0:00:03 > 0:00:05Just about halfway up the hillside,
0:00:05 > 0:00:07you can see a farm with a barn attached.
0:00:07 > 0:00:09That's Bank Ground Farm,
0:00:09 > 0:00:13or better known in the Swallows And Amazons stories as Holly Howe.
0:00:16 > 0:00:20Arthur Ransome's Swallows And Amazons
0:00:20 > 0:00:24was published in 1930, and has been captivating readers ever since.
0:00:26 > 0:00:29The story tells of the Walker and Blackett children,
0:00:29 > 0:00:32the Swallows and Amazons of the title,
0:00:32 > 0:00:36and their Lakeland summer holiday adventures.
0:00:36 > 0:00:41When I first read this book as a child, I felt I was John,
0:00:41 > 0:00:45captain of the swallows, a 12-year-old pining for adventure.
0:00:45 > 0:00:48Risks? Of course. But that's life, isn't it?
0:00:48 > 0:00:50And when I had two sons of my own,
0:00:50 > 0:00:55we came back here for years to sail and to fish.
0:00:55 > 0:00:58Swallows and Amazons forever!
0:00:59 > 0:01:04'Ransome's much-loved classic has sold over 2.5 million copies,
0:01:04 > 0:01:07'and has brought generations of fans to the wild
0:01:07 > 0:01:10'and romantic setting of the Lake District.'
0:01:10 > 0:01:13- So, you are a fan, are you? - I am a fan.
0:01:13 > 0:01:16I read it to my children many years ago, when they were young.
0:01:16 > 0:01:19I confess, I thought I learnt enough from reading the book that
0:01:19 > 0:01:21I could go off and sail a boat.
0:01:21 > 0:01:24'Ransome was not just a much-loved children's author
0:01:24 > 0:01:28'and illustrator. He was also a globetrotting journalist,
0:01:28 > 0:01:32'who witnessed some of the most dramatic events of the 20th century.'
0:01:32 > 0:01:36This is actually a letter from Lenin, giving Ransome free passage.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39'But Ransome is best remembered for perfecting a new
0:01:39 > 0:01:43'kind of children's fiction that chimed with the mood of the time.'
0:01:45 > 0:01:48Real children doing real things in real places.
0:01:48 > 0:01:51Swallows And Amazons is great in so many ways
0:01:51 > 0:01:54but I want to uncover some of its secrets.
0:01:54 > 0:01:57Why did Arthur Ransome write it? Who was it for?
0:01:57 > 0:02:00And can we find the exact locations
0:02:00 > 0:02:04where this wonderful adventure took place?
0:02:17 > 0:02:20"Looking down from Titty's peak in the evening of the day
0:02:20 > 0:02:22"on which they'd come to the farmhouse
0:02:22 > 0:02:24"where their mother had taken lodgings,
0:02:24 > 0:02:27"they'd seen the lake like an inland sea.
0:02:27 > 0:02:29"And, on the lake, they'd seen the island.
0:02:29 > 0:02:34"All four of them had been filled at once with the same idea.
0:02:34 > 0:02:40"It was not just AN island. It was THE island, waiting for THEM.
0:02:40 > 0:02:43"It was THEIR island."
0:02:43 > 0:02:45No child could resist that.
0:02:48 > 0:02:52Swallows And Amazons begins with a vision of a vision -
0:02:52 > 0:02:54a vision of freedom and new horizons.
0:02:54 > 0:02:57After spotting the island, the Walker children,
0:02:57 > 0:03:00who are staying at Holly Howe farmhouse for their summer holiday
0:03:00 > 0:03:04discover a small sailing dinghy named Swallow.
0:03:05 > 0:03:09Geraint Lewis owns a similar boat and has kindly agreed to take me out
0:03:09 > 0:03:14on Coniston Water to follow in the wake of Captain John and his crew.
0:03:14 > 0:03:16Morning, John. Good to see you.
0:03:16 > 0:03:18Hello. I'm looking forward to this trip.
0:03:18 > 0:03:20Yes, it is a great day for a sail, I think.
0:03:20 > 0:03:23- Do you want to come aboard? - Yeah.- This is Peggy.
0:03:23 > 0:03:27Well, it's exactly the same boat that all of them would be sailing on.
0:03:27 > 0:03:29Yes, pretty much. Pretty much.
0:03:29 > 0:03:32She's a very traditional early 20th-century sailing dinghy.
0:03:32 > 0:03:36- It's a lovely boat.- Follow me aboard. - "Aye, aye, Sir," I should say.
