Book Read Free

Six Minutes in May

Page 50

by Nicholas Shakespeare


  72 a wall of ships … rifles, Haarr, Battle for Norway, 206

  Nicholas Rodger interview with author, 15/5/2016

  Gunnar Hojem interview with author, 17/10/2015

  9 THE WINSTON IMPASSE

  1 He was all, Philip Willamson and Edward Baldwin, Baldwin Papers, 475

  2 An ill fate …, Philip Joubert de la Ferté, The Fated Sky, 173

  3 overburdened with, CA WDVS 1/3, William Welclose Davies unpublished autobiography

  4 immediate offensive action, Cecil Aspinall-Oglander, Roger Keyes, 345

  5 What better way, CA WDVS 1/3

  6 genius for making, CA CHAR 19/2B/194–5

  7 with his Union Jack, Aspinall-Oglander, 63

  8 as the finest, ibid., 221

  9 to revive in, ibid., xiii

  10 that as soon … Star, ibid., 339

  11 oddments, CA CHAR 19/2C/233–37

  12 smash up the Norwegian, Keyes Papers, 27

  13 Some of the great, Aspinall-Oglander, 346

  14 He rang the bell, Keyes Papers, 23, 37

  15 Let me organise … linked, Aspinall-Oglander, 346

  16 I know I represent … attack, CA CHAR 19/2C/233–37

  17 a combination … to me, Keyes Papers, 33

  18 to hammer a way, ibid., 37

  19 very devoted, Keyes Papers, 26

  20 I have to be guided, At the Admiralty, 1131

  21 the universally recognised, CA CHAR 19/2B/194–5

  22 the letter of, Soames, Clementine Churchill, 142

  23 but he has … Germany, ibid., 142

  24 It was a nasty … after all?, CA CHAR 19/2B/194–5

  25 Do-Nothing Dudley, King, 85

  26 so excited as, D. R. Thorpe, Alec Douglas-Home, 100

  27 damnably … short-sighted, Keyes Papers, 41

  28 Steinkjer will stink, ibid., 42

  29 The Military situation, ibid., 34

  30 If the scuttle, ibid., 36

  31 the chief author, Amery, Diaries, vol. 2, 589

  32 I don’t think, Keyes Papers, 25

  33 He was very, Ironside, 268

  34 a curious creature, ibid., 263

  35 I still see the map, At the Admiralty, 1152

  36 and had reported, ibid., 1082

  37 The Norwegian Minister, Colville, Fringes of Power, 111

  38 by the atmosphere, Alan Moorehead, Gallipoli, 40

  39 Winston was a, Ironside, 282

  40 being maddening, declaring, Colville, Fringes of Power, 107

  41 his verbosity and recklessness, ibid., 108

  42 The P.M. is depressed, ibid., 107

  43 in fact he seems, Channon, 242

  44 one of the worst, NC Diary Letters, vol. 4, 521

  45 most difficult … powers, ibid., 522

  46 the public must not, King, 16

  47 I have been, At the Admiralty, 1128

  48 He is proving, Colville, Fringes of Power, 107

  49 My dear Neville … action, CA CHAR 19/2C/308

  50 there would then, At the Admiralty, 1137

  51 at a loss how, ibid., 1137

  52 a revival in some form, Gilbert, Finest Hour, 264

  10 EVACUATION

  1 The evacuation of, Hansard, 8/5/1940

  2 Norway was the dullest, Carton de Wiart, 174

  3 Steinkjer has … this, Haarr, Battle for Norway, 128

  4 sitting out like, Carton de Wiart, 171

  5 Never reinforce … with em, Waugh, Men at Arms, 144

  6 For political reasons, Carton de Wiart, 171

  7 Many congratulations, PF diary, 27/4/1940

  8 had a ghastly time, Hart-Davis, 229

  9 in silk combinations … well do!, ibid., 229

  10 dear Peter, CA CHUR 2/149A-B

  11 Communications with “Sickle Force”, Ironside, 308

  12 Pretty awful!, Cadogan, 273

  13 in the greatest secrecy, At the Admiralty, 1141

  14 Today our wings, Listener, 6/5/1940

  15 We should then, At the Admiralty, 1140

  16 a secret, complicated, RU MS1391 B/6

  17 You can really, Carton de Wiart, 171

  18 Evacuation decided, WO 106/1895

  19 First to evacuate, Carton de Wiart, 173

  20 unsound in … at Namsos, Haarr, Battle for Norway, 156

  21 Orders have been, Lodge memoir

  22 The Germans had bombed, Fowler interview with author

  23 British expeditionary … crazy, Stowe, 113–14

  24 wore all these things, Carton de Wiart, 169

  25 like blackened totem, Lindsay, Spectator, ‘Death of a Town’

