My Durham Story - By Sophie Neville

By: Sophie Neville Class of:1982 College: Collingwood College Subject: Anthropology Location: Lymington 

Job title: Writer Organisation name: Sophie Neville

Why did you choose to study at Durham?: 
I wanted to read Anthropology, looked around the University of Durham and immediately felt at home. My father was at St Cuth's in the late 1940s and I was keen on the idea of living in the north east, even though it proved a long drive from where I grew up in Gloucestershire. I'd been longing to leave school and went straight to Durham without taking a gap year but have made up for this since. 

What was it like to be a student at Durham? Tell us about college life, the city, your course and any sports or societies you were involved in.: 
I immediately made great friends at Collingwood and with others reading Anthropology - Caroline Mathias, Rose Colman who became a psychoanalyst and Diana Vernon who became Headmistress of Melbourne School for Girls and other establishments. We all loved walking along the river and through the city. 
 
Instead of Wednesday sport, I took lessons in watercolour painting which stood me in good stead when I turned professional as a wildlife artist. Although team sports were not my thing, I served as secretary of the Ice Skating Society and rowed in the Collingwood Ladies' Four under Simon Pelly's coaching, which was fun. This equipped me to later join the crew of the Drapers' Shallop, rowing the Voga Longa in Venice with the Olympic Gold Medalist Ed Coode as stroke. I've taken part in other long rows and became a long-distance rider crossing the Namib desert and continent of South America on horses. 

What are your fondest memories of your time here?: 
I joined the operatic society in my first term and enjoyed acting in DUT's 'The Three Sisters' directed by Terry Brogan, which with took to the National Student Drama Festival in Hull. I then began directing my own productions: a male beauty contest held in the Union Rooms, the pantomime, 'Aladdin', an adaptation of 'Cold Comfort Farm', and the musical 'Oklahoma!' which launched Charles Johnston's career as an opera singer. Putting on these comedies was hugely enjoyable and firm friendships were made. 

What have you been up to since you left Durham?: 
Thanks to grabbing the chance to direct plays at Durham, taking time to write programme ideas, and helping Alastair Fothergill make a couple of wildlife films for Look North, I gained a 6-month contract as a researcher on the BBC's sought-after Graduate Trainee Scheme. After gaining experience on 'The Book Show' and 'Russell Harty', I began casting children for an adaptation of two Arthur Ransome books set on the Norfolk Broads. I found Henry Dimbleby, then aged 13, to play the hero opposite Julian Fellows, Colin Baker and Rosemary Leach, and spent three happy months filming in East Anglia. I remained in BBC Drama working on serials such as 'Doctor Who', 'My Family and Other Animals', and 'Eastenders' while taking a sabbatical to make a documentary for Channel 4 when driving from London to Johannesburg on an expedition led by Charles Mayhew who later set up TUSK. I moved to BBC Schools Television where I worked at Ealing Studios on 'Through the Dragon's Eye', and produced an 'INSET' series before directing comedy dramas starring Patsy Byrne. Disaster struck when I collapsed in the office suffering from a mixture of tick bite fever and Asian 'flu. It took me ten months to recover but I wrote the basis for my first book, 'Funnily Enough' while in bed and recovered in South Africa where I brought out a second illustrated memoir about running horseback safaris whilst setting up wildlife films for the BBC Natural History Unit and 'Blue Peter'. While in my first year at Durham I'd spent Friday afternoons learning cartography. I used these skills to create more then forty decorative maps of game reserves in Botswana, Namiba, Zimbabwe and South Africa. After joining the Wildlife Arts Society, I exhibited widely, putting on my first solo exhibition at Griselda Blood-Smythe's house in Fulham and holding another in Notting Hill that was well supported by others who'd been to Durham. 
 
After twelve years in southern Africa, I met my husband at an archery match in the Worcestershire village where I was born and started publishing non fiction books. I'd appeared in movies as a girl, and having played Titty in the original film 'Swallows and Amazons', I've been giving talks, tv and radio interviews to promote my filmography on 'The Making of Swallows and Amazons'. In 2004, I was commissioned to write a WWII feature film set in Tanganyika, Burma and Japan that has won a number of screenwriting awards. The producer of the 2016 movie of 'Swallows and Amazons' liked this and encouraged me to write the novel version of this story. I am now ready to publish the sequel, which is opens on Zanzibar in the heady days before the 1964 revolution. After spending three years researching this historical novel, I discovered the teenage Freddie Mercury was living on the island where his father would have been a prime target for the rebels. This untold story has won ten screenwriting awards. 

