Stephen Grendon – Page 10

Suzanna’s diary about filming ‘Swallows and Amazons’ on location in the Lake District in 1973

bw Susan and Titty in their tent — Suzanna Hamilton as Susan with Sophie Neville as Titty busy writing the ship’s log

Something very exciting happened last week. Suzanna Hamilton came to see me, bringing the photographs that she was given during the filming of Swallows and Amazons along with a bundle of papers. I immediately recognised the blue bound diary that she had kept. Her God-given sense of humour fills the pages.

Although Titty was the one who always kept the ship’s log in Arthur Ransome’s stories, we children all kept journals during the filming as part of our school work. It was quite a task.

Suzanna’s diary gives the story of making the film of Swallows and Amazons from the perspective of an actress, the actress she was then and ever more will be. Even before we began filming she was getting as excited as Susan about grog and molasses, calling us by our charcter names as Claude Whatham suggested.

Anna Scher ran the most wonderful children’s theatre club in Islington, which Zanna went to after school, along with Pauline Quirke and Linda Robson. I visited Anna Scher’s Theatre Club ten years later when I was casting children for the BBC drama serial of ‘Coot Club’ and ‘The Big Six’. Although I didn’t find anyone there who could sail I held Anna Scher in huge admiration and respect, using her exercises when I was auditioning kids in Norfolk. She did so much for the young people of east London, giving children confidence with self-discipline aquired during their drama lessons and workshops.

David Wood, who wrote the screenplay of Swallows and Amazons, was already well known as an actor. Mum was rather in awe of him since he had played Johnny in Z Cars and had starred the feature film ‘If…’ alongside Malcolm McDowell. He had been a storyteller on the BBC Childrens Television programme we all adored called Jackanory. Suzanna had been involved in the same series when E.Nesbit’s ‘The Treasure Seekers’ had been read. She had also appeared in ‘The Edwardians’ form the book by E.Nesbit directed by James Cellan Jones in 1972. By coincidence Pauline Quirke played Eliza in ‘The Story of the Treasure Seekers’ in 1982 and I worked with her a few years later on Rockliffe’s Babies. My mother appeared in a pantomine David Wood wrote called The Gingerbread Man when it was produced at The Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham. She wore red with a pill-box hat as Miss Ginger.

Susan taking the kettle off the fire on Peel Island, Coniston Water — Suzanna Hamilton playing Susan Walker with Stephen Grendon as Roger Walker camping on Peel Island, Coniston Water in Cumbria, the Lake District

You can read more in the ebook ‘The Secrets of Filming Swallows and Amazons (1974) available from Amazon Kindle and all ebook retailers.

Filming with Dame Virginia McKenna at Bank Ground Farm, Cumbria ~ on 21st June 1973

Fifty one years ago this day, we were filming with Dame Virginia McKenna at the location used for Arthur Ransome’s Holly Howe above Coniston Water. It was a day of days – the sunshiny day that we had all be waiting for.

David Bracknell with Virginia McKenna at Bank Ground Farm — First Assistant Director David Bracknell standing-in (or kneeling-in) for Roger with Dame Virginia McKenna at Bank Ground Farm. The great trees in the background are sadly no longer there ~ photo: Daphne Neville (c)

The gift of a day when buttercups and daisies were still out in the field that flows from Holly Howe to the lake. Roger was able to tack up the meadow to receive the ‘despatches’ from Mrs Walker, described in the opening pages of Arthur Ransome’s book.

Dame Virginia McKenna reading the IF NOT DUFFERS telegram to Sten Grendon as Roger

‘…Each crossing of the field brought him nearer to the farm. The wind was against him, and he was tacking up against it to the farm, where at the gate his patient mother was awaiting him.’

Virginia McKenna with Hairdresser Ronnie Cogan — Dame Virginia McKenna having her hair adjusted by Ronnie Cogan ~ photo:Daphne Neville (c)

I don’t think you can tell that this section of the scene was recorded seven whole days later than the sequence that runs directly on from this when the Boy Roger delivers the very same ‘If not duffers’ telegram to Captain John.

Virginia McKenna as Mother in Swallows and Amazons 1

The hole that had been dug for the camera alongside our picnic had been filled in. You can see this from Mother’s perspective when I was milling about near the lake looking towards the island I couldn’t actually see.

Virginia McKenna holding the telegramme — Dame Virginia McKenna on location at Bank Ground Farm (Holly Howe) in the Lake District. Property Master Bob Hedges is working in the foreground. Lee Electric lighting assistants stand-by with reflector boards while Assistant Sound Recordist Gay Lawley-Wakelin waits on a box with the boom ~ photo: Daphne Neville (c)

Poor Sten, he had to run up the field on what proved to be our hottest day in a sleeveless sweater. I remember Jean McGill, the Unit Nurse ministering cool drinks and a flannel soaked in cool eau de Cologne to make sure he did not get dehydrated. We all wanted a go with the cool cloth on the back of our necks at lunch time.

With Virginia McKenna at Bank Ground Farm — The Walker Family ~ Suzanna Hamilton playing Susan, Stephen Grendon as Roger, Sophie Neville as Titty, Dame Virginia McKenna as Mother and Simon West as John. photo: Daphne Neville (c)

It was good to escape the heat by getting out on the water. We shot the scene set on the old stone jetty at the boat houses below the farm when Titty leads ‘Good Queen Bess’ down to the harbour to inspect her ship. I didn’t realise she had a large box of matches in her hand. Virginia kept it a surprise from us in real life. I was excited to find out that Simon Holland, the Designer had painted the branded cover by hand.