0:03:36 > 0:03:38If you'd like to go to the stern.
0:03:38 > 0:03:41- I will, cos he loved all these technical terms.- He did.
0:03:41 > 0:03:44He's very natural with them as well.
0:03:44 > 0:03:46I mean, there was no sense that he was teaching people
0:03:46 > 0:03:49how to sail and, yet, he managed to bring an awful lot of instruction
0:03:49 > 0:03:52into the books, which people just pick up as part of the stories.
0:03:55 > 0:04:00'Swallow, with its crew, Captain John, Mate Susan, Able Seaman Titty
0:04:00 > 0:04:05'and Ship's Boy Roger, ranging in age from 12 to seven, set sail.
0:04:07 > 0:04:10'Destination - the island that has enticed them
0:04:10 > 0:04:12'since they first arrived.'
0:04:12 > 0:04:15What's difficult about sailing on a lake?
0:04:15 > 0:04:18Well, the difficulty here with Coniston is you get
0:04:18 > 0:04:22a lot of gusty wind, a lot of wind changes, as we've just noticed.
0:04:22 > 0:04:24When we look at this lake,
0:04:24 > 0:04:26this isn't exactly the same as the book, is it?
0:04:26 > 0:04:31No, the one in the book, I think, is rather larger than Coniston.
0:04:31 > 0:04:34Maybe not quite as large as Windermere, but larger.
0:04:34 > 0:04:36Mind your head again. Oops!
0:04:36 > 0:04:39- The lake is clearly... - OK, we're going now.
0:04:39 > 0:04:42..clearly a bit different from the lake in the book.
0:04:42 > 0:04:45So, we're heading now down towards Peel Island.
0:04:45 > 0:04:48Yeah, we're heading south for Peel Island. It's about two miles away.
0:04:48 > 0:04:51You can see it there just poking out from the land.
0:04:51 > 0:04:53And this is Wild Cat Island, isn't it?
0:04:53 > 0:04:56This is as close as you'll get to Wild Cat Island, really.
0:04:56 > 0:04:59- This is exactly the right boat we're on.- We are.
0:04:59 > 0:05:01We're in the right boat, we're in the right place,
0:05:01 > 0:05:04having a great time.
0:05:04 > 0:05:05We've got a fair wind.
0:05:05 > 0:05:09- Could you ask for anything more? - It is. It's perfect.
0:05:16 > 0:05:18The story of Swallows And Amazons
0:05:18 > 0:05:21has its roots in Ransome's own childhood.
0:05:21 > 0:05:26Born in the city of Leeds in 1884, his father, a keen countryman,
0:05:26 > 0:05:30introduced him to the Lake District from a young age.
0:05:30 > 0:05:34Ransome, in a later preface to Swallows And Amazons,
0:05:34 > 0:05:37pays an emotional tribute to this unique landscape.
0:05:37 > 0:05:39"We adored the place.
0:05:39 > 0:05:43"Coming to it, we used to run down to the lake, dip our hands in,
0:05:43 > 0:05:48"and wish, as if we'd just seen the new moon.
0:05:48 > 0:05:52"Swallows And Amazons grew out of those old memories.
0:05:52 > 0:05:57"I could not help writing it. It almost wrote itself."
0:06:01 > 0:06:05The Lake District has long been a source of inspiration for writers.
0:06:07 > 0:06:10Professor Nicola Watson is an expert on travel writing
0:06:10 > 0:06:12and children's literature.
0:06:12 > 0:06:16What is it about the Lake District that's inspired writers?
0:06:16 > 0:06:18I think, really, it's just been a very,
0:06:18 > 0:06:21very famously beautiful place for a long time.
0:06:21 > 0:06:26It starts off in the 1720s, regarded as a very ugly and dangerous place,
0:06:26 > 0:06:32so defers to England or Britain, suggests that it's desolate.
0:06:32 > 0:06:37But by the middle of the 1700s, and onto the late 18th century,
0:06:37 > 0:06:40it becomes a famous place to go and admire the picturesque,
0:06:40 > 0:06:44to go in for sketching. That brings Wordsworth.
0:06:44 > 0:06:49That brings a whole new ideology of childhood in nature.
0:06:49 > 0:06:52So, that's why for a children's writer,
0:06:52 > 0:06:55the Lake District has been a wonderful place to work.
0:06:55 > 0:06:57Yes, I think so.
0:06:57 > 0:07:01Or, rather, it became a good place to bring children for holidays.
