1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:06,320 Just about halfway up the hillside, 2 00:00:06,320 --> 00:00:08,600 you can see a farm with a barn attached. 3 00:00:08,600 --> 00:00:10,160 That's Bank Ground Farm, 4 00:00:10,160 --> 00:00:13,720 or better known in the Swallows And Amazons stories as Holly Howe. 5 00:00:17,400 --> 00:00:20,680 Arthur Ransome's Swallows And Amazons 6 00:00:20,680 --> 00:00:25,360 was published in 1930, and has been captivating readers ever since. 7 00:00:27,160 --> 00:00:30,400 The story tells of the Walker and Blackett children, 8 00:00:30,400 --> 00:00:33,080 the Swallows and Amazons of the title, 9 00:00:33,080 --> 00:00:36,720 and their Lakeland summer holiday adventures. 10 00:00:36,720 --> 00:00:41,680 When I first read this book as a child, I felt I was John, 11 00:00:41,680 --> 00:00:46,240 captain of the swallows, a 12-year-old pining for adventure. 12 00:00:46,240 --> 00:00:49,400 Risks? Of course. But that's life, isn't it? 13 00:00:49,400 --> 00:00:51,520 And when I had two sons of my own, 14 00:00:51,520 --> 00:00:56,280 we came back here for years to sail and to fish. 15 00:00:56,280 --> 00:00:58,720 Swallows and Amazons forever! 16 00:01:00,480 --> 00:01:04,960 'Ransome's much-loved classic has sold over 2.5 million copies, 17 00:01:04,960 --> 00:01:08,280 'and has brought generations of fans to the wild 18 00:01:08,280 --> 00:01:11,440 'and romantic setting of the Lake District.' 19 00:01:11,440 --> 00:01:13,760 So, you are a fan, are you? I am a fan. 20 00:01:13,760 --> 00:01:17,160 I read it to my children many years ago, when they were young. 21 00:01:17,160 --> 00:01:20,200 I confess, I thought I learnt enough from reading the book that 22 00:01:20,200 --> 00:01:22,160 I could go off and sail a boat. 23 00:01:22,160 --> 00:01:25,240 'Ransome was not just a much-loved children's author 24 00:01:25,240 --> 00:01:28,880 'and illustrator. He was also a globetrotting journalist, 25 00:01:28,880 --> 00:01:32,960 'who witnessed some of the most dramatic events of the 20th century.' 26 00:01:32,960 --> 00:01:37,080 This is actually a letter from Lenin, giving Ransome free passage. 27 00:01:37,080 --> 00:01:40,640 'But Ransome is best remembered for perfecting a new 28 00:01:40,640 --> 00:01:44,480 'kind of children's fiction that chimed with the mood of the time.' 29 00:01:45,680 --> 00:01:48,760 Real children doing real things in real places. 30 00:01:48,760 --> 00:01:51,680 Swallows And Amazons is great in so many ways 31 00:01:51,680 --> 00:01:54,880 but I want to uncover some of its secrets. 32 00:01:54,880 --> 00:01:58,360 Why did Arthur Ransome write it? Who was it for? 33 00:01:58,360 --> 00:02:01,400 And can we find the exact locations 34 00:02:01,400 --> 00:02:04,560 where this wonderful adventure took place? 35 00:02:18,160 --> 00:02:21,120 "Looking down from Titty's peak in the evening of the day 36 00:02:21,120 --> 00:02:23,240 "on which they'd come to the farmhouse 37 00:02:23,240 --> 00:02:25,560 "where their mother had taken lodgings, 38 00:02:25,560 --> 00:02:27,880 "they'd seen the lake like an inland sea. 39 00:02:27,880 --> 00:02:30,440 "And, on the lake, they'd seen the island. 40 00:02:30,440 --> 00:02:34,880 "All four of them had been filled at once with the same idea. 41 00:02:34,880 --> 00:02:41,400 "It was not just AN island. It was THE island, waiting for THEM. 42 00:02:41,400 --> 00:02:43,640 "It was THEIR island." 43 00:02:43,640 --> 00:02:46,360 No child could resist that. 44 00:02:49,360 --> 00:02:52,720 Swallows And Amazons begins with a vision of a vision - 45 00:02:52,720 --> 00:02:55,240 a vision of freedom and new horizons. 46 00:02:55,240 --> 00:02:58,080 After spotting the island, the Walker children, 47 00:02:58,080 --> 00:03:01,320 who are staying at Holly Howe farmhouse for their summer holiday 48 00:03:01,320 --> 00:03:04,840 discover a small sailing dinghy named Swallow. 49 00:03:06,240 --> 00:03:10,600 Geraint Lewis owns a similar boat and has kindly agreed to take me out 50 00:03:10,600 --> 00:03:15,200 on Coniston Water to follow in the wake of Captain John and his crew. 51 00:03:15,200 --> 00:03:17,000 Morning, John. Good to see you. 52 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:19,400 Hello. I'm looking forward to this trip. 53 00:03:19,400 --> 00:03:21,440 Yes, it is a great day for a sail, I think. 54 00:03:21,440 --> 00:03:23,760 Do you want to come aboard? Yeah. This is Peggy. 55 00:03:23,760 --> 00:03:28,040 Well, it's exactly the same boat that all of them would be sailing on. 56 00:03:28,040 --> 00:03:29,960 Yes, pretty much. Pretty much. 57 00:03:29,960 --> 00:03:33,520 She's a very traditional early 20th-century sailing dinghy. 58 00:03:33,520 --> 00:03:37,080 It's a lovely boat. Follow me aboard. "Aye, aye, Sir," I should say. 59 00:03:37,080 --> 00:03:39,080 If you'd like to go to the stern. 