Dame Virginia McKenna bids the Swallows farewell — Farewell and adieu to you fair Spanish ladies

As the call sheet specifies, our dinghy Swallow had been loaded with all the tents and camping equipment that had been on Peel Island the day before. I didn’t realise at the time quite how often the design team had struck camp and made it up again. I just sat on top of the equipment singing Adieu and Farewell, not very well, as we sailed out onto Coniston Water, waving goodbye to our Fair Spanish Ladies.

Arriving at Holly Howe — Claude Whatham with Dame Virginia McKenna. Mrs Jackson stands patinetly at the door ~ photo: Daphne Neville (c)

I am sure that we had already recorded the scene in David Wood’s screenplay when the Walker family arrive at Holly Howe, but Claude decided to take advantage of the golden light and shoot it again. I am sure this was a good decision. It had been a long day and we were tired but the excitement of our arrival is tangible.

Nurse with Baby Vicky, the ship's baby — Nurse with Baby Vicky, the ship’s baby at Holly Howe ~ photo: Daphne Neville(c)

My mother observed that Mrs and Mrs Jackson, Mrs Walker’s nurse and Vicky the ship’s baby, who were listed as Extras on the call sheet, were particularly well cast. Kerry Darbishire, who played the nurse, told me later that she had a daughter of the same age as Tiffany Smith seen here as Vicky. She could have brought her along. It was important they were there, playing ‘The stay-at-homes.’ Vicky anchored Mrs Walker to the farm, making it impossible for her to sail to the island with the Swallows.

Sophie Neville holding the horses — Stephen Grendon, Sophie Neville and Simon West with Mr Jackson at Holly Howe~ photo: Daphne Neville

It must have been a long day for the little girl. It was a long hot day for all of us, but a happy day.

Simon West, Stephen Grendon, Suzanna Hamilton and Sophie Neville — Simon West, Stephen Grendon, Suzanna Hamilton & Sophie Neville playing the Walker children in ‘Swallows and Amazons’ 1973 ~photo: Daphne Neville(c)

The women who had been taken on as our stand-ins the day before did not seem to be around to help limit the hours we spent on set. David Bracknell, the first assistant director stood in for Roger. One of the women later claimed that she played Virginia McKenna in long-shots but the only long shot was taken of the Spanish Ladies on the jetty and I’m pretty sure that is Dame Virginia herself.

The Walker Family at Holly Howe — Stephen Grendon, Simon West, Dame Virginia McKenna, Suzanna Hamilton and Sophie Neville, trying not to look as tall as she was in 1973 ~ photo: Daphne Neville(c)

What I really did not know, until I watched the documentary broadcast last Sunday, was that Mrs Batty, who held the lease on Bank Ground Farm, had 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.

Lesley Bennett's photo of the double decker buses at Bank Ground Farm in 1973 — Lesley Bennett’s photo of the double decker buses at Bank Ground Farm in 1973

The arrival of the two red double-decker buses, the Lee Electric van, the generator and other lorries, not to mention the Make-up caravan rather daunted her, as did the furniture moving activities involved at the start of the filming when we shot the interior scenes. The idea that the film would bless her Bed & Breakfast and Tearoom business for the next fifty years alluded her. She said that she decided that £75 was not enough, padlocked her front gate and wouldn’t let the crew back in until they agreed to pay her £1,000. It was a lot of money, more than double the fee I received.

Sophie Neville with Lucy Batty in 1973 — Sophie Neville with Lucy Batty at Bank Ground Farm in 1973 ~ photo: Daphne Neville(c)

You may have seen the BBC documentary about the making of Swallows and Amazons, when Ben Fogle interviewed Suzanna Hamilton and myself at Bank Ground Farm for ‘Big Screen Britain’. This was re-packaged on a programme called Country Tracks. My father’s 16mm footage had been skillfully inter-cut with an interview with our Director, Claude Whatham. I did not know that it was being broadcast but was able to watch on-line. Sophie Neville at the Bank Ground Farm Boathouses ~The Author Sophie Neville at the boatshed in 2013~

If you would like to read more, ‘The Secrets of Filming Swallows and Amazons (1974)’ is available on Amazon Kindle and all ebook platforms and the paperback on ‘The Making of Swallows and Amazons’ can be found in Waterstones from all online stockists.

Ronald Fraser arrives in the Lake District to play Captain Flint ~ on 20th June 1973

Sophie Neville and Simon West with Ronald Fraser playing Captain Flint — Sophie Neville, Simon West and Suzanna Hamilton with Ronald Fraser playing Captain Flint in the 1973 film of Arthur Ransome’s ‘Swallows and Amazons’

Ronald Fraser! veteran of World War II movies who had won an award for playing Basil Allenby-Johnson in The Misfits, had arrived on the shore of Coniston Water in two-tone shoes. Curiously so had two stand-ins. A short lady for me, who had dark hair, and a lady with blonde hair for Suzanna Hamilton. I have blonde hair and Suzanna is dark, but that is how it was.

Contact sheet - Ronald Fraser with Lesley Bennett

The other four actors didn’t have stand-ins, which seemed odd. Kit Seymour, who played Nancy Blackett, and Lesley Bennett in the role of Peggy, rehearsed as usual. The two boys, Simon West and Sten Grendon, were younger than us but never had stand-ins, so that seemed odder. We didn’t think the ladies would be very comfortable on Peel Island. There wasn’t exactly a powder room there.

