On 6th April 2024, the author and screenwriter Brian Sibley interviewed award-winning writer David Wood OBE at the Cinema Museum for the 50th Anniversary of the release of the classic film ‘Swallows and Amazons’. This can now be viewed on YouTube. I read a special letter from Dame Virginia McKenna towards the end.
Sophie Neville, Suzanna Hamilton & Sten Grendon with David Wood and Claude Whatham in 1973
Until I listened to this interview I didn’t know that Peter Hammond was originally going to direct the film or that Bernard Delfont was behind financing the movie at EMI. He also brought out ‘Murder on the Orient Express’ in 1974 and ‘The Deer Hunter’ in 1978.
Other secrets are revealed. Mrs Ransome (who held the rights) wanted all the Swallows to have blonde hair and blue eyes.
I’ll feature the Q&A with the cast on another blog in a few days time. Do sign up so you don’t miss it.
Brian said he drew his knowledge from ‘The Making of Swallows and Amazons’, which is now available on audible.
The audiobook narrated by Sophie Neville
A copy of the paperback is currently being auctioned to raise funds to help a little boy called Max who is very ill. You can see how the bidding is going on jumblebee
Sophie Neville, Suzanna Hamilton and Kit Seymour on BBC Breakfast
‘Can you speak to BBC Breakfast?’ I was asked. ‘They want to interview the cast on Zoom tomorrow morning.’
It was Saturday 29th June. We were at Windermere Jetty in Cumbria for the 50th Anniversary of ‘Swallows and Amazons’, the 1974 film was being screened in the room below us and a huge number of enthusiasts were eager to chat about how we’d made it. I had just come in from sailing Amazon, John Sergeant, president of The Arthur Ransome Society, was about to arrive and we had books to sign, but I knew it was important to act fast. The BBC would need time to contact StudioCanal in order to use the film trailer. I grabbed my lap-top and attempted to persuade the production team we had lots to talk about while finding a good signal. The best place was on a staircase, which was fun when Captain Nancy and Mate Susan rushed past, but a more interesting background was required.
‘What time do you want us on air?’
‘7.40am.’
‘Ah – the museum doesn’t open until 10.00am. Can we chat to you from the terrance of our hotel? It overlooks Windermere.’
‘It might be best if we send out an outside broadcast unit.’
I wasn’t told the item would also go out on Look North and North West News.
I woke early the next morning to find Keith, the BBC cameraman, setting up his equipment. Rain clouds cleared as I unrolled Arnaldo Putzu’s 1974 film poster and plonked David Wood’s screenplay on top of it with a few flags but worried about my hair, which was not behaving. We had Peter Robb-King, one of the greatest make up designers in the world with us. I should have asked for his help. All I did was remove a car key from around my neck.
Sadly, Simon West who’d played Captain John had already left, but Suzanna Hamilton and Kit Seymour emerged from their rooms and we lined up for the shot.
Was I organised? Did I tell them, ‘We need to get three points across!’ ?
No.
Someone quietly suggested I could mention The Arthur Ransome Society who had organised the weekend festival, which was free for all.
Sophie Neville, Suzanna Hamilton and Kit Seymour setting up for BBC Breakfast
Keith fitted us with earpieces and explained that there would be a delay between questions asked in the studio and our answers. We couldn’t see the presenters but could hear the film trailer being played. When we were asked us to introduce ourselves, I didn’t realise they needed to know which characters we’d played until I got to Kit Seymour, who had been Nancy. Straight forward and honest, she managed to answer the difficult question:
‘What’s it like… how does it feel?’
‘Listening to stories of how the film has changed people’s lives,’ she admitted, ‘was quite an emotional experience.’
Suzanna, explained in her beautiful voice, that since the the story was set in the 1930s it hasn’t dated, and we were able to chat naturally about our mission to encourage the next generation to get out on the water. We chatted about the movie memorabilia and David Wood’s script – that as children we were never allowed to read and the amazing time we were having at Windermere Jetty museum where one little girl arrived dressed as Titty Walker with a green parrot on her sholder.
I held Swallow’s flag and managed to speak about the acquisition and renovation of the dinghies, aware that there were no boats to be seen on the hotel terrace. However BBC Breakfast have brilliant vision mixers. The best film clips of Swallow and Amazon literally sailed over my words and I grabbed the chance to talk about The Arthur Ransome Society on national television before they bid us farewell.
When John Sergeant asked me how it had gone I had to admit that we tripped up on the time delays, but we celebrated the much loved film bringing news that Swallow and Amazon are being made available for anyone to sail and that grants are available for children to take part in outdoor activities mentioned in Arthur Ransome’s twelve books.
Many thanks to all those who left encouraging feedback on social media. I forwarded it to the production team.
Eileen Jones – This is fascinating , about the landscape more important than costume. Just introduced another generation.
