round glasses, a stiff white collar and sandy-coloured jacket, painting at a desk in front of dark bookcases. You can just see a hint of the pipe in his mouth.

In 2021, Rosebery’s Auctions in London listed this 45.5cm x 30cm oil-on-board painting in their catalogue as ‘a portrait of the artist’ Cyrus Cuneo, but he was dark, clean-shaven and heavy shouldered, having been a professional boxer, as depicted below. When this was pointed out, Rosebery’s replied that it was, ‘just a self-portrait of an artist at the Langham.’ The setting is backed up by a label on the reverse, but the painting is unsigned.

Cyrus Cincinnato Cuneo, special artist of the Illustrated London News, pictured at work.

The painting is similar to the portrait Dora Altounyan painted of Arthur Ransome in early 1932, which was bequeathed by Evgenia Ransome to Abbot Hall museum in Kendal, now curated by Lakeland Arts. He is wearing exactly the same kind of jacket, but has hair the same colour, with a shorter haircut.

Arthur Ransome, aged 48 by Dora Altounyan (c) Altounyan family Lakeland Arts Trust http://www.artuk.org/artworks/arthur-ransome-18841967-145234

In photographs taken before the First World War, Ransome’s hair looks fuller and darker but could, presumably, have been lathered with pomade. He is wearing the pince-nez glasses and holding the same design of pipe in the photo used on the cover of Hugh Brogan’s The Life of Arthur Ransome taken in 1907 when he was twenty-five and kept by his daughter, Tabitha.

He had lost a lot of hair by the time he was photographed skipping down a lane with Tabitha, in 1917 as can be seen in this and another archive shot kept at the Brotherton Library in Leeds.

The Langham Sketching Club was set up at a stable yard in Gray’s Inn Lane in 1823 as ‘there was a need for a society where professional men could develop life drawing, improve work standards and meet in the company of like-minded artists’. It moved to 1 Langham Chambers, All Souls Place, London WI in 1938 and was henceforth known as The Langham, not to be confused with the Langham hotel.

JP Gulich’s painting of the Langham at about the time Ransome was sketching there, shown here by permission of the Langham Sketching Club

Artists met for two hours every Friday evening in the winter to sketch, take dinner and chat. Members still gather today, bringing food for a candlelit dinner. Ladies were not incorporated until 2018 but there are now as many women as men. They meet on Wednesday evenings in The Upper Hall at St Columba’s in Pont Street.

The Langham only closed after being bombed in WWII – but went online during Lockdown (c) David Eccles 2021

Cyrus Cuneo, who studied art in Paris under Whistler, joined ‘The Langham’, as it is known, about 1903 and became Chairman in 1908. His son, the artist Terence Cuneo, was born in 1907. Cyrus sadly died of blood poisoning in 1916 after getting scratched by a hat pin at a dance, but his wife and biographer, Nellie Cuneo described ‘some gay, mad times’. Fellow members included the equine artist Alfred Munnings and Arthur Ransome. A reference in early 1914 states: ‘About this time Cyrus gave up doing the two hour sketches at the Langham Sketch Club, and started doing portraits of the members at work. Afterwards some of these were sold to sitters, who included Arthur Ransome.’

Arthur Ransome? At what age? The ears and cheeks are particularly characteristic. Photo(c)Sophie Neville

How well does this painting compare with a photographic portrait dated 1932? The eyebrows look right.

In Bohemia in London, published in 1907, Arthur Ransome writes: ‘Another famous artists’ club is the Langham Sketch Club, whose rooms are close behind the Queen’s Hall. Artists meet there regularly, and draw and make pictures all in a room together, with a time limit set for the performance. At intervals they exhibit the harvest of their evenings on the walls. They also have merry parties, for men only, when the doors are opened by fantastical figures, and scratch entertainments go on all the time, and there are songs and jovial recitations. Nights are as merry as any, and the rooms are full of celebrated men, and men about to be celebrated; for the club does not tolerate bunglers.’ (In the Studios p.81)

Steven Spurrier’s illustration for Swallows and Amazons, a version of which was used on the cover when it was first published by Jonathan Cape in 1930

The artist Steven Spurrier, who drew the iconic map of Ransome’s ‘Great Lake in the North’ used on the dust jacket of the first editions of Swallows and Amazons, joined the club in 1906. He sketched groups sitting at different levels, on an assortment of furniture, as they drew. Some are balding and mustached, pipe smoking gentlemen, sketching under electric light. Most are wearing a jacket with a collar and tie. One could almost be Ransome.

