Sophie Neville explores the connections between three different Puffin paperback editions of Swallows and Amazons and the original film…

The school term is over, Swallows and Amazons is on BBC iPlayer and Christmas missives are arriving in the post. I have just been sent this homemade card from someone who came to the premier of the original film in 1974, when I was fortunate enough to play Able seaman Titty.

Captain Flint hanging Christmas decorations around his houseboat on a card made from a Puffin book cover

I dug out the Puffin paperback of Swallows and Amazons that my father gave me when I was a girl and which was read avidly along with other books in the series by the time I was eleven years-old. It is a 1970’s edition in which I’d underlined everything Titty said. This must have been when I re-read this copy when busy preparing for filming the 1974 movie financed by EMI.

Kaye Webb, the editor, had written an introduction saying, ‘This book is about sailing, fishing, swimming, camping, and piratical exploits.’ She wanted to make it available to children, thinking that discovering Swallows and Amazons ‘for the first time must be as exciting as a Christmas morning.’

Underneath, I’d noted down other skills I would need to acquire before playing the part of Titty. ‘Owl Hoot’, was one item, ‘wisle’ (sic) another. I was somewhat apprehensive about dancing the Hornpipe but excited about ‘being a cormorant’, having no idea how cold this experience would prove.

A new edition of the Puffin paperback was brought out to accompany the film. A still was used from the scene where the Swallows sail both dinghies from Cormorant Island.

Today, I am most interested in Ransome’s prose, amused to find the phrase ‘X marks the spot where they ate six missionaries’ does not appear within the pages of Swallows and Amazons. It was given to Titty in 1973 by the screenwriter David Wood. However, there are words of wisdom a-plenty that were not used in the film adaptations:

“I like cooking,” said mate Susan.

“If you want to go on liking it, take my advice and get someone else to do the washing up”, is Mother’s reply. (I wonder who might have said this in reality.)

“You can be wide awake and not see a thing when you aren’t looking” is one of Roger’s observations.

John was able to look back to “a different, distant life”, which is exactly how it feels when the excitement of Ransome’s world spoils you for the ordinary. It’s true: those involved in outdoor activities develop in leaps and bounds ending up, ‘not at all what they had been.’

What is it about Arthur Ransome’s writing that captures your imagination? Rowing? Sailing? Cooking over a camp fire? Which book has most influenced your life? Please add your comments here.

Article on Swallows and Amazons on Puffin Magazine

Originally published by Sophie Neville in December 2019.