0:07:01 > 0:07:05And, then, of course, when you became a children's writer yourself,
0:07:05 > 0:07:08most children's writers write, in fact, about their own childhoods.
0:07:08 > 0:07:11Arthur Ransome started writing when he was very young.
0:07:11 > 0:07:13When he was eight, he sort of writes
0:07:13 > 0:07:17the ur-Swallows And Amazons which he calls The Desert Island.
0:07:17 > 0:07:19And I've got a bit here.
0:07:19 > 0:07:22"The next day, they climb to the top of the lookout place
0:07:22 > 0:07:25"but could see nothing of the savages.
0:07:25 > 0:07:28"So they got some more provisions ready in case
0:07:28 > 0:07:29"they were attacked again.
0:07:29 > 0:07:33"And, sure enough, that evening, which was the 24th December,
0:07:33 > 0:07:37"when they went up to the lookout place, they saw a huge
0:07:37 > 0:07:42"fleet of brown-sailed canoes making straight for the island."
0:07:42 > 0:07:44And so many of the words are the same, aren't they?
0:07:44 > 0:07:48Whether it's the "lookout point," "provisions," "savages,"
0:07:48 > 0:07:52- and, of course, "the island." - "The island," indeed.
0:07:55 > 0:08:00'It would be nearly 40 years after that first boyish story that
0:08:00 > 0:08:03'Ransome began work on the book that made him famous.
0:08:06 > 0:08:10'And here at the Museum Of Lakeland Arts And Industry in Kendal
0:08:10 > 0:08:14'is the only known manuscript of Swallows And Amazons.'
0:08:17 > 0:08:19This is the heart of the collection.
0:08:19 > 0:08:24Arthur Ransome's desk, his typewriter, and all his pipes,
0:08:24 > 0:08:27a vital part of the Ransome life.
0:08:27 > 0:08:31And, here, we've got a completed book in manuscript form.
0:08:31 > 0:08:35And he calls it The Swallows And The Amazons.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38And he scratched it out on this page.
0:08:38 > 0:08:41And he writes this is the rough draft in 1929.
0:08:41 > 0:08:45And what's interesting was that he started work
0:08:45 > 0:08:48on Swallows And Amazons in March of that year.
0:08:48 > 0:08:49By the end of the year,
0:08:49 > 0:08:53here he is with what looks like almost the complete version.
0:08:53 > 0:08:55It's extraordinary.
0:08:55 > 0:08:58And one of the early bits that everyone remembers who read
0:08:58 > 0:09:00the book is the telegram.
0:09:00 > 0:09:04This is the most famous telegram that ever appears in a children's book.
0:09:04 > 0:09:09And it's sent by the father, who is a commander in the Royal Navy.
0:09:09 > 0:09:13He's asked whether his children can go and camp on this island
0:09:13 > 0:09:15for four or five days.
0:09:15 > 0:09:19Is that going to be possible? And he sends back this marvellous telegram,
0:09:19 > 0:09:24which is, "BETTER DROWNED THAN DUFFERS IF NOT DUFFERS WON'T DROWN."
0:09:24 > 0:09:29"'Hurrah for Daddy' he shouted. 'What does it mean?' asked Susan.
0:09:29 > 0:09:31"'It means Yes,' said Titty."
0:09:31 > 0:09:35And what he means, of course, is that if they're duffers,
0:09:35 > 0:09:37they may as well drown.
0:09:37 > 0:09:40So this means they can go off on their adventure,
0:09:40 > 0:09:42sailing to Wild Cat Island.
0:09:42 > 0:09:45It's the beginning of this terrific adventure.
0:09:51 > 0:09:55So, this is the secret harbour on Wild Cat Island.
0:09:55 > 0:09:59And you have to come in very carefully here because of the rocks.
0:09:59 > 0:10:01You do. The lake's high at the moment,
0:10:01 > 0:10:05but there's a lot more rocks underwater...you can't see.
0:10:05 > 0:10:08- It is like a natural harbour, isn't it?- It is.
0:10:08 > 0:10:11- It's very small, but it's a perfect harbour, really.- Perfect.
0:10:11 > 0:10:13Great place to hide your boat.
0:10:13 > 0:10:15There we are. Wild Cat Island.
0:10:17 > 0:10:20- I think we should pull the boat up and explore.- Yeah, that's great.
0:10:21 > 0:10:23It's wonderful.
0:10:23 > 0:10:26And, of course, in the book, it's a much bigger island, isn't it?
0:10:26 > 0:10:28I think so. The island in my imagination
0:10:28 > 0:10:31is two or three times the size of this,
0:10:31 > 0:10:33but it's still a perfectly formed island.
