I thought I’d lost it! But, on clearing out our mother’s house, my sister found the cuttings book I kept whilst making the original movie ‘Swallows and Amazons’ in 1973.
It includes a plan of the London double-decker bus where we received rudimentary lessons on location. Three bunkbeds on the top floor were meant to be used so we could rest after lunch. Mum said she forced me to lie down everyday but I can only remember a couple of occasion, once when I was reluctant, once when I was freezing cold after a swimming scene.
We changed into our costumes at the top of that bus, enjoying warmth from a gas stove that leaked rather alarmingly on one day necessitating an evacuation.
The exterior looked liked a conventional Routemaster with added curtains.
Lesley Bennett’s photo of the double decker buses at Bank Ground Farm in 1973
Once sitting at my desk, I found my italic fountain pen and began keeping a diary. One version of the first seven days spent in Cumbria is pasted into the scrap book. I later re-wrote a slightly more detailed and interesting version in a couple of notebooks and wrote about how I got the part of Titty, and the filming from different perspectives.
These pages describe the day spent travelling to Ambleside and a couple of days spent getting to know each other along with Dame Virginia McKenna, who played the Swallows’ mother, the producer Richard Pilbrow, David Blagden who was in charge of the sailing and the film director Cluade Whatham.
Encouraged by my mother, we began pasting in newspaper cuttings.
The Times and the Guardian were at Havethwaite Railway Station to take photographs on the first day of filming. The BBC Radio 4 newsreader, Alan Smith, who grew up in Cumbria, was a film extra that day and can be spotted standing in train doorway with his brother. He wrote to me with his memories of the day.
I began adding photos from contact sheets that Albert Clarke, the film’s stills photographer, took of the cast and crew. I wrote about the opening locations here.
There are pages of dictation and a few sketches of the film props. I drew the yellow Austin ‘taxi’ we drove in at the station.
There were some cuttings that I hadn’t seen for years until until I opened the pages of this mislaid cuttings book. Others can be found on earlier posts.
I took pages of dictation, learning about the plants and geology of the Lake District, about Beatrix Potter and the National Trust, but it’s a wonder any schoolwork was accomplished at all. We spent so much time on set. I fell behind in French and Maths but gained respectable exam grades that summer, gaining 80% in Geography. Perhaps I wrote about glacial lakes.
You can read more about the adventures we had whilst filming ‘Swallows and Amazons’ in books detailed on this website.
Different editions of ‘The Making of Swallows and Amazons (1974) by Sophie Neville’
There is now an audiobook on ‘The Making of Swallows and Amazons’ published by The Lutterworth Press and available on all online platforms including Audible.
Chloe Williams has just written from Ontario in Canada, to say, “Some books entertain. Some enlighten. And some, like The Making of Swallows and Amazons and The Secrets of Filming Swallows & Amazons, manage to bottle something impossibly rare: the feeling of looking back through a child’s eyes and realizing it was all real; the lake, the sails, the laughter and somehow, you were part of it.”
“These aren’t just behind-the-scenes diaries. They’re sun-dappled time machines. Your voice, both in memory and in your original childhood notes, is a miracle of tone: witty, observant, buoyant, and deeply human.”
Of the original movie, she wrote: “What A Christmas Story is to snowglobes and childhood winters, Swallows and Amazons (1974) is to summers on the water and you’ve preserved that magic with charm, heart, and astonishing detail.
“What makes these books unforgettable isn’t just nostalgia. It’s how alive they are. We feel the smell of old sails and camera tape, the blur of location shoots, the uncertainty and excitement of being a child caught in a grown-up world of filmmaking yet utterly at home in it. We meet legends like Virginia McKenna not as distant stars, but as fellow travelers in the adventure. And it’s a joy.”
The Making of Swallows and Amazons seems to resonate with:
Readers of nostalgic memoirs that celebrate childhood, nature, and storytelling
Adults who are captivated by the lake-country magic of Arthur Ransome
Film lovers who cherish insider views of filmmaking
Educators and parents seeking real-life adventure stories for young readers
Fans of Call the Midwife, The Durrells, and 84, Charing Cross Road
“The joy and authenticity in your books mirror exactly why Swallows & Amazons (1974) still has such a hold on people’s hearts. The memoirs don’t just tell the story of making the film, they recreate it, letting readers smell the lake air and see the magic unfold through a child’s eyes.”