60 00:03:39,080 --> 00:03:42,360 I will, cos he loved all these technical terms. He did. 61 00:03:42,360 --> 00:03:44,800 He's very natural with them as well. 62 00:03:44,800 --> 00:03:47,000 I mean, there was no sense that he was teaching people 63 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:50,040 how to sail and, yet, he managed to bring an awful lot of instruction 64 00:03:50,040 --> 00:03:53,520 into the books, which people just pick up as part of the stories. 65 00:03:55,720 --> 00:04:00,760 'Swallow, with its crew, Captain John, Mate Susan, Able Seaman Titty 66 00:04:00,760 --> 00:04:06,040 'and Ship's Boy Roger, ranging in age from 12 to seven, set sail. 67 00:04:07,760 --> 00:04:10,960 'Destination - the island that has enticed them 68 00:04:10,960 --> 00:04:12,800 'since they first arrived.' 69 00:04:12,800 --> 00:04:16,040 What's difficult about sailing on a lake? 70 00:04:16,040 --> 00:04:19,040 Well, the difficulty here with Coniston is you get 71 00:04:19,040 --> 00:04:22,960 a lot of gusty wind, a lot of wind changes, as we've just noticed. 72 00:04:22,960 --> 00:04:24,880 When we look at this lake, 73 00:04:24,880 --> 00:04:27,400 this isn't exactly the same as the book, is it? 74 00:04:27,400 --> 00:04:32,520 No, the one in the book, I think, is rather larger than Coniston. 75 00:04:32,520 --> 00:04:35,560 Maybe not quite as large as Windermere, but larger. 76 00:04:35,560 --> 00:04:37,160 Mind your head again. Oops! 77 00:04:37,160 --> 00:04:39,720 The lake is clearly... OK, we're going now. 78 00:04:39,720 --> 00:04:42,960 ..clearly a bit different from the lake in the book. 79 00:04:42,960 --> 00:04:46,240 So, we're heading now down towards Peel Island. 80 00:04:46,240 --> 00:04:49,560 Yeah, we're heading south for Peel Island. It's about two miles away. 81 00:04:49,560 --> 00:04:52,320 You can see it there just poking out from the land. 82 00:04:52,320 --> 00:04:54,400 And this is Wild Cat Island, isn't it? 83 00:04:54,400 --> 00:04:57,080 This is as close as you'll get to Wild Cat Island, really. 84 00:04:57,080 --> 00:05:00,040 This is exactly the right boat we're on. We are. 85 00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:02,280 We're in the right boat, we're in the right place, 86 00:05:02,280 --> 00:05:04,760 having a great time. 87 00:05:04,760 --> 00:05:06,480 We've got a fair wind. 88 00:05:06,480 --> 00:05:09,920 Could you ask for anything more? It is. It's perfect. 89 00:05:17,120 --> 00:05:19,320 The story of Swallows And Amazons 90 00:05:19,320 --> 00:05:22,160 has its roots in Ransome's own childhood. 91 00:05:22,160 --> 00:05:27,440 Born in the city of Leeds in 1884, his father, a keen countryman, 92 00:05:27,440 --> 00:05:31,440 introduced him to the Lake District from a young age. 93 00:05:31,440 --> 00:05:34,880 Ransome, in a later preface to Swallows And Amazons, 94 00:05:34,880 --> 00:05:38,440 pays an emotional tribute to this unique landscape. 95 00:05:38,440 --> 00:05:40,560 "We adored the place. 96 00:05:40,560 --> 00:05:44,440 "Coming to it, we used to run down to the lake, dip our hands in, 97 00:05:44,440 --> 00:05:48,920 "and wish, as if we'd just seen the new moon. 98 00:05:48,920 --> 00:05:52,880 "Swallows And Amazons grew out of those old memories. 99 00:05:52,880 --> 00:05:57,840 "I could not help writing it. It almost wrote itself." 100 00:06:02,120 --> 00:06:06,080 The Lake District has long been a source of inspiration for writers. 101 00:06:07,840 --> 00:06:11,120 Professor Nicola Watson is an expert on travel writing 102 00:06:11,120 --> 00:06:13,480 and children's literature. 103 00:06:13,480 --> 00:06:17,240 What is it about the Lake District that's inspired writers? 104 00:06:17,240 --> 00:06:19,600 I think, really, it's just been a very, 105 00:06:19,600 --> 00:06:22,640 very famously beautiful place for a long time. 106 00:06:22,640 --> 00:06:27,040 It starts off in the 1720s, regarded as a very ugly and dangerous place, 107 00:06:27,040 --> 00:06:33,240 so defers to England or Britain, suggests that it's desolate. 108 00:06:33,240 --> 00:06:37,880 But by the middle of the 1700s, and onto the late 18th century, 109 00:06:37,880 --> 00:06:41,120 it becomes a famous place to go and admire the picturesque, 110 00:06:41,120 --> 00:06:45,160 to go in for sketching. That brings Wordsworth. 111 00:06:45,160 --> 00:06:50,440 That brings a whole new ideology of childhood in nature. 112 00:06:50,440 --> 00:06:53,600 So, that's why for a children's writer, 113 00:06:53,600 --> 00:06:56,520 the Lake District has been a wonderful place to work. 114 00:06:56,520 --> 00:06:58,160 Yes, I think so. 115 00:06:58,160 --> 00:07:02,560 Or, rather, it became a good place to bring children for holidays. 116 00:07:02,560 --> 00:07:05,680 And, then, of course, when you became a children's writer yourself, 117 00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:09,280 most children's writers write, in fact, about their own childhoods. 