Swallows and Amazons

[Tim Hall]

Re - reading "Pigeon Post" the other day, it occurred to me, in one of those flash of inspiration moments that Nancy Blackett, Ruthless pirate of the Amazon and Windermere is in Real Life our own Aunty Charlotte.

I'm sure the feeling will pass.

[rogerzilla]

I do hope you didn't have a *little moment*.

[clarion]

Who's Titty?

[Hilary]

I've always felt that I am Titty. Or rather she is me.

Nice to meet another S&A person

[Mike J]

I used to love reading Swallows and Amazons, re-read one of them a while ago, still good 

[Cudzoziemiec]

Ooh yes. So is Rogerzilla the real Roger, or does thinking that make me a duffer? Don't be such a BF! I have met the real Roger (well, the boy who played him in the film - he was at a showing at Stroud Film Society many eons ago, and was asked "Did you really eat all those pork pies?" to which he answered "Yes.")

[Wowbagger]

Who's Titty?

Grammar! Possessive adjective "whose", and if you don't know, keep your hands off!

[nuttycyclist]

Phew.  I thought it was just me.

Can I admit to being on the last chapter of the Picts and the Martyrs at the moment?  I do hope the GA will be found safe again (as she was every other time I read the book).

[Wascally Weasel]

Re - reading "Pigeon Post" the other day, it occurred to me, in one of those flash of inspiration moments that Nancy Blackett, Ruthless pirate of the Amazon and Windermere is in Real Life our own Aunty Charlotte.

I'm sure the feeling will pass.

I think I have mentioned in the past to Aunty C that she reminded me very much of the person that Nancy Blackett, Amazon Pirate and Terror of the Seas would probably have grown up into.  I can't really think of a better compliment to pay anyone than that.

As for me at the risk of provoking much Fnarr, Fnarring, I think there's a bit of Roger in me but I'm hoping to grow old disgracefully into Captain Flint.  Am thinking of buying a houseboat someday and would dearly love a parrot.

My favourite S&A book has to be "We didn't mean to go to Sea".

[David Martin]

Another S&A fan here. Red cap on head? Sounds just like our own Ruth Nancy Charlotte.

Next year may be a good year for the kids to borrow the dinghy and go off to an Island whilst SWMBO and I live it up in a rented cottage.

..d

[clarion]

I kinda like S&A, but it's taken years of having the overlaid tweeness stripped off for me to get to like it.

[diapsaon0]

Somebody had S & A as a specialised subject in Mastermind a few years back - I scored 100% 

N

[PeteB99]

I had all the books in hardback bought out of my pocket money over the years.

When I went off to University my mum took them all down to the oxfam shop

[Cudzoziemiec]

I discovered them pretty much by accident, thanks to them being in the last column of shelves of "big children's" books in Stroud library. I still remember someone giving me a photocopy of the Swallows and Amazons map when I was 7 or 8 - I'd never seen a photcopy before and couldn't work out if they'd had it specially printed or drawn it themself!

[PaulR]

I have met the real Roger (well, the boy who played him in the film - he was at a showing at Stroud Film Society many eons ago, and was asked "Did you really eat all those pork pies?" to which he answered "Yes.")

Did you see the full page (or was it even two pages?) article about him in the Guardian some months back?  It seems that he had had a pretty difficult life but had now settled down to a large extent, but was, if I recall correctly, on the verge of being evicted by the local council from the hut that he lived in on a disused bit of land, managing his mental illness quite successfully on his own and not impinging on anyone else.  Very sad turn of events.  His dad taught at my primary school so the film was a bit of a favourite even back then (I think we're a similar age) and it's a very strong contender even now for our favourite DVD.

As an aside, my wife is one of four children, configured (in girl/boy terms) just like the Walkers.  Her younger brother is called Roger.  Her elder sister was not really called Susan, nor is my wife called Titty.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Interesting, thanks. IIRC he was a fostered or adopted child. But no, I didn't see the Guardian article, as it doesn't get delivered out here in Bangalore!