Steven Spurrier RA, RBA,ROI (1878-1961) worked in charcoal or ink and wash, capturing the informal atmosphere. Did Ransome ever meet him at the club? He so loathed his illustrations commissioned by Jonathan Cape that, apart from the map, they were never used. Clifford Webb took on the challenge before Ransome produced his own line drawings and maps for Peter Duck, as if they had been drawn by his characters.

Nellie Tenison Cuneo illustrated a large number of books including The Girl Crusoes: A Story of the South Seas by Mrs Herbert Strang. Take one look at her paintings of girls with boats inside and you can imagine the impact they would have on Titty’s character.

Carole Cuneo, President of the Cuneo Society, recognised the portrait. ‘Yes, definitely by Cyrus, from the Langham Sketch Club, and definitely of Arthur Ransome.’ Although, as quoted above, her grandmother claimed, ‘some of these (portraits) were sold to sitters, who included Arthur Ransome’ one can only presume that he did not buy this one. Could there be another?

Carole first knew this picture in the 1950’s. It hung on the wall of her father, Terence Cuneo’s studio at Ember Lane in East Molesey, London, until after his death in 1996, when she inherited it. Carole clearly remembers Terence saying it was a portrait of Arthur Ransome. She had sold it, with other paintings to Sim Fine Art in about 2011, when it was sold again before turning up at Rosebery’s auction. It was purchased for £480, just under the estimated price, by the editor of the Cuneo Society Journal. Carole has provided him with a written statement to record the painting’s provenance for the future. He contacted me to find out about other portraits of Ransome and I was able to see the framed painting at his house in 2021. This shows an open box of paints and a vessel that could have held water. Magnus Smith of The Arthur Ransome Society points out that whilst Arthur Ransome’s pencil sketches and pen and ink drawings are well known, did he ever use paints?

Sophie Neville with the portrait by Cyrus Cuneo

Cyrus Cuneo, who exhibited at the Royal Academy, Royal Institute of Oil Painters and Glasgow Institute of Fine Art, was a distinguished illustrator and figurist, originating from America. If this is a hither-to unknown portrait of Arthur Ransome, it is an important discovery that will be of interest to the Arthur Ransome Trust, Lakeland Arts and members of The Arthur Ransome Society worldwide.

Ref: ‘Cyrus’ Ransome’ by David Bennett, Cuneo Society Journal Vol 5 Number 2

You can read more about Cyrus Cuneo here and about the history of the Langham Sketching Club here.

Terence Cueno’s art studio can bee seen in this film but I couldn’t spot the portrait of Ransome.

The prolific artist Terence Cuneo, Cyrus’s son

First published in Mixed Moss 2022, the Journal of The Arthur Ransome Society

Dame Virginia McKenna and her work on the classic film ‘Swallows and Amazons’ (1974)

Virginia McKenna in 'Swallows and Amazons' (1974) by the film poster artist Arnaldo Putzu — Virginia McKenna in ‘Swallows and Amazons’ (1974) immortalized by the film poster artist Arnaldo Putzu (c) StudioCanal

I was so thrilled to read that Virginia McKenna has been awarded a DBE for services to wildlife conservation and to wild animal welfare in the New Year Honours. When I last spoke to her, she was working tirelessly for the Born Free Foundation that she co-founded with her son Will Travers OBE.

I first met Dame Virginia in 1973 when she agreed to star in the first big screen adaptation of ‘Swallows and Amazons’, produced by Richard Pilbrow, directed by Claude Whatham and released by EMI Films in 1974. She played the part of my mother, Mary Walker. The movie was shot entirely on location in the Lake District where Arthur Ransome set his classic series of children’s books.