118 00:07:09,280 --> 00:07:12,280 Arthur Ransome started writing when he was very young. 119 00:07:12,280 --> 00:07:14,400 When he was eight, he sort of writes 120 00:07:14,400 --> 00:07:17,920 the ur-Swallows And Amazons which he calls The Desert Island. 121 00:07:17,920 --> 00:07:19,680 And I've got a bit here. 122 00:07:19,680 --> 00:07:23,200 "The next day, they climb to the top of the lookout place 123 00:07:23,200 --> 00:07:26,200 "but could see nothing of the savages. 124 00:07:26,200 --> 00:07:28,880 "So they got some more provisions ready in case 125 00:07:28,880 --> 00:07:30,640 "they were attacked again. 126 00:07:30,640 --> 00:07:34,480 "And, sure enough, that evening, which was the 24th December, 127 00:07:34,480 --> 00:07:38,320 "when they went up to the lookout place, they saw a huge 128 00:07:38,320 --> 00:07:42,760 "fleet of brown-sailed canoes making straight for the island." 129 00:07:42,760 --> 00:07:45,120 And so many of the words are the same, aren't they? 130 00:07:45,120 --> 00:07:49,160 Whether it's the "lookout point," "provisions," "savages," 131 00:07:49,160 --> 00:07:52,680 and, of course, "the island." "The island," indeed. 132 00:07:56,440 --> 00:08:00,720 'It would be nearly 40 years after that first boyish story that 133 00:08:00,720 --> 00:08:03,560 'Ransome began work on the book that made him famous. 134 00:08:07,640 --> 00:08:10,960 'And here at the Museum Of Lakeland Arts And Industry in Kendal 135 00:08:10,960 --> 00:08:15,120 'is the only known manuscript of Swallows And Amazons.' 136 00:08:17,800 --> 00:08:20,120 This is the heart of the collection. 137 00:08:20,120 --> 00:08:25,120 Arthur Ransome's desk, his typewriter, and all his pipes, 138 00:08:25,120 --> 00:08:27,760 a vital part of the Ransome life. 139 00:08:27,760 --> 00:08:32,120 And, here, we've got a completed book in manuscript form. 140 00:08:32,120 --> 00:08:36,000 And he calls it The Swallows And The Amazons. 141 00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:38,760 And he scratched it out on this page. 142 00:08:38,760 --> 00:08:42,360 And he writes this is the rough draft in 1929. 143 00:08:42,360 --> 00:08:45,680 And what's interesting was that he started work 144 00:08:45,680 --> 00:08:48,840 on Swallows And Amazons in March of that year. 145 00:08:48,840 --> 00:08:50,280 By the end of the year, 146 00:08:50,280 --> 00:08:54,200 here he is with what looks like almost the complete version. 147 00:08:54,200 --> 00:08:55,880 It's extraordinary. 148 00:08:55,880 --> 00:08:59,320 And one of the early bits that everyone remembers who read 149 00:08:59,320 --> 00:09:01,240 the book is the telegram. 150 00:09:01,240 --> 00:09:05,640 This is the most famous telegram that ever appears in a children's book. 151 00:09:05,640 --> 00:09:10,360 And it's sent by the father, who is a commander in the Royal Navy. 152 00:09:10,360 --> 00:09:14,280 He's asked whether his children can go and camp on this island 153 00:09:14,280 --> 00:09:16,520 for four or five days. 154 00:09:16,520 --> 00:09:20,320 Is that going to be possible? And he sends back this marvellous telegram, 155 00:09:20,320 --> 00:09:25,560 which is, "BETTER DROWNED THAN DUFFERS IF NOT DUFFERS WON'T DROWN." 156 00:09:25,560 --> 00:09:29,720 "'Hurrah for Daddy' he shouted. 'What does it mean?' asked Susan. 157 00:09:29,720 --> 00:09:32,520 "'It means Yes,' said Titty." 158 00:09:32,520 --> 00:09:36,320 And what he means, of course, is that if they're duffers, 159 00:09:36,320 --> 00:09:38,040 they may as well drown. 160 00:09:38,040 --> 00:09:40,960 So this means they can go off on their adventure, 161 00:09:40,960 --> 00:09:43,400 sailing to Wild Cat Island. 162 00:09:43,400 --> 00:09:46,120 It's the beginning of this terrific adventure. 163 00:09:52,040 --> 00:09:56,520 So, this is the secret harbour on Wild Cat Island. 164 00:09:56,520 --> 00:10:00,040 And you have to come in very carefully here because of the rocks. 165 00:10:00,040 --> 00:10:02,440 You do. The lake's high at the moment, 166 00:10:02,440 --> 00:10:06,040 but there's a lot more rocks underwater...you can't see. 167 00:10:06,040 --> 00:10:08,680 It is like a natural harbour, isn't it? It is. 168 00:10:08,680 --> 00:10:11,920 It's very small, but it's a perfect harbour, really. Perfect. 169 00:10:11,920 --> 00:10:14,240 Great place to hide your boat. 170 00:10:14,240 --> 00:10:16,440 There we are. Wild Cat Island. 171 00:10:17,680 --> 00:10:21,080 I think we should pull the boat up and explore. Yeah, that's great. 172 00:10:22,280 --> 00:10:24,160 It's wonderful. 173 00:10:24,160 --> 00:10:27,400 And, of course, in the book, it's a much bigger island, isn't it? 174 00:10:27,400 --> 00:10:29,600 I think so. The island in my imagination 175 00:10:29,600 --> 00:10:31,680 is two or three times the size of this, 176 00:10:31,680 --> 00:10:34,400 but it's still a perfectly formed island. 