The new audiobook
I’m hoping the audiobook will also amuse readers. It’s now available on all the online platforms including Audible, where isis being offered for free on their membership trial.
Simon West as John Walker studying the chart before the voyage.
1. It’s good to begin a film with establishing shots that explain what is happening. This could be a chart, a poster, a yacht club, a moored boat or the landscape. Then tell the story, introducing the characters and different boats.
2. Once you begin filming boats the most important thing is to keep the horizon horizontal.
Simon West and Sophie Neville bring Swallow into the Secret Harbour on Wildcat Island
Alternatively, tilt your camera at a dramatically acute angle – but don’t use compromised shots like the one above.
Farewell and adieu to you fair Spanish ladies – can you spot the safety officer?
3. When you pan – side to side – first plan and rehearse the shot with good opening and ending frames. Hold for a beat on these – it gives you a transition to the next shot in the same way as a comma or full stop.
Simon West, Suzanna Hamilton, Sophie Neville and Sten Grendon in ‘Swallows and Amazons’ (1974)
Pans look better if the shot moves from left to right, as that is how westeners read.
A pan works best if it’s ‘motivated’ ie follows action. Only pan from right to left if you are following a subject, then let it pass out of shot.
Avoid panning from left to right and back again. Don’t wave the camera around.
Simon West as Captain John sailing Swallow . Sten Grendon plays the Boy Roger
4. Avoid using the zoom unless it is motivated. Tilting the camera works better eg: open on a shot of a boat’s name and tilt up to find the skipper.
5. A general rule is: If the subject is stationary you can move the shot. If the subject is moving, keep the shot still.
6. Low angle shots are atmospheric – try filming at chair height, especially if you are tall.
Suzanna Hamilton as Susan with Sophie Neville as Titty busy writing the ship’s log
7. Close ups and detail are good, especially if there is some movement. eg: burgee flying in the wind.
A montage of close-ups works well to explain what is happening and explain a passage of time.
8. People do well in front of the camera if you give them something intricate to do or look at. Show what they are doing, possibly from a different angle.
9. You will need to film one boat from another. We were lashed to a camera boat to achieve these shots.
Sophie Neville, Suzanna Hamilton and Simon West sailing Swallow in 1973
10. Make sure your lens is kept clean – or use water droplets for effect. Don’t let your camera get wet but capture the excitement.
Simon West and Suzanna Hamilton at the helm of Swallow with Stephen Grendon
I recall being contacted by a friend who had just passed his driving test, and wished to spend a lazy day in the Lake District where he’d insisted on hiring a rowing boat in Bowness on Windermere in order to ‘enjoy the beauty of the lake’. While heading out from the jetty towards the ‘Lily of the valley’ island in rather a clumsy fashion, I was asked. ‘Who do you want to be, the Swallows or the Amazons?’
At a later date I was given the book ‘Swallows and Amazons’ written by Arthur Ransome together with a video and an original vinyl of the music soundtrack. Turning the pages of the 1930 novel was like opening a door to several other worlds for suddenly the lakes swept in like the most refreshing breeze that kindled an inner passion for hills, mountains, lakes, sleepy streams and mists, early morning stillness on the water and sailing adventures.
Watching the film for the first time was a turning point in my rather dull experience of being at school in the north west of England with its drab corridors, gray walls and endless smoking chimneys out to the horizon.
Within a very short time I too have taken a seat on a train en route to the Lake District in 1929 that had a family travelling together in one of those wonderful old carriages consisting of four children and their mother who were to spend a holiday together in a beautiful farmhouse nestling in the trees by the lake.
For some reason William Wordsworth’s immortal words ran through my mind: ‘Beside the lake beneath the trees fluttering and dancing in the breeze.’
The story touches on many human aspects that we all learn to accept as a part of our evolvement into adulthood and which today seems to have got lost in the quest for an increasingly fast world understanding and a computer generated experience.
The joy of the family arriving at the farmhouse and standing there looking out over the glorious Lakeland towards their dream island where it’s hoped they will be able to embark on a camping holiday after receiving permission from their absent father.
