Thirty years after keeping her original diary, Sophie has brought out a second edition of 'Funnily Enough', adding a few illustrations from a sketchbook kept the year before.
A flower is a flower but it was uncanny how many of the sketches threw light on themes within the book. Sophie was always yearning to travel more widely and explore southern Africa.
She had been falling asleep with the light on, even when she was working in London.
It's all too easy to overlook the important things in life or spend enough time with your family.
The sad thing was that she never realised how seriously she was being courted by eligible young men.
Distractions came in many shapes and sizes.
Urgent tasks superseded the importance of spending time with people.
and then she went down with Asian 'flu, which hung around for a long, long time.
Sophie Neville appeared on CBBC TV's new series 'Cinemaniacs', talking about her first film 'Swallows & Amazons' - as described in her memoir Funnily Enough.
Back in 1991, when I was at home in bed suffering from chronic fatigue, I kept a diary that has been adapted into the book 'Funnily Enough'. I wondered what my mother would say when she read it, as my portrait of her is pretty blunt, but all she suggested was that I should think about making the diaries I kept as a child into another book. She was referring to the year 1973 when I was given the role of Titty in the feature film of Swallows & Amazons, made on location in the Lake District. She'd made me write the diaries in the first place.
In that summer of 1991 my father took the Humber yawl he had just finished building in the garage up to Windermere to take part in a Steamboat Rally.
I wasn't very well but he was staying in great luxury at the Motorboat Racing Boat Club and Mum thought the mountain air would do me good. She was right. I was also taken back to the magical place where I had spend part of my childhood, a very memorable part.
Here is an extract from my diary, published as the book 'Funnily Enough'
2nd August 1991 ~
We left the crowded waters of Windermere
and drove through rain to Coniston Water. It was peaceful and still and wild.
We drove up the eastern side. The oak woods clinging to the hillside and
flowing down to the shore took me reeling back to my childhood. ‘Here we are,
intrepid explorers, making the first ever voyage into uncharted waters. What
mysteries will they hold for us? What dark secrets will be revealed?’
Long ago I appeared in the feature film of Arthur Ransome’s
book Swallows and Amazons. I played
Titty, or rather I was Titty for a while wearing thick blue gym knickers, which
the crew referred to as passion killers. The book was written in 1929 and
although the film adaptation was made in the early ’seventies it had an ageless
quality and was repeated on television at Christmas time year after year,
between Rock Hudson and Doris Day. I was once handed a copy of the TV billings
in the Radio Times. On one page I was
credited as producing a documentary for teachers that I’d just spent six months
pouring myself into. Above it was a huge colour picture of myself as a gawky
looking child, described as the star of Swallows
and Amazons. My life travelling in circles. Our Head of Department caught
me in the lift. ‘Do you think I could have a VHS tape of your programme?’
‘Oh,
yes,’ I said, thrilled that he was interested in my series. ‘But I haven’t
finished dubbing the music yet. Do you mind having a copy with the timecode
on?’
‘Ah, er. No. It was actually a copy of Swallows and Amazons that I wanted; my sons are longing to see it.’
And off he rushed.
My
father tipped his boat off the trailer and we motored over to PeelIsland
where we’d made the film. WildCatIsland.
It was slightly less over-grown but had hardly changed in the eighteen years
since I’d last been there. It still had just the one old fireplace where I’d
cooked potato cakes with Virginia McKenna and talked about very savage savages.
Arthur Ransome had us call self-important men in open necked shirts ‘natives’
then, so I suppose it’s not surprising that Granny, who was a real child in
the1920s, still does.