Suzanna Hamilton and the crew with Ronal Fraser — Director Claude Whatham and Bobby Sitwell with Suzanna Hamilton playing Susan Walker and Ronald Fraser as Jim Turner aka Captain Flint

And we were some way into the filming, used to handling props that the stand-ins found alien. However they were very excited about coming over to Peel Island. They sat in our positions and read our lines back to Ronald Fraser whilst the scene at the camp site was lit, and returned to stand-in for us later when his close-ups were shot. Somehow they managed to do this in scanty summer clothing despite a brewing storm.

My stand-in. I liked her very much and was most interested in her tapestry, since I was doing one myself. Lots of the men in the crew were interested in her tapestry too. They hadn’t noticed mine.

Our stand-ins got a lot of help from the crew as they went from ship to shore. We didn’t, but then we were agile and wore life-jackets. Mummy didn’t wear a life-jacket, but she has always been surprising good at getting in and out of boats. Her comment on the matter of my stand-in was, ‘Most unsuitable for a children’s film.’ Mum became increasingly concise: ‘I don’t think that woman was invited. She just turned up.’

20th June ~ my diary page two — Enthused by our Stand-in, Lesley Bennett and I went into Ambleside that evening to buy more wool for our own tapestries.

Ronald Fraser on Peel Island The recording of our scene with Captain Flint on Peel Island went smoothly, and Claude Whatham the Director was happy with the result, but my diary reports that a Force 8 gale blew in. This spun the poor production team into a quandary.

The call sheet for Thursday 20th June documents how truly unpredictable the weather could be. We had a ‘Fine Weather Call’, an ‘Alternative Dull Weather Call’, ‘Rain Cover’ in the Houseboat cabin, and a pencilled-in end-plan entitled ‘Peel Island’, which is where we’d ended up. Richard Pilbrow, the Producer, had a 1970s embroidered patch sewn to his jeans which read: THE DECISION IS MAYBE AND THAT’S FINAL.

The Call Sheet that never-was for 20th June 1973. We ended up on Peel Island.

In Arthur Ransome’s book Swallows and Amazons there is a dramatic storm with lashing rain. We were rather disappointed that it was not included in David Wood’s screenplay. It could have been shot that afternoon, but this was not to be. I can remember Mum saying, ‘You can’t have everything.’

What had been good about the 20th June was that we, the Swallows and the

Captian Flint challenges us to capture his houseboat Amazons, were all together, not sailing but on Wild Cat Island, with the novelty of working with Captain Flint for the first time. Kit and Lesley had been so patient, waiting day after day for their scenes to come up. They were stuck having lessons with our tutor Mrs Causey in the red double-decker bus most of the time. But the fact that they were on stand-by was helpful to the production manager who had to wrestle with the film schedule and call sheets.

Blu-ray Sophie Neville with Ronald Fraser

As it was, the storm blew hard but cleared the dull-weather clouds and the next day was glorious, one to remember forever…

You can read more in the paperback or ebook here. There is also an audiobook narrated by me, Sophie Neville.

Filming the night scenes for ‘Swallows and Amazons’ on 19th June 1973

The Lake District is very beautiful. The problem about filming there is that it can rain quite hard – ‘heavily’ – was the word I used in 1973.

By this stage in the filming of Swallows and Amazons Claude Whatham only had one ‘rain cover’ option. We were kept busy recording sea shanties with Virginia McKenna at the Kirkstone Foot Hotel by Lake Windermere while Dennis Lewiston, the DOP, lit Mrs Batty’s barn at Bank Ground Farm above Coniston Water.

Arthur Ransome must have done much to revive the songs of the sea:

Farewell and adieu to you, fair Spanish ladies, Farewell and adieu to you, ladies of Spain; For we’ve under orders for to sail for old England, And we may never see you fair ladies again.

We never got as far as the ranting and roaring bit in the film.

No one really knows how old this naval song is. The Oxford Book of Sea Songs, mentions it in the logbook of the Nellie of 1796, long before shanties really came established as a genre. All I know is that Titty loved it and was still singing it in Peter Duck when the song became quite useful for navigating the English Channel.

‘The first land we sighted was called the Dodman, Next Rame Head off Plymouth, Start, Portland and Wight; We sailed by Beachy, by Fairlight and Dover, And then we bore up for the South Foreland light,’ or sort of.

Walking into Mrs Batty’s barn that day was hugely exciting. Simon Holland, the art director or set designer, had rebuilt the camp there, lighting a real fire.

Sophie Neville as Titty in Swallows and Amazons — Sophie Neville as Titty

Swallow was nmounted on a cradle so that she could be rocked, as if by water, as the scenes of her sailing at night were shot. It was brilliant, she even went about. Moonlight wasn’t not a problem. Richard Pilbrow can correct me, but I think it was produced by a lamp called a ‘tall blonde’. I don’t think we had a wind machine. The Prop Men used a large sheet of cardboard to produce a breeze.

Contact sheet - Simon West and Suzanna Hamilton night sailing

‘Wouldn’t Titty have liked this?’

‘Liked what?’

‘Sailing like this in the dark.’

’57, 58, 60, 61…’

‘What’s the matter?’

‘Can’t you hear it? The wind in the trees? We must be near the bank. Quick, Susan lower the sail! Roger, catch the yard as it comes down!’ Then there is a crunch as the Swallows hit a landing stage. All mocked up. Quite fun.

‘What about Titty?’

Amazon was placed on the same mounting. I climbed aboard and started wrapping myself up in her white sail.

Children always love the irony of John saying, ‘She’s at the camp. She’ll be alright. She’s got a tent,’ when the shot cuts to me looking damp and uncomfortable about sleeping in Amazon, anchored out on the water.

