~ Author Sophie Neville: photo Westmorland Gazette ~
The paperback of 'The Making of Swallows and Amazons' sold so well that The Lutterworth Press have recently published a second edition in paperback. This beautifully designed and much improved version includes a few more stories that floated to the surface. It also has a new cover evocative of the 1974 film of 'Swallows and Amazons' that is still broadcast on television today.
This second edition of the book, available on Amazon, at Waterstones and other bookshops, can be ordered for libraries worldwide. Although amusing holiday reading it makes a good introduction to Media Studies, Drama or acting courses as it is based on the diary of a little girl who suddenly find herself starring in a major British movie.
~ Sophie Neville as Titty Walker in 1974 ~
This edition of the filmography includes a few photographs that have not been seen before including a portrait of Virginia McKenna, the star of the film, taken by Philip Hatfield when she was at the unit hotel in the Lake District where the movie was made in the summer of 1973. She can be seen here in a still taken from a review of the film on Blu-ray.
~ Virginia McKenna as Mrs Walker in Swallows & Amazons (1974) ~
~ Suzanna Hamilton and Sophie Neville in Swallows & Amazons (1974) ~
~ The Swallows in their tent ~
The second edition of the illustrated ebook is also out - under the title 'The Secrets of Filming Swallows & Amazons' by Sophie Neville, available on Amazon, Smashwords, itunes, Kobo and other providers. This ebook has links to unique behind-the-scenes cine footage taken on location and retails at only £2.99
The 40th anniversary DVD and Bluray of this Vintage Classic, distributed by StudioCanal, can be purchased online or ordered with the paperback from your local library. Virginia McKenna, Suzanna Hamilton and Sophie Neville apear in the DVD Extras package, recollecting how the film was made and what it was like to work with the director, Claude Whatham.
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
Daphne Neville (left) appearing as Emma in 'Die Rose von Kerrymore'
Angela Howard-Bent, CEO of Dashwood Film Productions, became well known for her enthusiasm to adapt Rosamunde Pilcher's bestselling romantic novels. In the year 2000 she co-produced The Rose of Kerrymoreas a dual language production with German television. To the delight of the cast and crew this was shot on location in Dorset, featuring some of the most beautiful scenery in England .
My mother played Emma the housekeeper, enjoying the opportunity to see around the historic churches and interesting country estate where the story was set. She was the only member of the cast who was not German.
Matthias Zahlbaum, (above) known for Drunter und Druber, Das Schlob meins Vaters and Zwei Manner am Herd played Dr Tom Winter. Jenny Jurgens played Sally, the girl who fell in love with him, while Dietmar Schonherr had the role of grumpy old Lord Kerrymore. Mum was thrilled to be acting as his housekeeper.
When the series was broadcast in 2001, Matthias Zahlbaum wrote enthusiastically from Hamburg, saying that 6 million people had watched the ninety minute drama. He was very pleased with the viewing figures. We rang to congratulate Angela Howard-Bent, who had worked so hard on the project.
While Die Rose von Kerrymore was directed by Axel de Roche, who only had time to direct one further episode, the screenplay was written by Marlies Ewald, who went on to adapt many more well-loved Rosamunde Pilcher novels for the screen. It proved a hugely successful series, running for years. ZDF produced more than 100 of her stories for German television viewers.
Distributed by ZDF Enterprises, Die Rose von Kerrymore was a co-production with Steamship Films, FFP Media Entertainment, Zweiters Deutsches Fernsehen, Osterreichischer Rundfunk, MediaTrade, Videx International and Mainostelvisio (MTV3)
Daphne Neville is a leading character in Funnily Enough, the true story, recently serialised in eleven issues of iBelieve magazine.
It all started when Mum played Mad Mary in the She-Wolf of London. My sisters were mortified.
She then appeared as 'a lovely Babooska' in The Saintwith Val Kilmer for Paramount Pictures. He was dressed up as a babushka too, trying to escape from some baddie, you'll have to tell me who.
Things got worse. Here she is in The Ghost of Greville Lodge, but what shocked her friends recently was seeing her looking hideous as the Dowager Duchess in a TV movie Maggie Smith starred in called Capturing Mary. It was directed by Stephen Poliakoff. At least she was drenched in jewels.
Seeing Mum on Casualtywas somehow more appalling. She played a pathetic character called Doreen Oaken in one episode but said it was quite restful as she spent most to the time being pushed around on a gurney.
Her best part was playing Miriam in The Chasedirected by Sue Tully, who I worked with years ago when she was in Eastenders. The Chase is a BBC drama series about a veterinary practice in Yorkshire. Mum adopted the accent, and was given a terrible haircut, to play a resentful woman on community service who found fulfillment when she came across a baby otter trapped in rubbish and managed to rescue it. Needless to say it was her own tame otter. She must have spent days in a costume comprised of fisherman's waders over a red zoot suit but has never been happier.
Mum's lastest role was playing a nun for the BBC. I just hope my sisters do not see the result.
Click here for more photos of this mad life or read the true story - snatches of which are in Funnily Enough.
Dan Stevens, Daphne Neville and Dominic Cooper
on location during the filming of 'Summer in February'
The movie 'Summer in February' opens with a scene on a Cornish cliff top that features my mother as a bird-watcher. She tells me that she looks just like her mother on screen.
The film is beautifully photographed by Andrew Dunn, who funnily enough was the lighting cameraman when I worked on the crew of the BBC drama serial 'My Family and Other Animals'made on location in Corfu. He had a house near ours in the Cotswolds and knows all about my mother's kitchen.
'Dominic Cooper is horrid,' she declared.
'Really horrid? Horrid in real life?'
'Oh, no. Horrid as the character. In real life he couldn't be sweeter. He has a lovely smile.'
You won't see Mum on the trailer but it is beautiful ~
