What are they doing now the children in Swallows and Amazons?

Highlights of 2022 – looking back in gratitude

In 2022, I was able to concentrate on polishing up two historical novels set in East Africa that I’ve been writing.

After one was short-listed by The Virginia Prize for Fiction, I entered it into a number of writing competitions being shortlisted by Fiction Factory, the Flash Fiction’s Novel Opening competition and winning 3rd prize in I AM in Print’s Romance Writing Competition judged by the Kate Nash Literary Agency for its commercial potential, which was flattering as romance is only an element in the story.

3rd Prize Winner in I AM Writing Romance

An earlier draft had been awarded third prize in Association of Christian Writers’ novel writing competition. On 30th December it won the Eyelands International Book Awards for an unpublished historical novel. I’m thrilled.

This year my World War II novel, set in Burma and Japan, which has won three novel writing awards, received two accolades with Roadmap in the USA, was long-listed by the Exeter Prize, Retreat West and the Cinnamon Literature Award having been placed the finals of the Page Turner Awards and the American Christian Fiction Writers contest for an historical novel. It was shortlisted by C&R Press Awards for Fiction in the USA.

We’ll see what happens next. Over the last year, the original film of Swallows and Amazons was broadcast a number of times in the UK and Australia.

I had a story about making the movie featured in the Times Diary, which attracted a bit of attention.

This was great as I’ve been bringing out a new range of mugs and useful items using one of the book covers I designed. I used the maps within to produce gifts.

What I did not expect was to win a gold medal for taking part in a literacy charity Race for Reading as I collected marine plastic whilst walking 90 miles along the coast.

Thanks to my kind sponsors I raised a total of £2,180 for SchoolReaders who bring the joy of reading to so many.

I ran a workshop on ‘Photographing Your Books’ at the Association of Christian Writers literary weekend held at the Hayes Conference Centre when we heard from a number of brilliant speakers including Paul Karenza, Tony Collins and the author Anne Booth.

Funnily Enough – 2nd edition with black and white illustrations

It was so popular that the editor of Christian Writer commissioned an article capturing the essence of my talk.

I originally ran this workshop as online as a fringe festival activity for Anita Faulkner’s writers group Chick Lit and Prosecco. I went to her first colourful country book launch at Waterstones in Gloucester this July.

Sophie Neville off to a book signing at Waterstones

I wore the same hat during the archery season when I won a prize for Most Hits in Meriden and both the Ladies’ Arrow and Best Ladies Gold at the West Berks Archery Society.

Over the summer of 2022 I was interviewed on Your Take, by Jadzia Smeaton and Authors’ Reach. Barbara Altouyan who interviewed me on Family Talk spoke on the Today Programme and David Butters had a review of ‘The Making of Swallows and Amazons’ published in the popular magazine Practical Boat Owner.

A 4-page feature article in *Practical Boat Owner* magazine

After writing articles for Mixed Moss and Practical Boat Owner myself, I gave talks about The Making of Swallows and Amazons on the Foredeck Stage at Southampton International Boat Show 2022.

Inspirational speaker, Sophie Neville — Southampton International Boat Show 2022

The publicity offered was amazing. 110,000 people came, passing Swallow, our dinghy used in the 1974 film Swallows and Amazons as they entered the show.

Meanwhile I recorded both the audiobook of The Making of Swallows and Amazons and my autobiography Funnily Enough at Monkeynut Studios.

Both books are now edited and are becoming available from all the audiobook retailers including Spotify.

Ruth Leigh featured a review of Funnily Enough on her amusing blog here. You can find more reviews on Goodreads. David Butters can be seen here checking the 2nd edition of Funnily Enough now available from Amazon.

David Butters reading 'Funnily Enough' — David Butters from Lancashire

I wrote about Queen Elizabeth II’s love of Swallows and Amazons and provided a Foreword for Boats Yet Sailing by Trevor Boult

After losing my voice, I continued marketing what is possibly my most amusing book, Ride the Wings of Morning.

Very grateful for online reviews posted by readers

It was a great privilege to be the keynote speaker at Book Blest, the Stroud Christian Book Festival.

Later in November I helped raise funds for BBC Children in Need, looked after the Duchess of York at Romantic Novelists Association Awards Evening in London and read a Christmas story for UBC Radio Ireland.

