A second edition of the ebook ‘The Secrets of Filming ‘SWALLOWS & AMAZONS'(1974) is now available on Amazon Kindle, Smashwords, itunes, Kobo, and Nook for £2.99 . You can download this free of charge if you already own the first edition.
If you would like a copy but don’t have a Kindle, worry not. We have added a link whereby you can download a free Kindle app. Please go to my Book Page and scroll down for the details.
If you already have a copy of the ebook, contact a Customer Advisor and ask for a free update. You just need to give Kindle the ebook’s ASIN number. The ISBN for all online editions except Kindle is: ISBN 9781311761927
Since being contacted by others who were involved in the filming, I have been able to add a few more anecdotes and images, including this beautiful shot of Virginia McKenna in 1973 kindly sent in by the photographer Philip Hatfield.
I found a copy of my original contract for the film and when Jean McGill rang from Bowness, a few more secrets floated to the surface.
CBBCTV’s Cinemaniacs interviewed the screenwriter David Wood and myself on how the original movie of Arthur Ransome’s ‘Swallows and Amazons’ was made back in the summer of 1973. The idea was to use 30 second clips, so please excuse my over-the-top reactions, but you can watch the whole recording below.
‘This has to be one of the most delightful interviews in my recent memory.’ Tim Lewis, USA
A British film starring Talulah Riley, Martin Compston, and Joe Thomas of In Betweeners fame, has come out on DVD. It also features our tame otters. I travelled up to Dunoon in Scotland to help with the scenes that, in the story, entail an injured otter brought into a wildlife conservation centre set in a beautiful location outside Glasgow.
Belinda the Otter with Sophie and Daphne Neville
The romcom is written and directed by Talulah Riley who was keen to use our very energetic young male otter Rudi in a scene where the otter is released back into the wild. To achieve this on film, without losing him altogether, was quite a feat but he enjoyed himself and the result looks endearing.
When one of the producers asked if I had worked on any other films featuring animals, I had to admit there have been quite a few. We once had a baboon in the studio and I became quite used to filming with trained elephants. I worked with a whole variety of exotic animals on the vet series ‘One by One’ from a pelican to a full grown leopard. In the mid 1980’s I was lucky enough to spend four months on Corfu making the first BBC adaptation of Gerald Durrell’s autobiography ‘My Family and Other Animals’ with Brian Blessed and a huge number of tortoises. As it happens, Rudi appeared in the second series of The Durrells, playing both the male and female otters.
Kelly Macdonald starring as Mrs Walker and Andrew Scott as Lazlov, with me, Sophie Neville, as a dithering lady in a hat and rusty-coloured jacket getting into the steam train behind Roger at Portsmouth Station. Blink and you’ll miss me.
So opens the new film version of Arthur Ransome’s story ‘Swallows and Amazons’ (2016) directed by Phillipa Lowthorpe, which is coming out in cinemas around the UK on 19th August.
As president of The Arthur Ransome Society, I am keen to promote ‘Swallows and Amazons’, emphasizing the aspect that children today can enjoy the outdoor activities advocated by Arthur Ransome back in the 1930s.
ITV reporter Nina Nannar bravely came out sailing with me in a Scow, rigged like Swallow with a balanced lug sail, to experience the excitement of letting the wind take us along at speed.
When it came to the evening News, ITV showed clips of the movie of ‘Swallows and Amazons’, launched in August 2016.
The item was also shown on the News in New Zealand. A viewer wrote in saying:
‘Great to see a full 3+ minutes about the new S&A film on NZ TV news tonight.Sophie Nevilledid a great job of promoting the value for modern kids to get out on the water or under canvas.’
The 2016 movie stars Ralph Spall, Kelly Macdonald & Andrew Scott, seen here spying on Captain Flint.
A clip from ‘Swallows & Amazons’ (1974) starring Virginia McKenna
in which I played her daughter, Titty Walker or rather Able-seaman Titty, was also shown.
They then showed children today learning to sail, unaccompanied by adults.
It is always great to receive feedback from readers, especially when they are familiar with the locations described in a book. Comments on ‘The Making of Swallows & Amazons (1974)’ keep coming in:
‘Thrilled with the book….We looked at all the photos in your book at bedtime and Eleanor was transfixed – we are loving it already. We talk a great deal about the houseboat feast’ – Miranda Gore Browne, author
‘Beautifully written book that really seems to capture the time and place. Made me want to re-watch the film and re-read all the books immediately.’ Jago Silver, book illustrator
‘I loved reading your book on the making of the film too – just lent it to a friend who is a big fan.’ Clare Mitchell on Twitter. ‘I have the paperback – ebook sounds gr8. Love the memories of a 70s childhood as well as the S&A background.’
To read more reviews of ‘The Making of Swallows & Amazons’ please see the Amazon UK page here.
Guy Willson, a reader from Papua New Guinea, has written to say: ‘I have read your book and I really liked it. I could see behind the scenes and often read between your lines as well.’