Amanda Whatley – Great interview, congratulations on the reunion of the boats and people.
Jon Porter – Fantastic
John Greenhough – Great memories of this film.
David Elms – Delightful interview Sophie.
Amanda Currie– I ‘m so sorry I didn’t get there Sophie, my stupid body keeps letting me down, I would have so loved to meet you all.
Robin Jett – I love your delight about the boats. The boats are back! What fun! Great to see how ‘Susan’ and ‘Nancy’ have grown up too. I can see aspects of each character in each actress, but I expect, if you had all played different characters, that might still be true.
Sten Grendon (Roger), Simon West (John), Virginia McKenna (Mother), Suzanna Hamilton (Susan) and Sophie Neville (Titty) with their hats ~ photo: Daphne Neville
Arthur Ransome wrote ‘Swallows and Amazons’ in 1929 when hats were worn in England, certainly in north Lancashire where the book is set. Would members of the Walker family have been wearing them?
Sophie Neville as Titty in 1973
When I took part in Claude Whatham’s movie ‘Swallows and Amazons’, made in the early 1970s, we were given school hats to wear when we arrived at Holly Howe in the opening sequence. While the boys had caps, I was given a straw hat but found it blew off when we ran down the field to the Peak at Darien where I spotted the island of my dreams. It ended up being quite a useful thing to hold in my hands.
In later books in the series such as Peter Duck,Missee Lee and Great Northern Arthur Ransome depicts the Swallows wearing white linen sunhats but these do not appear in the Lakeland books until the hot summer of Pigeon Post. It only seems to be the Amazons who wore hats in Swallows and Amazons.
Sten Grendon, Simon West, Kit Seymour and Lesley Bennett in Secret Harbour
I rather envied the warmth these provided out on the water but they could get hot. This is possibly because in 1973, when they were sourced locally by the second assistant director, they could have been made of acrylic rather than Westmorland wool.
Claude Whatham, Richard Pilbrow, Gareth Tandy, Peter Robb-King, Ronnie Cogan and Neville C Thompson with Kit Seymour and Lesley Bennet trying on hats
The first knitted hats that turned up on our film set were pink, and quite a bright pink at that. This photo shows them being tried and rejected, which is why Nancy and Peggy are not wearing hats in the scenes set at Beckfoot.
Kit Seymour and Lesley Bennett playing the Amazons
It seems natural enough, shows them in a different light and works well when they are careening Amazon.
Kit Seymour with the director Claude Whatham, 1973
The second hats to arrived on set may not be have been exactly right in design but they weren’t too bad. Does anyone know if they were knitted specially and by whom?
Sophie Neville, Kit Seymour, Suzanna Hamilton, Sten Grendon, Simon West and Lesley Bennett in ‘Swallows and Amazons’ (1974)
Would the Amazons have removed their hats inside the houseboat? The great aunt would have certainly taken tea in her hat and this was a pirate feast.
Kit Seymour as Nancy and Sophie Neville as Titty with the green parrot
Perhaps the fact that the Swallows don’t sail in hats adds accent to the Amazon pirates and Nancy triumphantly wearing hers.
Kit Seymour in ‘Swallows and Amazons’ (1974) by the film poster artist Arnaldo Putzu
My mother was given one of the pink rejects but wore a huge floral Donny Osmond cap on set.
She made me wear both a hat and sunscreen behind the scenes in an attempt to stave off sunstroke.
There were not many very sunny days but it was I who wore a hat at Beckfoot. I now prefer something with a wider brim and a string under the chin to ensure it doesn’t blow off and sink to the bottom of Derwentwater as my mother’s did.
Sophie Neville at Brown Howe, the location used for Beckfoot
Sophie Neville and Sten Grendon in Swallows and Amazons 1974
When I played Titty Walker in 1973, I tried to capture something of the style of the 1920s and portray her as the nine year-old girl in the illustrations Arthur Ransome’s drew in his book Swallows and Amazons. Although I shared the Scots/Irish/English ancestry of Titty Altounyan, a real little girl who the character had been based on, I lacked her Armenian heritage and dark, bobbed hair. However, Mrs Ransome had insisted that in the film Titty was to be played by ‘an English Rose’. Dame Virginia McKenna had accepted the part of our mother, who grew up in Australia, it seemed right that one of her children might have fair hair.
Virginia McKenna and Sophie Neville on Peel Island ~ photo: Daphne Neville
My Scottish grandmother would have been aged sixteen in 1929. She loved clothes and had great style. People say that I look like my mother but I bear a greater resemblance to Granny in her youth.
I’d inherited my father’s long legs, which made me a couple of inches taller than Simon West who played my elder brother, John. Since this would clearly look wrong on screen, I was encouraged to devise ways of disguising my height, but this was difficult to do in boats.