[agagisgroovy]

Wild Cat island does exist, a short swim from the shore of Lake Coniston in the Lakes, if you don't have a boat. 

Now, were they really allowed to do that without a: parental RYA qualified supervision and b: lifejackets? And they are allowed out with a Telegram saying something like Only Duffers Drown. if you drown you were a duffer so ha ha, it's your fault and one less duffer.

I like Great Northen and We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea. 

[Cudzoziemiec]

In the 1930s, kids were free to drown and parents free to mourn. No, seriously, perhaps as childhood was in fact more dangerous back then - diseases which are now immunised against could leave you dead or crippled, eg polio - so I think the "fun" risks were accepted against that background.

Great Northern one of my faves too.

[RJ]

I think these are still at my parents' (Puffin paperbacks).  I remember when we got Great Northern going into the garden chanting "We've-got-all-the-Arthur-Ransomes"    I'll re-read them when FirstBorn's a bit older.

[geoff]

+1 for Great Northern. Is that the one with aqua regia in it? I remember hours in amongst my dad's gardening chemicals* trying to make it. (Lucky, in retrospect that I didn't blow the village up!)

*Him an agricultural scientist. So mostly N, P, K and Basic Slag. Not much HCl in the cupboard, fortunately.

[marna]

+1 for Great Northern. Is that the one with aqua regia in it? I remember hours in amongst my dad's gardening chemicals* trying to make it. (Lucky, in retrospect that I didn't blow the village up!)

*Him an agricultural scientist. So mostly N, P, K and Basic Slag. Not much HCl in the cupboard, fortunately.

I think Pigeon Post is the one with the prospecting for gold. Great Northern is up in Scotland (I think) and about saving birds from a nasty bird collecting person. My favourite is probably We Didn't Mean To Go To Sea.

[geoff]

+1 for Great Northern. Is that the one with aqua regia in it?

I think Pigeon Post is the one with the prospecting for gold. Great Northern is up in Scotland (I think) and about saving birds from a nasty bird collecting person. My favourite is probably We Didn't Mean To Go To Sea.

yes, you're right it seems ... I have the excuse that it's well over 40 years ago etc. Maybe though I'll get a chance to read them to my children kids soon.

[David Martin]

+1 for Great Northern. Is that the one with aqua regia in it? I remember hours in amongst my dad's gardening chemicals* trying to make it. (Lucky, in retrospect that I didn't blow the village up!)

*Him an agricultural scientist. So mostly N, P, K and Basic Slag. Not much HCl in the cupboard, fortunately.

I think Pigeon Post is the one with the prospecting for gold. Great Northern is up in Scotland (I think) and about saving birds from a nasty bird collecting person. My favourite is probably We Didn't Mean To Go To Sea.

It is Pigeon Post.. There is a wonderful scenario with that of how a little scientific knowledge can be misleading (gold prospecting..)

It was useful to me - we scraped gold contacts off old circuit boards then used concentrated acids to dissolve away the copper leaving pure gold.

Other useful things like not going into abandoned copper mines.

..d

[drossall]

Another fan here. Still got them all, I think (and the video somewhere from the film version).

I loved and the sense of adventure, all enabled by real practical skills in sailing, camping, Morse code and the rest.

[frankly frankie]

I have a copy of S&A signed by the author.

It was one of the Broads 'Dick and Dorothea' stories where the plot turned on a bicycle puncturing, and unable to be repaired because it was Wednesday half-day and so the LBS was closed. 
So much for self-sufficiency!

[edit] for those in Yacf who like this genre, I strongly recommend Gary Hogg.
There's one called 'Five Awheel' or something similar, which is pretty much the same scenario as S&A but done with two tandems plus the 'favourite uncle' on a solo, set in Wessex.
Cerne Giant and all.
Another, better book featuring the same characters is 'The Granite Men'.

(both suggestions from distant childhood memory of course)