The four children, John Susan Titty and Roger Walker, all displayed an individual aspect of evolvement, with Titty engrossed in the book ‘Robinson Crusoe’, using her vivid imagination to create the island realm and keeping a hand written diary, while John seemed to be moving towards a Naval leaning by spending his time learning the basics of Morse code, boat handling and navigation. Young Boy Roger enjoys stuffing himself with anything he can possibly eat, appears to be showing signs of enjoying the great outdoors, and wants more adventure. Susan comes across as the mother figure who thinks about the younger siblings and what they all will be eating while on their adventures.
The story unfolds as the children receive the go ahead in a telegram from their father to sail over to their island to camp in a borrowed dinghy called ‘Swallow’. A burgee is sewn up to fly from the mast depicting a swallow. This news is received with unadulterated delight by the children who immediately begin the preparations.
The lake and mountainous surroundings featured in the film begin to open up as the children undertake their journey to discover sailing rivals in Nancy and Peggy Blackett who live in one of the houses bordering the lake and own a dinghy named ‘Amazon’ that sports a ‘pirate’ burgee.
Initial rivalry erupts between the Walkers and Blacketts, which results in eventual harmony as the two sides join forces to capture a common enemy who just happens to be the Blacketts’ ‘Uncle Jim’ who owns a houseboat on the lake and is busy writing a book.
The Swallows and Amazons decide to host an expedition to capture Jim (‘Captain Flint’) and the houseboat, and, to determine who should be the leader, they make an attempt at capturing each other’s boats.
This requires sailing at night and some pretty shady manoeuvres, which are grievously frowned upon when discovered by the Walkers’ mother when she made a journey to the island to check up on the children and found Titty on her own. John has to confront his mother and explain his reasons to sail in the dark. She reluctantly accepts his explanations but with a proviso that no further actions of this sort will occur again for the remainder of the holiday.
Titty won the day by seizing an opportunity to capture the Amazon boat while the Blackett’s were on Wild Cat Island, making the Walkers the winners. This leads up to the finale where there is a sea battle as the Swallows and Amazons launch an assault on Captain Flint and the houseboat when he is captured and made to walk the plank. The end of the film sees Titty gifted with Flint’s pet parrot who seemed to have taken quite a shine to her, and everyone resolves to be kindred spirits for ever!
After watching this film my mind was transported to the lakes and sharing the beautiful sunny days, crispy clear water and blue skies with the backdrop of the mountains the wooden jetties and a sailing journey into Bowness for supplies. I could sense myself seated in the lugsail rig and feeling the tug on the main sail as the boat crept closer to the wind before going about and heading away onto another tack.
I was carried with the family into that other realm and other time where innocence and responsibility were coming to the fore, where family values were held dear and independence was something young people strove to achieve within the simplicity of their everyday existence. For the brothers and sisters to go camping on a small island in the middle of a lake away from any overseeing adult, and to arrived there by sailing over in a borrowed boat, leaves little to the imagination.
There was a sense of adventure with the children, and a wanting to show they could be responsible and look after themselves, something in today’s society we have to a degree lost touch with. That immortal sense of adventure within a landscape never changes, except within its own light that we know and love today as the Lake District.
This film is a journey into another dimension and another world steeped with love and belonging, adventure and moral understanding, which is shared between a family and accepted.
The characters are bought to life almost as if they are an infinite, integral part of the immortality of the story, each giving that picturesque understanding the viewer finds impossible to explain.
After watching this film one arrives back in real time with a resounding bang! We wonder why such a simple story can create such an iconic understanding, why watching this film can make you feel happy, totally complete and yearning to return again and savour that wonderful, eternal landscape we have all learned to grow and love as The Lakes.
Do think of leaving a review of this film on the International Movie Base site. The link for ‘Swallows and Amazons'(1974) is: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072233/
“The smell is just the same.” Suzanna Hamilton began rowing me across Coniston Water from Bank Ground Farm, taking us back to childhood days.
“It sounds the same.” The colours, the landscape, the feeling of being out on the water was still magical.
