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.
There is a brief resume of the talk on this website, here Prepare to be taken back to the 1970s:
In 2022, Swallow, the dinghy that starred in the original film Swallows and Amazons was on display at the Southampton International Boat Show, greeting families as they arrive.
Sophie Neville gave talks on filming afloat and the movie was made on location in the Lake District fifty years ago.
Over 103,000 people visit the show. Although busy, it did not feel crowded. There is a lot to see and do.
Thanks to the help of excellent technicians, presentations proved popular, with ‘inspiring talks on the Foredeck Stage’.
Sophie signed copies of ‘The Making of Swallows and Amazons‘ at Future Publishing’s corner stand.
“It was a great opportunity to meet film fans, readers and feature writers.”
You can find a four-page feature on Swallow in Practical Boat Owner magazine.
You can apply to The Arthur Ransome Society to take Swallow or Amazon out yourself on the Norfolk Broads next summer.
If you are unable to get to the Southampton International Boat Show this year, you can watch an in-depth interview released this week by Your Take:
HM Queen Elizabeth II said that ‘Swallows and Amazons’ (1974) was her favorite film. She had been given the book of Swallows and Amazons as a girl and, according to Arthur Ransome, ‘said very nice things’ about his novels. He wrote to his mother in November 1930 saying, “The Queen [Mary], God bless her, pranced into Bumpus’s shop and bought a copy of Swallows and Amazons. She paid for it – I asked.” Elizabeth, The Queen Mother also ordered a set. Do they have first editions in the Royal Collection?
The Queen told the author Peter James that Swallows and Amazons was the first book she could remember reading. He has written about his time at Buckingham Palace meeting other authors here.
Archive photographs show The Queen at Girl Guides’ camp enjoying rowing and a Swallows and Amazons lifestyle, as you can see here. In this film clip, she looks a bit like Captain Nancy playing with her sister Peggy, a name that is short for Margaret:
Our late Queen kept a large flock of two hundred racing pigeons at Sandringham all her life. This uncut Movietone footage shows the two princesses being shown a carrier pigeon. Could they have been influenced by Arthur Ransome’s book Pigeon Post?
In 1940, Claude Whatham, who went on to direct the original film of Swallows and Amazons, was commissioned by Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret Rose to paint a series of pantomime pictures on the walls of Windsor Castle. One can presume they had a chat. I have just been asked to provide photos for a new documentary for Channel 5. You can read about this wartime story on a previous post of mine here. She loved appearing in the three pantomimes that they put on, when she played the principal boy.
The Queen was able to visit Bowness-on-Windermere with the Duke of Edinburgh in 1956. He endorsed what he called ‘the Swallows and Amazons spirit’. In 2014, Alan Hakim of The Arthur Ransome Society spotted a copy of The Big Six in his study aboard HMY Britannia.
She visited Coniston and Tarn Hows in 1980 and returned to Bowness-on- Windermere with the Princess Royal in 2013 when they took the Tern up to Ambleside.
I feel that the Queen would have enjoyed Ransome’s sense of humour. A few of the amusing things she said are captured here:
HM King Charles loved Swallows and Amazons as a boy. I’ve read that it was his favourite book. I met him when speaking about otter conservation but did not mention the fact I had played Titty in the original film ‘Swallows and Amazons‘.
HRH The Queen Consort has also expressed a love for Swallows and Amazons, recommending it on her Reading Room site as one of her top six books for children.
When asked about her favourite children’s books, she described Swallows and Amazons as “just a really good adventure story, full of a lot of imagination.” Hello magazine and Royal Central.
She also recalled her own experiences receiving new books as a child. “I still remember the intense excitement I felt as a child when choosing books to buy with my pocket money — Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty, Baroness Orczy’s Scarlet Pimpernel, Arthur Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons — and the joy of knowing that these precious books, clutched tightly in my hands, were my very own,” she wrote.
The Princess of Wales is vaguely related to Arthur Ransome. His brother-in-law Hugo Lupton, was cousin to Kate’s great-grandmother Olive. You can read a little more here. Her brother, James Middleton told The Standard that his favourite place was the Lake District: ‘It stems from my childhood, reading Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit, and as I got older, Arthur Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons. My family and I spent time on Coniston Water and Lake Windermere, it was almost like we were living the stories in real life… But as a family, there’s a connection to the Lake District dating back generations. My great-great-grandfather on my father’s side lived in Yorkshire and so for him and his family it was somewhere to go nearby. Every school holiday we would stay anywhere from a weekend to a week there, in sun or snow or rain, and because there was no electricity in the family cottage it was a real adventure — hiking in the mountains and playing in the Lakes.’ You can read more here.