  26 whether British … little, Walter Hingston, Never Give Up, 78

  27 the only unenvied, Carton de Wiart, 173

  28 that last, endless day, ibid., 174

  29 absolute destruction such, The Times, 9/5/1940

  30 It sounded as if, ML ‘Death of a Town’

  31 Our house was pulverised, Hjørdis Mikalsen interview with author, 17/10/2015

  32 The expression which … the air, Reynolds, 124–5

  33 this brief campaign, Feiling, 438

  34 for the first time, Fleming, Invasion 1940, 21

  35 It was the fog, Ironside, 291

  36 had made … coal, PF ‘Return to Namsos’

  37 a very important, Evensen interview with author

  38 It is with the deepest, Haarr, Battle for Norway, 172

  39 physically sick … Germany, Partridge, 37–8

  40 In unresting pursuit, Daily Herald, 3/5/1940

  41 It would be hard, Shirer, This is Berlin, 3/5/1940

  42 Hitler claims complete, Mackenzie King, 30/4/1940

  43 There was a whole, Elaine Lodge interview with author, 12/11/2015

  44 I said “I lost … Norway, Fowler interview with author

  45 The whole thing, Waugh, Put Out More Flags, 211

  46 From the military, Laurence Thompson, 1940, 64

  47 lamentable, footling, Spears, 117

  48 We are on, Ironside, 295

  49 Today there is no, Rauschning, 124

  50 It must be a dark, Mackenzie King, 3/5/1940

  51 we were heading, Spears, 112

  52 The general impression … gloom, Nicolson, 74

  53 would be beaten, John Reith, Diaries, 246

  54 You don’t think … possible, Partridge, 37

  55 For hundreds, perhaps, RU MS1391 B/6

  56 When men escape, Fleming, Invasion 1940, 23

  57 however daringly, ibid., 156

  58 untiring, resourceful, PF Report

  59 My father was direct, Jacynth Fitzalan Howard interview with author, 18/12/2014

  60 the skilful … hunger, Simon Courtauld, The Watkins Boys, 48

  61 a very high … little food, SP S (4) WC1/64 ‘Lindsay Memorandum’

  62 gallant picnic, Brooks, Fleet Street, 28/4/1940

  63 This was a, Alexander Mackintosh, Echoes of Big Ben, 69

  64 never seen the House, SP Tree to Cranborne, 2/5/1940

  65 very shaken … extremis, SP E-E to Cranborne, 5/5/1940

  66 under the very … advantage, Hansard, 2/5/1940

  67 He might have, Sylvester, 258

  68 Chamberlain is clearly, Maisky, 272

  69 there was a flat, Ed Murrow, This is London, 98

  70 What a Govt, BOD MS Eng hist d.360, Crookshank diary

  71 The campaign … excitement, Partridge, 35

  72 on the pretext … opinion, PA LG/g/241/1, 27/4/1940

  73 the tremendous … news, Allingham, 132

  74 the false news, Amery, Diaries, vol. 2, 591

  75 we have been given, Mackenzie King, 3/5/1940

  76 partially misled, Colville, Fringes of Power, 110

  77 no more about, Reith, Into the Wind, 377

  78 the smell of failure, Waugh, Men at Arms, 220

  79 completely “winded”, Violet Bonham Carter, Champion Redoubtable, 208

  80 almost indescribable … danger, A
llingham, 166

  81 scarcely capable … history, Fleming, Invasion 1940, 25

  82 if the Germans, Maisky, 290

  83 Each day and night, Irene Ravensdale diary, 24/5/1940

  84 immediately on a pass-word … this idea (footnote), BCA Dep. Monckton Trustees file 2, 13/5/1940