Suzanna Hamilton and Sophie Neville at Coniston Water in the Lake District
As girls, Suzanna and I had appeared as Mate Susan and Able seaman Titty in Richard Pilbrow’s original film of Swallows and Amazons, adapted by David Wood and released in cinemas on 4th April 1974. It starred Dame Virginia McKenna and Ronald Fraser but it was the two of us who were invited to return to the film locations in 2003 to be interviewed by Ben Fogle for an episode of the long-running BBC series Country File. Thanks to sunshiny weather and the support of Geraint and Helen Lewis, his report proved so successful that it was repeated on Country Tracks and featured in the series Big Screen Britain alongside iconic landscape movies such as The Dam Busters and Whistle Down the Wind.
We had been talking about swimming off Peel Island soon after we began filming Swallows and Amazons in the Lake District in May 1973. The director, Claude Whatham, was fresh from making a BAFTA nominated adaptation of Cider With Rosie when he cast Sten Grendon as young Laurie Lee, and the rock-and-roll movie That’ll Be The Day starring David Essex and Ringo Starr. Although happy out on the water, he knew little about boats. The producer, Richard Pilbrow, had insisted on finding children who could sail well rather than audition young actors and teach them to sail, and advertised the opportunity in sailing clubs. This was pivotal. Simon West (who played John), Kit Seymour (Nancy) and Lesley Bennett (Peggy) all had experience with a natural feeling for the wind and emanated confidence. They were only given a couple of days to get used to sailing the little boats used as Swallow and Amazon before filming began and yet their skill ended up making the film a classic.
Farewell and adieu to you fair Spanish ladies
We had instruction from a sailing director in the form of a good looking actor called David Blagden. He’d recently 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, aged eleven, ended up explaining to Claude how to get a decent shot. Suzanna took her lead from him and I clung to the gunwales, trying hard not to shiver in a costume designed by Emma Porteous that consisted of no more than a short yellow dress and enormous pair of navy blue gym knickers.
It was unusual for a movie to feature so many scenes set in two small boats. Mike Turk, whose family had been building boats since 1295, and Nick Newby of Nicol End Marine on Derwentwater, took up the challenge of constructing Claude a cross-shaped pontoon to act as a mobile camera mount so that our dialogue could be captured. 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. The base to Swallow’s mast broke, proving safety was an issue, but the idea eventually worked.
Richard Pilbrow and his film crew on the camera pontoon
A grey punt was also used. I remember Simon West towing it as he rowed us into Rio. It was easy to transport from one lake to another but must have been tippy. Somehow David Cadwallader, the grip, managed to keep the horizon horizontal using no more than a spirit level. Shadows were lifted from our faces by using huge reflector boards apt to catch the wind. It must have been impossible to use filler lights out on the water, although they somehow managed to power a number of sets on Peel Island.
Sophie Neville in the Amazon with DOP Denis Lewiston, his 16mm camera and a reflector board ~ photo: Martin Neville
Richard Pilbrow kindly sent me Swallow’s pennant from his home in America. Unlike Ransome’s original sketch of the crossed flags, the bird flies away from the mast, which is technically incorrect, but I was thrilled to receive the genuine film prop used in vision. If you look closely you can see some of the stitches I made whilst in conversation with Mother, played by Virginia McKenna.
It would have been good if Swallow’s hull had been painted white in line with illustrations in the books. Her varnished planks are a nod to the 1970’s when everyone was busy stripping pine, but the important detail is that she has a keel rather than a centerboard. It makes her difficult to turn, and markedly slower than Amazon, but grants her stability. This feature may have saved us when we really did just miss colliding with the MV Tern on Windermere, which alarmed my father who was on the Tern’s deck. He knew how difficult Swallow would be to turn with the larger vessel taking our wind. We were fully laden with camping gear and yet totally lacking buoyancy of any kind.
Simon West as Captain John sailing Swallow. Sten Grendon plays the Boy Roger
One secret of filming Swallows and Amazons is that it was set on four different lakes, a smelly lily pond that served as Octopus Lagoon, and Mrs Batty’s barn where night sailing sequences were shot with Swallow mounted on a cradle. One challenging scene was when the Swallows were cast off from Wild Cat Island to sail north to the Amazon River, leaving Titty behind to light the lanterns. I slipped underwater whilst pushing her free of branches overhanging the landing place but regained my footing and waved them off. Simon caught ‘a fair wind’ but the boom swung so far out that Suzanna held the mainsheet by the figure-of-eight knot and Swallow sped up Coniston Water like a ‘pea in a peashooter’, as Ransome wrote in Winter Holiday. A gust hit them broadside as they cleared the island and Swallow gybed, but Simon calmly stood to catch the boom, scarified the wind and took her on up the lake. Watching the sequence still brings tears to my eyes.