Sarah Hewson told Vanity Fair that the Prince and Princess of Wales intentionally provide a screen-free, traditional childhood for their children at their country residences, Anmer Hall in Norfolk and Balmoral Castle in Scotland. She described Prince George’s summer break as a “Swallows and Amazons–type summer”—filled with outdoorsy, carefree adventures like walking, jumping into marshes, and running along beaches—making it the ideal “family sanctuary” before boarding school.
You can find a list of authors and well known people who love the books here.
Many thanks to members of the Arthur Ransome Group for help with this article. Please add any more information in the comments below.
People often write to say how much they have enjoyed the original film ‘Swallows and Amazons’ (U) produced by Richard Pilbrow in 1974, which is currently streaming on Amazon Prime. Being suitable for all ages, it is often screened at outdoor festivals and is on Netflix in Europe.
‘Is it a good movie?’ people enquire of Google.
Helen Fielding mentions the DVD of Swallows & Amazons 1974 in the first edition of ‘Bridget Jones: Mad about the Boy’ claiming it to be more edifying for her children to watch than ‘Beverley Hills Chihuahua 2‘.
Dame Margaret Drabble told Claude Whatham, the director, how much she loved Titty in his film of Swallows and Amzons, which was a huge compliment.
Elspeth Huxley CBE – author of thirty books including The Flame Trees of Thika – loved the 1974 film of Swallows and Amazons, reviewing it for The Tatler magazine under her married name, Elspeth Grant.
There is special interest from a number of authors –
Wendy Clarke, who has set some of her psychological thrillers in the Lake District auditioned for the part if Titty in 1973. You can read her story on another post here.
When Catherine Lamont from Australia wrote on Facebook to say, “Just read a 2020 book mentioning ‘Swallows and Amazons’ (someone spotted in a bookshelf belonging to one of the main characters): The Enigma Game, by Elizabeth Wein” the author herself, Elizabeth Wein, wrote in to say, “Not just in The Enigma Game – I namedropped Swallows & Amazons in my novel Code Name Verity, too! It was given to me by my grandmother’s best friend when I was seven and was one of my favorites. My own children, who never actually read it, were huge fans of the film”.
Christine Stevenson said that she was introduced to Swallows and Amazons by ‘The Unlikely Voyage of Jack de Crow’ by AJ Mackinnon about his journey from Shropshire to the Black Sea in a Mirror dinghy.
According to Kathryn Hughs in The Mail on Sunday BOOKS section, Robert Twigger ‘grew up in the 1970s obsessed with Swallows and Amazons’. He’s written 36 Islands: In Search of the Hidden Wonders of The Lake District… And a Few Other Things Too. It was well reviewed by Country Life.
The arts curator David Banning profiled the 1974 movie of Swallows and Amazons in his book on films made in Cumbria and the Lake District, which you can see here.
Trevor Boult, who writes books on ships and sailing, is a great fan. He kindly donated the royalties from his most recent book Boats Yet Sailing to The Arthur Ransome Trust. You can order a copy direct from the publisher here.
For a list of well known people who love the Swallows and Amazons books, please click here
Do you know of any other authors who have written about the film? Please leave any information in the comments section, below.
You can read the first section about how the film was made back in 1973, for free, on the Amazon preview of the ebook here:
Many esteemed authors have written biographies of Author Ransome and the places that inspired him. Here, I list novelists who acknowledge Ransome as an inspiration or have references to his books within their own work. It is a list that will no doubt grow. Please add copiously to the comments below.
Sir William Golding, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature, mentions Swallows and Amazons in Lord of the Flies.
Nevil Shute mentions Swallows and Amazons in No Highway. Eddie Castellan of the Arthur Ransome Group on Facebook writes: ‘Ronnie Clarke is spotted reading Coot Club as a bedtime story in the closing pages of The Rainbow and the Rose.’
Debbie Welch points out that Monica Edwards has her character Andrea reading We didn’t mean to go to sea in Punchbowl Midnight. ‘She slams it down when Peter has let Midnight (the calf) out.’ TARS member Elizabeth Williams said that Pigeon Post is being read in Summer of the Great Secret. “Monica Edwards was a great Ransome fan. She wrote a letter to him after the publication of Great Northern? There isn’t a record of a reply.”