Dame Virginia McKenna at Bank Ground Farm in 1973 ~ photo: Daphne Neville (c)

The film has been broadcast on British television more than any other but it is when you watch it on the big screen that you can appreciate what made Virginia McKenna such a great star. Her face conveys a thousand tiny emotions that sweep you into a long-forgotten time when children were able to run free.

Virginia McKenna holding the telegramme — Dame Virginia McKenna on location at Bank Ground in Cumbria ~ photo: Daphne Neville (c)

Dame Virginia had originally been scheduled to come up to Cumbria for the first ten days of the seven-week shoot but, since wet weather closed in, she was obliged to return when the sun came out for the famous scene when Roger tacks up the field at Holly Howe to receive ‘despatches’ in the form of the cryptic telegram BETTER DROWNED THAN DUFFERS IF NOT DUFFERS WONT DROWN.

Virginia McKenna with Hairdresser Ronnie Cogan — Dame Virginia McKenna with Ronnie Cogan ~ photo:Daphne Neville (c)

Dame Virginia enjoyed the discipline and focus of concentration on set and helped centre us from the start. If you watch other movies made at the time, such as ‘The Railway Children’ (1970), most of the adult actresses are wearing wigs with a district nineteen-seventies feel to their costume and make-up. ‘Swallows and Amazons’ owes its timeless appeal to the fact that Virginia simply had had lovely thick hair scooped into a bun and wore her original 1929 garments with grace.

Sophie Neville as Titty in 1973 – photo: Daphne Neville (c)

I played Titty Walker who inveigled her mother into playing Man Friday to her Robinson Crusoe when she came to visit Wild Cat Island. The sequences were shot on Peel Island on Coniston Water where Ransome was taken as a boy by his own parents and met the Collingwood family in the 1890’s. He later became a good friend of Dora Collingwood whose five children became the inspiration for the story ‘Swallows and Amazons’. Her third daughter, the dreamer, was nicknamed Titty.

Dame Virginia McKenna and Sophie Neville on Peel Island ~ photo: Daphne Neville (c)

It can not have been easy for Virginia to act with me, a child of twelve, while frying pemmican in butter on a camp fire. I was self-conscious about having lost an eye-tooth the night before and had rather a sore mouth and she later had to row from the island with a 35mm Panavision camera in her boat.

What I’d forgotten until recently was that Bill Travers watched the filming that day on Peel Island. He’d been a hero of mine ever since he played George Adamson in ‘Born Free’ and Gavin Maxwell in ‘Ring of Bright Water’ opposite Virginia. Their film, ‘An Elephant Called Slowly’, was released as a double bill with ‘Swallows and Amazons’.

You can see a few more behind-the-scenes photos here and I’ve written more about being Robinson Crusoe here.

‘They were very savage savages’ ~ Virginia McKenna with Sophie Neville ~ photo: Daphne Neville (c)

Looking back, I realise how fortunate we were to be able to play out the scenes from the iconic book in the actual locations, such as Bank Ground Farm where the Collingwood children had stayed one holiday as children, so they could visit their grandparents who lived at Tent Lodge next door and were too unwell to have them in the house.

The Walker Family at Holly Howe — Sten Grendon, Simon West, Virginia McKenna, Suzanna Hamilton and Sophie Neville at Bank Ground Farm, in 1973 ~ photo: Daphne Neville (c)

We were not so keen on the publicity photographs taken for the film even though Virginia tried to make it fun. Right from the the very first day of filming, she worked hard to bring us together as a cast, playing games such as ‘Consequences’ to help us laugh and relax, while concentrating on the task of bringing the book to life.