Simon West and Suzanna Hamilton at the helm of Swallow with Stephen Grendon in the bows, while Sophie Neville looks on from the shore of Peel Island
No one had given much consideration to the rowing involved in the story. Built as a run-about boat by William King of Burnham-on-Crouch, Swallow has two sets of rowlocks but it was tricky to keep time when she was wired to the camera pontoon. The first scene attempted was when the Boy Roger and I had to row her back from the charcoal burners with Susan at the tiller.
Sophie Neville as Titty and Stephen Grendon as Roger rowing to Cormorant Island
We rowed again on Derwentwater, making our way out to Cormorant Island to look for the treasure. It took everything in me, but I later managed to row Amazon out of Secret Harbour in one take at the end of a long day filming. The action was repeated with Denis Lewiston, the lighting-cameraman, and his 35mm Panavision camera in the stern. Cold, with wet feet, I completed the scene but had to be carried ashore by a frogman acting as the safety officer. Titty later anchors Amazon off Cormorant Island on Derwentwater, but the shot of her wrapped in the sail, sleeping aboard, was taken in the darkened barn at Bank Ground Farm. The fishing scenes were recorded on Elterwater with Swallow moored near the reedbeds.
Sophie Neville as Titty and Simon West as John
My one regret is that we didn’t follow the book when sailing the captured Amazon back to Wild Cat Island. The wind was up and Claude Whatham needed Simon to sail Swallow ahead of the Amazon which was lashed to the pontoon. I originally took the tiller as Titty is urged to in the story, but had trouble with the rudder and Susan is at the helm on the cover of the paperbacks brought out to accompany the film and a DVD distributed by the Daily Mail.
I was somewhat surprised to see Swallow outside Elstree Studios where we went to post-sync the film. They set up a tank on the sound stage so that Bill Rowe, the dubbing editor who was to win an Oscar for The Last Emperor, could capture the sounds so taken for granted and yet so evocative of handling wooden boats. I was concerned that she’d been given away (and she nearly was) but, as Richard Pilbrow made plans to adapt other Ransome books, she was sent to Mike Turk’s warehouse in Twickenham and stored with maritime props such as the Grand Turk, a replica of HMS Indefatigable, built in 1996 in Turkey for Hornblower.
When Mike’s collection was eventually auctioned in 2010 I was alerted, first by my father, then by Magnus Smith. We found Swallow’s details online, took one look at the photos and clubbed together to purchase her, launching SailRansome at the 2011 London Boat Show. The idea that others could go out in her with an experienced skipper was greeted by John McCarthy who recorded the sounds of sailing Swallow for Paddling With Peter Duck, his programme made for BBC Radio 4.
Peter Willis in the Nancy Blackett with John McCarthy
The Arthur Ransome Society now own both historic dinghies. Rupert Maas valued Swallow highly when she appeared on BBC Antiques Roadshow in 2021.Everyone gasped but her true worth is akin to Captain Flint’s hidden treasure: instead of gold ingots his trunk contained precious memories that no doubt kept him on course when the storms of life blew in. 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 immortalized on film so long ago.
Back in 1974, none of us knew that Amazon had been used in the BBC adaptation of Swallows and Amazons made just eleven years previously and broadcast in 1963. I met the White family when they brought Amazon from Kent to Cumbria to feature in Country File. Ben Fogle had found their twin daughters on Peel Island, looking very much like Nancy and Peggy in damp bathing costumes having been swimming in the lake. It has been extremely generous of them to enable other families to sail such a precious boat.
Not so very long ago, a few TARS joined me at Keswick for a talk and screening of Swallows and Amazons at the Alhambra cinema when we grabbed the chance to go aboard the Lady Derwentwater. Nick Newby explained how she had been decommissioned in 1973 to appear as Captain Flint’s houseboat. Her temporary conversion was overseen by Ian Whittaker, the set dresser who went on to be nominated for a number of awards and won an Oscar in 1993 for his work on Howard’s End. The Lady Derwentwater has since been given a new stern but is in good shape, back in her role as a passenger launch.
