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Swallows and Amazons

Episode 6 of 6

John Sergeant learns how Arthur Ransome came to perfect a new, more authentic kind of children's literature that featured real children doing real things in real places.

Former journalist and keen amateur sailor John Sergeant takes to the water in the wake of the plucky young heroes of Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons, and learns how a globe-trotting foreign correspondent and acquintance of Lenin and Trotsky came to perfect a new, more authentic kind of children's literature that featured real children doing real things in real places.

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30 minutes

Last on

Tue 21 Apr 2020 00:50

BBC Four

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Web exclusive: John Sergeant discovers some of Ransome's original sketches for his children's classic.

Duration: 00:48
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Duration: 01:44

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Role	Contributor
Presenter	John Sergeant
Series Producer	Bill MacLeod
Executive Producer	Richard Bright
Producer	Jenny MacLeod
Director	Jenny MacLeod

Mon 16 Nov 2015 20:00

BBC Four
Wed 3 Oct 2018 19:30

BBC Four
Tue 21 Apr 2020 00:50

BBC Four

Discover more with The Open University

The Arthur Ransome Society (www.arthur-ransome.org.uk)
Museum of Lakeland Life and Industry (www.lakelandmuseum.org.uk)
The Ruskin Museum where the sailing dinghy “Mavis” can be seen (www.ruskinmuseum.com)
Brotherton Library, Leeds University (library.leeds.ac.uk)

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