Sophie Neville as Titty and Simon West as John
We often had to sit on the ground in Swallows and Amazons. The long legs needed to be folded up, exposed as they were by the short dresses or divided skirts designed by Emma Porteous.
Sophie Neville as Titty
I remember meeting Emma at a fitting at Angels Costumes on Shaftesbury Avenue in London when I tried on the original silk dress worn for our arrival at Holly Howe. It came with a straw hat similar to one I’d worn as a child.
Simon West, Stephen Grendon, Suzanna Hamilton and Sophie Neville as the Walker children dressed as they arrived at Holly Howe at the start of their holiday in the Lake District ~ photo: Daphne Neville
I had no idea how well known Emma Porteous was to become. She designed the costumes for the James Bond movies, along with Aliens and Judge Dread. Finding the boy’s school uniforms must have been a bit dull for one so talented but she found elegant vintage dresses for Dame Virginia McKenna who looks elegant in every scene.
Stephen Grendon, Simon West, Virginia McKenna, Suzanna Hamilton and Sophie Neville, trying not to look as tall as she was in 1973 ~ photo: Daphne Neville
Emma had most of my clothes made up for me. These included a brushed cotton nighty, worn at Holly Howe, pajamas for camping, and a swimming costume with little legs. Mine was far from glamorous being red, wooly and apt to ride up in the most unflattering manner. I was given a smart yellow coat to wear in the train, but it was too hot in the compartment and, although pretty, it was never seen in the finished film. It had buttons in the shape of flowers and may have been an original garment from 1929.
Sten Grendon, Suzanna Hamilton and Sophie Neville
The silk dress revealed my ‘passion killers’. These navy blue elasticated gym knickers were an item of clothing requested by Claude Whatham, the film director, who remembered wearing long underwear himself. He insisted that I tucked my dress into these voluminous knickers, which the crew called ‘passion killers.’ This seemed natural as it was common practice. I’d done it myself, as had the Altounyan girls, but the tucking in became difficult to maintain and my legs were too gangly to warrant exposure. The knickers contained a hanky, used on two occasions. Growing up in the 1960’s – with a Scottish grandmother – I’d keep a hanky in my own over-knickers so found this quite natural. Even aged eleven my school uniform listed gym knickers (brown) and underpants.
Sophie Neville as Titty in 1973
Emma admitted to my mother that the dresses she’d had made for me would have been longer in 1929. She chose shorter, ‘out-grown’ hemlines as a nod to ‘Seventies fashion but these made my skinny legs look even more alarming.
Mum liked the pale yellow dress with scalloped detail. I didn’t then, but do now, although I don’t have the right colouring wear either yellow or green.
Simon West and Sophie Neville on Peel Island in 1973
By the time I was pretending to be Robinson Crusoe, the yellow dress had been paired with a grey cardigan buttoned up to my neck for warmth. The quality of the material gave it a more natural, scruffy look than the white spotty dress with a Peter Pan collar. This looked a bit new for Titty, although it was much like the dresses Granny made for me, by hand, when I was aged nine. There was a little bit of smocking below the shoulders. I rather preferred Susan’s low-waisted gingham dress.
Simon West, Suzanna Hamilton and Sophie Neville
Did anyone find jackets for us to wear out on the water? No! We froze but the flimsy costumes we wore sailing to the island do give them impression of an idyllic summer holiday.
Sophie Neville, Suzanna Hamilton and Simon West sailing Swallow in 1973
Emma only ever made one visit to the location, early on when Dame Virginia McKenna was on set. Our clothes were looked after by the wardrobe master Terry Smith who kept them crumpled up in suitcases rather than on a costume rail. He had no assistant or dressers except for my mother who helped him fit the film extras with costumes and had me wriggling into mine.
Wardrobe Master Terry Smith with Sophie Neville and her mother Daphne Neville outside the Make-up caravan on location near Keswick in Cumbria
Apart from the school shoes I arrived in, we wore white(ish) gym shoes, which were forever getting wet. I would have preferred gumboots but the Swallows wore ‘sand shoes’ in all the books, so that was that. Terry dried them with the help of a gas heater, which once leaked dangerously in the Routemaster bus that was used as our dressing room. There could have been an explosion.
Sophie Neville as Titty Walker
People often ask what my favourite costume was. This undoubtedly consisted of the floral blouse and dark divided skirt, which equated with the illustrations in the books. I went to such an old-fashioned convent so was used to wearing a tailored divided skirt on the school games field and found it always hung well. Mum buttoned up the collar so that I could wear a vest underneath when we were sailing. It was in this Tomboy-ish outfit that I discovered the treasure and bordered the houseboat. Ultimately this style sold the movie, although my blouse was painted an alarming shade of pink on the film poster designed by Arnaldo Putzu. I got away lightly. He depicted Virginia McKenna in orange.