The Walker family played by Suzanna Hamilton Stephen Grendon, Sophie Neville, Virginnia McKenna and Simon West at Bank Ground Farm in Cumbria — Suzanna Hamilton Sten Grendon, Sophie Neville, Dame Virginia McKenna and Simon West – photo Daphne Neville (c)

In 1980, I went to work for Ginny and her husband Bill Travers, as a housekeeper for a few months. She needed domestic help while she was appearing with Yule Brynner in ‘The King and I’ at the London Palladium, for which she won an Olivier Award for Best Actress in a musical. I looked after her youngest son, Dan, who later worked as a safety officer and consultant on the 2016 film of ‘Swallows and Amazons’. I met him at the cast and crew screening in Leicester Square.

– Dan Travers and Sophie Neville in 2016 –

Ginny and I kept in touch. She was ever-supportive, encouraging me to keep raising funds for anti-poaching in South Africa, where she had been evacuated as a child during WWII.

It was only when I heard her speak at the Kempsford Literary Festival in the Cotswolds that I learnt that other ships in her convoy to Cape Town had been torpedoed and sunk crossing the Bay of Biscay. By some miracle, her ship had been delayed in Liverpool but she described finding the flotsam left by the ships that had been hit.

Having written a number of books herself, Ginny encouraged me to write, urging me to keep focused on one thing.

Virginia McKenna at Bank Ground

Her letters and cards also inspired me to keep raising funds for wildlife conservation in Africa.

Merry Christmas African animals card design by Sophie Neville — A Christmas card design by Sophie Neville

In turn, I supported the Born Free Foundation, printing them greeting cards, donating a Christmas card design for their catalogue and a picture that was auctioned at the Big Cat Open Day in Kent.

Sophie Neville with Virginia McKenna in about 2000 — Sophie Neville with Virginia McKenna in about 2001 – photo Daphne Neville (c)

In 2014, StudioCanal invited us both to appear in the DVD Extras package for the 40th anniversary DVD of ‘Swallows and Amazons’ (1974). While we were waiting for the crew, she told me that she’d appeared in more than thirty movies. I know she’s made a few more since then.

You can watch her interview here:

Interview with Virginia Mckenna

I released the first edition of ‘The Making of Swallows and Amazons’ for which Virginia graciously provided a quote. You can read the first few pages in the preview of the ebook, entitled ‘The Secrets of Filming Swallows and Amazons 1974’ here

To hear Virginia and her son Will Travers talking about receiving her DBE, please click here for BBC Sounds

Virginia McKenna in Swallows and Amazons — Virginia McKenna as Man Friday

~ ‘The Secrets of Filming Swallows & Amazons 1974’~

The audiobook of ‘The Making of Swallows and Amazons’ (1974) narrated by Sophie Neville who played Titty

In the long hot summer of 2022, I spent three days in a sound-proofed booth at Monkeynut Studios near Romsey narrating the audiobook of my memoir on the adventures we had making the 1974 movie ‘Swallows and Amazons’, now published in paperback by The Lutterworth Press.

I found telling the story, with all the different voices, more difficult than I had imagined but the audiobook has been beautifully produced, with sound adding a different dimension to this filmography that resonates with the lives of so many.

Sophie Neville at Monkeynut Recording Studios

You can listen to a free sample in the Audiobook Store here

There are a number of different online retailers. It is available on Spotify:

The audiobook of The Making of Swallows and Amazons (1974) by Sophie Neville

Kobo have this deal:

Scribd stock it, along with a couple of articles from Practical Boat Owner, but I did not narrate those. It might be better to read them online.

You can listen to this true life story on audiobooks.com

It is also available on Audiobooksnow

Google Play and audiobookstore.com who have it on a special price here. This must be the American version:

Wheelers stock it in New Zealand

Google books have it in the UK

Barnes and Noble sell it in U$ dollars

LibroFM

Storytel have it for sale in rupees.

I gather it will be available on Audible but they are very slow to add books.

I hope it will take you back to that long hot summer in 1929 when the Swallows first set sail and remind you of the early 1970s when we made the original film in the days before mobile phones or computers without CGI or green screens. We literally walked into the page of the books and sang out Arthur Ransome’s immortal lines as the wind took us up Coniston Water. I hope you enjoy it.

Swallows and Amazons (1974) (c)StudioCanal

If you prefer holding a book in your hands the paperback is available from Waterstones and all online retailers.