Burgulars approaching Cormorant Island

Later I wake up and come out from under the sail to hear the burglars heaving Captain Flint’s trunk across Cormorant Island. All in all we achieved quite a bit on that wet day in Westmorland. Much safer and easier than being out on the water. Because the cradle was at waist height Claude was able to get lower angle shots than when out on the camera pontoon. Simon West, who played John, did really well. He managed to convince me that he was really sailing when I watched the film and I knew he wasn’t.

I’m pretty sure this scene of us inside a tent at night was actually shot on Peel Island but I may be wrong. We had a fire in the barn. If you look closely you can see an electric cable going into the lantern to boost light from the candle. The night scenes were tricky to light and shoot, but there was something about them that was intimate and exciting for children. I assume they would normally be in bed but it was the summer holiday and excitement was afoot.

Sophie Neville in the tent at night

Back at our guest house in Ambleside there was a real life drama. Little Simon Price had gone missing. He was the small boy last seen on the beach at Rio, having his shorts pulled up by his sister. The Police were called and everything. But as in a lot of real life situations, things were sorted out, and we returned to the mundane world of maths lessons. I was tutored by Helen, one of the students at the Charlotte Mason College of Education who was also lodging at Oaklands as Mrs Causey, our teacher, could not ‘do modern Maths.’

You can read more here:

A day off in Blackpool ~ whilst filming ‘Swallows and Amazons’ on 16th June 1973

Apart from referring to us as The Swallows and The Amazons, our director Claude Whatham always called us his artistes – ‘My art-istes!’ This was, of course, because far from being trained actors we were just the children who made up his cast.

It was Saturday morning on 16th June 1973 and a day off from filming. We’d all been working hard. Instead of resting, Claude took us all to Blackpool, the famous holiday destination of the north west. None of us had ever been before. It was a great treat and hugely exciting. I can remember choosing the clothes I would wear, and putting on a shell necklace Daddy had brought back from Africa, for the occasion.

A complete contrast to camping and sailing in the wilds of Westmorland, Blackpool proved a day trip to remember.

It must have taken more than an hour-and-a-half to travel from Ambleside to the Blackpool promenade in those days. Jean McGill, our friend and driver, drove us down in the unit mini-bus. We were joined for the day by Ronnie Cogan, the hairdresser on the film crew, and of course Mum and Jane came as our parents and legal chaperones. I’m pretty sure Ronnie smoked the whole way there and back, but we all adored him and were thrilled he wanted to come too.

The first thing we did was to buy those crazy hats. I chose one I could wear later as I rather needed a sunhat. y the end of the day Sten had swapped his for Claude’s cap, which he wore for ages afterwards.

Blackpool funfari 1973 — Claude Whatham with Stephen Grendon and Daphne Neville with Leseley Bennett

I think Claude must have liked fun-fairs. Before Swallows and Amazons he directed That’ll be the Day, a rock and roll movie produced by David Puttman, set at a fun fair of the 1950s. It starred David Essex and Ringo Starr with Billy Fury singing “A Thousand Stars”, “Long Live Rock”, “That’s All Right Mama” and “What Did I Say”. Claude gave me the LP, which I played again and again.

Blackpool. We did it all. I was most impressed – and terrified out of my wits – by the big dipper but have always loved going in a pony and trap and racing donkeys. Looking back it seems we took a number of risks. What EMI’s insurance company would have said I do not know. Falling off a donkey could have cost quite a few expensive filming days but then EMI did own the circus we went to. There we saw true artistes, with snakes and crocodiles. The mind boggles.

We were exhilarated by the whole experience. Whilst it was tiring, it energised us, bringing us together as a family, all looking up to Claude as our father figure. He had two children of his own, but they must have been at college by then. Paul had been about sixteen when we made Cider with Rosie – Mum remembers him as a curly haired boy talking to his father about the casting. He sadly died in a motor cycle accident driving home from Oxford Polytechnic when he was only about nineteen. Claude never got over it. I weep for him, even now.

I’ve written about the food we ate at the time here

And am adding memories to a post on life in 1973 here. Comments welcome!

You can read more about our antics here:

Rowing to Cormorant Island ~ filming ‘Swallows and Amazons’ on Derwentwater on 15th June 1973

Sophie Neville rowing to Cormorant Island — Sophie Neville as Titty and Stephen Grendon as Roger rowing to Cormorant Island

‘Pull harder, Roger!’ ~ hardly a line from Shakespeare, but one that has lodged deep in my memory. Titty was even bossier in Arthur Ransome’s books ~

“You keep time with me, Boy,” said the able-seaman.

“All right.”

Official film still from StudioCanal — Sten Grendon as Roger and Sophie Neville as Titty rowing Swallow (c)StudioCanal

Titty lifted her oar from the water. Roger gave one pull.”Boy,” said the able-seaman, “you mustn’t say ‘All right’.”

“Aye, aye, sir,” said the boy.**

When we auditioned for Swallows and Amazons the emphasis was on sailing. Could we sail? In fact I needed to be good at rowing. Titty and Roger row back form the Charcoal Burners, I rowed the Amazon from Wild Cat Island and here we were rowing across Derwentwater to Cormorant Island. This was more difficult than normal as Swallow was wired to the camera pontoon.

When I look at the 16mm footage my father took of me rowing at home before we left to film in the Lake District, I cringe. My blades were high above the water, hitting the surface with terrible splashes but I seemed to achieve my objective. I managed to fit an improvised mast to our Thames skiff and even made my own sail. It doesn’t look great, but I think Arthur Ransome would have approved.