Sophie Neville, Sarah Fergusson Duchess of York and Emma Grundy Haig from Joffe Books — Sophie Neville and Sarah Fergusson with Emma Grundy from Joffe Book

Many thanks to my readers and reviewers for their support over the last year. I hope that you have time to read and rest before the 2023 is upon us. I’ll be giving a talks celebrating 50th Anniversary of filming Swallows and Amazons (1974) at the Royal Thames Yacht Club in London, at Windermere Jetty Museum for Lakeland Arts in Cumbria and will speak on adapting novels for film and television at the British Christian Writers’ Conference at Ridley Hall Cambridge. Hopefully, I’ll be taking part in ‘A Believers Guide to Marriage’, a BBC documentary made by Milk and Honey Productions about how faith can guide people through life events.

Mail on Sunday - A homage to Swallows, Amazons and a girl with a rather rude name!

N is for Never give up – you can still join the Race for Reading

No regrets! It’s not too late to register for the Race for Reading.

I’ve been going slowly but nothing is stopping me. My quest is to collect litter and marine plastic as I walk along the coast of the UK to raise funds for the charity Schoolreaders.

As you can see on my earlier posts, I’ve been using the alphabet as a theme.

N is for Nothing changes unless we take action

Day 14 – Another nice walk along the estuary into the small town of Newport collecting numerous wrappers and a noxious nappy dropped by numbskulls.

I walk another 3km later, cleaning the high tide line along the beach finding, amongst the rope and fishing line, a spoon, a sock and five poo bags. Why dog owners use tennis balls is a mystery. They contain lead and can choke large dogs.

Rubbish - old tennis balls — Old tennis balls and shredded fishing net

O is for Obviously old things get outdated or ousted and litter becomes an ordinary occurrence rather than an outrage.

Day 15 – I only cover 2 kms following the coastal path to a lifeboat station but collect three old socks, a pair of knickers and half a bucket of litter. I later search the tide line for flotsam and mainly find dog poo bags and obsolete fishing line while covering another 3.5kms.

P is for Plastic –

Day 16 – I plod past a harbour collecting picnic litter, pondering on the fact I’ve probably covered 2 kms. Later I pace the tide line for 3.7kms returning with a heavy bucketful of party rubbish: plastic packaging, plastic bottles, plastic cutlery, plastic cups, plastic straws and 6-pack plastic that litters the coast. I find plenty of plastic cotton bud stalks, panty liners and packets of condoms along the shore – an indication of sewage entering the sea. PVC rope and polystyrene discarded by the fishing industry is common.

Patience is needed. PPE, party poppers, plasters and ear plugs fill me with fury. I prefer picking up paddles, pegs, paintbrushes, pens and pencils since there’s a possibility they were simply lost. There’s a litter-picking prize for finding pairs of pants.

Day 17 –

Q is for quayside

but as that is now clean, I walk up the estuary into a quaint market town. It’s quiet but I find a lot of wrappers, covering 3.9kms as I collect a bucketful of litter. The skate park posed quite a challenge. The drains there wash straight into the estuary.

After lunch, I set out across the sand dunes finding a quantity of drink cans and glass bottles left by camp fires. The 20 bottles are heavy to lug back.

I’ve learnt a lot since collecting litter. You see what’s happening from the underside of society. Alcohol containers are often discarded from high vehicles , rural drug taking is rife and fishing vessels are shredding nets at sea. The arterial roads of Britain are strewn with rat-infested litter loaded with human DNA. It’s surprising we are not threatened by a more serious pandemic.

Day 18 –

R is for re-cycling on the Race for Reading

I have been putting bottles or clean drink cans in the recycling bins but most coastal plastic needs to go to landfill. I scan the mudflats for ancient litter including heinous broken glass covering about 2.5km.

Day 19 –

S is for Sunshine

Silvery skies lift my spirit as I search the seashore for seven kilometers without seeing much flotsam. We seem to be making progress. If people see no rubbish they are less likely to drop litter.

Day 20 –

T is for tidying

I retrace my tracks traversing three kilometers to town coming across little litter. Two more kilometers with the dog and I’m tired but happy. Another two kilometers in the evening take us to a running total of 55 miles covered litter-picking so far. Logging my progress with the Race for Reading has been motivational.

Sophie Neville on Schoolreaders Race for Reading 2022 – photo by Caspar aged 7

If you would like to sponsor me on the Race for Reading 2022, I have a Justgiving page here and there are alternative ways of donating to the charity here.

Each donation will be matched by my company, and then again by SchoolReaders matched funding, so if you can donate £5 it will be magnified to £20.