  85 Everything was very, Stowe, 112

  86 one of America’s, PA LG/g/241/1

  87 He told me, Kingsley Martin, Editor, 279

  88 We talked about, Campbell-Preston interview with author

  89 who had muffed, Allingham, 168

  90 was like following, ibid., 67

  91 something far more, ibid., 168

  92 the debate is, BI EH diary, 3/5/1940

  93 no doubt … mischief, ibid., 2/5/1940

  94 the fiasco in Norway, Dalton speaking in Cambridge, 5/5/1940

  95 What disgusts me, Colville, Fringes of Power, 118

  96 A Westminster war, Channon, 244

  97 were thinking more, Ironside, 288

  98 there is a first-class, ibid., 293

  99 Well, Steinkjer was, Stowe, 118

  100 It is all terrible, Leo Amery, My Political Life, vol. 3, 357

  101 Most of the Ministers, Ironside, 295

  11 MONSIEUR J’AIMEBERLIN

  1 Chamberlain. What a man, Martha Gellhorn, Letters, 64

  2 He seemed the reincarnation, Channon, 172

  3 When the perspective, Hansard, 12/11/1940

  4 much needed rest, NC Diary Letters, vol. 4, 524

  5 One may as well, Information from David Dilks

  6 light-hearted, Reith, Diaries, 248

  7 the good British, ibid., 527

  8 When they went, Valerie Cole, taped interview with Martyn Downer, 2009

  9 She was very, ibid.

  10 an almost complete, Derek Walker-Smith, Neville Chamberlain, 189

  11 the biggest practical, Dilks interview with author

  12 incurably modest, Martyn Downer, The Sultan of Zanzibar, 238

  13 I often think, NC Diary Letters, vol. 4, 418

  14 the sort of man, Bernays, 53

  15 this extraordinary man … father, Churchill, Great Contemporaries, 63

  16 There is too deep, Self, Chamberlain, 121

  17 was sent as Ambassador, Birmingham Post, 18/1/1907

  18 the wild man, Thomas Dugdale to Nancy Dugdale, 12/5/1940, private collection

  19 Hectic preparations, CA GBR/0014/MCHL, Mary Soames diary

  20 I said no oysters … dingy.” CRL NC 11/2/1a, Anne Chamberlain journal 1940

  21 my father was gripped, Soames, A Daughter’s Tale, 129

  22 What a pity Hitler, Churchill, Gathering Storm, 495

  23 really the only, ibid., 495

  24 the finest cigars, CRL NC 3/2/1

  25 Then he ain’t look … lumbah!, Simpson

  26 spontaneously attached, Keith Feiling, The Life of Neville Chamberlain, 31

  27 the best site, David Dilks, Neville Chamberlain: vol. 1, 47

  28 seven thousand acres, Feiling, 31

  29 I’m goin’ ‘ome!, Simpson

  30 in spite of all, ibid., 30

  31 very tough fibre, WSC BBC broadcast, 12/11/1939

  32 All the time, Feiling, 16

  33 in a position, ibid., 71

  34 which had but a poor, note re NC’s donation of forty-nine birds (1896/7), Natural History Museum, Tring