Sophie Neville in ‘Swallows and Amazons’ (1974) by the film poster artist Arnaldo Putzu
I was asked recently if I was able to keep any of my costumes. I was told they would be used in other films and wonder if they could still be at Angels Costumes.
I do still have the dress I wore to the premier, along with a pink gingham prairie dress that my mother wore to the wrap party that has shot back into fashion.
The Neville girls off to the premier of Swallows and Amazons in 1974
My mother wore Donny Osmond caps on location. One of these sunk to the bottom of Derwentwater, but I wear a purple velvet one of the era. It should probably be on display at the V&A but I find it useful in the rain. The film producer, Richard Pilbrow, sent me Swallow’s flag. It is the very best of accessories anyone could wish for.
The navy blue woolen hat that I wore to the original sailing audition has been attacked by moths but was stuffed into a cupboard with other memorabilia from the film. I’ll bring as much as I can along to Windermere Jetty for the 50th Anniversary of ‘Swallows and Amazons’ on 29th and 30th June 2024. Join us there if you can.
The Arthur Ransome Society has been able to reunite Swallow and Amazon for the fiftieth Anniversary of the 1974 film and to preserve them for future generations. Come to see them both – and even sail Amazon – at Windermere Jetty museum in Cumbria on 29th and 30th June when John Sergeant will be hosting a Q&A with the cast and crew.
Celebrating 50th Anniversary of the movie ‘Swallows and Amazons’ in 2024
The challenge is on to fully restore Swallow so that families can set her sails and live out the pages of Arthur Ransome’s iconic books today.
Sophie Neville when president of The Arthur Ransome Society
At the age of twelve, I was cast as Able Seaman Titty when the original film Swallows and Amazons was made on location in the Lake District in the summer of 1973. Dame Virginia McKenna played my mother and the six of us children had fun making Ronald Fraser walk the plank. Now hailed as a classic sailing film, I’m assured it has been broadcast on British television more times than any other movie and is currently streaming on Amazon.com and Netflix Europe.
The cover of the original VHS version of ‘Swallows and Amazons’
One secret is that the film was made on four different lakes – Coniston Water, Windermere, Elterwater, Derwentwater – and a smelly lily pond. We were able to use Bank Ground Farm as Holly Howe and Brown Howe as Beckfoot, home to the Amazon pirates who careened their dinghy on the lake shore in the company of a 45-man film crew from Pinewood Studios.
David Blagden, David Cadwallader, and David Bracknell looking at the Amazon’s bottom with DPO Denis Lewiston in the background with the Panasonic
Careening the Amazon at Brown Howe, Coniston Water – photo: Daphne Neville
We were only given a couple of days to get used to handling Swallow and Amazon before filming began. Although happy out on the water, the director, Claude Whatham, knew little about boats. To make up for this, we had instruction from a sailing director in the form of a good-looking actor called David Blagden who presented a television programme called Plain Sailing. He’d recently raced crossed the Atlantic in a nineteen foot yacht called Willing Griffin but was unfamiliar with blustery Lakeland winds and did not know how to break down a script. Simon West, aged eleven, who played Captain John, ended up explaining to Claude how to get a decent shot while I tried not to shiver. My costume was designed by Emma Porteous of James Bond fame but consisted of nothing more than a short yellow dress and an enormous pair of navy-blue gym knickers.
Amazon, flying the Jolly Roger, with her seamed white lugsail and heavy centerboard is a lovely boat to sail. Although vital to the story, no one took into account that I needed to take her, on my own, from Secret Harbour on Wild Cat Island and drop her anchor off Cormorant Island. I was given a grey cardigan to wear but had not been asked if I could row. Having grown up handling a Thames skiff, I managed to use the leading lights we’d set up to negotiate the narrow channel and threatening rocks in one take. I repeated the action with Dennis Lewiston, the lighting-cameraman, and his 35mm Panavision camera in the stern but grew so tired that I needed to be carried ashore by a frogman acting as our safety officer.
Sophie Neville in The Amazon with DOP Denis Lewiston, his 16mm camera and a reflector board ~ photo: Martin Neville
Sophie Neville having captured the Amazon, with the lighting cameraman and 35mm Panavision Camera in her stern. Swallow is moored alongside – photo: Martin Neville
Titty later anchors Amazon off Cormorant Island on Derwentwater, but the shot of her wrapped in the sail, sleeping aboard, was taken in Mrs Batty’s blacked-out barn at Bank Ground, with the boat rocking on a cradle made by the unit carpenter. This was for a night scene when Titty is disturbed by burglars hiding a heavy trunk that turns out to contain Captain Flint’s treasure. When the action was repeated out on Derwentwater near One Tree Island, I got soaked. Rain had collected in the furled sails.