In her YA novel Neverland, Australian author Margot McGovern lists Swallows and Amazons as one of the nine “childhood favourites” that the psychiatrist uncle of 17-year-old protagonist Kit had allowed her to keep in her room after a suicide attempt. The novel is set on an island recovery centre for disturbed teenagers and sailing is one of the therapeutic activities offered. Margot’s website tells us that Neverland (Penguin Random House Australia, 2018), was short-listed for the Text Prize and the Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature.
Katie Fforde, president of the Romantic Novelists Association, mentions Arthur Ransome in her novel A Vintage Wedding. Martin Allott spotted this, explaining, ‘It’s a gentle romance about the love lives of three female friends who set up a wedding planning business… Lindy mentions some favourite books, one of which is Old Peter’s Russian Tales.’
Kathryn Brissenden wrote: ‘In Coming Home by Rosamunde Pilcher, Judith gets given the latest Arthur Ransome for Christmas. Winter Holiday, I think it was.’
Liz Taylorson has brought out a romance entitled Summer Showers at Elder Fell Farm that not only features the book Swallows and Amazons but makes quite a thing of Titty’s name. You can find the extract here. There is a winter follow-up.
Kit Pearson wrote the Guests of War trilogy (The Sky is Falling, Looking at the Moon and The Lights Go On Again). Adam Quinan explained that they are about a British sister and brother evacuated to Canada during the early days of the Second World War. ‘The older sister loved Ransome’s books and compares his stories to Ontario lakeside cottage life.’
In Red Letter Holiday by Virginia Pye the mother of the family is reading Swallows and Amazons aloud. Teacher, Teacher! by Jack Sheffield has one of his star pupils reading Swallows and Amazons, which is listed with other novels in The Last Lifeboat by Hazel Gaynor.
Magnus Smith says that How the Heather Looks by Joan Bodger and Marianne Dreams by Catherine Storr mention Ransome’s books.
Kirsty Seccombe of The Arthur Ransome group read ‘The Summer of Secrets’ by Barbara Hannay, published in 2019, which is mainly set in North Queensland. When a guest arrives by canoe at a dinner party the main female character exclaims, ‘Just like Swallows and Amazons!’
In The Boyhood of Grace Jones by Jane Langton, an American book from 1972, the main character is obsessed by the books, and fantasizes about being as good a sailor as John Walker.
Mary Treadgold mentions Swallows and Amazons in her WWII children’s novel We Couldn’t Leave Dinah published in 1941. It was her first book and won the Carnegie Medal.
W.J. Burley, the Cornish crime writer, gives Charles Wycliffe, the fictional police detective is his books and TV series, a love for Arthur Ransome’s books.
Danny Brocklehurst mentions Swallows and Amazons very briefly in Stone.
Libby Purves, once President of The Arthur Ransome Society, mentions Swallows and Amazons in her novel Regatta. I need reminding if she mentions Ransome in her other books.
Victor Watson references Swallows and Amazons in his Paradise Barn quartet. I think one of the kids wants to borrow it from the library.
The Swallows and Amazon series gets mentioned An Island of our Own by Sally Nicholls, and Impossible! by Michelle Magorian. Does she also mention We Didn’t Mean To Go To Sea in Goodnight Mr Tom?
Clare Havens refers to Swallows and Amazons in The Bellamy Bird, a novel which she asked Virginia McKenna to narrate when it came out as an audiobook.
Tessa Hadley wrote about the Mate Susan being dull, tame and sensible in her short story entitled Bad Dreams. Tessa Jordan says that it, ‘contains the most remarkable depiction of the spell cast by Swallows and Amazons.’ It was reviewed in the Guardian here.
A member of the Arthur Ransome Group wrote: “I’ve recently finished listening to the audio version of ‘Warlight’, Michael Ondaatje‘s post-WW2, espionage novel (for adults)… early on in the story, the child protagonist has a copy of ‘Swallows and Amazons’ and, when another child has an epileptic-type fit nearby, an adult present jams the book into the fitting child’s mouth, presumably to stop her biting her tongue. Could this be the most bizarre intertextual referencing of an AR novel so far?”
Other authors, playwrights and illustrators have expressed their love for the Swallows and Amazon series:
Janet Mearns wrote to say, ‘I am reading author Penelope Lively‘s account of her childhood in Egypt where English children’s books were in short supply. She says, ‘…when the Arthur Ransome books found their way to…Cairo I became infatuated, addicted.”
