Scottish Mussel - featuring Rudi the Otter

A new British film is being launched on 23rd September starring Talulah Riley, Martin Compton, and Joe Thomas of In Betweeners fame, along with our tame otters. I travelled up to Dunoon in Scotland to help with the scenes that, in the story, entail an injured otter brought into a wildlife conservation centre set in a beautiful location outside Glasgow.

Belinda the Otter with Sophie and Daphne Neville

The romcom is written and directed by Talulah Riley who also stars in what promises to be an amusing movie. Talulah was keen to feature our very energetic young male otter Rudi in a scene where the otter is released back into the wild.  To achieve this on film, without losing him altogether, was quite a feat but he enjoyed himself and the result looks endearing.

When one of the producers asked if I had worked on any other films featuring animals, I had to admit there have been quite a few. We had a baboon in the studio once and I became quite used to filming with trained elephants. I worked with a whole variety of exotic animals on the vet series ‘One by One’ from a pelican to a full grown leopard. In the mid 1980’s I was lucky enough to spend four months on Corfu making the first BBC adaptation of Gerald Durrell’s autobiography ‘My Family and Other Animals’ with Brian Blessed and a huge number of tortoises. As it happens, Rudi will appear in the next series of The Durrells, with filming due to start soon.

To see more about what the otters have been up to, please go to Daphne Neville’s website here.

You can read about living with tame otters in my book ‘Funnily Enough’ available in the UK here in paperback or on Kindle here

There are more photographs of the otters here

The DVD, which will be released on 3rd October, is available for pre-order here

One of our hand-reared otters who stars in ‘Scottish Mussel’

Wishing you a very

Royal Photographer Arthur Edwards is in the News again

HRH Prince of Wales meeting author Sophie Neville and her otter. 
Photograph (c) Daily Telegraph - 28th July 2001

Back in 2001, I was introduced to the HRH Prince of Wales when we chatted about otter conservation. A number of photographers buzzed around us including royal photographer Arthur Edwards, then working for The Sun.

He can be seen holding his camera, standing behind us in the centre of the picture. In this instance he missed taking the shots that ended up on the front page of the Daily Telegraph - along with his own image.

Arthur Edwards was on the lunchtime News today, having his head painted purple by Prince Harry who took the opportunity to do so when invited to make hand-prints on his tour of New Zealand. I am not sure why Arthur Edwards was so deserving of the honour but his face was a picture.

The diary I kept when I was recovering from CFS - serialised in iBelieve magazine

Kim Alexis is on the front cover of this month's issue of iBelieve. 

My story continues inside.

Please click here for subscription details.

Memories of my sister's wedding, in the August issue of iBelieve ~

The International Rubery Book Award-winning read, featured in iBelieve magazine, August 2013

The cover of iBelieve magazine, August 2013 - to subscribe or order, click here

'Funnily Enough' - now an Award-winning book by Sophie Neville

Parrots, pirates and fancy dress ~

I f you can see yourself as a porcupine,

a Pink Lady

or even a panda,

whether you go to cold party

a gold party

or just want to dance, 

dressing up will raise the spirits and must be good for the health.

If you can imagine yourself as Captain Flint, the town of Hastings in East Sussex is hosting a massive fancy dress party this Sunday 21st July ~ Hastings Pirate Day ~ They promise a parrot-flying display and a pirate ship donated by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers NFL American football team. Beware, there may be more than 15,000 pirates in town - they are current world record holders' for this sort of thing. 

Download the programme of events here.

iBelieve, the Christian lifestyle magazine full of interesting testimonies

I was dazzelled to find that this month 'Funnily Enough' is being included alongside feature articles on such great Christian authors as Joyce Meyer, Nicky Gumbel and Sarah de Carvahlo

And there is an hilarious cartoon of me, looking GLAMOROUS and organised.

I'm always packing things up for the post but never this neatly.

For two issues of iBelieve please click here

To subscribe to iBelieve please click here.

Sophie Neville decluttering on Channel 4 November 2021

All permissions obtained in release contract with Betty TV for Channel 4

My most recent television broadcast appearance was on Channel 4 in the U.K. for Betty TV's 'Obsessive Compulsive Cleaners' helping my mother Daphne Neville with an overdue blitz on the clutter in her attic.

What do you think!

A Radio Broadcast in the USA ~

On Saturday 23rd March 

at 10.00am

Sophie Neville was interviewed by Dr Diane Dike

on 

Second Chance Radio Show in the USA.

Diane, who also loves dogs, is interested in raising awareness about invisible diseases.

As well as talking about Funnily Enough she told listeners about the sequel Ride the Wings of Morning. Free Kindle copies of the E-book were offered on the show.

~ Click here for the link ~

To get a free Kindle app for your I-phone, Lap-top or other device 

please click here for details

Red Nose Day in London ~

Arriving at Waterloo Station on Red Nose Day

Sophie at St Paul's

Buttoned up smartly with the Beadles of the City of London

With Richard Chartres, Bishop of London and Lady Victoria Leatham, Master of the Drapers Company

And a red nose for the train driver

For links to our HIV/AIDS charity in Africa supported by Comic Relief please click here 

What are you doing for Comic Relief?

It must have been the coldest night of the year - so cold I had to wear a polo-neck jersey under Stella McCartney's Comic Relief T-shirt, but about seventy of us gathered at the River Severn Motor Yacht Club at Worcester.

I managed to get the microphone working and gave an illustrated talk on 'The Secrets of filming Swallows & Amazons in 1973' ~ something described in a section of 'Funnily Enough'.

For details on future talks click here:

We raised £168 and had a lot of fun - as well as a very good meal at the yacht club.

Hot Air Ballooning at Luxor in Egypt, from my perspective ~

Like thousands of British tourists, I too have been hot air ballooning at Luxor while on holiday in Egypt.

It was a fantastic experience, not least because so many balloons went up at once.

I had no idea that there would be 19 passengers in the basket that hung beneath each balloon. We had two pilots, one of whom was British. The equipment looked brand new.

It's a massive set-up with a number of different companies offering daily trips at dawn. It is pretty chilly when you set off, or it is in February.

Some balloons went high, hoping to catch air currents which would take them over the Valley of the Kings.

We were taken low over the sugar cane fields, which I found both fascinating and more enjoyable than flying high.

Most of the other balloons flew at some altitude, the wind taking them over the fields, away from the archaeological sites and majority of ancient temples.

We flew over Luxor and the River Nile. It was beautiful.

You could look into the top floor of people's houses. I was fascinated to see that they kept chickens up on there, often with a great deal of rubbish.

To my relief, we landed safely in a field of stubble. You do think, when you climb into the basket, that up that you might not return alive. By the grace of God, I did.

Sophie Neville in Egypt

sophie@sophieneville.co.uk