My one regret is that we didn’t follow the book when sailing the Amazon back to Wild Cat Island. The wind was up and Claude Whatham needed Captain John to sail Swallow ahead of the Amazon which is the faster boat. I originally took the tiller, as Titty is urged to in the story, but had trouble with the rudder. Mate Susan, played by Suzanna Hamilton, is at the helm on the cover of the Puffin paperback brought out to accompany the film, whilst I am fending off.
One of the film stills taken from the pontoon was used on the cover of the Puffin edition of ‘Swallows and Amazons’ brought out in 1974 to accompany the film.
The second part of the scene was shot on Coniston Water, with the Amazon Pirates, Nancy and Peggy ‘dancing with rage’ on Peel Island. A shot of this was used on the cover of a hardback and a DVD distributed by the Daily Mail.
Not many sailing films have been made and it was unusual for a movie to feature so many scenes set in two small dinghies. Mike Turk, whose family had been boat building for centuries, and Nick Newby of Nicol End Marine near Keswick, took up the challenge of adapting a cross-shaped pontoon to act as a mobile camera mount so that our dialogue could be recorded. This extraordinary vessel had two outboards but wasn’t easy to handle. The dinghies were wired to it with underwater cables but tended to pull away. Swallow’s mast broke the first time she was rigged, but the idea eventually worked and only Sten Grendon, playing Roger, fell in.
Amazon rigged up to the camera pontoon – photo: Richard Pilbrow
Somehow David Cadwallader, the grip looking after the camera equipment, managed to keep the horizon horizontal using no more than a spirit level on the tripod. Shadows were lifted from our faces by using reflector boards and, since the whole movie was post-synced at Elstree Studios, the audience can hear what we say.
Richard Pilbrow and his film crew on the camera pontoon with Eddie Collins operating the 16mm camera. Simon West and Stephen Grendon sail Swallow. Suzanna Hamilton is climbing aboard the Amazon with Sophie Neville
Filming Swallow and Amazon from the camera pontoon – photo: Daphne Neville
The pontoon on Derwentwater with Richard Pilbrow, Bobby Sitwell, Denis Lewiston, Claude Whatham, David Cadwalader and Sophie Neville aged 12 playing Titty. Eddie Collins looks on ~ photo: Daphne Neville
Sophie Neville on the camera pontoon on Derwentwater – photo: Daphne Neville
The first Amazon, a chunky sea-going fourteen-footer with a standing lugsail purchased in Barrow-in-Furness by the Altounyan family in 1928, was originally called Mavis. After being restored, she was renamed Amazon in line with Ransome’s books but remains too leaky to take out. She now resides in the John Ruskin Museum at Coniston where she can be visited like a great aunt.
None of us children knew that the Amazon we sailed had been used in the 1963 BBC adaptation of Swallows and Amazons made in black and white with Susan George playing ‘Kitty’ as Titty was renamed. Looking at the photographs, it would have been good if Amazon’s hull had been painted black but her varnished planks are a nod to the 1970s when everyone was busy stripping pine.
By 2003, she was owned by the White family who I met when they brought Amazon from Kent to Cumbria to feature in Countryfile and an episode of Big Screen Britain. Ben Fogle met their twin daughters on Peel Island, looking very much like Nancy and Peggy in damp bathing costumes having been swimming in Coniston Water. It has been extremely generous of them to pass such a precious boat on to The Arthur Ransome Society.
Amazon will soon be available to hire at Hunter’s Yard, Ludham
Amazon at Hunters Yard – photo: Marc Grimston
Amazon is currently being kept at Hunter’s Yard near Ludham where you can apply to sail her on the Norfolk Broads, along with the Titmouse and the Teasle, (a cabin cruiser called Lullaby) and a punt called the Dreadnaught featured in the 1984 BBC adaptation of Coot Club. Swallow is also there under restoration, needing a new keel.
Amazon being restored at Hunter’s Yard, Ludham
Amazon at Hunters Yard – photo: Marc Grimston
The plan is for both Swallow and Amazon to be on display at Windermere Jetty in Cumbria for the weekend of 29th & 30th June 2024. We hope some of the steamboats used to dress the Rio scenes set at Bowness-on-Windermere such as Osprey and George Pattinson’s launch Lady Elizabeth can be in attendance. Windermere Jetty is currently restoring the steam launch Esperance used by Ransome as his model for Captain Flint’s houseboat, and you can find the fourteen-foot RNSA dinghies used in the 2016 movie of Swallows and Amazons moored in the wet dock.
In 2021, everyone at Windermere Jetty gasped when Rupert Maas valued Swallow highly on BBC’s Antiques Roadshow, but the true worth of both Swallow and Amazon is akin to Captain Flint’s hidden treasure: instead of gold ingots his trunk contained precious memories of friendship and adventure. They no doubt kept him on course when the storms of life blew in and gave him plenty to write about. Just as Arthur Ransome’s books grant us solace, my prayer is that many will be able to grab the chance of sailing the little boats that take us into the stories immortalised on film so long ago.