Cormorant Island and the camera boats — Swallow finding Amazon anchored near Cormorant Island on Derwent Water with the camera pontoon and safety boat: photo~ Daphne Neville

Simon West and Suzanna Hamilton joined us for the scene when the Swallows lower the Jolly Roger and start to sail the captured the Amazon back to Wild Cat Island. I can only imagine that I changed my costume in one of the support boats. The scene may have been shot with two cameras on different boats.

Cormorant Island3 trimmed — Sophie Neville playing Titty Walker in the captured Amazon, with David Cadwallader, Bobby Sitwell, Dennis Lewiston, Claude Whatham and two electricians holding reflector boards on the camera punt: Photo ~ Daphne Neville

This shot shows Claude Whatham using the grey punt,* which somehow managed to accommodate Dennis Lewiston, the 35mm Panavision and quite a few crew members, while Richard Pilbrow remained on the camera pontoon with Eddie Collins operating the 16mm camera.

Capturing Amazon — 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

I remember the scene itself as being difficult to achieve in terms of sailing. Swallow has a keel, and Amazon with her centre board is much the faster dinghy. It is not like racing two boats of the same class. After hauling up the anchor Suzanna and I battled to turn the Amazon, not wanting to wiggle the rudder and jeopardise her pins. I remember Simon calling advise over the water. He stalled and we caught up, trying to get close together for the shot. The result was a photograph used on the front cover of the next Puffin edition of the book.

Swallows and Amazons book cover 1974 — Stephen Grendon, Simon West, Sophie Neville and Suzanna Hamilton on the cover of the 1974 Puffin edition of ‘Swallows and Amazons’

* I may be wrong about these photographs. The still surface of the water in the shot of Titty alone in Amazon suggests that it was taken later on, when we filmed the burglars landing on Cormorant Island with Captain Flint’s trunk, but we probably had a very similar set up on this more sparking day ~ 15th June 1973.

Contact sheet - sailing Swallow & Amazon on Derwentwater

We went on to film various shots of us sailing on to Wild Cat Island, when I think the camera was in Swallow capturing close-ups of a triumphant Captain John. He did indeed do well.

Sailing Swallow & Amazon by Cormorant Island

**Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome, 1970 Jonathan Cape edition

You can read more about our adventures here:

Better drowned than duffers ~ filming ‘Swallows and Amazons’ on the afternoon of 14th June 1973

Sophie Neville as Titty Walker

14th June ~ my Diary at Bank Ground Farm

Claude Whatham had no Peak of Darien at Bank Ground Farm, Arthur Ransome’s location for Holly Howe. But he did have buttercups and daisies, the flowers so evocative of childhood summers spent in the English countryside. The field that runs down to Coniston Water looked glorious that sunny day in June 1973. It was glowing.

Claude had used wild flowers to good effect when he made Laurie Lee’s memoir Cider with Rosie for the BBC in May 1971. It had been one of those months of endless sunny days in Gloucestershire but we were in Westmorland now, where buttercups bloomed later in the year and sunny days were cherished. This was Claude’s afternoon for low angle shots.

The view from Bank Ground Farm over Lake Coniston as it was in 1973

We arrived to find that a huge hole had been dug in the meadow for the camera, with a picnic for us spread out the other side of it. We thought this was very exciting. I’m not sure whether Mrs Batty felt quite the same joy about the excavations in her field. I was sad that we didn’t have a fire with a kettle, as they do in the book of Swallows and Amazons, but that was kept as a feature of island life and camping yet to come.

The hole at Holly Howe — Sophie Neville, Simon West, Suzanna Hamilton, Gay Lawley Waklin, Bobby Sitwell, Dennis Lewiston, Albert Clark: photo~ Daphne Neville

Roger came sailing down clutching the telegram from our father, reaching out to deliver it over the hole. I understand that this was based on the cryptic telegrams that Ernest Altounyan sent his children Taqui, Susie, Titty and Roger, the children who acted as models for the Swallows. It has become the iconic response to Health and Safety ever since.

Claude Watham having just spoken to Stephen Grendon playing Roger at Bank Ground Farm. Who is in the foregound? : photo~ Daphne Neville

What we ended up saying altered slightly from David Wood’s original screenplay. ‘Dispatches?’ – Ransome spells the word ‘Despatches’ but apparently both spellings are correct.

John referred to Daddy as ‘Father’. I’m not sure why. He did so in his letter. It is daddy in the book, but perhaps Claude considered ‘Father’ as having a more period feel. I stuck more to Ransome’s dialogue, as you can see if you compare the film script with my diary entry above. This was because I knew his book so well, and never saw the script. The acting credit must go to Simon West who sat holding the telegram, graciously absorbing my bossiness, whilst I grappled with the words.

David Wood's screenplay of 'Swallows and Amazons' — David Wood’s original screenplay of ‘Swallows and Amazons’

Holly Howe15 — Sue Merry typing up continuity notes on location at Bank Ground Farm: photo ~ Daphne Neville

Back in 1973 it was the job of the ‘Continuity Girl’ to take notes on any changes made to the script. Sue Merry, ever present in her dark coat, took on this role. Today she would probably be known as a ‘Script Supervisor’ but her Aviator sunglasses and black polo-necked jersey would be the height of fashion. Sue also took notes technical notes for the film editor and director, indicating which Takes were favoured and which had been spoilt, giving the reason. In those days we had no monitors. The camera lens would be unscrewed after each take and checked carefully. If any fluff was found, Bobby Sitwell the camera assistant would call out, ‘Hair in the gate!’ Sue would quietly note this down and David Bracknell, the first assistant, would call out, ‘Set up to go again’. And we’d go again.