Swallow, the dinghy that starred in ‘Swallows and Amazons’ (1974)

Sten Grendon as Roger and Sophie Neville as Titty rowing *Swallow*
(c)StudioCanal

BBC Antiques Roadshow featured Swallow, the dinghy used in the original feature film of Swallows and Amazons in their first episode at Windermere Jetty repeated recently on BBC One. You can read about how she was valued by Rupert Maas on an earlier post on this blog here.

I wrote a little more about her history in an article for Practical Boat Owner, Britain’s most popular sailing magazine. The story opens in 2010, when I nearly bought her myself:

‘Swallow is coming up for auction,’ my father said, sending me the details of a clinker-built sailing dinghy stored in Mike Turk’s warehouse in Twickenham. It was the Spring of 2010. I took one look at the online photographs and wept.

The letters WK were carved on her transom. It was the twelve-foot, all-purpose, run-around vessel built by William King of Burnham-on-Sea that had been purchased by Richard Pilbrow in 1973 to feature as Swallow in the original feature film of Arthur Ransome’s classic novel Swallows and Amazons.

*Swallow* built by William King of Burnham-on-Crouch

I knew the little ship intimately. She looked a bit dried out but my husband thought we ought to buy her. I had played the part of Able-seaman Titty, the nine year-old girl who Ransome so cleverly made into the heroine of the story when she grabbed a chance to capture the Amazon, which enabled the Swallows to win the war set to determine ‘who should be the flag-ship’. In mooring her prize overnight near Cormorant Island, Titty witnessed Captain Flint’s stolen treasure chest being buried and was eventually able to rescue it. She was rewarded by the gift of a green parrot.

‘Did you know how to sail before playing Titty in Swallows and Amazons?’ people often asked. The truth was that I had crewed for my father in a similar dinghy and felt confident in a boat. I had grown up living by a lake in the Cotswolds where we had a Thames skiff, which I was used to handling. This was important as Titty does quite a bit of rowing in the film. She and Roger become galley-slaves rowing back from the charcoal burners’, they row out to Cormorant Island and she takes the Amazon out of Secret Harbour. This I did alone, in one take, later rowing some distance from Peel Island with the lighting cameraman and his 35mm Panavision Camera onboard. No one had thought about the implications of this when we first tried out the two boats on Windermere but being aged twelve, rather than nine, I just about coped and grew adept at launching Swallow and moving about in her. As the book was written in 1929, we did not wear life-jackets.

Swallow with Simon West and Suzanna Hamilton (c) StudioCanal

Arthur Ransome described Swallow as being thirteen-foot long with a keel, rather than a centre board. In the illustrations she is painted white, a common way of protecting wood in the 1930s. I am pretty sure that Richard Pilbrow, the producer of the movie, bought the dinghy we used when we where in Burnham-on-Sea to audition for the parts in March 1973. She was varnished but had, or was given, the red-brown sail and balanced lug-sail as described in the books.

Simon West who played Captain John, aged only eleven, was a capable sailor with an understanding of the wind that enabled him to cope with gusty Lakeland conditions. Swallow had no buoyancy. In the scenes when we first sail to the island she was laden with camping gear, including heavy canvas tents, the lighthouse tree lantern and a shallow basket of kitchen utensils I shifted every time we went about.

My father Martin Neville on the shore of Coniston Water

My father was an experienced sailor, used to racing yachts having frequently crossed the Solent in his own clinker-built dinghy as a boy. He was looking after us children when he agreed to appear in costume as a ‘native’ aboard the MV Tern on Windermere, which bares down on the Swallows in the story. He watched, terrified, as we sailed towards it. The Victorian steamer only had a notch throttle and an inexperienced skipper. He realised that Claude Whatham, the film director had not anticipated the fact that we would lose our wind in the lee of the passenger ferry and gave Simon a cue over the radio that was far too late. We only just went about in time, being pushed away from the larger vessel by the bow wave. Watch the film and you can see how very close we got. I was about to reach out and feebly fend off.