You can read more of Sophie Neville’s memories in The Making of Swallows and Amazons’, published by the Lutterworth Press and now available as an audiobook narrated by the author
Different editions of ‘The Making of Swallows and Amazons (1974) by Sophie Neville’
Thanks go to all those who have looked after and lovingly restored the inspirational boats that appear in the adaptations of Arthur Ransome’s books. If you would like to help by making a donation towards the restoration, the link is:
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.
Virginia McKenna at Bank Ground Farm in 1973 ~ photo: Daphne Neville
Neville Thompson put together a great crew
Second Assistant Terry Needham, Associate Producer Neville C Thompson and Production Manager Graham Ford with the unit motoroller on a sunny day in June 1973
with Denis Lewiston as DoP,
Dennis Lewiston, director of Photography on ‘Swallows and Amazons’ ~photo:Richard Pilbrow
the Oscar winning set dresser Ian Whittaker,
The local fisherman, Ian Whittaker, Simon Holland and Gareth Tandy ~ photo: Daphne Neville
and the avant guard director Claude Whatham fresh from making ‘That’ll Be the Day’ with David Essex and Ringo Starr.
Claude Whatham with the children he eventually cast as the Swallows
Filming on location in the Lake District wasn’t easy.
Producer Richard Pilbrow and Production Associate Neville C Thompson on Derwentwater in the Lake District in 1973
How they lit the scenes on Peel Island I do not know.
Dame Virginia McKenna as Mother with Sophie Neville as Titty WalkerKit Seymour with Claude Whatham, 1973
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.
Sophie Neville as Titty
But the film worked because Richard had insisted that the children playing the lead characters could sail.
Filming Swallows and Amazons (1974) from a camera pontoon
The film didn’t make much at the box office but it worked well on television.
Sophie Neville as Titty Walker in the ITV trailer for the movie of ‘Swallows and Amazons’ when it was first shown on television in 1977
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.
Simon West, Sophie Neville, Suzanna Hamilton and Sten Grendon in Secret Harbour
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.
Sophie Neville with Suzanna Hamilton
The good news is that, fifty years after the premier in Shaftesbury Avenue,
Sophie Neville and Suzanna Hamilton with Ronald Fraser in Swallows and Amazons
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.
Different editions of ‘The Making of Swallows and Amazons (1974) by Sophie Neville’
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.
Arnaldo Putzu’s poster for the EMI film Swallows and Amazons (1974)
Richard and Molly’s dream became an inspiration to many.
Molly and Richard Pilbrow in 1973
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.
Richard and Molly Pilbrow, Claude Watham, Fred Pilbrow, Sophie Neville, Suzanna Hamilton, Abigail Pilbrow
2023 started with a bang when I learnt that I had won the Eyelands Book Award for an unpublished historical novel, but that wasn’t all.
My true life story ‘Funnily Enough’ came out out as an audiobook – available on Spotify, Audible and all the other platforms.
My guiding light Virginia McKenna was awarded a DBE . It is well-deserved. You can find photos and read more on this website here.
Since 2023 marked the 50th Anniversary of making the original film in the Lake district, I gave a number of talks and ran a series of #OTD – On This Day – social media posts. Having spent years in Africa, I am wrinklier than Swallows’s flag, but my hair has become darker. At least it is my natural colour.
50th Anniversary of filming Swallows and Amazons in the Lake District
The Arthur Ransome Society were able to acquire both Swallow and Amazon, the dinghies used in the 1974 film. Hunters Yard near Ludham on the Norfolk Broads, who already own heritage boats used in the BBC adaptations of Coot Club and The Big Six are making them available for hire.
Amazon will soon be available to hire at Hunter’s Yard, Ludham
My WWII novel was shortlisted by both the 2023 Chanticleer Award for wartime fiction in the United States and Flash 500’s novel opening competition. Another won third prize in Louise Walters’ Page 100 competition, which was flattering.
But – I slipped on the Pembrokeshire coastal path – walking around a pile of fly-tipping – and broke my wrist. Six weeks later, I broke it again.
I was unable to type for a while. We ended up doing #NoMowMay, June, and July and I couldn’t go litter-picking until September.
I ran an online workshop for writers on photographing their books.
The author Wendy H. Jones interviewed me on The Writing and Marketing Show.
I attended the Romantic Novelists’s Association Conference at London University meeting an editor from Pan MacMillan.
and gave four talks on the Foredeck Stage at the Southampton Boat Show 2023
We had the iconic dinghy Amazon on display and I had a four-page feature article published in the national magazine Practical Boat Owner.
It was a great opportunity to meet sailing enthusiasts and speak in front of the camera.