‘When you were making the movie (in 1973) I was on my way to Norfolk Island as a starting point of my adventures in the South Seas; so I never knew of the release of your film until much later when I had children of my own that had reached the age to go ‘avasting’ and ‘timber shivering’, when we were living in Rye in the 1990’s.’
‘Some years ago I restored a 13ft clinker dinghy and after adding a false keel, added a standing lugsail and trailed her up to Coniston for my children to sail…I had in mind an article from Classic Boat on the Swallow, how the Altounyan children preferred Swallow as a boat because they could stow more things in her and she could still sail well. I had noticed on a drawing in the article that Ransome had given her an extra 2 or 3 inches of false keel and this helped tremendously in reducing her leeway. I added a piece of oak to do the same thing but gave her an extra 9” aft and planed it down to a feather edge forward so the she would go about a bit easier. Well, it worked and Eaglet would have done the original Swallow proud.’
Swallow – the 12′ dinghy used in the film
‘If you would permit me a little correction: you described the rig as being gaff rig, but this is not so. Both the boats, originals and the ones you sailed were in fact luggers. The nearest thing to a gaffer among the luggers is the Gunter Rig which has jaws at the front of the yard but is hauled up by a single halyard. You can see this in the Mirror dinghy (in truth it is about halfway between the two). However the lug rig of Swallow is known as a ‘standing lug’ and it can be used to go about freely. After hauling up the sail on its traveller; the peak of the yard is raised by the downhaul line (usually attached to the bottom of the boom). This tightens the luff of the sail and lifts the outer end of the boom as well giving the best efficiency to the sail.’
A gaff rigged cutter
‘Lugsails were the working sails of England for most boats less than 60ft but they were usually rigged with a ‘dipping’ lug as the mail sail and a standing lug aft. This dipping lug had to be dropped and the yard hauled round behind the mast every time they went about. It was a powerful sail and they found their best expressions in the three masted Bisquines which used to raid British shipping in Napoleonic days. You can still see them at the classic boat events at Douarnenez and Brests, where I took the gaff schooner Soteria in 2006.’
Soteria at Douarnenez
‘If you had had a gaff rig you would most probably have needed a jib to balance it (unlike the American catboats which have their masts right up in the bow, not even a space for the Boy Roger on those! Thanks for writing a lovely book which I will pass on to my daughter.’
“X marks the spot where they ate six missionaries”
‘You did such a grand job as Titty and I am not really surprised to find that you are a bit of a wordsmith. I am a missionary (uneaten) in Papua New Guinea and we are planning to sail back there in our steel schooner see www.livingwatermission.org On our return we will be calling in at Erromanga in Vanuaatu where ‘x’ was the spot where two missionaries were eaten. Recently the descendant of one of them, John Williams, went to Erromanga for a service of reconciliation.’
If you have noticed any errors in ‘The Making of SWALLOWS & AMAZONS’ please use the Comments box to let us know so that we can make corrections! We might be able to bring out a third edition. Readers who already have a Kindle edition will be able to update it free of charge.
Different editions of ‘The Making of Swallows and Amazons (1974) by Sophie Neville’
‘Where are they now – the cast of ‘Swallows and Amazons’?’
I can see from my admin page that this question is often typed into search engines – three times before 8am this morning. An awful lot of people seem to want to know what the children who played the Swallows and the Amazons back in 1974 are doing now they are all grown up. For this little Swallow it really has been ‘Swallows and Amazons Forever’. I’m still wading out to the island.
‘Titty the Isrealite’ photo of Sophie Neville taken by Hilary Weston
Now a writer, I am officially President of The Arthur Ransome Society, one of the largest literary societies in the United Kingdom with six branches and quite a number of overseas members. They even have association with the Arthur Ransome Club in Japan.
This year we held our International AGM weekend in Dumfries in the lowlands of Scotland, when we much enjoyed walking along the Solway and across the wade to Rough Island, just as Titty walked out across the mud in Arthur Ransome’s book ‘Secret Water’. There seems little difference except that I have a dog called Flint rather than a kitten called Simbad.
Sophie Neville who in 1973 played Titty Walker in the EMI movie of ‘Swallows & Amazons’ dressed up to face the Scottish weather
The great excitement at our IAGM this year was that Nick Barton, the CEO of Harbour Pictures came up to Dumfries with his screenwriter Angela Gibb to tell us about their new adaption of ‘Swallows and Amazons’ released in cinemas on 19th August 2016. I helped him to carry a huge plasma screen up to the hotel where the conference was taking place so that members could watch the thrilling new promo. We were sworn to secrecy, but you can read all Nick told us in a feature article in the Saturday Telegraph. This online version has more photos than the print version and mentions The Arthur Ransome Society. There is additional comment in the Sunday Telegraph.
You can read more about how we made the original 1974 film of Swallows and Amazons here
Different editions of ‘The Making of Swallows and Amazons (1974) by Sophie Neville’
adorn the shelves of the award-wining Aldeburgh Bookshop
The sun shone and holiday makers enjoyed the beach
Sophie Neville who in 1973 played Titty Walker in the EMI movie of ‘Swallows & Amazons’ dressed up to face the Scottish weather
sophieneville.net 