Christine Stevenson said that she was introduced to Swallows and Amazons by ‘The Unlikely Voyage of Jack de Crow’ by AJ Mackinnon about his journey from Shropshire to the Black Sea in a Mirror dinghy.
Garth Nix who wrote The Left-Handed Book Sellers of London specifically calls out ‘Swallows and Amazons’ as an inspiration at the end of his book.
Philip Pullman chose We Didn’t Mean to go to Sea as one of his 40 favourite children’s books in a Waterstones promotion and borrows Ransome’s phrase ‘signaling to Mars’ from Winter Holiday in La Belle Sauvage.
Dame Fiona Kidman, novelist, poet, short story writer, loved Swallows and Amazons so much she ‘read it and reread it many times’ but I don’t know if she refers to Arthur Ransomes books in any of her own works. Please let me know in the comment below.
JRR Tolkein who corresponded with Ransome gave ‘Swallows and Amazons’ books to his children, reporting back favourably: ‘I am sure Mr Baggins would agree in words such as he used to Thorin: to have been fancied by you, that is more than any hobbit could have expected.’
Jeanne Birdsall‘s Penderwicks books are highly recommended for young Ransome fans. Alan Kennedy has also written in what has become a Ransome genre.
Katherine Hull and Pamela Whitlock were young fans of Arthur Ransome who helped and encouraged them to publish their novel The Far-Distant Oxus.
BJ Pitman references Swallows and Amazons in Airmid and Satori in the Banduri series.
A passage in Paula Daly has a character reading Swallows and Amazons in her excellent crime novel set in the Lakes District near Windemere, What kind of mother are you?
Bella Mackie mentions Arthur Ransome stories in chapter sixteen of How to Kill Your Family, but spells his name incorrectly.
Rebecca Tope refers to some children playing at Swallows and Amazons in the first book of her Lake District series of cosy crime detective books entitled, The Windermere Witness
Arthur Ransome books are mentioned by Elinor Brent-Dyer in Changes for the Chalet School
Many authors have been inspired by Ransome:
Duncan Hall brought out the Brambleholme series of books for children aged 8-80 set in the Yorkshire Dales.
Jon Tucker has written a series five Those Kids books set in Tasmania and New Zealand that effectively bring Ransome into the 21st Century.
Jack Dylan, the reclusive Irish writer and author of Myles Away, described Swallows and Amazons as, ‘The childhood book that I cannot forget’.
Julia Jones, whose Strong Winds series begins around the Shotley Peninsular where the Ransomes once lived, is a great fan of the Swallows and Amazons series. She has been sailing Arthur Ransome’s yacht Peter Duck since she was a little girl and mentions his books in her novels. She writes on behalf of other authors who quote Swallows and Amazons: ‘All of us are honest about our inspiration: we acknowledge Arthur Ransome in our credits / we join The Arthur Ransome Society / introduce a Swallows and Amazons-reading child into our stories and in my case, at least, get our lead characters thinking desperately ‘what would the Swallows do next?” You can read more in her article about authors who have been inspired by Ransome’s writing entitled X Marks the Legacy.
Julia reminds me that Marcus Sedgwick wrote a whole novel based on Arthur Ransome’s adventures in Russia where he met Evgenia, the woman who was to become his second wife, entitled Blood Red, Snow White. I have a copy.
The science fiction author Charles Stross also features Ransome in Russia during the Civil War in one of The Laundry Files novels: The Apocalypse Codex.
Catherine Lamont added, ‘there is an Agatha Christie TV adaptation in which one of the protagonists is seen reading Swallows and Amazons to a child character. (I think it’s ‘Why didn’t they ask Evans?’)
You might be able to find out more on All Things Ransome.
Please leave any other connections who might have spotted in the comments below.
What is most memorable about the making of ‘Swallows and Amazons’ for you?
I love exploring the places Arthur Ransome features in his stories. We were privileged to live out the pages of the book on location in the Lake District, but sailing in nothing but a short cotton dress and a pair of navy blue gym knickers was decidedly chilly – we earned our passage.
Would you consider Susan to be an influence on Titty within the story?
Susan made camping on the island possible. Suzanna Hamilton, the remarkable British actress who played Susan in the original film of ‘Swallows and Amazons’, became our rock without becoming prim or losing the joy and excitement of adventure. She went on to play leading roles in a number of major movies including ‘Out of Africa’ opposite Meryl Streep and ‘1984’ with John Hurt and Richard Burton. She is still working on cutting edge productions and recently had a guest appearance in ‘Eastenders’.