I
walked down to the secret harbour where I captured the Amazon, up to the oak
tree that I climbed ‘for fear of ravenous beasts’ and on to the place where we
had gutted fish. It’s a wonderful island. I’d love my children to be able to go
and camp there. Not that I did in reality, I was only ever there with an
eighty-strong film crew. I’d worked hard, even then as a child. It was often
cold and we would have to hang around for what seemed like hours, waiting for
lights to be set or clouds to pass. As I walked out over the same rocks I began
to feel the emptiness of not having enough to do. Strangely enough, filming is
an incredibly boring occupation for children who find it difficult to endure
the hanging around. It’s a restrictive discipline; I hadn’t been allowed to go
off exploring or even walk around the headland then. Now I don’t have the
stamina.
Sten Grendon, Simon West, Virginia McKenna, Suzanna Hamilton and Sophie Neville in 'Swallows & Amazons' directed by Claude Whatham ~ photo: Daphne Neville
It was only after others read this section of Funnily Enough, and much urging from various members of The Arthur Ransome Society, that I was finally persuaded to convert the diaries kept in 1973, when I played Titty, into another book. It is now out in paperback - quite a fat one at that. StudioCanal, who own the film rights, graciously allowed me to reproduce a number of official stills from the movie and have released a restored version on Blu-ray and DVD with a fabulous extras package. My book is also illustrated with call sheets, old letters, snap shots my parents took on location and three maps that I have drawn to show where you can find the locations next time you are in the Lake District.
We were driving home when the car radio came on - by itself, which was rather surprising. I thought it was a traffic alert but the BBC was playing Carly Simon singing You're so vain, bet you think this song is about you. My husband changed the channel to listen to the 8 O'clock News but I changed it back as I rather like singing along to, I had some dreams, they were clouds in my coffee, clouds in my coffee.
When the song ended I found we were listening to the Mark Forrest Evening Show. He was talking about Laurie Lee, the British author and poet born in Gloucestershire 100 years ago. I couldn't believe what I was hearing: it was not exactly about me but described a scene I'd been involved in forty-three years ago.
Sophie Neville, aged 10, outside Slad Village School in 1971
A chap called Dave had rung in from Milton Keynes to say that he had been in the BBC play 'Cider with Rose' directed by Claude Whatham back in 1971, when Rosemary Leach played Mrs Lee. It was filmed on location at Slad, the village where Laurie Lee grew up near Stroud in the Cotswolds. Although his character was not given a name he played a big boy at the village school who was slapped around the face by his teacher. He didn't mind because the director slipped him 50p 'Danger Money' after each take, but she drew blood. Later he was seen in the school playground being given an offer he couldn't refuse by a buxom girl who took him behind the bike sheds.
When we reached home, a few minutes later, I rushed inside and rang up the BBC.
'I was there, in that classroom!' I explained. 'I played the little girl called Eileen Brown who was sitting at the desk next to Laurie Lee.' The producer checked the International Movie Data Base, rang me back and put me on the air.
I explained that I had been cast in the part of Eileen Brown because I could play the piano. Later in the story Laurie Lee played his violin at the parochial village tea. I accompanied him, tripping over the complicated cords.
The author Laurie Lee, who was around at the time, explained that he quite fell for Eileen as they walked off stage. 'She was the first girl I fell in love with.'
'It was Oh, Danny Boy, the tune that always made Mrs Lee cry.'
I told him that Dave had been terribly brave because the small lady who had the role of the teacher really slapped him very hard. 'In the book, as well as in the BBC play, the boy simply picked the teacher up, put her on the window sill and walked out.' Claude Whatham who was directing the drama didn't tell us children what was going to happen. We were genuinely shocked. It was quite violent.
In Slad with director Claude Whatham
What made this all the more poignant was that we were sitting in the real school that Laurie Lee went to as a child. It was a true story. I read the book again recently. The boy Dave played walked off and never to returned to school again.
Claude Whatham ended up receiving a BAFTA nomination for Cider with Rosie, which was widely regarded as an avant garde, ground-breaking drama. Two years later he cast Sten Grendon, who played Little Laurie Lee, as Roger Walker in the Theatre Projects/EMI movie 'Swallows & Amazons'. He chose me to play Titty, his elder sister. The film score was composed by Wilfred Josephs who also wrote the theme music for Cider with Rosie (1971), which you can listen to here:
Wilfred Joseph's music for 'Cider with Rosie'
The actors John Frankly-Robbins and Mike Pratt also appeared in both dramas. I later worked with Rosemary Leach and met up with the set designer Michael Howells who had a small part as one of Laurie Lee's elder brothers.