0:10:33 > 0:10:36And most exciting to have a look around.
0:10:37 > 0:10:41"At last, the green trees were close ahead, and Swallow was safe
0:10:41 > 0:10:45"in the pool and ran her nose up the beach in the tiny bay.
0:10:45 > 0:10:48"Sheltered by the trees from the north
0:10:48 > 0:10:51"and by the walls of rock from any other wind.
0:10:51 > 0:10:54"'What a place,' said the Able Seaman.
0:10:54 > 0:10:59"'I expect somebody hid on the island hundreds of years ago
0:10:59 > 0:11:01"'and kept his boat here.'
0:11:01 > 0:11:05"'It's a perfect harbour,' said John."
0:11:07 > 0:11:11'But after their successful landing, it soon becomes clear that
0:11:11 > 0:11:15'someone else has already discovered the island.
0:11:17 > 0:11:19'The rival crew are the Blackett sisters,
0:11:19 > 0:11:22'in their sailing dinghy, Amazon.
0:11:24 > 0:11:28'There were two real boats which were the original Swallow and Amazon.
0:11:28 > 0:11:33'One actually called Swallow has sadly disappeared but the other,
0:11:33 > 0:11:36'Mavis, on which Amazon is believed to have been based,
0:11:36 > 0:11:40'is on display at the Ruskin Museum in Coniston.'
0:11:46 > 0:11:48How wonderful!
0:11:48 > 0:11:50It's still here!
0:11:50 > 0:11:52And it's got the centreboard.
0:11:52 > 0:11:57This is the actual boat which inspired Amazon,
0:11:57 > 0:12:02the terror of the seas, crewed by the sworn enemies of the Swallow
0:12:02 > 0:12:06Captain Nancy, aged 13,
0:12:06 > 0:12:10and Shipmate Peggy, 12.
0:12:10 > 0:12:15And this is how Ransome described their first fateful encounter.
0:12:19 > 0:12:23"The four explorers of the Swallow stood facing
0:12:23 > 0:12:26"the two pirate girls from the Amazon.
0:12:26 > 0:12:29"The Amazons were bigger than most of the Swallows.
0:12:29 > 0:12:32"One of them was bigger than Captain John.
0:12:32 > 0:12:34"The other was about the same size.
0:12:34 > 0:12:38"If it had come to a fight, it might have been a very near thing.
0:12:38 > 0:12:41"But it did not come to a fight.
0:12:41 > 0:12:44"'Let's parlay first and fight afterwards,'
0:12:44 > 0:12:46"said the leader of the Amazons."
0:12:50 > 0:12:54I've always liked the way the children are so confident
0:12:54 > 0:12:56and optimistic.
0:12:56 > 0:12:58Some of them have traditional roles,
0:12:58 > 0:13:03with Captain John the obvious father figure, and Susan clearly the mother.
0:13:03 > 0:13:09But the Amazon pirates are certainly not held back because they're girls.
0:13:09 > 0:13:13They are bold, strong, and fiercely independent.
0:13:15 > 0:13:19'Perhaps surprisingly, these virtues weren't in fact new
0:13:19 > 0:13:21'to Swallows And Amazons.
0:13:21 > 0:13:24'Literature aimed at young girls of the time was full
0:13:24 > 0:13:27'of plucky characters and exciting action.'
0:13:29 > 0:13:32The '30s is strongly interested,
0:13:32 > 0:13:35especially for middle-class children,
0:13:35 > 0:13:37in ways of teaching them how to be self-sufficient.
0:13:37 > 0:13:42A lot of the books are about Girl Guides,
0:13:42 > 0:13:44about playing Crusoe on islands.
0:13:44 > 0:13:49And we also see direct references by the children to the books
0:13:49 > 0:13:54- they've read. In real life.- We do. Robinson Crusoe, the obvious one.
0:13:54 > 0:13:57Robinson Crusoe is the grandfather text for the whole thing.
0:13:57 > 0:14:01Although there are a lot of other sorts of reading kicking around.
0:14:01 > 0:14:03Well, there's Treasure Island.
0:14:03 > 0:14:05There is Treasure Island,
0:14:05 > 0:14:08which is the reason that treasure is eventually found.
0:14:08 > 0:14:12Coral Island, the whole idea of desert islands
0:14:12 > 0:14:15and surviving on them. That's Ballantyne, of course.
0:14:15 > 0:14:21And that whole 1890s discourse of true stories of exploration.
