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reading swallows and amazons for the first time...

93 replies

casbie · 17/09/2007 15:47

quality writing and pure childish escapism - fantastic!

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Kathyis6incheshigh · 17/09/2007 15:48

Hurrah!

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RosaLuxembourg · 17/09/2007 21:58

And the best thing is - there are lots of them.

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casbie · 18/09/2007 11:41

i like Roger the best - he's just like my ds.

excitable, always getting scrapes and scratches and falling off things.


Dd is just like Susan and my littlest could be a dead ringer for Vicky!


makes me want to get a boat and go sailing.

very envious of the kids freedom, me being a mum to three and working full-time, i would love to spend a fortnight sailing and swimming and camping!!!

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oggsfrog · 18/09/2007 11:51

Vicky? I don't remember a Vicky - who was she?

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PestoMonster · 18/09/2007 11:57

She was their little baby sister.

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tortoiseSHELL · 18/09/2007 11:58

Vicky is the baby who is actually called Bridget, but nicknamed Vicky because she looks like Queen Victoria!

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ChippyMinton · 18/09/2007 11:59

I re-read it recently, then found a film of it on DVD - wonderful stuff.

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oggsfrog · 18/09/2007 12:02

Ah. Had to get my copy down and flick through...
"...little Vicky, a fat baby, like the pictures of Queen Victoria in old age, full of all sorts of needs."
I'd forgotten her

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Kathyis6incheshigh · 18/09/2007 12:05

Where is TooTicky? She is a fan too.

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PestoMonster · 18/09/2007 12:09

Ooh, ooh, we've got the DVD too and you can also get a dvd with two old television series of Coot Club and The Big Six on it. It's called Swallows & Amazons Forever though (confusingly). 'tis a good one for a rainy day.

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bossykate · 18/09/2007 12:09

i loved swallows and amazons! only thing was it made me so wistful - i longed to be able to do what the children did!

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UnquietDad · 18/09/2007 12:15

It's good stuff. From the days before children's books became PC-ridden and an industry to promote franchises under pseudonyms.

The film is very faithful too. You can get it in a twin-DVD pack with The Railway Children: lookee here

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Kathyis6incheshigh · 18/09/2007 12:18
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Blu · 18/09/2007 12:20

I lived S&A as the parallel fantasy life in my head. I was Nancy. Still am!

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UnquietDad · 18/09/2007 12:21

Have popped in and commented, kathy.

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casbie · 18/09/2007 14:17

i've always wanted to be george out of the famous five.

her own boat, island and lashings of ginger beer!

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Notyummy · 18/09/2007 14:33

I had a secret base (when I was about ten) with friends who had also read the book. We couldn't sail so it was next to a small stream (!!) We made a flag for ourselves and nailed it to a tree. I hit a boy with a broom handle and gave him a black eye for trying to tear it down. I would probably have been given an asbo or added to the crime stats these day....but back then our parents expected us to sort it out ourselves.

Can I just add, I'm in my 30s...not 88!

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FluffyMummy123 · 18/09/2007 14:33

Message withdrawn

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WigWamBam · 18/09/2007 14:38

I don't remember a Vicky when I read it - wasn't the little sister called Titty? Renamed Kitty in one of the films because of the inevitable sniggers (one teacher who read it aloud to us when I was about 7 used to pronounce it Tie-ty)

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SoMuchToBits · 18/09/2007 14:42

Vicy was, as someone already said the baby who is really called Bridget. In the first book she doesn't come into it much, as she is a baby and therefore too young to join the others on their adventures, but in later books she is more prominent, but by then known as Bridget.

I also love the books, and am hoping it won't be long before ds is ready to read them (I still have copies of most of them).

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WigWamBam · 18/09/2007 14:43

I'm sure she was originally Titty.

She was actually called Mavis but her family called her Titty after Tittymouse in a story called Tittymouse and Tattymouse.

Sounds like they have just made it a bit more PC!

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SoMuchToBits · 18/09/2007 14:45

No, no there were five of them altogether - John, Susan, Titty, Roger .....and Vicky/Bridget. In the first book, Roger (the youngest of the other four) is 7 years old, and Vicky/Bridget is still a baby.

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WigWamBam · 18/09/2007 14:46

Ahh ... so tis my memory letting me down.

I'm getting old, you know

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DumbledoresGirl · 18/09/2007 14:47

Vicky/Bridget is definitely the fifth member of the family - not with them on any of their adventures I think.

I was a fan as a child and still have all my copies but have not yet found a willing accomplice in any of my children.

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MaryAnnSingleton · 18/09/2007 14:47

don't you think though it's terribly laboured and sloooow ?

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