How has Durham inspired you to get where you are today? Tell us about any career highlights and achievements.*: The courses I took in anthropology and geography helped me to establish myself as a horse safari guide in Southern Africa and I've drawn on all I learned in ethnography to write my historical novels and screenplays. I began bringing out what I'd hoped were amusing articles at Durham for The Idler magazine, which was launched and edited by Nick Archer, Charles Stewart-Smith and Alastair Fothergill, who have all had stellar careers. They asked me to provide cover illustrations and to help Katie Hawkins with the manual layout. I've since had a number of feature articles published and one book serialised in iBelieve magazine. I became a committed Christian at Durham, am now a volunteer speaker for Bible Society, a member of the Association of Christian Writers and have taken on the PR for our parish church, which gets featured in national papers for its art installations. 

What would be your top piece of advice for anyone considering studying at Durham?: 
A speaker at the Durham Union encouraged anyone wanting to work in television to specialise. I took his advice and specailised in working with children and animals, but should have narrowed this down to horses. My umpire's certificate in polocrosse (gained at Morton Morrell College, which is part of WCUC) proved more useful than my degree for gaining a South African visa and gave me a lot of fun. I was paid to to film a match for SABC and invited to play for the Northern Transvaal, albeit with the veterans. Aquire an umpire's certificate - in any sport- whilst at Durham! 

Why is staying connected to your alumni community important to you? Tell us about anything you have gained from your alumni engagement with Durham.: 
I have kept up with friends made at Durham easily and naturally. They have been a continual blessing, and appear in some of my books. 

Any published work?: 
Books published in non-fiction: 
'The Making of Swallows and Amazons' in both paperback and audio (2nd ed pub by Boydell & Brewer) 
'Funnily Enough' (Resolute Books) serialised in iBelieve magazine 
'Ride the Wings of Morning - Letters to and from Africa' (Resolute Books) 
'The Secrets of Filming Swallows and Amazons (1974)' (self-published) 
 
Published contributions: 
• Foreword for 'Swallowdale' by Arthur Ransome (Albatros Media, Czech Republic) 
• Foreword for 'Swallows, Amazons and Coots' (The Lutterworth Press) 
• Foreword for 'An A-Z of Cumbria and The Lake District on Film' (Hayloft Publications) 
Forewords for 'From Dust to Trust' and 'Boats Yet Sailing' 
• Chapters in the anthologies 'Merry Christmas Everyone' and 'Write Well' (ACW) 
• Articles for Daily Telegraph, Future Publishing, Country Life, Cotswold Life, Hampshire Life, Classic Sailor, Living, Word in Action, Westmorland Gazette and specialist magazines. 
 
Writing for television and film: 
• 'INSET' series on the infant core curriculum - BBC TV 
• 'Just Mum, My Sister and Me', 'Crazes', 'Boys About Girls:Girls About Boys', 'The Way People Talk', BBC Schools TV edited into shorts for BBC Daytime TV 
• DVD Extras for 'Swallows and Amazons Forever' (Revelation Film) 
• 'Makorongo’s War', a screenplay commissioned by Dashwood Films 
Audio & storybook producer for 'Through the Dragon's Eye' (BBC Books) 
 
Literary Awards include: 
Athanatos Novel Writing Contest (USA) - Grand Prize Winner 
A Woman’s Write (USA) - Grand Prize Winner 
Eyelands International Book Award, 2019, for an unpublished historical novel 
Eyelands International Book Award, 2022 and 2025, for an unpublished historical novel 
Page Turner Awards, Best True Story, 2025 
Page Turner Screenplay Award for Best True Story, 2024 – for 'The Meeting House' 
International Rubbery Book Award - 3rd Prize for 'Funnily Enough' 
Berlin International Screenwriting Festival, 2024 – Winner Best Feature Screenplay 
Berlin International Art Film Festival, 2024 – Winner Best Feature Screenplay 
Filmhaus, 2024 – Winner Best Feature Screenplay 
Prague International Film Awards, 2024 – Winner Drama Screenplay 
London Director Awards, 2024 – Winner Grand Prix: First Time Screenwriter 

Read more at https://sophieneville.net/