0:14:21 > 0:14:24Books called things like Brave Sons Of The Empire,
0:14:24 > 0:14:26which you were supposed to be emulating.
0:14:26 > 0:14:30How much is the Empire and imperialism reflected
0:14:30 > 0:14:33- in Swallows And Amazons? - Oh, enormously.
0:14:33 > 0:14:38I think what you have is a fantasy of maps, for one thing.
0:14:38 > 0:14:40If you look at the endpapers of Swallows And Amazons,
0:14:40 > 0:14:44you'll see that it is a way of describing a composite,
0:14:44 > 0:14:50imaginary, imperial territory. So all the references are imperial.
0:14:50 > 0:14:54Rio is there, along with the Amazon, but, so, too, is the Arctic.
0:14:54 > 0:14:58Is Wild Cat Island, then, a kind of colony?
0:14:58 > 0:15:01You've got reference to natives, even savages.
0:15:01 > 0:15:04Oh, yes, I think so - and, of course,
0:15:04 > 0:15:08it appeals immensely to children even in post-colonial times,
0:15:08 > 0:15:10because one of children's problems
0:15:10 > 0:15:12is they don't have very much territory of their own,
0:15:12 > 0:15:15so any children's fiction tends to be built around
0:15:15 > 0:15:18finding a secret den, or finding a secret escape,
0:15:18 > 0:15:20or finding an island of your own,
0:15:20 > 0:15:22and has been for a very, very long time.
0:15:25 > 0:15:27For the young explorers in Swallows and Amazons,
0:15:27 > 0:15:29all grown-ups are natives,
0:15:29 > 0:15:33and there are two in particular who loom large in their thoughts -
0:15:33 > 0:15:38the mysterious man on the houseboat and the Walker children's mother.
0:15:38 > 0:15:42But although Mother might not exactly be "one of us",
0:15:42 > 0:15:44she's definitely not "one of them".
0:15:45 > 0:15:49This is Bank Ground Farm, which in the book is called Holly Howe.
0:15:49 > 0:15:52The children's mother stays here.
0:15:52 > 0:15:56She's perfect in every way, giving them lots of freedom,
0:15:56 > 0:15:59but making sure that in the end they'll be safe.
0:16:02 > 0:16:03"'Oh, no,' said Titty.
0:16:03 > 0:16:06"'On desert islands, they cure everything with herbs.
0:16:06 > 0:16:10"'We'll have all sorts of diseases, plagues and fevers and things,
0:16:10 > 0:16:12"'that no medicine is any good for,
0:16:12 > 0:16:16"'and we'll cure them with herbs that the natives show us.'
0:16:16 > 0:16:19"At this point, Mother came in and settled the question.
0:16:19 > 0:16:21"'No medicines,' she said.
0:16:21 > 0:16:24"'Anyone who wants doctoring is invalided home.'"
0:16:29 > 0:16:31But whereas Mother is a protective presence,
0:16:31 > 0:16:36the Houseboat Man, who is uncle to the Amazon girls,
0:16:36 > 0:16:38is anything but friendly to the Swallows.
0:16:38 > 0:16:42He's convinced they're tampering with his boat.
0:16:42 > 0:16:45He lives alone, except for his green parrot,
0:16:45 > 0:16:49a suspicious brass cannon and a precious chest.
0:16:49 > 0:16:52The Swallows decide he's a retired pirate,
0:16:52 > 0:16:54and call him Captain Flint.
0:16:56 > 0:17:00Captain Flint has more than a touch of Arthur Ransome -
0:17:00 > 0:17:02they're both adventurers in disguise.
0:17:02 > 0:17:06Ransome's life before he wrote Swallows and Amazons
0:17:06 > 0:17:10could hardly have been more colourful or more dangerous.
0:17:12 > 0:17:18From 1913 to 1924, Ransome lived and worked in Russia.
0:17:18 > 0:17:22He was there during two of the most monumental events in history -
0:17:22 > 0:17:25the First World War and the Russian Revolution.
0:17:30 > 0:17:33I have come to the Brotherton Library at Leeds University
0:17:33 > 0:17:38to meet an author and expert on Ransome, Christina Hardyment.
0:17:38 > 0:17:40- Hello, Christina.- Hello, John.
0:17:40 > 0:17:44- The treasure house!- Absolutely.- Yeah. - This is the heart of it.
0:17:44 > 0:17:48- This is Arthur Ransome's own trunk.- Gosh.
0:17:49 > 0:17:50AR.
0:17:50 > 0:17:53Well, I particularly like this, cos he was quite adventurous,
0:17:53 > 0:17:56as you know - he loved going all over the place.