177 00:10:34,400 --> 00:10:36,920 And most exciting to have a look around. 178 00:10:38,160 --> 00:10:42,360 "At last, the green trees were close ahead, and Swallow was safe 179 00:10:42,360 --> 00:10:46,320 "in the pool and ran her nose up the beach in the tiny bay. 180 00:10:46,320 --> 00:10:49,080 "Sheltered by the trees from the north 181 00:10:49,080 --> 00:10:52,160 "and by the walls of rock from any other wind. 182 00:10:52,160 --> 00:10:55,400 "'What a place,' said the Able Seaman. 183 00:10:55,400 --> 00:10:59,640 "'I expect somebody hid on the island hundreds of years ago 184 00:10:59,640 --> 00:11:02,320 "'and kept his boat here.' 185 00:11:02,320 --> 00:11:05,600 "'It's a perfect harbour,' said John." 186 00:11:08,080 --> 00:11:11,880 'But after their successful landing, it soon becomes clear that 187 00:11:11,880 --> 00:11:16,240 'someone else has already discovered the island. 188 00:11:17,840 --> 00:11:20,600 'The rival crew are the Blackett sisters, 189 00:11:20,600 --> 00:11:23,040 'in their sailing dinghy, Amazon. 190 00:11:25,040 --> 00:11:28,960 'There were two real boats which were the original Swallow and Amazon. 191 00:11:28,960 --> 00:11:34,000 'One actually called Swallow has sadly disappeared but the other, 192 00:11:34,000 --> 00:11:37,200 'Mavis, on which Amazon is believed to have been based, 193 00:11:37,200 --> 00:11:40,800 'is on display at the Ruskin Museum in Coniston.' 194 00:11:47,200 --> 00:11:48,920 How wonderful! 195 00:11:48,920 --> 00:11:51,280 It's still here! 196 00:11:51,280 --> 00:11:52,760 And it's got the centreboard. 197 00:11:52,760 --> 00:11:57,840 This is the actual boat which inspired Amazon, 198 00:11:57,840 --> 00:12:03,640 the terror of the seas, crewed by the sworn enemies of the Swallow 199 00:12:03,640 --> 00:12:07,120 Captain Nancy, aged 13, 200 00:12:07,120 --> 00:12:10,720 and Shipmate Peggy, 12. 201 00:12:10,720 --> 00:12:16,560 And this is how Ransome described their first fateful encounter. 202 00:12:20,320 --> 00:12:24,320 "The four explorers of the Swallow stood facing 203 00:12:24,320 --> 00:12:27,160 "the two pirate girls from the Amazon. 204 00:12:27,160 --> 00:12:30,160 "The Amazons were bigger than most of the Swallows. 205 00:12:30,160 --> 00:12:32,800 "One of them was bigger than Captain John. 206 00:12:32,800 --> 00:12:35,320 "The other was about the same size. 207 00:12:35,320 --> 00:12:39,600 "If it had come to a fight, it might have been a very near thing. 208 00:12:39,600 --> 00:12:41,880 "But it did not come to a fight. 209 00:12:41,880 --> 00:12:45,080 "'Let's parlay first and fight afterwards,' 210 00:12:45,080 --> 00:12:47,120 "said the leader of the Amazons." 211 00:12:51,400 --> 00:12:54,800 I've always liked the way the children are so confident 212 00:12:54,800 --> 00:12:56,680 and optimistic. 213 00:12:56,680 --> 00:12:58,720 Some of them have traditional roles, 214 00:12:58,720 --> 00:13:04,600 with Captain John the obvious father figure, and Susan clearly the mother. 215 00:13:04,600 --> 00:13:09,880 But the Amazon pirates are certainly not held back because they're girls. 216 00:13:09,880 --> 00:13:13,960 They are bold, strong, and fiercely independent. 217 00:13:16,520 --> 00:13:20,360 'Perhaps surprisingly, these virtues weren't in fact new 218 00:13:20,360 --> 00:13:22,080 'to Swallows And Amazons. 219 00:13:22,080 --> 00:13:25,560 'Literature aimed at young girls of the time was full 220 00:13:25,560 --> 00:13:28,360 'of plucky characters and exciting action.' 221 00:13:30,240 --> 00:13:33,280 The '30s is strongly interested, 222 00:13:33,280 --> 00:13:35,760 especially for middle-class children, 223 00:13:35,760 --> 00:13:38,520 in ways of teaching them how to be self-sufficient. 224 00:13:38,520 --> 00:13:42,800 A lot of the books are about Girl Guides, 225 00:13:42,800 --> 00:13:45,640 about playing Crusoe on islands. 226 00:13:45,640 --> 00:13:50,160 And we also see direct references by the children to the books 227 00:13:50,160 --> 00:13:54,640 they've read. In real life. We do. Robinson Crusoe, the obvious one. 228 00:13:54,640 --> 00:13:58,360 Robinson Crusoe is the grandfather text for the whole thing. 229 00:13:58,360 --> 00:14:02,400 Although there are a lot of other sorts of reading kicking around. 230 00:14:02,400 --> 00:14:04,000 Well, there's Treasure Island. 231 00:14:04,000 --> 00:14:05,920 There is Treasure Island, 232 00:14:05,920 --> 00:14:09,440 which is the reason that treasure is eventually found. 233 00:14:09,440 --> 00:14:12,640 Coral Island, the whole idea of desert islands 234 00:14:12,640 --> 00:14:15,960 and surviving on them. That's Ballantyne, of course. 235 00:14:15,960 --> 00:14:21,800 And that whole 1890s discourse of true stories of exploration. 