Barbara Altounyan – Sophie Neville

Barbara Altounyan, who founded the charity, Hospice Biographers, interviewed me for Family-Talk, a wonderful project that she set up to unite families.

Barbara’s father, Roger Altounyan, was not only the inspiration for The Boy Roger in Arthur Ransome’s series of ‘Swallows and Amazons’ books but qualified as a doctor, becoming the allergist who developed the Intal asthma inhaler. He experimented on himself so many times that he died prematurely, aged sixty-five. Barbara was able to interview him just before he passed away. The recording is so precious that she is keen to record the biographies of others.

You can listen to our interview here. It starts rather abruptly but is quite fun – a bit like Desert Island Discs without the music:

Do find out about Family-Talk and think of contacting Barbara yourself. She is able to conduct hour-long interviews on a Thursday and send the recording via We Transfer. Her service is completely free of charge. If you would like to be interviewed, please email Barbara at hello@family-talk.co.uk

Barbara says:

• All recordings are GDPR privacy compliant, ie they are strictly confidential and will not be shared.

• All interviews are currently conducted over the phone / WhatsApp

• A professional audio engineer ensures best possible quality sound

• Family-Talk is available to absolutely anyone who wishes to have their life story recorded over the phone. It is great for those who wish to have a heart-warming conversation with someone from a different generation within their own family and the technology is able to connect lots of different people, on one line. UK Citizens can be connected with anyone across the country or abroad.

Barbara Altounyan quoted in The Times this week

Barbara Altounyan is hugely experienced reporter and a television executive who produced H£ir Hunt£rs, Horizon, Tomorrow’s World and many documentaries, including the docu-drama Hair Soup starring David Suchet as her father immersed in in quest to find a treatment for asthma.

Barbara speaking on Radio 4’s Today show – May 2022

More information can be found on the website: www.family-talk.co.uk (Barbara says “No one will be able to find us without the hyphen!”)

Hospice Biographers, inspired by Roger Altounyan, also records memoirs free of charge. If you would like to find out more about this nationwide charity for end-of-life patients, please click here

Barbara Altounyan and Sophie Neville at an AGM of The Arthur Ransome Society

Barbara was named after her great aunt Barbara Collingwood who knew Arthur Ransome well. I have used archive photos to profile, her father, Dr Roger Altounyan here

You can watch a profile caught on a film made by Fisons here:

Titty was the name of an imaginative and ‘highly original’ little girl who Arthur Ransome first got to know in the Lake District when she was aged eight. When I met her niece Barbara Altounyan, she was most amused to hear that I had once played her Auntie Titty.

Sophie Neville as Titty in Swallows and Amazons

~Sophie Neville playing Titty Altounyan in the 1974 film ‘Swallows & Amazons’. Official photograph taken a Bank Ground Farm above Coniston Water copyright: StudioCanal~

I’d brought Barbara some long lost family photographs that included some of Titty’s wedding in Aleppo. They are beautiful.

Titty and Ernest - wedding in 1954

Titty on the arm of her father, Dr Ernest Altounyan in Aleppo, 1954

Titty Altounyan's wedding

Titty on her wedding day with her husband Melkon Guzelian, her sister-in-law, her father Ernest Altounyan, her mother Dora and brother Roger, far right. You can also see Roger, Ernest and Dora below, with Roger’s wife standing far right.

Titty's wedding group

There is also a more informal shot.

Titty's wedding in 1954

‘Don’t you want to know about Titty?’ Barbara asked me. ‘She was a very detailed person and quite a perfectionist.’ I knew she was a wonderful artist who had studied under Henry Moore at the Chealsea School of Art. Although she produced a lot of colourful art, she was unwilling to ever attempt to sell her work. I was also told she also had long legs. I only hope that I have represented her well.

Titty with Brigit and Joe,John Sanders, 1953

Titty Altounyan at her sister Brigit’s wedding to John Sanders in 1953

Titty obituary - The Guardian

You can see a couple more family photos on ‘Secret Britain – The Lakes’ has been on BBC iPlayer at about 11.50 minis in. Those in the UK can view the programme here.

(NB: Ransome did not write ‘Swallows and Amazons’ while on holiday on Coniston Water as was stated in the programme. To see a photograph of Low Ludderburn, the house above Windermere where Arthur Ransome lived and wrote ‘Swallows and Amazons’ please click here and scroll down.)

You can read about what it was like to play the part of Able Seaman Titty in the original film of ‘Swallows and Amazons’ in this illustrated paperback, available online or to order from libraries worldwide:

Screenshot of The Making of Swallows and Amazons book cover on Instagram