I donated a signed copy of ‘The Making of Swallows and Amazons’ to the 2023 Children in Read charity auction, which raised so much for BBC Children in Need that I added a signed DVD and a number of other books to the package.
In December, we received the sad news that Richard Pilbrow, who produced the original film of ‘Swallows and Amazons’ died at the age of ninety. He would have been thrilled to know that the remastered version of the film was broadcast on television in Ireland on 23rd December.
Molly and Richard Pilbrow in 1973
We were hoping Richard could join us for the 50th Anniversary celebrations of the release of the film in cinemas. The screenwriter, David Wood, has organised Q&As at two screenings at the Cinema Museum in London on 6th April 2024.
Lakeland Arts and The Arthur Ransome Society are planning a Swallows and Amazons Festival at Windermere Jetty on 29th and 30th June 2024.
Other events and more details for 2024 can be found on my Events Page.
Richard Pilbrow produced the original movie ‘Swallows and Amazons’ (1974) in which I appeared in a as a girl. I’m told that it has been broadcast on television more times than any other British movie and has been an inspiration to many.
Arnaldo Putzu’s poster for the EMI film Swallows and Amazons (1974)
Back in the early 1970s, Richard was busy producing iconic West End musicals such as ‘A Funny Thing Happened On The Way to The Forum’ when he was inspired to make a film adaptation of Arthur Ransome’s novel while taking a break in the Lake District.
Richard Pilbrow on location with his colleague Neville Thompson ~ photo:Daphne Neville
He said the most difficult task he ever took on was persuading Mrs Ransome to grant him the rights. Arthur Ransome had famously disliked a BBC adaptation and passionately did not want a ‘Disneyfication’ of the book based on his own childhood memories.
Richard said that raising the film finance was relatively easy. Nat Cohen of EMI Films happened to be looking for a classic story akin to ‘The Railway Children’, which had been a box office success. He’d never heard of ‘Swallows and Amazons’ but an assistant in his office was wildly enthusiastic and Richard secured a budget of £250,000 to make a ninety minute movie entirely on location in the Lake District.
Producer Richard Pilbrow and Director Claude Whatham discussing the script in the Capri on Derwentwater. Molly Pilbrow is in the boat with them ~ photo: Daphne Neville
Richard loved being out on the water and took Mrs Ransome to find authentic locations. Being determined that the six children playing the Swallows and the Amazons should be able to sail well, he advertised in yacht clubs and interviewed about 1200 candidates. I met the director at the Theatre Project offices in Shaftesbury Avenue. Those short-listed were taken on a sailing weekend in Burnham-on-Crouch to see how they coped afloat.
Richard Pilbrow, Claude Watham, Fred Pilbrow, Sophie Neville, Suzanna Hamilton
Mrs Ransome kept a close eye on the script, insisting that the part of Titty was played by ‘an English rose’, which must be why I was cast as the heroine.
Sophie Neville as Titty Walker in the ITV trailer for the movie of ‘Swallows and Amazons’ when it was first shown on television in 1977
My mother came up to look after us six children who played the Swallows and Amazons. We landed on Wild Cat Island and began playing out the characters that sprung from the pages of the book.
Daphne Neville and Richard Pilbrow on Peel Island on Coniston Water in 1973
Claude Whatham was actually the second director appointed to work on the film. He had only made one other feature – ‘That’ll Be The Day’, starring David Essex and Ringo Starr, but he was an outdoorsy person and got on well with Richard who gave him a free rein. They embraced the 1929 period and the idea of somehow capturing childhood innocence.
Producer Richard Pilbrow with Director Claude Whatham in their wet weather gear at The Secret Harbour on Peel Island, Coniston Water
Unpredictable Lakeland weather and working out on the water could make scheduling and logistics a nightmare but Richard had the support of an excellent production team working under Neville Thompson who also organised the post-production work at Elstree Studios where the film was post-synced.
Producer Richard Pilbrow and Production Associate Neville C Thompson on Derwentwater
Neville was passionate about film making, becoming known as ‘the last gentleman producer.’ Although gregarious at times, he was a quiet man who had begun working as a location manager for Mike Newell and became a production manager for Ken Russell.
Neville C Thompson, the Associate Producer relaxing on set – to be fare this shot may well have been taken on Sunday 24th July 1973, by Daphne Neville
Neville was diagnosed with Lukemia at the age of 47 but lived another twenty years, ending his days in Woodbridge in Suffolk. you can find his impressive list of production credits here
Director Claude Whatham with Sophie Neville, Stephen Grendon, Suzanna Hamilton and Simon West. Producer Richard Pilbow looks on ~ photo: Daphne Neville
The Pilbrows spent their family holidays on the Isle of Coll, so it was not surprising that Richard wanted to make ‘Great Northern?’ as a sequel even though Mrs Ransome wasn’t keen.