Every small amount is an encouragement and will make a difference, enabling slow readers to catch up at school and gain a love for books.

You can hear about the work of the charity here:

A boaty biography

I grew up with boats in the garden. My father owned eight at one time, including two coracles and a vintage river launch called Ottor that he renovated himself.

Martin Neville with friends on the Norfolk Broads

As a young man, while setting up a team to develop the fibreglass hull, Dad raced on the Solent, volunteered on a tall ship, and wrangled an Atlantic crossing on the maiden return voyage of the QE2, taking us children around the liner when it reached Southampton.

Sophie Neville with her younger sisters aboard the QEII in 1969

I learnt to sail dinghies at Newport Bay in Pembrokeshire, later making my own sail for a Thames skiff so that I could take it down the lake where I grew up in Gloucestershire.

My father wanted a Mirror dinghy, but since they were beyond his budget we had a dubious one-design with a ? on its sail.

A family holiday in a Hullabaloo boat on the Broads – off season

Dad bought one of the first Toppers, which seemed quite daring at the time. It had no halyards. Its arrival caused much excitement. Called Earwig, the fibreglass hull was portable but proved precarious, soaking the crew as waves sloshed over her orange deck. I wasn’t much good at withstanding the cold and grew to loath setting off with wet feet.

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

Playing Titty in original film of ‘Swallows and Amazons’ involved quite a bit of rowing, which I kept up first as a member of the Collingwood Ladies Four at Durham University and later on the crew of The Drapers’ Shallop, a ceremonial barge that can be spotted on the Thames and River Lea, the Dart or Poole Harbour.

Rowing the Drapers’ shallop down to Runnymede

My dedication to fixed thwart rowing enabled me to take part in a Jubilee Pageant for The Queen at Henley, transport a copy of the Magna Carta to Windsor, and man an oar of the royal barge Gloriana in the Boat Race flotilla at Putney a year when Cambridge won.

Sophie Neville rowing in black cap on the River Thames at Putney

Belonging to the rowing club, City Barge, enabled me to take part in the Voga Longa in Venice – a 35km marathon – with the gold medalist Ed Coode as stroke. I later rowed a sandalo down the Amstel into Amsterdam standing to row Venetian-style, getting used to the idea of using a forcola in windy weather.

In the bows of a sandalo on the River Amstel in Amsterdam

We navigated the shallop down a tributary of the Loire in Brittany, leading a procession of two hundred and forty traditional boats into Nantes for the Rendez-vous de l’Erdre. I was asked to take the helm on the way back, great Dutch barges bearing down on us.

With the presenter and crew of France 3 news

One of my favourite vessels is a two-man canvas canoe my sister found on a rubbish dump. I nearly drowned after getting stuck in a kayak and prefer an open dugout or fibreglass equivalent. These have taken me on adventures in Papua New Guinea, across Lake Malawi and through the Okavango Delta in Botswana.

Bird watching on the Boro River – Sophie Neville with Jez Lye

Back in 1978, I helped my father, Martin Neville, to restore a 1901 steamboat called Daffodil, which they kept near Oxford at Port Meadow on the Thames.

We would steam down to Henley each year for the royal regatta or upstream towards Letchlade. You can read about how we renovated here here.

We took a Humber Yawl that Dad built to take part in a Steam Boat Association rally on Windermere and pay homage to launches used in the film ‘Swallows and Amazons’ kept by George Pattinson at the Steam Boat Museum, now known as Windermere Jetty.

Lullaby undersail, playing the Teasel on the broads

I a lot of time on the water while filming the 1984 BBC adaptation of ‘Coot Club’ and ‘The Big Six’ when we spent three months filming on the Norfolk Broads. The series starred a yacht called Lullaby from Hunter’s Yard, which you can now hire for holidays.

I went away from my wedding in a punt, Dad polling while I sat with my new husband, holding an umbrella while a rainbow appeared over the water.

At the Brewery Arts Cinema in Kendal for the launch of ‘The Making of Swallows and Amazons’ and the 40th Anniversary DVD

While serving as President of The Arthur Ransome Society, I gave twelve Q&As at cinemas. Members of SailRansome have often come along with the little clinker-built dinghy used as Swallow, which I helped purchase when she came up for auction in 2010.

I am often asked to write articles about my life afloat, and have spoken at literary festivals, on BBC Radio and on ITV News when I nearly capsized.