Is there anything you think should always be included in different versions of ‘Swallows and Amazons’?
You must feature the green parrot! It’s vital to enter the world of a 9-12 year old child, capturing the trepidation. It would be interesting to adapt Arthur Ransome’s books without featuring adults, or only including them as shadowy facilitators.
How did you feel about playing a part where you were able to be the cunning and playful younger sister?
In real life, I was the elder of three sisters so took on the roles of both John and Susan. Playing Titty felt something of a release. I was freed from the responsibility of taking the helm.
Titty is well-read and bright, creative and imaginative but I wouldn’t call her cunning. She longs to be alone on the island to experience what it was like to be Robinson Crusoe, which is why she volunteers to stay behind to light the candles, but is that a cunning plot? She is an innocent.
What was your favourite line in Swallows and Amazons?
Titty’s lines are challenging and can only be uttered with humour and an acceleration of charm. I rather enjoyed, ‘X marks the spot where we ate six missionaries’, although I don’t think it can be found in the book. ‘Thank you so much for letting us see your lovely serpent’ would probably be disallowed these days.
Did you have a favourite scene?
Finding the lighthouse tree was a short sequence that worked well. We shot it on the banks of Derwentwater towards the end of the filming. But I most enjoyed our day with the charcoal burners. They were wonderful.
What did you enjoy most about filming in the Lake District?
We loved High Force, the waterfall, and exploring the mossy woodlands. Secret Harbour on Peel Island is very special, as is One Tree Island where we found the treasure.
Do you feel that you and your character influenced children?
Even now, nearly 48 years after the film was released, I receive correspondence from people telling me how the original film of ‘Swallows and Amazons’ influenced their lives or helped carry them through a tough patch. It is always wonderful to hear how Titty has inspired others.
Maurice Thomas who used to live in Cockermouth wrote: ‘My mum and my Auntie Gladys took me to see this little children’s flick in 1974/5 as it was a double bill with ‘The Railway Children‘. I remember ‘The Railway Children‘ reasonably fondly, but ‘Swallows & Amazons‘ had me utterly mesmerised.’
If you were to give any advice to actors wanting to perform in ‘Swallows and Amazons’ what would it be?
Visit the locations. Go to Bank Ground Farm and run, fast, down the field to dip your hands in the lake as Arthur Ransome did as a child. Capture that feeling and carry it with you as you sing out the lines.
And be prepared for the impact the story will have. It could follow you all your life.
To read another recent interview with Authors Reach please click here
If you would like to read more about the secrets of filming Swallows and Amazons, you can ‘Look inside’ the ebook free of charge here:
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:
‘Unlike other films, ‘Swallows and Amazons’ is within children’s reach,’ I’ve been told. It’s true. Any child can pretend that their bed is a sailing dinghy taking them to a deserted island. And when you are a little bit older – it’s not impossible to join a sailing club or go camping.
We took Swallow to join the Aldeburgh Junior Lapwings on the River Alde in Suffolk.
One intrepid sailor had bought her own Lapwing for £100, raising the money by busking in Aldeburgh High Street. Tilly renovated and varnished the clinker-built dinghy herself.
She can be seen here teaching the younger children how to owl hoot, playing ‘What Shall We Do With The Drunken Sailor’ on her thumbs.
The children went fishing for crabs, which they later raced down the slipway.
They went in search of treasure – if that is what you call a scavenger hunt –
before sailing back to camp by the mud flats, cooking out in the open and sleeping in tents.
They launched their dinghies, raised their red sails
and headed off, catching the tide.
Swallow, the dinghy used in the 1974 film ‘Swallows & Amazons’ acted as flag ship.
You can find ideas for Swallows and Amazons themed parties and presents here.
You can read about the adventures we had making the original movie of ‘Swallows and Amazons’ in these illustrated publications available online:
We were sad to hear that Lucy Batty has passed away. She was 87. Our thoughts are with her family. She will be fondly remembered by visitors from all over the world who were made so welcome at Bank Ground Farm above Coniston Water in the Lake District, which she ran as a guest house for many years. It was also used as a film location, becoming known as ‘Holly Howe’ in Richard Pilbrow’s 1974 movie, Swallows & Amazons.