236 00:14:21,800 --> 00:14:24,720 Books called things like Brave Sons Of The Empire, 237 00:14:24,720 --> 00:14:27,160 which you were supposed to be emulating. 238 00:14:27,160 --> 00:14:31,320 How much is the Empire and imperialism reflected 239 00:14:31,320 --> 00:14:34,320 in Swallows And Amazons? Oh, enormously. 240 00:14:34,320 --> 00:14:38,800 I think what you have is a fantasy of maps, for one thing. 241 00:14:38,800 --> 00:14:41,640 If you look at the endpapers of Swallows And Amazons, 242 00:14:41,640 --> 00:14:45,560 you'll see that it is a way of describing a composite, 243 00:14:45,560 --> 00:14:50,840 imaginary, imperial territory. So all the references are imperial. 244 00:14:50,840 --> 00:14:55,560 Rio is there, along with the Amazon, but, so, too, is the Arctic. 245 00:14:55,560 --> 00:14:58,720 Is Wild Cat Island, then, a kind of colony? 246 00:14:58,720 --> 00:15:02,640 You've got reference to natives, even savages. 247 00:15:02,640 --> 00:15:04,920 Oh, yes, I think so - and, of course, 248 00:15:04,920 --> 00:15:08,720 it appeals immensely to children even in post-colonial times, 249 00:15:08,720 --> 00:15:10,640 because one of children's problems 250 00:15:10,640 --> 00:15:13,400 is they don't have very much territory of their own, 251 00:15:13,400 --> 00:15:16,200 so any children's fiction tends to be built around 252 00:15:16,200 --> 00:15:19,240 finding a secret den, or finding a secret escape, 253 00:15:19,240 --> 00:15:20,920 or finding an island of your own, 254 00:15:20,920 --> 00:15:23,360 and has been for a very, very long time. 255 00:15:25,800 --> 00:15:28,600 For the young explorers in Swallows and Amazons, 256 00:15:28,600 --> 00:15:30,240 all grown-ups are natives, 257 00:15:30,240 --> 00:15:34,240 and there are two in particular who loom large in their thoughts - 258 00:15:34,240 --> 00:15:39,400 the mysterious man on the houseboat and the Walker children's mother. 259 00:15:39,400 --> 00:15:42,680 But although Mother might not exactly be "one of us", 260 00:15:42,680 --> 00:15:45,080 she's definitely not "one of them". 261 00:15:46,160 --> 00:15:50,400 This is Bank Ground Farm, which in the book is called Holly Howe. 262 00:15:50,400 --> 00:15:52,800 The children's mother stays here. 263 00:15:52,800 --> 00:15:56,800 She's perfect in every way, giving them lots of freedom, 264 00:15:56,800 --> 00:15:59,680 but making sure that in the end they'll be safe. 265 00:16:02,720 --> 00:16:04,600 "'Oh, no,' said Titty. 266 00:16:04,600 --> 00:16:07,280 "'On desert islands, they cure everything with herbs. 267 00:16:07,280 --> 00:16:11,080 "'We'll have all sorts of diseases, plagues and fevers and things, 268 00:16:11,080 --> 00:16:13,120 "'that no medicine is any good for, 269 00:16:13,120 --> 00:16:17,080 "'and we'll cure them with herbs that the natives show us.' 270 00:16:17,080 --> 00:16:20,560 "At this point, Mother came in and settled the question. 271 00:16:20,560 --> 00:16:22,600 "'No medicines,' she said. 272 00:16:22,600 --> 00:16:25,480 "'Anyone who wants doctoring is invalided home.'" 273 00:16:29,720 --> 00:16:32,440 But whereas Mother is a protective presence, 274 00:16:32,440 --> 00:16:36,800 the Houseboat Man, who is uncle to the Amazon girls, 275 00:16:36,800 --> 00:16:39,600 is anything but friendly to the Swallows. 276 00:16:39,600 --> 00:16:43,040 He's convinced they're tampering with his boat. 277 00:16:43,040 --> 00:16:46,040 He lives alone, except for his green parrot, 278 00:16:46,040 --> 00:16:50,480 a suspicious brass cannon and a precious chest. 279 00:16:50,480 --> 00:16:53,320 The Swallows decide he's a retired pirate, 280 00:16:53,320 --> 00:16:55,480 and call him Captain Flint. 281 00:16:57,160 --> 00:17:00,680 Captain Flint has more than a touch of Arthur Ransome - 282 00:17:00,680 --> 00:17:03,600 they're both adventurers in disguise. 283 00:17:03,600 --> 00:17:07,600 Ransome's life before he wrote Swallows and Amazons 284 00:17:07,600 --> 00:17:11,400 could hardly have been more colourful or more dangerous. 285 00:17:13,480 --> 00:17:19,360 From 1913 to 1924, Ransome lived and worked in Russia. 286 00:17:19,360 --> 00:17:23,320 He was there during two of the most monumental events in history - 287 00:17:23,320 --> 00:17:26,440 the First World War and the Russian Revolution. 288 00:17:30,720 --> 00:17:34,360 I have come to the Brotherton Library at Leeds University 289 00:17:34,360 --> 00:17:39,160 to meet an author and expert on Ransome, Christina Hardyment. 290 00:17:39,160 --> 00:17:41,320 Hello, Christina. Hello, John. 291 00:17:41,320 --> 00:17:45,520 The treasure house! Absolutely. Yeah. This is the heart of it. 292 00:17:45,520 --> 00:17:48,560 This is Arthur Ransome's own trunk. Gosh. 293 00:17:49,880 --> 00:17:51,280 AR. 294 00:17:51,280 --> 00:17:54,400 Well, I particularly like this, cos he was quite adventurous, 295 00:17:54,400 --> 00:17:56,800 as you know - he loved going all over the place. 