The mfp Vinyl LP of ‘Swallows and Amazons’ with Sophie Neville and Simon West bringing Swallow into her harbour
Arthur Ransome was taught to sail on Coniston Water by the Collingwoods in a boat they kept below Lane Head, now known as Swallow I. People often ask if the original Swallow II, a sea-going dingy with a standing lugsail built by William Crossfield, and sailed by the Ransomes, is still around. After being kept on a mooring in Bowness Bay, where she was looked after by a boatman called John Walker, she was sold in September 1935 and sadly ‘vanished without a trace’.
The Amazon, originally named Mavis, and also sailed by the Altounyan family, now resides in the John Ruskin Museum at Coniston where she can be visited much like a great aunt. Ransome’s dinghy Coch-y-bonddhu or Cocky, the model for Scarab in his books, restored and owned by TARS, is on display at Windermere Jetty, the museum where the fourteen foot RNSA dinghies used in the 2016 movie of Swallows and Amazons have been moored. A few of the steamboats used to dress the scenes set at Bowness-on-Windermere or Rio in 1973, such as Osprey and George Pattinson’s launch Lady Elizabeth, may be in residence. They are currently restoring the SL Esperance used by Ransome as his model for the houseboat.
In 1983, I worked behind-the-scenes on the BBC drama serial of Coot Club and The Big Six (and wrote Extras for the DVD titled Swallows and Amazons Forever!) We spent three months filming on the Broads, using the four-berth gaff sloop Lullaby to play the Teasel, a vintage dinghy for Titmouse and a punt for Tom Dudgeon’s Dreadnaught. They have all been kept at Hunter’s Yard, near Ludham in Norfolk where you can hire classic boats. While exploring the Broads you can track down the Death and Glory, Janca, used to play the Hullabaloo’s Margoletta, and the wherry Albion used for Sir Garnet along with yachts like Pippa that were also featured in the serial. Hopefully, Arthur Ransome’s ‘good little ship’ the Nancy Blackett, bought with his ‘Spanish gold’ or royalties, will one day star as Goblin in a film adaptation of We Didn’t Mean To Go To Sea. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?
Arnaldo Putzu’s poster for the EMI film Swallows and Amazons (1974)
Half a century has passed since the original film Swallows and Amazons first came out in cinemas, the good little ships featured sailing improably on the poster. Thanks go to Magnus Smith, Rob Boden, Diana Wright, Marc Grimston, and all those who have looked after and lovingly restored the inspirational boats that appeared in the movie. They mean so much to so many. Three million cheers to those at The Arthur Ransome Society who are working with Hunters Yard in Ludham to make both little ships available for hire in 2025 .
Amazon will soon be available to hire at Hunter’s Yard, Ludham
If all goes to plan, you will be able to take them out. When you do, smell the freshness for me. Stroke the varnish, take in the feel of the ropes, the weight of the oars. It may be chilly, but that too is part of the experience of liaising with old boats out on the water.
Neville Thompson acted as the online producer on the 1974 film of Swallows and Amazons. He choose an excellent crew and took daily responsibility for scheduling the production on location in the Lake District and later at Elstree Studios where the film was edited and post-synced.
Producer Richard Pilbrow and Production Associate Neville C Thompson on Derwentwater in the Lake District in 1973
Neville was born in Ipswich in 1933. Although gregarious at times, he was a quiet man who was once a maths teacher in Scotland. He had five children to support, but decided to go to RADA and become an actor. When a pair of twins came along he moved the family to Croyden and went into film production. He began work as a location manager for Mike Newell and became a production manager for Ken Russell.
Richard Pilbrow gained the rights and film finance for ‘Swallows and Amazons’ but came from a background in theatre and knew nothing about film production. He asked Neville to help set everything up.
Neville C Thomas (top centre) with Richard Pilbrow, Claude Whatham et al
Neville came to Burnham-on-Crouch for our sailing audition when the dinghy ‘Swallow’ must have been purchased from the boatbuilders William King.
