When I say ‘one novel’, I don’t mean ‘one children’s novel’. It is a book I come back to, a book that bears repeated reading, a book that defines both me and how I view the world. If I can think of one novel that has influenced me more than any other it is Swallows and Amazons. The children are the active agents: they are the ones calling the shots and making the decisions.
Adults exist in this book, but they are peripheral.
Alone without adults to tell them what to do or how to do it. That his children can be trusted to act sensibly and to take responsibility for their own actions. A trust that his children are not ‘duffers’. That telegram is from their father, and it is a mark of trust.
It is used under fair right provisions for educative purposes only. For others who haven’t grown out of loving Swallows & Amazons, here’s some fascinating posts on Sophie Neville’s blog about filming the charcoal burning scene (Sophie played Titty Walker in the 1974 film).This image may be copyright. We’ll continue to keep you updated throughout our research, particularly if we come across any particularly interesting objects or stories. For many of our visitors we hope be able to provide similar hooks, whether that’s the engaging personal story of a migrant hop-picker from London’s east end, a demonstration of how to use a particular hand tool, or a discussion of the links between farm mechanisation and wider world events. I was somewhat disappointed to find no reference in my research to the practice of keeping an adder in a cigar box for good luck like Old Billy and Young Billy did! I think, though, that if I can be fascinated by charcoal burning because it featured in my favourite childhood book, it is because the story provides a familiar hook to what is essentially a process with very little connection to my life. If I’m totally honest with myself, too, the main reason I was so keen to research charcoal burning was my memories of watching the charcoal burning scene in the 1974 film adaptation of Arthur Ransome’s Swallows & Amazons.
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