296 00:17:56,800 --> 00:18:00,000 This is this rather splendid passport. 297 00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:02,680 Yes, so that's - he goes off to Russia, 298 00:18:02,680 --> 00:18:06,640 and we've got all these visas - look at that. 299 00:18:06,640 --> 00:18:07,960 OK, what else have we got? 300 00:18:07,960 --> 00:18:12,920 This is his press pass. He was a journalist for the Daily News... 301 00:18:12,920 --> 00:18:17,320 Yes. ..which was quite a liberal, left-wing newspaper. 302 00:18:17,320 --> 00:18:21,320 And that says Moscow, 1917 - now that's a date, isn't it? Yes. 303 00:18:21,320 --> 00:18:24,560 Absolutely. So, we're talking about the October Revolution of 1917, 304 00:18:24,560 --> 00:18:26,400 the Russian Revolution. 305 00:18:26,400 --> 00:18:29,400 OK. Well, this is the pride of the collection - 306 00:18:29,400 --> 00:18:34,680 this is actually a letter from Lenin giving Ransome free passage. 307 00:18:34,680 --> 00:18:36,880 And Ransome knew him well, didn't he? 308 00:18:36,880 --> 00:18:39,560 He did know him well, and he knew quite a lot of people, 309 00:18:39,560 --> 00:18:41,320 like Trotsky, he knew extremely well. 310 00:18:41,320 --> 00:18:45,520 And there was no other journalist that had that level of contact 311 00:18:45,520 --> 00:18:47,720 with the top people in Russia. 312 00:18:47,720 --> 00:18:52,040 And they trusted him, and so he reported what he saw. 313 00:18:52,040 --> 00:18:54,840 He was a very honest, honourable man. Yes. 314 00:18:55,840 --> 00:18:57,640 Did he work for both sides? 315 00:18:57,640 --> 00:19:01,080 Although he was passing intelligence back to the British, 316 00:19:01,080 --> 00:19:06,760 he was also telling the Bolsheviks how things were 317 00:19:06,760 --> 00:19:09,880 in an honest way, but he certainly never... 318 00:19:09,880 --> 00:19:13,960 There is no record of him passing crucial information to Russia, 319 00:19:13,960 --> 00:19:16,400 which is the definition of a double agent. 320 00:19:16,400 --> 00:19:19,880 So, why was it that Arthur Ransome just gave up journalism? 321 00:19:19,880 --> 00:19:24,520 Well, his plan was to write fairy tales, or folk tales, 322 00:19:24,520 --> 00:19:26,720 derived from the Russian tradition. 323 00:19:26,720 --> 00:19:30,920 So, he went into journalism in Russia... Well, almost by chance. 324 00:19:30,920 --> 00:19:34,600 Absolutely. He didn't want to go to cover a war or anything. 325 00:19:34,600 --> 00:19:37,400 He went to Russia before there was a war, he went to Russia 326 00:19:37,400 --> 00:19:40,000 because Russia was a rather fashionable place to go. 327 00:19:40,000 --> 00:19:42,200 He loved folk tales, and had already written some, 328 00:19:42,200 --> 00:19:44,040 but Russian - it would be rather original 329 00:19:44,040 --> 00:19:45,680 to write some Russian tales. 330 00:19:50,280 --> 00:19:53,920 So, far from wanting to be a spy, or even a journalist, 331 00:19:53,920 --> 00:19:57,280 Arthur Ransome had always harboured an ambition 332 00:19:57,280 --> 00:19:59,880 to be a writer of children's fiction, 333 00:19:59,880 --> 00:20:03,200 and after 11 years of overseas adventure, 334 00:20:03,200 --> 00:20:05,400 he longed to return to England. 335 00:20:10,080 --> 00:20:12,000 But he didn't return alone. 336 00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:14,400 While in Russia he had fallen in love 337 00:20:14,400 --> 00:20:17,560 with no less a person than Trotsky's personal secretary, 338 00:20:17,560 --> 00:20:19,080 Evgenia Shelepina. 339 00:20:21,760 --> 00:20:25,480 This is where Ransome came with his second wife, Evgenia, 340 00:20:25,480 --> 00:20:28,400 and you can see why they chose it. 341 00:20:28,400 --> 00:20:29,920 What a fantastic view. 342 00:20:37,160 --> 00:20:41,040 In the spring of 1925, Ransome and Evgenia 343 00:20:41,040 --> 00:20:45,160 settled at Low Ludderburn, just a few miles from Lake Windermere. 344 00:20:45,160 --> 00:20:47,600 Beside their new home was a large barn 345 00:20:47,600 --> 00:20:51,000 which would prove to be a place of inspiration for Ransome. 346 00:20:52,320 --> 00:20:55,680 After all the dangers and hardships in Russia, 347 00:20:55,680 --> 00:20:59,120 Ransome was finally doing what he wanted to do - 348 00:20:59,120 --> 00:21:02,400 it was here that he wrote Swallows and Amazons. 349 00:21:02,400 --> 00:21:06,440 He said, "I have never had, nor ever hope to have, 350 00:21:06,440 --> 00:21:08,440 "such another work room." 351 00:21:08,440 --> 00:21:11,000 Arthur Ransome had come home. 352 00:21:17,480 --> 00:21:20,800 For the Walker children, their home, at least for a few days, 353 00:21:20,800 --> 00:21:22,920 is a clearing on Wild Cat Island. 354 00:21:24,640 --> 00:21:27,120 So, here we are - we're coming to a campsite. 355 00:21:27,120 --> 00:21:29,760 Where they all end up, don't they? All together. 