It is with The Arthur Ransome Society that I have been able to sail an historic wherry down the Norfolk Broads, take an old German ferry to Lundy Island and cruise down Coniston Water on SL Gondola.

As a member of the Nancy Blackett Trust, I’ve sailed on the Orwell, in the Solent and through the inland waterways of the Netherlands, visiting Middleburg.

I enjoyed crossing the Veersemere to Zierikzee in the wake of my own forefathers.

Over the years, I’ve grabbed the chance to sail yachts to Salcombe, up the coast of Norway and through the Mediterranean but I still love taking out a small boat in the Lake District or on the Norfolk Broads.

You can read more in ‘The Making of Swallows and Amazons’ available on line.

The disaster of the missing tooth – whilst making the movie ‘Swallows and Amazons'(1974)

Earlier in the year, I spoke to Helen Millican on BBC Radio Cumbria about making the original film of ‘Swallows and Amazons’ in the Lake District, back in the summer of 1973. We have had an amusing development.

Sophie Neville speaking to Helen Millican on BBC Radio Cumbria

I had been chatting away, telling Helen that people like hearing about all the disasters we had whilst filming on location. One odd thing that went wrong was that one of my milk-teeth fell out in the middle of shooting a scene with Virginia McKenna on Peel Island. At the time, I was somewhat distracted and self-conscious about this but could do no more than try to keep my mouth shut.

Virginia McKenna and Sophie Neville on Peel Island — Virginia McKenna and Sophie Neville ~ photo: Daphne Neville

However, viewers often spot the fact that my tooth suddenly disappeared. They still talk about it nearly fifty years later. Helen assured me that the tooth fairy was bound to turn up with it, suggesting I could then take the small canine on BBC ‘Antiques Roadshow’, which was being recorded at Windermere Jetty museum in Cumbria at the time.

Amazingly, the missing tooth has been sent to me.

Peter Robb-King, the Make-up Designer on ‘Swallows and Amazons’, rang to say that he had kept it safely in a metal film canister labelled ‘Titty’s tooth’. He promised to send it to me in the post so that I could add it to my bizarre collection of movie memorabilia – valued by Marc Allum at £4,000 to £6,000.

Sophie Neville being made up for the part of Titty by Peter Robb-King in 1973

Helen was delighted to hear that the tooth had materialized after 48 years. “Wow, Sophie what a result, after we made such a joke of it as well! That might just take your valuation up to the next level!”

Peter explained that he took the milk tooth to a dentist in Ambleside to ask if a bridge could be made to temporarily replace it but I remember the director, Claude Whatham, saying that he would ‘have to live with it’ – it being something of a continuity problem as he was yet to shoot earlier scenes of us sailing to the island. As a result, film fans can now work out which sequences were shot right at the end of our time on location even though they come before the scene with Man Friday (played by Virginia McKenna) in the storyline.

Peter Robb-King went on to have an amazing career in film, working on ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’, ‘Aliens’, and a number of ‘Indiana Jones’, ‘Batman’ and ‘Star Wars’ movies. He told me that he originally found it difficult to break into Make-Up Design as a man, but managed to win a post as a trainee on ‘The Avengers’ in 1968. ‘Swallows and Amazons’ (1974) was his first job as a Make-Up Supervisor, proving a break-through for him and other members of the film crew. It was the first film made by the producer Richard Pilbrow and David Wood’s first screenplay. Suzanna Hamilton, who played Susan, went on to star in many movies including ‘1984’ with John Hurt and ‘Out of Africa’ opposite Meryl Streep. She has recently had a guest appearance on ‘EastEnders’.

Peter Robb-King can be glimpsed right at the end of this cine clip taken on location

Now retired, Peter and his wife live in Maidenhead but enjoy travelling around. We had a long chat about the green parrot as he later adopted a young one that was rescued while making an Indiana Jones film in Sri Lanka. Stephen Spielberg looked after another parrot from the clutch.

You can read more about the disasters that befell us whilst filming in ‘The Making of Swallows and Amazons’, signed copies of which are available from libraries, The Nancy Blackett Trust book shop and other online distributors.

'The Making of Swallows and Amazons (1974)'

If you enjoy ebooks, ‘The Secrets of Filming Swallows and Amazons (1974)’ has links to behind-the-scenes cine footage and is very good value at £2.99 – available on Kobo, Smashwords, iTunes and on Kindle here

To read a little more about filming with Virginia McKenna on Peel Island, please click here

A list of Peter’s film credits can be found here: Peter Robb-King – IMDbimdb.com

You can listen to the ten minute recording of my chat with Helen Millican of Radio Cumbria on the Nancy Blackett Trust website here.