0:17:56 > 0:17:59This is this rather splendid passport.
0:17:59 > 0:18:02Yes, so that's - he goes off to Russia,
0:18:02 > 0:18:06and we've got all these visas - look at that.
0:18:06 > 0:18:07OK, what else have we got?
0:18:07 > 0:18:12This is his press pass. He was a journalist for the Daily News...
0:18:12 > 0:18:16- Yes.- ..which was quite a liberal, left-wing newspaper.
0:18:16 > 0:18:20- And that says Moscow, 1917 - now that's a date, isn't it?- Yes.
0:18:20 > 0:18:23- Absolutely.- So, we're talking about the October Revolution of 1917,
0:18:23 > 0:18:25the Russian Revolution.
0:18:25 > 0:18:28- OK.- Well, this is the pride of the collection -
0:18:28 > 0:18:34this is actually a letter from Lenin giving Ransome free passage.
0:18:34 > 0:18:36And Ransome knew him well, didn't he?
0:18:36 > 0:18:38He did know him well, and he knew quite a lot of people,
0:18:38 > 0:18:40like Trotsky, he knew extremely well.
0:18:40 > 0:18:44And there was no other journalist that had that level of contact
0:18:44 > 0:18:47with the top people in Russia.
0:18:47 > 0:18:51And they trusted him, and so he reported what he saw.
0:18:51 > 0:18:54- He was a very honest, honourable man.- Yes.
0:18:55 > 0:18:56Did he work for both sides?
0:18:56 > 0:19:00Although he was passing intelligence back to the British,
0:19:00 > 0:19:06he was also telling the Bolsheviks how things were
0:19:06 > 0:19:09in an honest way, but he certainly never...
0:19:09 > 0:19:13There is no record of him passing crucial information to Russia,
0:19:13 > 0:19:15which is the definition of a double agent.
0:19:15 > 0:19:19So, why was it that Arthur Ransome just gave up journalism?
0:19:19 > 0:19:23Well, his plan was to write fairy tales, or folk tales,
0:19:23 > 0:19:26derived from the Russian tradition.
0:19:26 > 0:19:30So, he went into journalism in Russia... Well, almost by chance.
0:19:30 > 0:19:33Absolutely. He didn't want to go to cover a war or anything.
0:19:33 > 0:19:36He went to Russia before there was a war, he went to Russia
0:19:36 > 0:19:39because Russia was a rather fashionable place to go.
0:19:39 > 0:19:41He loved folk tales, and had already written some,
0:19:41 > 0:19:43but Russian - it would be rather original
0:19:43 > 0:19:45to write some Russian tales.
0:19:49 > 0:19:53So, far from wanting to be a spy, or even a journalist,
0:19:53 > 0:19:56Arthur Ransome had always harboured an ambition
0:19:56 > 0:19:59to be a writer of children's fiction,
0:19:59 > 0:20:02and after 11 years of overseas adventure,
0:20:02 > 0:20:04he longed to return to England.
0:20:09 > 0:20:11But he didn't return alone.
0:20:11 > 0:20:13While in Russia he had fallen in love
0:20:13 > 0:20:16with no less a person than Trotsky's personal secretary,
0:20:16 > 0:20:18Evgenia Shelepina.
0:20:21 > 0:20:24This is where Ransome came with his second wife, Evgenia,
0:20:24 > 0:20:27and you can see why they chose it.
0:20:27 > 0:20:29What a fantastic view.
0:20:36 > 0:20:40In the spring of 1925, Ransome and Evgenia
0:20:40 > 0:20:44settled at Low Ludderburn, just a few miles from Lake Windermere.
0:20:44 > 0:20:46Beside their new home was a large barn
0:20:46 > 0:20:50which would prove to be a place of inspiration for Ransome.
0:20:51 > 0:20:55After all the dangers and hardships in Russia,
0:20:55 > 0:20:58Ransome was finally doing what he wanted to do -
0:20:58 > 0:21:01it was here that he wrote Swallows and Amazons.
0:21:01 > 0:21:05He said, "I have never had, nor ever hope to have,
0:21:05 > 0:21:07"such another work room."
0:21:07 > 0:21:10Arthur Ransome had come home.
0:21:16 > 0:21:20For the Walker children, their home, at least for a few days,
0:21:20 > 0:21:22is a clearing on Wild Cat Island.
0:21:24 > 0:21:26So, here we are - we're coming to a campsite.
0:21:26 > 0:21:29Where they all end up, don't they? All together.