Blu-ray reading telgram

Sue was also responsible for the continuity, and would take numerous Polaroid photographs as an aide-memoir. This scene followed the one of Mother giving Roger the telegram, which had not yet been shot. Virginia McKenna hadn’t arrived back in Cumbria. Looking back, this seems a huge gamble. Would they ever get another sunny day while the buttercups were still blooming, a day to match – exactly – the weather of 14th June?

Sue would sit and type up her notes on location, using a portable typewriter that sometimes was set up for her on a spindly picnic table. This method of working was different from the BBC, when a ‘production assistant’ would type up her notes at the end of each day. Would it have been so that one copy of her notes, typed on triplicate paper, could be sent to the laboratory with the exposed film? It meant that her evenings were free.

Filming Swallows and Amazons in 1973 — We were allowed to help fill in the hole at the end of the day.

Sue Merry had worked for Neville C. Thompson before on The Boyfriend, Ken Russell’s movie that starred Twiggy with Tommy Tune, Barbara Windsor and Glenda Jackson. She later worked on The Wicker Man, Anthony Shaffer’s harrowing film directed by Robin Hardy that featured Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee and Diane Cliento, Britt Ekland and Ingrid Pitt. She went on to work with Dennis Lewiston and other members of our crew on The Rocky Horror Picture Show, the movie that starred Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon and such unexpected artists such as Meatloaf, Christopher Biggins and Prince Andrew’s old flame Koo Stark, who played a bridesmaid. Sue also did the continuity for Nicolas Roeg on The Man Who Fell to Earth, starring David Bowie, before moving into television to work on The Professionals and The Comic Strip Presents… All quite fun!

But on that day in June 1973, she was the girl with the daisies in her hair, wearing a coat thick enough to indicate that although sunny it was still quite chilly in the Lake District.

You can read more in ‘The Secrets of Filming Swallows and Amazons (1974)’

The real Charcoal Burners ~ who we met whilst filming ‘Swallows and Amazons’ on 14th June 1973

Sophie Neville at the Charcoal Burners — Sophie Neville as Titty Walker visiting the charcoal burners on a cold day in 1973 ~ photo: Daphne Neville

On 14th June we were back at Ickenthwaite Forest, in Cumbria, to film the sequence when the Swallows visit the Charcoal Burners.

The real charcoal burner — Norman Allonby, the real charcoal burner outside the hut. Behind him the 35mm Panavision camera is being mounted on a small crane and short section of track ~ photo: Daphne Neville

‘He doesn’t look much like a son.’ The real Young Billy was almost indistinguishable from the actor. He seemed to take a wry interest in the filming but what he thought of us, of the crew, I dread to think. We were aliens on his planet. Terribly bossy ones.

The real Charcoal Burner with the actor — The charcoal burner Jack Allonby chatting to Jack Woolgar playing Old Billy

Our polystyrene coffee cups look so out of place. They were. How much had changed in the art of producing charcoal between 1973 and 1929 when Arthur Ransome set our story?

Jack Woolgar looks as old as the hills. He’d been born in 1913, so must have only been sixty years old, younger than I am now. He’s appeared in ‘Doctor Who’, ‘Emmerdale Farm’ and ‘Coronation Street’. After ‘Swallows and Amazons’ he played Carney in forty-eight episodes of ‘Crossroads’. We knew him as the professor in ‘The Lion, the witch and the Wardrobe’.

Charcoal Burners during the filming of Swallows and Amazons — John Franklin-Robbins playing Young Billy, chatting to Norman Allonby of Bandrake Head during a coffee break on set ~ photo: Daphne Neville

The Call Sheet for the day scheduled Scene 110 with the adder, but I recorded in my diary that we had completed that the previous day. I must have meant my part in it. The director, Claude Whatham, was probably using the time to pick-up the shots of Young Billy working with his dampened fire.

Much later, when I asked Claude what made a good director he said, ‘You need to use your time well.’ This probably makes you an employable director, but I think Claude had other assets. We all adored him for one thing, and would do anything he asked without question. We knew that he wanted us to keep going, no matter what happened. Susan really did leave her basket behind at the Charcoal Burners’. When Old Billy called her, she was truly taken aback and sweetly ran to collect it. It’s something that rings true, a natural quality that Claude brought to the film.

Charcoal Burners article probably late 1973

The interior of the hut must have been tricky to light. I think we had a real fire burning in the stone grate and Claude was keen for the scene to be atmospherically smoky. The wood smoke itself was fine but the crew were working with smoke guns, since they were more directional and considered more controllable. The acrid fumes produced by their oil canisters choked me but Jack Woolgar was absolutely stoic and kept our attention. I loved drawing with the charcoal. I wish I had drawn him. Apart from the amount of smoke it was lovely inside the mossy wigwam. I could have stayed there quite happily. It was nice and warm.

Charcoal Burners Movie Call Sheet ~ Swallows and Amazons

Albert Clarke, our Stills Photographer, later gave us his unwanted contact sheets to stick in the scrap-books we kept of the filming. Amongst them are these photos he took of the Producer Richard Pilbrow with the charcoal burners of Ickenthwaite Forest.

The Real Charcoal Burners a contact sheet

Audrey Steeley told me that the older charcoal burner is Jack Allonby who lived at Spark Bridge, a well known local character. Norman Allonby lived at Bandrake Head.

Bill Norris, was another authority on charcoal burning also from Spark Bridge.