Henry Dimbleby and Rosemary Leach in ‘Coot Club’ and ‘The Big Six’
Sadly it was too difficult in the mid-1970s to raise money for filming and Richard never produced another movie. He sold the rights to adapt ‘Coot Club’ and ‘The Big Six’ to the BBC, and I saw him in Norwich in 1983 when I was setting up the drama series with Joe Waters.
When Richard heard that I was giving talks on ‘The Making of Swallows and Amazons (1974)’ he kindly sent me Swallow’s original burgee and Captain Flint’s white elephant flag, along with a Jolly Roger – all handmade props used in the original film.
We last met up in Covent Garden when he came to London to receive an honour from the Central School of Dramatic Art where he had originally studied Stage Management and Technical Theatre Studies.
Sophie Neville with Suzanna Hamilton
He later wrote to thank me for collecting information on how the film of ‘Swallows and Amazons’ was and writing about the impact it had. He loved hearing about our Q&As at cinemas and admired StudioCanal’s remastered DVD. ‘They really did a beautiful job—a very subtle enhancement.’
Simon West, Sophie Neville, Suzanna Hamilton and Sten Grendon in Secret Harbour
I sent Richard and his family on safari to the Waterberg in South Africa, where he ended up riding a horse past grazing rhinos. He is survived by his three children, grandchildren and his wife Molly who worked as his assistant on ‘Swallows and Amazons’.
Sophie Neville in Swallow
Richard’s obituary in the Telegraph can be found here
The momentous story of his life and work is recorded in his memoir ‘A Theatre Project’ available online here.
Suzanna Hamilton, Richard Pilbrow and Sophie Neville
People often ask how making the original film of ‘Swallows and Amazons’ influenced my life. What struck me when I last saw the 1974 film trailer on Amazon Prime was that it begins with Titty saying, ‘The endless trek, through the Sahara Desert…’ In 1985, I did just that, crossing the Sahara on an expedition led by Charlie Mayhew, now CEO of the charity TUSK. I made my first documentary on the aid projects we worked on when we eventually reached Kenya. Had uttering those lines when I was little influenced my decision to drive from London to Johannesburg?
Sophie Neville on an endless trek, crossing the Sahara Desert – photo James Lindsay
People who know Arthur Ransome’s books are able to point out where the original film of Swallows and Amazons made mistakes. Janet Mearns noted that the Swallows ‘certainly didn’t take enamel mugs’ camping, ‘because they took extra in case of breakages.’ I had never noticed!
Andrew Clayton pointed out that, ‘Someone (Hugh Brogan?) Said that John was the lad he wanted to be. Titty, while based on an original person, carries some of his dreams and literary interests.’
Making a film while crossing the Sahara Desert in 1985
Peter Wright, former chairman of The Arthur Ransome Society, noticed that I sang ‘Adieu and Farewell’ instead of ‘Farewell and Adieu to you fair Spanish Ladies’ as the Swallows sailed from the jetty below Holly Howe. I now realize this mistake may have been due to the influence of ‘The Sound of Music’, which was the first movie I ever saw in the cinema. Captivated by the big screen at the age of four, I must have had the lyrics – ‘So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, adieu, Adieu, adieu, to yieu and yieu and yieu,’ imprinted on my brain.
I didn’t sing very well, but one of the secrets to the integrity of the film was that there was no vanity. None of us sought to further ourselves. Self promotion was an unknown concept. We had no personal agenda. We were not there for the money or any reason other than to live out the life portrayed in the books. All of us spurned the publicity and still find it surreal.
Someone also said how much they would have loved to live through a scene from ‘Swallows and Amazons’. We were fortunate enough to live through an abridged version of the book, which is what my parents hoped. It must have been one reason why my headmistress let me take a term off school to appear in the film.
Sophie Neville writing letters from Africa with the author Rebecca Hunter
Since then I went on to lead a ‘Swallows and Amazons’ style life, exploring unchartered territory, which isn’t always easy, I was touched when a fan of the books wrote:
‘Arthur Ransome has helped me through some very difficult times – when you are at your wits end to know what to do or where to turn, it is so refreshing to return to the Lake, or Norfolk, to a peace and tranquillity where you can forget your problems and just enjoy the adventures of the Swallows, Amazons, D’s, Coots, wherever you happen to be.’
Sophie Neville in a vehicle that we submerged in Moremi. The shoes were later stolen in Mosambique, the Toyota in Johannesburg ~ photo: Rebecca Hunter
Nigel H Seymour wrote, ‘…every-time I put the ‘Swallow’s and Amazon’s film on, I’m transported into another dimension and another time. it’s so very refreshingly simple and innocent, it radiates with a romanticism and happiness which has sadly been lost now for ever, but luckily we have the film and we still have ‘You’….. to keep the memory alive!’
The audiobook of The Making of Swallows and Amazons (1974
Sophie Neville 