The episode of BBC ‘Antiques Roadshow’ showing movie memorabilia from the 1974 film of ‘Swallows and Amazons’ can be watched on BBCiPlayer here.

You can spot the missing tooth but the movie trailer can be seen here as we attack the houseboat. The clip is slightly out of sinc.

The original film of ‘Swallows and Amazons’ was broadcast on BBC Two on Friday 17th April 2020 at 3.00pm

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The 1974 adaptation of Arthur Ransome’s iconic book ‘Swallows and Amazons’ starring Virginia McKenna was screened on BBC Two on Friday 17th April at 3.00pm and was available on BBC iPlayer for 30 days here

Please add any questions about how the movie was made to the Comments below.

Swallows & Amazons film billing

For the latest edition of the paperback on ‘The Making of Swallows and Amazons(1974)’ with details of the film locations and what those who appeared in it are doing now, Please click here

The Making of Swallows and Amazons' by Sophie Neville

You can read the first section for free in the ebook, entitled ‘The secrets of filming Swallows & Amazons (1974)’ This is similar to the paperback but has a few more stories for adult readers and links to behind-the-scenes cine footage. It can be downloaded from iBooks, iTunes, Smashwords, Kobo and Amazon Kindle

The Secrets of Filming Swallows & Amazons

For homeschooling ideas, why not get hold of a copy of ‘Swallows and Amazons’ in French or enter Into Film’s movie review writing contests? Read more here.

Hirondelles et Amazones

It would be lovely to hear from anyone who saw it in the cinema when it first came out in cinemas in the summer of 1974 – more than forty-five years ago.

If you enjoy ‘Swallows and Amazons’, think of joining The Arthur Ransome Society or the Arthur Ransome Group on Facebook where you will meet like-minded people – of all ages. Most are dinghy sailors who love the books.

There seems to be a great interest in Swallows and Amazons mugs. To find out more about these, please click here

Sophie Neville's books Please click here for Sophie Neville’s other books

It is always great to hear from readers on Facebook or Instagram and on-line reviews of the DVD and books are welcome. Please click here for Sophie’s Amazon page.

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

Swallows & Amazons in Aldeburgh

The beach at Aldebrugh

Lovely Aldeburgh on the Suffolk Coast

StudioCanal’s special re-mastered version of the classic film ‘Swallows & Amazons’ (1974)

Sophie Neville Q&A in Kendal

was shown at the Aldeburgh cinema with a Q&A afterwards with Sophie Neville who played Titty speaking to the actress Diana Quick.

sophie-neville-signing-books-at-aldeburgh-bookshop-2016

Sophie was signing the last first edition copies of ‘The Making of Swallows & Amazons’.

Aldebrugh Cinema seating 250

Opposite the cinema, books by Arthur Ransome, who once lived in Suffolk

Arthur Ransome's Books in Aldebrugh Bookshop adorn the shelves of the award-wining Aldeburgh Bookshop

Aldebrugh Bookshop in print The sun shone and holiday makers enjoyed the beach

Aldebrugh fishing

where you can buy fresh seafood and chat to the fisherman.

Aldebrugh lobster pots

Swallow, the lugsail dingy that starred in the 1974 film

Swallow with the initials WK

was sailing with the Aldeburgh Junior Lapwings who had a Swallows and Amazons regatta that weekend. You can read about what they got up to here.

blue chain on the sea shore

Thanks go to The Aldeburgh Bookshop for their sponsorship

Aldebrugh Bookshop bag

They stock ‘The Making of Swallows and Amazons (1974)’ published by The Lutterworth Press

Wading to the Island

‘Where are they now – the cast of ‘Swallows and Amazons’?’

I can see from my admin page that this question is often typed into search engines – three times before 8am this morning. An awful lot of people seem to want to know what the children who played the Swallows and the Amazons back in 1974 are doing now they are all grown up. For this little Swallow it really has been ‘Swallows and Amazons Forever’. I’m still wading out to the island.

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‘Titty the Isrealite’ photo of Sophie Neville taken by Hilary Weston

Now a writer, I am officially President of The Arthur Ransome Society, one of the largest literary societies in the United Kingdom with six branches and quite a number of overseas members. They even have association with the Arthur Ransome Club in Japan.