356 00:21:29,760 --> 00:21:30,840 Yes, in the end. 357 00:21:30,840 --> 00:21:34,440 In the end, the Swallows have tents which rig up between the trees. 358 00:21:34,440 --> 00:21:35,880 Yeah, a perfect place. 359 00:21:35,880 --> 00:21:38,240 Well, it's beautifully sheltered. Yeah. 360 00:21:40,000 --> 00:21:42,920 And so you have your tents here, 361 00:21:42,920 --> 00:21:45,600 and you have the fireplace here, I suppose. 362 00:21:45,600 --> 00:21:48,680 I think in the open area, here... Yeah. ..and you'd sit around it. 363 00:21:48,680 --> 00:21:51,160 It feels like a place of their own, I would say. 364 00:21:51,160 --> 00:21:53,320 A sort of world of their own. 365 00:21:53,320 --> 00:21:55,760 And what else can we see from here? 366 00:21:55,760 --> 00:21:57,320 Well, we've got a lookout point, 367 00:21:57,320 --> 00:22:00,240 where they had the lighthouse tree at the top of the island... 368 00:22:00,240 --> 00:22:02,520 Yeah. ..and behind us, over the corner, here, 369 00:22:02,520 --> 00:22:05,720 we have the landing place, where they first land on the island. 370 00:22:05,720 --> 00:22:08,640 It's all in this one small kind of enclosed space... 371 00:22:08,640 --> 00:22:10,320 Yeah. ..around us. 372 00:22:14,640 --> 00:22:17,520 But the matter of ownership over Wild Cat Island 373 00:22:17,520 --> 00:22:20,360 is still to be decided, and the battle is on. 374 00:22:23,040 --> 00:22:24,360 In the dead of night, 375 00:22:24,360 --> 00:22:27,720 as the two crews are trying to outmanoeuvre each other, 376 00:22:27,720 --> 00:22:30,040 Captain Flint's chest is stolen, 377 00:22:30,040 --> 00:22:33,120 containing his only copy of the book he's writing. 378 00:22:34,840 --> 00:22:39,040 The war between the Swallows and the Amazons ended peacefully, 379 00:22:39,040 --> 00:22:42,920 but they still had to find Captain Flint's treasure chest, 380 00:22:42,920 --> 00:22:45,880 and Arthur Ransome was speaking from the heart 381 00:22:45,880 --> 00:22:48,840 about the manuscript hidden inside. 382 00:22:48,840 --> 00:22:54,160 He would put his Swallows and Amazons manuscript by his bed at night, 383 00:22:54,160 --> 00:22:56,640 so that he could reach out and touch it, 384 00:22:56,640 --> 00:22:59,040 just to make sure it was still there. 385 00:23:04,480 --> 00:23:07,280 Ransome wrote the bulk of the book very quickly, 386 00:23:07,280 --> 00:23:10,000 but he grappled with how to resolve the issue 387 00:23:10,000 --> 00:23:12,360 of Captain Flint's stolen chest. 388 00:23:12,360 --> 00:23:15,760 His revisions can be seen in the original manuscript. 389 00:23:15,760 --> 00:23:16,880 There's a lot in here 390 00:23:16,880 --> 00:23:19,000 where he's playing around with the narrative, 391 00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:21,160 and some of the things that we're familiar with 392 00:23:21,160 --> 00:23:23,200 from the finished book look very different. 393 00:23:23,200 --> 00:23:26,200 There are lots of different versions of who finds the treasure, 394 00:23:26,200 --> 00:23:29,320 how they find it and when they find it. And WHETHER they find it. 395 00:23:29,320 --> 00:23:31,240 Well, yes. Is it? Whether they find it. 396 00:23:31,240 --> 00:23:35,720 Good point - but have a look at this one. Maybe start from up here. Yeah. 397 00:23:35,720 --> 00:23:37,920 "John and Nancy were looking already, 398 00:23:37,920 --> 00:23:42,000 "and now the Houseboat Man looked all over the island. 399 00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:44,320 "He could find nothing." 400 00:23:44,320 --> 00:23:48,720 So, then, that looks as if it's grim, doesn't it? Mm. 401 00:23:48,720 --> 00:23:51,320 And then, finally, "'No,' said the Houseboat Man, 402 00:23:51,320 --> 00:23:55,600 "'I'm afraid it will have to be written off as a bad job.'" 403 00:23:55,600 --> 00:23:58,600 We can't have that! No. And, of course, he scrapped it. 404 00:23:58,600 --> 00:24:00,520 And what does he do in the end? 405 00:24:00,520 --> 00:24:03,160 Oh, it's much more exciting, because of course they go back 406 00:24:03,160 --> 00:24:05,760 and they find the treasure, he's reunited with his book, 407 00:24:05,760 --> 00:24:08,560 and he gives Titty the parrot as a thank you. 408 00:24:08,560 --> 00:24:10,320 Hurrah! 409 00:24:10,320 --> 00:24:15,120 "'We've found it! We've found it! We've found it!' shouted Titty. 410 00:24:15,120 --> 00:24:18,000 "She pulled the stone right away to one side, 411 00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:21,640 "and there was a torn label on the corner of the box - 412 00:24:21,640 --> 00:24:25,880 "a label with a picture of a camel and a pyramid, 413 00:24:25,880 --> 00:24:29,920 "and the word Cairo, plain in big letters. 414 00:24:29,920 --> 00:24:32,640 "'Help, Roger,' said the able-seaman, 415 00:24:32,640 --> 00:24:36,160 "'get the stones off one by one.'" 416 00:24:36,160 --> 00:24:39,920 Swallows and Amazons was published in July 1930, 417 00:24:39,920 --> 00:24:43,960 and it wasn't long before Ransome was being asked for a sequel. 