The version that Dave and I appeared in was special in that Laurie Lee was in it, as himself - right at the end.
Why our car radio came on when it did, I do not know but listening to Dave speak about Claude Whatham was extraordinary, a piece of my own history. It seemed apt that we had just returned from The Chalke Valley History Festival. I am hoping to give a talk there next year on growing up in the 1920s and 1930s - which is exactly what Laurie Lee did.
You can read more about Claude Whatham and 'Cider with Rosie' (1971) in 'The Making of Swallows & Amazons'please click here and find a free sample of the first chapters.
To read about the real Rosie, as profiled in Cotswold Life magazine please click here
To listen to the Thursday Mark Forrest Evening Show - slide the cursor to 02:12:20 please click here
I start speaking about Swallows & Amazons at 02:14:20
Dave is on before the News at 01:53:00
Filming with otters is never easy. You can imagine what happened 0.05 seconds after this photograph was taken. On the other hand, our tame otters will spend ages drying off after a swim.
The easiest way to photograph our Asian short-clawed otters is when they are elevated in some way. Rudi is good at climbing but will descend with caution as he is not built to jump.
Often the script calls for an otter to be swimming underwater. Whilst this is possible it takes a long time to capture a sequence. A whole day was needed to take one underwater photograph for the scene in The Waterbabies. Here the little boy playing Tom is letting a young otter smell his hand.
Much depends on the confidence of the actors appearing with the animals. Whilst Belinda is completely relaxed in my father's arms, she remains a wild creature and it takes her time to get used to strangers.
This little girl who appeared in the drama series 'The Secret of Eel Island' was wonderful with the otters.
Many of the scenes were set on a houseboat which worked well as they could not jump off it and there was no chance for them to off run into the woods.
Oddly our otters don't like swimming in our lake. I think Adam Henson must have lost one here.
No, he was after a pig.
At least you can carry an otter about and hold one in your arms.
We still keep two tame otters at home in the Cotswolds. Bee and Jims who appear in 'Funnily Enough' passed on some time ago but Belinda and Rudi are just as delightful. Belinda is the tamest otter we have ever kept. Here she is, sitting on Mum's shoulder.
Rudi is exceptionally energetic, a real climber.
Belinda is now fourteen, which is a great age for an otter. Their life expectancy in the wild is only about eight years at the maximum.
They are in good condition and eating very well - on a diet consisting of raw trout, day-old chicks and rare beef - but as a result must be the fattest otters you have ever seen.
'You've reached that stage!' my friends keep telling me.
I think they mean that it's my turn to look after my parents.
'I haven't reached a stage. It's been a constant battle.'
'What battle?'
'A battle against mould. I'm allergic to mould.'
'Mould?'
'Black mould. It gets everywhere, especially in fridges.'
'But don't you clean them?'
'Yes, but I'm allergic to the cleaning fluid.'
Don't bother to watch too much...
I can't think why this constituted prime-time viewing but Cynthia was great.
...but my apron is quite swish. Please note the spotty apron from Seville.
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or M.E.
affects 250,000 people in the UK. Typically the most active and talented people are afflicted. More than 33,000 children are affected in England alone, causing them to miss school for long periods, often years. About 20% of the total number of patients have severe ME, lying so ill they are unable to move. It
can last for decades.
Very little progression has been made in last 21
years. I suffered from it in 1991. There is still no test for it, no cure, standard treatment or drugs available. We urgently need to raise awareness about the disease (known in the US and Canada as CFFIDS) to
ensure Government funding is made available for research, tests and
treatment. The danger of total trust in alternative medicine also needs to be highlighted.