As the Call Sheet decreed, we were scheduled to to move to Bank Ground Farm after lunch to film the receiving of ‘despatches’, a scene I look forward to describing in the next post.

You can see photos and read more in ‘The Making of Swallows and Amazons(1974)’, available online here

I’ve written more about charcoal burning in Cumbria here

Brian Crawley kindly sent me this shot of what the location looks like today. You can just fee the remains of the fireplace to the right:

One of Brian’s friends remembers watching our Routemaster double-decker buses climbing the twisting track up to the site.

There is evidence of charcoal burnering near Hill Top where Arthur Ransome lived long after he wrote ‘Swallows and Amazons’. You can find the photos on this site here

'The Making of Swallows and Amazons (1974)'

Visiting the Charcoal Burners ~ filming ‘Swallows and Amazons’ on 13th June 1973

The Charcoal Burners - Swallows and Amazons — Jack Woolgar as Old Billy with Simon West, Suzanna Hamilton, Sophie Neville and Stephen Grendon ~ photo: Daphne Neville

‘Let’s just run though our lines, shall we?’ Old Jack Woolgar said, in a gentle Lancashire accent. We were waiting about for some reason, so did just that, sitting by a woodstack. Titty had a lot to say in the scene where we went to see the charcoal burners, but the dialogue was straight out of Arthur Ransome’s book so it was easy. Or I thought so, until there was Old Billy saying – ‘Ehh, then you’ll be climbing into that mini-bus and off back to Ambleside, I expect.’

I thought, ‘That’s not in Swallows and Amazons! That’s real life.’

‘Eee, lass! You forgot to come in on your cue.’ I had too. I was so entranced by Old Billy, so lulled by the music of his voice, that I had simply gone on listening to him.

Charcoal Burners — Jack Woolgar, Simon West, Sophie Neville, Stephen Grendon and Suzanna Hamilton with Director Claude Whatham. Sue Merry is seated in the foreground with her continuity sheets ~ photo: Daphne Neville

We were still having problems with the weather. It was cold and grey at first but grew to be a bright sunny day in Cumbria, with a gale blowing that was knocking the tops of the trees about and making life hard for Graham Ford, the sound recordist. This was all a bit difficult as it was meant to be dead calm in the story.

‘It’s blowing up a bit,’ Old Billy put in. I don’t think anyone watching would have noticed if we’d left it at that but our hair was blowing about so madly that Young Billy had a few savage-like words with John about why we weren’t sailing. These are not in the book.

Charcoal Burners 2 — Filming the scene ~ Sound Recordist Graham Ford in the foreground, Grip David Cadwallader. Actors Jack Woolgar, Simon West and Sophie Neville, Continuity Sue Merry seated, Director Claude Whatham kneeling, Boom Swinger, Focus Puller Bob Blues and Camera Operator Eddie Collins ~ photo: Chaperone Daphne Neville

I think Mum did well with her photographs. She only had a small camera but she tried to capture what it was like to be on set, involved in the filming, rather than just focusing on the story. Because her camera made a clicking noise she was only really able to take shots when we were in rehearsal, wearing our Harry Potter-like nylon tracksuit tops, me in a sun-hat, the rest of the crew wrapped up in their warm jackets.

When I watch this scene I notice one technical bit about acting that is never talked about much. You have to hit your mark. Without this being obvious. No looking down. Your mark is the exact position established when the shot is lined up. The camera focus, certainly back then, required actors to be consistent and hit the same position in each take as established in the rehearsal. Look at the opening shot at the top of this post and you can see it is carefully composed – a nice triangle, with all our faces in vision. The important bit – Roger holding my hand is not masked. Do I spoil the magic if I say we are standing on our marks?

If feet can’t be seen a piece of tape was usually placed on the floor in front of the actors’ toes to provide a mark. I used to use different coloured tape for different artistes later on when I was an assistant director. We used chalk on tarmac roads. Tape didn’t stick to most of the locations on Swallows and Amazons, so we used sticks or tree bark, taking quite a pride in disguising them. Sometimes a box would be placed on the ground so we could feel it and not have to look down. This could not be done at the charcoal burners’. We all came out of their dark wigwam blinking in the bright sunlight shuffling onto our secret marks, Suzanna glancing down quickly to check she was on hers.

My diary read:

Charcoal Burners3 — John Franklyn-Robbins as Young Billy with Director Claude Whatham. Prop men stand in the background with the real charcoal burner ~ photo: Daphne Neville

Was the charcoal heap was a real one? I’m afraid I think, since that hole had to start smoking on cue, that it was constructed for us with a prop man called Terry inside with a smoke gun. I know he suffered rather from getting too much smoke in his eyes and had to be treated by the nurse. There was certainly a great deal of smoke around, which had a wonderful effect.

Charcoal Burners' Adder — Robert Forster who supplied the Charcoal Burner’s adder

Charcoal Burners10 — Molly Friedel watching Robin Gregory plant a microphone for the adder. Claude Wahtham is hidden by a reflector board, Suzanna Hamilton, Sophie Neville and Jack Woolgar wait on their marks while the real charcoal burner looks on ~ photo: Daphne Neville

We could all see the adder but the sound recordist wanted to hear her so he buried one at our feet. She was a lovely serpent. Suzanna, who loves snakes with a passion, got close to touching it. She was very disappointed that you can’t see this in the movie. I was a bit scared. Ransome had added that frisson of danger – real life danger – there for us to see.