Dad spoke sternly to the producer that afternoon, pointing out that we could have all gone down. Sten Grendon, who played the Boy Roger, was only aged eight and could hardly swim. I could have become entangled in the camping gear. My father tested the old BOAC life jackets we wore for rehearsals and to travel out to film locations. They failed to inflate. He nearly took me off the film.

Another tricky scene to film was when John, Susan and Roger set off from the Landing Place on Wild Cat Island leaving Titty to guard the camp and light the lanterns as they hoped to capture the Amazon and sail home after dark. I had push them off, grabbing the telescope at the last minute. Since Swallow’s mast was liable to catch in tree branches, I needed to wade out and give her a hard, one-handed shove. I slipped on a rock and fell up to my waste in water. Knowing it would be difficult to set up the shot a second time, I struggled to my feet and waved them off, dripping wet. By this time John had the mainsheet out as far as the knot and stood to grab the boom to avoid a Chinese gybe as Swallow was hit by a fresh gust of wind as he cleared the headland at the northern end of the island and sped northwards toward Coniston Old Man.

Simon West and Suzanna Hamilton at the helm of Swallow with Stephen Grendon in the bows, while Sophie Neville looks on from Peel Island.

Having spent nearly seven weeks filming in the Lake District, the film was post-synced at Elstree studios. We arrived to sing out our lines to find Swallow there. She had been set in a tank so that the sounds of sailing could be captured. It is something you tend to take for granted as a viewer while it draws you into the experience. I last saw Swallow looking dejected outside the studio and was worried about what had become of her. Although she was offered to someone who had advised on the film, she was kept safely at Mike Turk’s prop hire company. Richard Pilbrow was hoping to make another film in the series.

When Mike retired, many boats that had featured in movies came up for auction. I knew Swallow would be costly and in need of renovation. After fans of the film and members of The Arthur Ransome Society contacted me, we clubbed together to make a bid. In the end about eighty members of a hastily formed group called SailRansome spent approximately £5,700 on the purchase.

I contacted Nick Barton of Harbour Pictures, the film producer who was gaining the rights to make a new movie, hoping we could be able to re-coup costs by renting her back to him. Nick came up to Coniston Water to watch me re-launch Swallow in April 2011, sloshing brandy wine on her bow in true Ransome style. I helped him to raise finance for the new film, which was made in the summer of 2015 and released in 2016, starring Kelly Macdonald as Mrs Walker, Rafe Spall as Captain Flint and Andrew Scott as a Russian spy. In the end, he decided to use fourteen-foot RNSAs dinghies for Swallow and Amazon as they satisfied the film insurance company who demanded that two identical dinghies were used for Swallow.

This article was first published in Practical Boat Owner magazine

Joining SailRansome was pivotal for me as I was asked by the Nancy Blackett Trust and The Arthur Ransome Society to give a series of talks on how the old film, and the BBC serialization of ‘Coot Club’ and ‘The Big Six’ was made. I ended up speaking at a number of literary festivals, on BBC Radio and even ITV’s News at Ten, promoting the societies and urging people to help get young people out on the water. I ended up taking Swallow out on Ullswater, the Orwell and River Alde, remembering how difficult she is to turn, but enjoying her speed. She ended up being featured on BBC Antiques Roadshow when I brought movie memorabilia up to Windermere Jetty museum for two episodes first screened in 2021.

Sophie Neville with Swallow on Coniston Water — Sophie Neville after re-launching *Swallow* on Coniston Water in 2011

You can sail Swallow yourself, in the company of an experienced skipper, by contacting SailRansome.org who are looking for volunteers to help care for her. As you can see from this clip, she was in need of restoration when first acquired by Sailransome

You can read more about the adventures we had making the original film in ‘The Making of Swallows and Amazons (1974)‘ by Sophie Neville, published by the Lutterworth Press, available from libraries, online retailers and to order from all good bookshops including Waterstones.

An article by Sophie Neville first published in Practical Boat Owner. A subscription to this bestselling UK magazine makes a great Christmas present.