I first met Mrs Batty when we filmed in her home back in 1973 and returned to stay with her in 2003 when the BBC asked Suzanna Hamilton and myself if we would appear in Countryfile, which they were filming at Bank Ground Farm with Ben Fogle. It was then that she had time to show me her photo albums. What a life she led! She was very proud of having brought up seven children on the farm, “Two of my own and five that came with my husband,” she explained. “Getting them all off to school in the mornings was such hard work that my in-laws came to help on my first day.They all wanted bread and dripping for breakfast, with sugar sprinkled on top.”
“A magistrate once asked me what running a B&B entailed. ‘It’s much like looking after cattle,’ I told him. ‘You bring ‘um in, feed ‘um, see they’re bedded down, turn ’em out and muck’um out.’ He flung back his head and roared with laughter.”
She had a great sense of humour. I have a cutting from an article in The News written by Brenda Colton and published on 25th May 1973. It reads:
‘When Mrs Lucy Batty was asked if her house could be used for the setting of the film Swallows and Amazons, with guest star Virginia McKenna, she was delighted. After all, her home, Bank Ground Farm on the east side of Coniston Water, near Brantwood, was the setting chosen by Arthur Ransome for his children’s book Swallows and Amazons.
Mrs Batty thought it a good idea that the story should be filmed in an authentic location, and she felt she should be able to put up with a few cameras and film men for a while. But she just did not realise the scale of a “medium budget” film like this one, or what the production staff could do to her house. It was not the two double-decker buses coming down the path and parking on the farm that she minded, nor the numerous vans, lorries, cars and caravans. It was not even the difficulty of having 80 men and women wandering round the farmhouse carrying equipment here, there and everywhere. But when art director Simon Holland started tearing up her lino and carpet in the kitchen to get to the bare stone floor, she did get a little annoyed. Especially when he removed all the electric sockets, lights and switches, pushed all the kitchen furniture into the larder and whitewashed the newly papered walls.
“Have you seen the kitchen?” Mrs Batty said to me. “The larder is piled high with my furniture; and you would not believe the tip my lounge is in. But they are a funny lot. I asked if I could wash the beams in the kitchen for them, and they said ‘Oh no, we want them to look old.’ I have even had to hunt out a lot of old pottery from the cellar for them.
“But I have given up now. I have just left them to it.”
What she never knew was that Ian Whittaker the set dresser went on to win an Oscar for set design and received Academy Nominations on three other classic movies.
What I really did not know, until I watched the BBC documentary ‘Country Tracks’, was that Mrs Batty reached the point when she locked out the crew. She explained that when she was originally asked if we could film on her property she did not quite realise the scale of operations and only asked for – or accepted – a location fee of £75. She said that she decided that £75 was not enough, padlocked her front gate and wouldn’t let them back in until they agreed to pay her £1,000. It was a lot of money, more than double the fee I received for acting in the whole movie.
To read a little more about filming of Swallows & Amazons at Bank Ground Farm, please click here.
For the amusing clip of Lucy Batty being interviewed by Ben Fogle about hosting the film company please click here and fast forward.
For Bank Ground Farm’s website please click here
I am sure many people reading this have their own memories of Mrs Batty who was such a great character. Please do add them to the Comments box below. I feel it would be a tribute to all the hard work and love she put into making Bank Ground available over the decades for so many to enjoy.
You can read more about the adventures we had making the original film Swallows and Amazons here:
Newspapers are read one day and on the kitchen floor the next. Back in 1974 they might have been used to wrap up fish and chips. Either way, an article in the ‘paper is soon forgotten. Not so a feature in a magazine. They tend to hang around in hotel foyers and doctor’s surgeries for waiting to have their pages turned for months, if not years. The judgement they cast on our movie was important.
To my surprise I found an article about how we spent the summer of 1973 in ‘Homes and Garden’ magazine.
What amazed me was that the black and white photographs taken on the film set had been colour tinted. Please forgive my scanning – the pages were stuck in albums long ago and the images blur at the edge.
Surely she was the journalist also known by her married name of Elspeth Huxley, the author who had written The Flame Trees of Thika and so many other books? She wasn’t quite right in saying the film was shot entirely on location in the Lake District, but still. She was not to know about our day at Runnymede.
We were in both Punch and The Sunday People. My mother saved them all, scratching lines alongside the paragraphs in which I was mentioned.
and The Tablet.
What’s On and the News of the World:
The April addition of the film fan magazine Photoplay, which featured Steve McQueen on the cover. It cost 20p in those days.
and a publishing magazine I hadn’t heard of called Smith’s Trade News ~
The true story is told in ‘The Making of Swallows and Amazons’ available online in different formats including an audiobook.