0:21:29 > 0:21:30Yes, in the end.
0:21:30 > 0:21:33In the end, the Swallows have tents which rig up between the trees.
0:21:33 > 0:21:35Yeah, a perfect place.
0:21:35 > 0:21:37- Well, it's beautifully sheltered. - Yeah.
0:21:39 > 0:21:42And so you have your tents here,
0:21:42 > 0:21:44and you have the fireplace here, I suppose.
0:21:44 > 0:21:48- I think in the open area, here... - Yeah.- ..and you'd sit around it.
0:21:48 > 0:21:50It feels like a place of their own, I would say.
0:21:50 > 0:21:52A sort of world of their own.
0:21:52 > 0:21:55And what else can we see from here?
0:21:55 > 0:21:56Well, we've got a lookout point,
0:21:56 > 0:21:59where they had the lighthouse tree at the top of the island...
0:21:59 > 0:22:01- Yeah.- ..and behind us, over the corner, here,
0:22:01 > 0:22:05we have the landing place, where they first land on the island.
0:22:05 > 0:22:08It's all in this one small kind of enclosed space...
0:22:08 > 0:22:09- Yeah.- ..around us.
0:22:13 > 0:22:16But the matter of ownership over Wild Cat Island
0:22:16 > 0:22:19is still to be decided, and the battle is on.
0:22:22 > 0:22:23In the dead of night,
0:22:23 > 0:22:27as the two crews are trying to outmanoeuvre each other,
0:22:27 > 0:22:29Captain Flint's chest is stolen,
0:22:29 > 0:22:32containing his only copy of the book he's writing.
0:22:34 > 0:22:38The war between the Swallows and the Amazons ended peacefully,
0:22:38 > 0:22:42but they still had to find Captain Flint's treasure chest,
0:22:42 > 0:22:45and Arthur Ransome was speaking from the heart
0:22:45 > 0:22:48about the manuscript hidden inside.
0:22:48 > 0:22:53He would put his Swallows and Amazons manuscript by his bed at night,
0:22:53 > 0:22:56so that he could reach out and touch it,
0:22:56 > 0:22:58just to make sure it was still there.
0:23:03 > 0:23:06Ransome wrote the bulk of the book very quickly,
0:23:06 > 0:23:09but he grappled with how to resolve the issue
0:23:09 > 0:23:11of Captain Flint's stolen chest.
0:23:11 > 0:23:15His revisions can be seen in the original manuscript.
0:23:15 > 0:23:16There's a lot in here
0:23:16 > 0:23:18where he's playing around with the narrative,
0:23:18 > 0:23:20and some of the things that we're familiar with
0:23:20 > 0:23:22from the finished book look very different.
0:23:22 > 0:23:25There are lots of different versions of who finds the treasure,
0:23:25 > 0:23:28- how they find it and when they find it.- And WHETHER they find it.
0:23:28 > 0:23:30- Well, yes.- Is it? Whether they find it.
0:23:30 > 0:23:35- Good point - but have a look at this one. Maybe start from up here.- Yeah.
0:23:35 > 0:23:37"John and Nancy were looking already,
0:23:37 > 0:23:41"and now the Houseboat Man looked all over the island.
0:23:41 > 0:23:43"He could find nothing."
0:23:43 > 0:23:48- So, then, that looks as if it's grim, doesn't it?- Mm.
0:23:48 > 0:23:50And then, finally, "'No,' said the Houseboat Man,
0:23:50 > 0:23:54"'I'm afraid it will have to be written off as a bad job.'"
0:23:54 > 0:23:57- We can't have that!- No. - And, of course, he scrapped it.
0:23:57 > 0:23:59And what does he do in the end?
0:23:59 > 0:24:02Oh, it's much more exciting, because of course they go back
0:24:02 > 0:24:05and they find the treasure, he's reunited with his book,
0:24:05 > 0:24:07and he gives Titty the parrot as a thank you.
0:24:07 > 0:24:09Hurrah!
0:24:09 > 0:24:14"'We've found it! We've found it! We've found it!' shouted Titty.
0:24:14 > 0:24:17"She pulled the stone right away to one side,
0:24:17 > 0:24:20"and there was a torn label on the corner of the box -
0:24:20 > 0:24:25"a label with a picture of a camel and a pyramid,
0:24:25 > 0:24:29"and the word Cairo, plain in big letters.
0:24:29 > 0:24:32"'Help, Roger,' said the able-seaman,
0:24:32 > 0:24:35"'get the stones off one by one.'"