TARS in Dumfries

This year we held our International AGM weekend in Dumfries in the lowlands of Scotland, when we much enjoyed walking along the Solway and across the wade to Rough Island, just as Titty walked out across the mud in Arthur Ransome’s book ‘Secret Water’. There seems little difference except that I have a dog called Flint rather than a kitten called Simbad.

Sophie Neville on the Solway Sophie Neville who in 1973 played Titty Walker in the EMI movie of ‘Swallows & Amazons’ dressed up to face the Scottish weather

The great excitement at our IAGM this year was that Nick Barton, the CEO of Harbour Pictures came up to Dumfries with his screenwriter Angela Gibb to tell us about their new adaption of ‘Swallows and Amazons’ released in cinemas on 19th August 2016. I helped him to carry a huge plasma screen up to the hotel where the conference was taking place so that members could watch the thrilling new promo. We were sworn to secrecy, but you can read all Nick told us in a feature article in the Saturday Telegraph. This online version has more photos than the print version and mentions The Arthur Ransome Society. There is additional comment in the Sunday Telegraph.

You can read more about how we made the original 1974 film of Swallows and Amazons here

'The Making of Swallows and Amazons (1974) by Sophie Neville' — Different editions of ‘The Making of Swallows and Amazons (1974) by Sophie Neville’

Were there any disasters? and other questions asked about making the film ‘Swallows & Amazons’ in 1974

On Saturday 26th September at 3.00pm the original film of Arthur Ransome’s book ‘Swallows and Amazons’ was screened at the Riverside cinema in Woodbridge, Suffolk as part of their celebration of ‘100 Years of Film’.

I was on stage to answer questions about how we made the film after the screening. Swallow, the dinghy we used on the movie was rigged up outside the cinema and admired by many.

Back in April, I was invited to a similar screening of ‘Swallows & Amazons’ (1974) also held to raise funds for the up-keep of Arthur Ransome’s yacht Nancy Blackett. As the film ended I was invited up on stage to answer questions about how it was made. Marc Grimston sent a list of these, so I could answer them here for those unable to get cinema seats.

As a child were you like Titty? In 1973, I was aged twelve and at five-foot two, was really too old and too tall for the role of Titty but it was easy enough to pretend to be nine years old. I was on-screen a great deal so it probably a good thing that I was old enough to cope with long filming days. I thought I was much more like Mate Susan but perhaps that made it easier for me to play Titty.

How many tried for the role of Titty? About 1,800 children originally auditioned for the six parts in ‘Swallows & Amazons’. Claude Whatham, the director, wrote inviting me to an interview. In the end there were five girls up for the part of Titty. You can read more about the final audition here.

Sophie Neville on stage with Peter Willis, President of the Nancy Blackett Trust

Had you read the books before? I had read most of the books in the series and loved them, so it was very easy to take on the part. We never had to sit down and learn lines because we knew what to say from reading the book.

Sophie Neville taking about Swallows & Amazons

Were they any disasters during filming? Swallow’s mast broke!

How did you stay safe with the snake? It was a real adder, but quite a tame one. I think they lowered its metabolism by keeping it cool.

How did they make the lion noises? It was a recording of a real lion.

How did you capture their boat? In one take!

How did they film the night scenes? We shot many of them inside Mrs Batty’s barn.

Sophie Neville with Swallow’s flag

When you filmed the approach to the houseboat it seamed as if Amazon was coming in fast, was she? Yes, she hit it quite hard!

How long did it take to film? We spent forty six days onset in total, which meant spending about seven weeks in the Lake District.

Do you still have the parrot? I don’t. The green parrot belonged to Mrs Proctor of Kendal where the residents were terrified of him.

What happened to Amazon? She is owned by a family living in Kent who love sailing her in the lakes. She was the same Amazon as used in the BBC serial of ‘Swallows and Amazons’ made in 1962, when Susan George played Kitty.

Have you been back to the island? Yes! I last returned with Nick Barton who is planning a new film adaptation of ‘Swallows and Amazons’.

Are there adaptations of any other Swallows and Amazon books? Yes, in 1983 I was able to work on the BBC serialisation of ‘Coot Club and The Big Six’, starring Rosemary Leach, Colin Baker, Henry Dimbleby and Julian Fellowes as one of the Hullabaloos. It was my job to cast the children and look after them during the three months we spent on location, which was great fun.