A signed and dedicated paperback of ‘The Making of Swallows & Amazons’ was auctioned in aid of BBC Children in Need 2022

A book always makes a good Christmas present. This year, items in the Authors and Illustrators’ auction, raised a total of £24,061 for BBC Children in Need.

This annual online charity fundraiser is organised by Children in Read through Jumblebee. co.uk. Taking part is always great fun and offers authors a bit of publicity whilst presenting readers with the opportunity to buy a signed and dedicated book or illustration. The bidding ended on Friday 18th November.

Thank you for supporting this great cause!

Sophie Neville has been speaking at the Stroud Christian Book Festival.

A write up of Sophie’s talk for BookBlest – the first Stroud Christian Book Festival – on The Making of Swallows and Amazons can be found on this website here

If you missed Sophie’s talk on ‘The Making of Swallows and Amazons’, you can read about her adventures in one of these editions, available online.

'The Making of Swallows and Amazons (1974) by Sophie Neville' — Different editions of ‘The Making of Swallows and Amazons (1974) by Sophie Neville’

There is a brief resume of the talk on this website, here Prepare to be taken back to the 1970s:

Titty’s Tooth in The Times

Sten Grendon and Sophie Neville – trying to row with her mouth shut.

The story of my missing tooth published in The Times! A great honour. The indignity of being toothless still rankles but I now have a full set.

You can find the whole story on The Nancy Blackett Trust website

It’s possible to spot the gap by watching the film trailer for the 1974 movie of ‘Swallows and Amazons’ with further information on the International movie data base also seen here:

Sophie Neville, aged 12, without tooth. Suzanna Hamilton, aged 12, with beautiful teeth.

A boaty biography

I grew up with boats in the garden. My father owned eight at one time, including two coracles and a vintage river launch called Ottor that he renovated himself.

Martin Neville with friends on the Norfolk Broads

As a young man, while setting up a team to develop the fibreglass hull, Dad raced on the Solent, volunteered on a tall ship, and wrangled an Atlantic crossing on the maiden return voyage of the QE2, taking us children around the liner when it reached Southampton.

Sophie Neville with her younger sisters aboard the QEII in 1969

I learnt to sail dinghies at Newport Bay in Pembrokeshire, later making my own sail for a Thames skiff so that I could take it down the lake where I grew up in Gloucestershire.

My father wanted a Mirror dinghy, but since they were beyond his budget we had a dubious one-design with a ? on its sail.

A family holiday in a Hullabaloo boat on the Broads – off season

Dad bought one of the first Toppers, which seemed quite daring at the time. It had no halyards. Its arrival caused much excitement. Called Earwig, the fibreglass hull was portable but proved precarious, soaking the crew as waves sloshed over her orange deck. I wasn’t much good at withstanding the cold and grew to loath setting off with wet feet.

Playing Titty in original film of ‘Swallows and Amazons’ involved quite a bit of rowing, which I kept up first as a member of the Collingwood Ladies Four at Durham University and later on the crew of The Drapers’ Shallop, a ceremonial barge that can be spotted on the Thames and River Lea, the Dart or Poole Harbour.

Rowing the Drapers’ shallop down to Runnymede

My dedication to fixed thwart rowing enabled me to take part in a Jubilee Pageant for The Queen at Henley, transport a copy of the Magna Carta to Windsor, and man an oar of the royal barge Gloriana in the Boat Race flotilla at Putney a year when Cambridge won.

Sophie Neville rowing in black cap on the River Thames at Putney

Belonging to the rowing club, City Barge, enabled me to take part in the Voga Longa in Venice – a 35km marathon – with the gold medalist Ed Coode as stroke. I later rowed a sandalo down the Amstel into Amsterdam standing to row Venetian-style, getting used to the idea of using a forcola in windy weather.

In the bows of a sandalo on the River Amstel in Amsterdam

We navigated the shallop down a tributary of the Loire in Brittany, leading a procession of two hundred and forty traditional boats into Nantes for the Rendez-vous de l’Erdre. I was asked to take the helm on the way back, great Dutch barges bearing down on us.