418 00:24:43,960 --> 00:24:49,480 Over the next two decades, he wrote another 11 books in the series. 419 00:24:49,480 --> 00:24:52,520 The adventures of the Walker and Blackett children, 420 00:24:52,520 --> 00:24:57,200 and the simple, upright virtues they embodied, struck a deep chord, 421 00:24:57,200 --> 00:25:01,120 and yet Ransome's legacy wasn't totally secure. 422 00:25:01,120 --> 00:25:03,560 Oddly, once the Second World War 423 00:25:03,560 --> 00:25:05,480 had washed over it, 424 00:25:05,480 --> 00:25:07,800 and over the series as a whole, 425 00:25:07,800 --> 00:25:10,480 it in some ways became bankrupt. 426 00:25:10,480 --> 00:25:13,800 So, for example, William Golding writes, 427 00:25:13,800 --> 00:25:15,520 at the beginning of Lord of the Flies, 428 00:25:15,520 --> 00:25:17,880 that the boys, when they're first shipwrecked, 429 00:25:17,880 --> 00:25:21,080 think that it's going to be like Swallows and Amazons, 430 00:25:21,080 --> 00:25:25,000 and those of you who've read Lord of the Flies know that...anything but. 431 00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:28,200 On the other hand, Swallows and Amazons is, in many ways, 432 00:25:28,200 --> 00:25:32,480 its own legacy - you've only got to come here to the Lake District, 433 00:25:32,480 --> 00:25:36,000 as you know, to find that the boats are called Swallow, 434 00:25:36,000 --> 00:25:39,480 they're called Peggy Blackett, they're called Arthur Ransome. 435 00:25:39,480 --> 00:25:45,800 There's a way that people go on living in relation to this ideal 436 00:25:45,800 --> 00:25:51,600 of child agency, child sufficiency, and bravery. 437 00:25:51,600 --> 00:25:54,920 Goodness, in some ways - moral goodness. 438 00:25:57,800 --> 00:25:59,560 Honesty wins out, 439 00:25:59,560 --> 00:26:02,920 and with Captain Flint's chest and precious book found, 440 00:26:02,920 --> 00:26:07,360 the Swallows and Amazons spend a last night together on the island, 441 00:26:07,360 --> 00:26:09,360 but a new danger loomed. 442 00:26:12,120 --> 00:26:16,000 "All that last day, there had been the heaviness of thunder in the air. 443 00:26:16,000 --> 00:26:17,840 "There had been a stormy sunset 444 00:26:17,840 --> 00:26:20,560 "and, though there had been but little wind, 445 00:26:20,560 --> 00:26:24,480 "dark, angry clouds had lifted in the south 446 00:26:24,480 --> 00:26:27,520 "until at night they shut out all the stars." 447 00:26:30,120 --> 00:26:33,640 The great storm may have washed away their fantasies, 448 00:26:33,640 --> 00:26:38,200 marking the end of the school holidays and a return to reality, 449 00:26:38,200 --> 00:26:41,280 but the possibility of escape isn't lost forever. 450 00:26:42,800 --> 00:26:44,760 For the Swallows and Amazons - 451 00:26:44,760 --> 00:26:48,640 and, indeed, for the many children and natives who read this book - 452 00:26:48,640 --> 00:26:50,480 it was just the start. 453 00:26:52,120 --> 00:26:54,240 Well, I'm afraid it's time to leave, John. Yes! 454 00:26:54,240 --> 00:26:56,840 Do you want to, er...hop aboard? OK. 455 00:26:56,840 --> 00:26:58,840 I'll just get the painter in a sec. 456 00:27:00,720 --> 00:27:03,080 There's quite a bit of water in the boat. 457 00:27:03,080 --> 00:27:05,760 Don't worry, we'll get it out later. Yeah, OK. 458 00:27:08,600 --> 00:27:10,760 The tiller is just by your left hand. 459 00:27:10,760 --> 00:27:12,240 Keep it straight. I will. 460 00:27:12,240 --> 00:27:14,000 Just got to push her out. 461 00:27:15,920 --> 00:27:17,840 HE CHUCKLES We're away! 462 00:27:21,760 --> 00:27:25,640 "Slowly, the fleet slipped past Wild Cat Island. 463 00:27:25,640 --> 00:27:28,840 "The island was once more the uninhabited island 464 00:27:28,840 --> 00:27:32,560 "that Titty had watched for so many days from the Peak of Darien - 465 00:27:32,560 --> 00:27:35,920 "and yet it was not that island. 466 00:27:35,920 --> 00:27:40,200 "John, looking at it, remembered the harbour and the leading lights, 467 00:27:40,200 --> 00:27:44,960 "and his swim all around it, and the climbing of the great tree. 468 00:27:44,960 --> 00:27:47,880 "For Roger, it would always be the place 469 00:27:47,880 --> 00:27:50,560 "where he had swum for the first time. 470 00:27:50,560 --> 00:27:54,280 "For Susan, it was the camp and housekeeping 471 00:27:54,280 --> 00:27:56,920 "and cooking for a large family. 472 00:27:56,920 --> 00:28:00,680 "Titty thought of it as Robinson Crusoe's island." 473 00:28:05,440 --> 00:28:09,560 If you want to dig deeper into Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons, 474 00:28:09,560 --> 00:28:12,360 and the other books in the series, go to... 475 00:28:16,640 --> 00:28:18,080 ..and follow the links 476 00:28:18,080 --> 00:28:19,440 to the Open University.