Sophie Neville, Sten Grendon, John Franklin-Robbins, Jack Wolgar, Suzanna Hamilton and Simon West in Swallows and Amazons (1974) — Sophie Neville, Sten Grendon, John Franklin-Robbins, Jack Woolgar, Suzanna Hamilton & Simon West

Jean Woodhouse wrote to say, ‘I came to watch Swallows and Amazons being filmed. It was the charcoal burner’s scene. We walked down from our village Primary School (Satterthwaite) but the scene was actually just down the road from where I lived… we were all terrified re-the snake.’ She was about 10 years-old at the time. ‘…because I used to go up and down through the wood each day, I knew the real charcoal burners who worked in there and so that scene in the film has always felt quite special to me.’

Charcoal Burners11 — Filming the Scene: Simon West, John Frankiln-Robbins, Suzanna Hamilton and Jack Woolgar. Designer Simon Holland sits in the foreground. ~ photo: Daphne Neville

One of the most magical things for my mother was meeting the real charcoal burners. There are more photos of them in the nest post as we returned on 14th June.

The Real Charcoal Burners 2 — John Franklin-Robbins playing Young Billy with Sophie Neville, Stephen Grendon and the adder.

You can find out the name of the snake wrangler and read more about the filming in the ebook ‘The secrets of filming Swallows and Amazons (1974)’

‘It’s a shark! It’s a shark!’ Filming ‘Swallows and Amazons’ on Elterwater on 10th June 1973

Sophie Neville appearing on the cover of Swallows and Amazons published by the Daily Mail — Sophie Neville and Simon West on the cover of ‘Swallows and Amazons’ pub by the Daily Mail

Of all the wonderful days we spent filming Swallows and Amazons in 1973, the fishing scene, shot in a reedy bay on Elterwater was one I enjoyed most. It was a cold, rather wet morning but the Third Assistant, Gareth Tandy, taught us how to use our rods and we were soon absorbed in a way that Arthur Ransome would have understood well.

Our fragile bamboo fishing rods, one with a wooden reel, were supplied by a keen fisherman called Leslie Borwick, who brought up his own daughter and grandchildren on Arthur Ransome’s books. He kept the rods, which still belong to the family, who now lived near Sedburgh.

*Filming the fishing scene from the camera punt on Elterwater*

The only problem we had that day was keeping the fish alive. Bob Hedges our property master, the designer Simon Holland and Ian Whittaker, the set dresser, took it upon themselves to keep the perch as happy as they could, until they were – very carefully – attached to our hooks. Titty doesn’t catch one but Captain John did. Despite everyone’s best efforts it wasn’t a very lively perch.

Fishing Scene — Property Master Bob Hedges keeping the perch alive ~ photo: Daphne Neville

The big challenge was Roger’s great fish – a massive pike that meant to be snapping and ferocious. I’ve been told that it ended up being resuscitated in Keswick Hospital ICU – the Intensive Care Unit.

Fishing Scene3 — The local fisherman, Ian Whittaker, Simon Holland and Gareth Tandy with the fish photo: Daphne Neville

Sadly this is the only photograph we have of the set designers at work together. Later that afternoon we went to one of the few interiors of the film – the general store in Rio or Bowness-on-Windermere where we bought the rope for the lighthouse tree and four bottles of grog. In reality it was a sweet shop in the ‘seventies. It was later a barber shop and became a showroom for wood-burning stoves. Pigs were once kept around the back.

BW Swallows in Woodland Road — The Swallows in Woodland Road, Windermere in 1973

Back in 1973, Ian dressed the interior with boxes of wooden dolly pegs and other things you’d buy in brown paper bags. A wonderful 1920’s radio set and two purring cats really made the scene come alive, especially since, being in reticent explorer mode, we were a bit gruff in our communications with Mr Turner, the native shop keeper.

The general Store in Rio — Sophie Neville in Rio with four bottles of grog ~ photo: Daphne Neville

Ian Whittaker struck me as being rather different from everyone else on the crew. He was a very nice looking man and a gentleman of the old school. I remember him telling me that he’d originally set out to be an actor but had found it so difficult to get work that he grabbed a chance to become a set-dresser or designer’s assistant. He found he rather enjoyed it, and stuck to the job despite his family thinking it was not much of a career. He proved them wrong. By 1971 he was working for Ken Russell on The Boy Friend – a musical about a musical starring Twiggy with Christopher Gable and Max Adian that I’d seen at school.

Grog Shop in Windermere 2013 — Woodland Road, Windermere

After Swallows and Amazons Ian worked on Ridley Scott’s film Alien with Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt and John Hurt and was nominated for an Oscar with the others on the design team. Eventually he won an Oscar for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration with the designer Luciana Arrighi for Howards End – the movie of EM Forster’s book starring Anthony Hopkins, Vanessa Redgrave, Emma Thompson and Helena Bonham-Carter.

Blu-ray buying grog

In 1994 Ian was nominated again, this time for Remains of the Day directed by James Ivory. After that he worked on Sense and Sensibility, Emma Thompson’s movie of the Jane Austen classic that launched Kate Winslet’s career, some of which was shot at Montacute in Somerset where my great-grandmother once lived. Ian Whittaker received another Oscar nomination for Anna and the King in 2000 and a nomination for an Emmy Award for the TV movie Into the Storm in 2009.

Blu-ray fishing scene

So, it was rather a waste that Ian spent his time just building little stone walls in the lake to keep the perch alive on our set, but I think he enjoyed the fishing scene as much as I.

BW Sten in Swallow

You can read more in ‘The Making of Swallows and Amazons (1974)’ available online, from Waterstones and your local library. It is suitable for all ages of readers.