Second Assistant Terry Needham, Associate Producer Neville C Thompson and Production Manager Graham Ford with the unit radio on a sunny day in June 1973
Neville was passionate about film making, becoming known as ‘the last gentleman producer.’ He would have been the one making the executive decisions, the man ultimately in charge of the schedule, personnel, safety, insurance and bringing the film in on budget.
Claude Whatham, Richard Pilbrow, Gareth Tandy, Peter Robb-King, Ronnie Cogan and Neville C Thompson with Kit Seymour and Lesley Bennet trying on hats
His daughter, Mandy, told me that he was a wonderful Dad but had been away a lot. ‘He had eight children in nine years and was keen for them to make their own way in the world.’ Mandy became an occupational therapist, George became a ballet dancer, Chris Thompson went into film making. Neville was diagnosed with Lukemia at the age of 47 but lived another twenty years, ending his days in Woodbridge in Suffolk.
Neville Thompson relaxing on set – photo taken on Sunday 24th July 1973, by Daphne Neville
Neville established a production office at the unit hotel on Windermere. By the time he reached the location he was often exhausted. Everything he’d set up was in motion so, like an experienced parent, he could relax and enjoy the boats.
Richard Pilbrow and Neville Thompson ~ photo:Daphne Neville
When Neville died in Woodbridge in Suffolk at the age of sixty-nine in 2002, Richard told me that ‘Swallows and Amazons’ was broadcast on television as if in his honour.
You can find an impressive list of Neville C Thompson’s production credits on IMDb here
Sophie Neville looks on as Stephen Grendon organises his costume helped by Jane Grendon with Claude Whatham and Neville C Thompson when filming pick up shots near Epsom.
You can find details of how to purchase ‘The making of Swallows and Amazons’ here on line or listen to it on audible and other audiobook platforms.
Simon West, Suzanna Hamilton, Sophie Neville & Sten Grendon in ‘Swallows and Amazons'(1974)
Julie Lamming wrote to say, ‘I used to drive my family mad singing “Spanish Ladies” after watching the film for the first time.’ This was the original movie of ‘Swallows and Amazons’ made on location in the Lake District in 1973 and released by EMI Films fifty years ago in 1974.
It took me a while to realise it, but the traditional British naval song Farewell and Adieu to you Fair Spanish Ladies is sung in a number of other feature films from The Buccaneers (1957) to Jaws, which was released in 1975, a year after the original film Swallows and Amazons.
The Buccaneers (1957) and Jaws (1975)
Robert Shaw sings a little more once at sea:
The ships crew come together singing it as a shanty in Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
A Boston version is also sung in this television drama, Patrick Jane:
Can you think of anymore examples? Please add links to the Comments below.
I classic version of the song can be found here:
I’m afraid I sang it badly and made the mistake of muddling the words, Adieu and Farewell to you Fair Spanish Ladies rendered onto the LP of the film.
You can now listen to the audio book on ‘The Making of Swallows and Amazons’ that explains how the 1974 movie of Swallows and Amazons. It’s available on all the retail platforms and Audible here.
On 6th April, the original cast of ‘Swallows and Amazons’ (1974) gathered to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the film’s release in London with David Wood who wrote the script.
It was unexpectedly amusing as can be seen in this recording kindly brought to us by Lee Pressmen and volunteers of the Cinema Museum where the original movie was shown before we were invited on stage by Brian Sibley.
Brian Sibley talks to Simon West, Suzanna Hamilton, Sophie Neville, Sten Grendon, Kit Seymour and screenwriter David Wood – photo Lee Pressman of the Cinema Museum
As soon as self-confessed ‘super fans’ arrived, the venue began to buzz with the question, “What was your favourite line from the film?”
“They’ve got India rubber necks.”
“They’re girls!”
“… must be a retired pirate. He’s working on his devilish plans.”
Sten Grendon, who played Roger, said it was undoubtedly: “I said – ‘Yes’.”
I’ve always liked: “X marks the spot where they ate six missionaries.” Although I often use, “Here we are, intrepid explorers making the first ever voyage into unchartered waters,” I think “I’ve got her. I’ve got her!” is the most appealing.
One viewer on Instagram claimed their favourite line was: “Titty that way.”
What is your favourite line?
Do add your line to the Comments below.
A recording of Brian’s interview with the screenwriter David Wood can be watched on this website here.
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 