0:24:35 > 0:24:39Swallows and Amazons was published in July 1930,
0:24:39 > 0:24:43and it wasn't long before Ransome was being asked for a sequel.
0:24:43 > 0:24:48Over the next two decades, he wrote another 11 books in the series.
0:24:48 > 0:24:51The adventures of the Walker and Blackett children,
0:24:51 > 0:24:56and the simple, upright virtues they embodied, struck a deep chord,
0:24:56 > 0:25:00and yet Ransome's legacy wasn't totally secure.
0:25:00 > 0:25:02Oddly, once the Second World War
0:25:02 > 0:25:04had washed over it,
0:25:04 > 0:25:07and over the series as a whole,
0:25:07 > 0:25:09it in some ways became bankrupt.
0:25:09 > 0:25:13So, for example, William Golding writes,
0:25:13 > 0:25:14at the beginning of Lord of the Flies,
0:25:14 > 0:25:17that the boys, when they're first shipwrecked,
0:25:17 > 0:25:20think that it's going to be like Swallows and Amazons,
0:25:20 > 0:25:24and those of you who've read Lord of the Flies know that...anything but.
0:25:24 > 0:25:27On the other hand, Swallows and Amazons is, in many ways,
0:25:27 > 0:25:31its own legacy - you've only got to come here to the Lake District,
0:25:31 > 0:25:35as you know, to find that the boats are called Swallow,
0:25:35 > 0:25:38they're called Peggy Blackett, they're called Arthur Ransome.
0:25:38 > 0:25:45There's a way that people go on living in relation to this ideal
0:25:45 > 0:25:50of child agency, child sufficiency, and bravery.
0:25:50 > 0:25:54Goodness, in some ways - moral goodness.
0:25:57 > 0:25:58Honesty wins out,
0:25:58 > 0:26:02and with Captain Flint's chest and precious book found,
0:26:02 > 0:26:06the Swallows and Amazons spend a last night together on the island,
0:26:06 > 0:26:08but a new danger loomed.
0:26:11 > 0:26:15"All that last day, there had been the heaviness of thunder in the air.
0:26:15 > 0:26:17"There had been a stormy sunset
0:26:17 > 0:26:19"and, though there had been but little wind,
0:26:19 > 0:26:23"dark, angry clouds had lifted in the south
0:26:23 > 0:26:26"until at night they shut out all the stars."
0:26:29 > 0:26:32The great storm may have washed away their fantasies,
0:26:32 > 0:26:37marking the end of the school holidays and a return to reality,
0:26:37 > 0:26:40but the possibility of escape isn't lost forever.
0:26:42 > 0:26:44For the Swallows and Amazons -
0:26:44 > 0:26:48and, indeed, for the many children and natives who read this book -
0:26:48 > 0:26:49it was just the start.
0:26:51 > 0:26:53- Well, I'm afraid it's time to leave, John.- Yes!
0:26:53 > 0:26:56- Do you want to, er...hop aboard?- OK.
0:26:56 > 0:26:58I'll just get the painter in a sec.
0:27:00 > 0:27:02There's quite a bit of water in the boat.
0:27:02 > 0:27:05- Don't worry, we'll get it out later. - Yeah, OK.
0:27:07 > 0:27:10The tiller is just by your left hand.
0:27:10 > 0:27:11- Keep it straight.- I will.
0:27:11 > 0:27:13Just got to push her out.
0:27:15 > 0:27:17HE CHUCKLES We're away!
0:27:21 > 0:27:24"Slowly, the fleet slipped past Wild Cat Island.
0:27:24 > 0:27:28"The island was once more the uninhabited island
0:27:28 > 0:27:31"that Titty had watched for so many days from the Peak of Darien -
0:27:31 > 0:27:35"and yet it was not that island.
0:27:35 > 0:27:39"John, looking at it, remembered the harbour and the leading lights,
0:27:39 > 0:27:44"and his swim all around it, and the climbing of the great tree.
0:27:44 > 0:27:47"For Roger, it would always be the place
0:27:47 > 0:27:49"where he had swum for the first time.
0:27:49 > 0:27:53"For Susan, it was the camp and housekeeping
0:27:53 > 0:27:56"and cooking for a large family.
0:27:56 > 0:28:00"Titty thought of it as Robinson Crusoe's island."
0:28:04 > 0:28:08If you want to dig deeper into Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons,
0:28:08 > 0:28:11and the other books in the series, go to...
0:28:16 > 0:28:17..and follow the links
0:28:17 > 0:28:18to the Open University.