With the presenter and crew of France 3 news

One of my favourite vessels is a two-man canvas canoe my sister found on a rubbish dump. I nearly drowned after getting stuck in a kayak and prefer an open dugout or fibreglass equivalent. These have taken me on adventures in Papua New Guinea, across Lake Malawi and through the Okavango Delta in Botswana.

Bird watching on the Boro River – Sophie Neville with Jez Lye

Back in 1978, I helped my father, Martin Neville, to restore a 1901 steamboat called Daffodil, which they kept near Oxford at Port Meadow on the Thames.

We would steam down to Henley each year for the royal regatta or upstream towards Letchlade. You can read about how we renovated here here.

We took a Humber Yawl that Dad built to take part in a Steam Boat Association rally on Windermere and pay homage to launches used in the film ‘Swallows and Amazons’ kept by George Pattinson at the Steam Boat Museum, now known as Windermere Jetty.

Lullaby undersail, playing the Teasel on the broads

I a lot of time on the water while filming the 1984 BBC adaptation of ‘Coot Club’ and ‘The Big Six’ when we spent three months filming on the Norfolk Broads. The series starred a yacht called Lullaby from Hunter’s Yard, which you can now hire for holidays.

I went away from my wedding in a punt, Dad polling while I sat with my new husband, holding an umbrella while a rainbow appeared over the water.

At the Brewery Arts Cinema in Kendal for the launch of ‘The Making of Swallows and Amazons’ and the 40th Anniversary DVD

While serving as President of The Arthur Ransome Society, I gave twelve Q&As at cinemas. Members of SailRansome have often come along with the little clinker-built dinghy used as Swallow, which I helped purchase when she came up for auction in 2010.

I am often asked to write articles about my life afloat, and have spoken at literary festivals, on BBC Radio and on ITV News when I nearly capsized.

It is with The Arthur Ransome Society that I have been able to sail an historic wherry down the Norfolk Broads, take an old German ferry to Lundy Island and cruise down Coniston Water on SL Gondola.

As a member of the Nancy Blackett Trust, I’ve sailed on the Orwell, in the Solent and through the inland waterways of the Netherlands, visiting Middleburg.

I enjoyed crossing the Veersemere to Zierikzee in the wake of my own forefathers.

Over the years, I’ve grabbed the chance to sail yachts to Salcombe, up the coast of Norway and through the Mediterranean but I still love taking out a small boat in the Lake District or on the Norfolk Broads.

You can read more in ‘The Making of Swallows and Amazons’ available on line.

A signed first edition paperback of ‘The Making of Swallows and Amazons’ sells for £251 in an auction in aid of BBC Children in Need

I woke up this morning to find an anonymous donor bid £251 for a signed first edition of my book ‘The Making of Swallows and Amazons’. The money raised goes directly to BBC Children in Need, where it is carefully monitored.

Books listed in the category Auto Biography/Biography

Nearly eight hundred amazing books had been donated to the Children in Read charity auction organised by Paddy Heron, which raised a staggering total of £24,888.

Online bidding began about seven weeks ago and was advertised by the authors themselves on social media.

Rare copies of my first edition paperback of ‘The Making of Swallows and Amazons’ are often priced highly on Amazon so, when the bidding went above £75, I promised to include a signed first edition hardback of my memoir ‘Funnily Enough’, which includes a brief section on appearing in the film.

‘Funnily Enough’ an illustrated diary by Sophie Neville

When the bidding went above £101, I promised to add my third illustrated memoir about Swallows and Amazons style adventures in Africa, written in letter form.

Ride the Wings of Morning by Sophie Neville — ‘Ride the Wings of Morning’ by Sophie Neville

However, £251 is so very generous that I am off to my archive store to see if I can find a hand-painted map to include in the package.

Map showing the film locations around Windermere

I drew three different maps showing our film locations in the Lake District and reproduced them in different colour-ways, using one on the cover of my original ebook entitled ‘The Secrets of Filming Swallows and Amazons (1974)’, which is still available on Kindle and any of the ebook outlets.