  35 I’d never heard … sisal, Hein van Grouw interview with author, 18/12/2015

  36 the world’s life-buoy, Halifax, Fulness of Days, 202

  37 The house was full, Valerie Cole interview

  38 the greatest miracle, Geoffrey Lewis, Lord Hailsham, 56

  39 Did you ever, Halifax, Fulness of Days, 195

  40 since he loves to fish, Sydney Sun, 3/10/1938

  41 divinely led, The Times, 16/9/1938

  42 The day may come, John Evelyn Wrench, Geoffrey Dawson and Our Times, 416

  43 the precious … ears, Geoffrey Shakespeare, 193

  44 species of insanity, Dutton, Chamberlain, 130

  45 and his friends … politically impossible, Hansard, 31/3/1947

  46 The task of rehabilitating, Richard Gott, Guardian, 22/11/1984

  47 It can ingest, Canetti, Notes from Hampstead, 38

  48 No, just the same, Arthur Chamberlain interview with author, 3/12/2015

  49 Neville’s my name … Randolph, Francis Chamberlain interview with author, 3/10/2015

  50 the most disastrous, Attlee, in Francis Williams, A Pattern of Rulers, 193

  51 a man ill-timed, CA Amel 8/76/5, Feiling to LA, 15/11/1954

  52 Poor Chamberlain, Brooks, 268

  53 He was … world, Alec Douglas-Home, The Way the Wind Blows, 60

  54 His intimates, Nicolson, Spectator, 16/5/1940

  55 What do you want?, Douglas-Home, 60

  56 accursed shyness, NC Diary Letters, vol. 2, 6

  57 I never knew … eye, G. S. Harvie-Watt, Most of My Life, 42

  58 I can’t really, Self, Chamberlain, 206

  59 the mind and manner, Nicolson, 345

  60 if the b——, Walter Citrine, Men and Work, 367

  61 Boiled down, Robert Self ed., The Austen Chamberlain Diary Letters, 259

  62 What a good, CA GBR/0014/LWFD 2/2, Valentine Lawford diary, 1/11/1940

  63 Many people who, Cadogan, 132

  64 She had got him … governments, Halifax, Fulness of Days, 227–33

  65 I have increasing, NC Diary Letters, vol. 4, 548

  66 his reputation is, Valerie Cole interview

  67 You have a wonderful, CRL NC 18/2/1161–1198

  68 Why look at our boss, Simpson

  69 The Chamberlains, Francis Chamberlain interview with author

  70 Papa could not, CRL NC 9/2/10, Ida Chamberlain memoir

  71 Naturally reserved, shut, Chamberlain, Norman Chamberlain, 160

  72 I was counting, ibid., 1

  73 how greatly Norman, ibid., v

  74 the statesman in, ibid., 80

  75 The terror I suffered, ibid., 106

  76 Everything is mud, ibid., 123

  77 I do want to say, Francis Chamberlain to NC, 21/10/1940, private collection

  78 stale digestive biscuits, Hart-Davis, 213

  79 Look at his head … him, Sylvester, 235

  80 advanced towards, Colin Coote, Editorial, 290

  81 He looks well, Hart-Davis, 218

  82 He is slow, ibid., 218

  83 whole appearance, The Times, 20/3/1940

  84 Not unsatisfactory, NC Diary Letters, vol. 4, 487

  85 Every night I have, ibid., 473

  86 surprisingly well, ibid., 518

  87 pure ecstasy, CRL 11/2/5

  88 He told us, Hart-Davis, 218

  89 He gave a most humorous, CRL NC 9/2/9

  90 good cooked breakfast, Anthony Seldon, 10 Downing Street, 135

  91 strong burnt chicory … excellence, Colville, Fringes of Power, 45

  92 his years in the Bahamas, King, 25

  93 I have occasionally times, NC Diary Letters, vol. 4, 444

  94 green and shapeless … mine, CRL NC 11/2/1a

  95 Even walking near, NC Diary Letters, vol. 4, 466

  96 I must remain P.M., ibid., 415

  97 no young trees, CRL NC 2/26

  98 dark halls, old paintings, Maisky, 372

  99 always there … country, CRL NC 18/2/1161–1198

  100 where one can be, Norma Major, Chequers, 186

  101 It was his saw, CRL NC 11/2/5

  102 It was given me, Kenneth Clark, Another Part of the Wood, 271

  103 If ever that silly, Ivone Kirkpatrick, The Inner Circle, 135

  104 One must have something, NC Diary Letters, vol. 4, 459

  105 full, as was to, ibid., 490

  106 I find it is, ibid., 491–2

  107 one of the loveliest, CRL NC 13/17, NC to Morrison Bell 5/5/1940

  108 It gives him, Maisky, 364

  109 feeble, fatuou
s, BOD MS Eng hist 496, Wallace diary

  110 a bad British, The Times, 6/5/1940

  111 Then an encouraging, Dalton, 303

  112 storm of abuse … hand, Channon, 244

  113 Your endurance and courage, Reith, Into the Wind, 381

  114 Chamberlain hates criticism, Crozier, 123

  115 very down and depressed, Self, Chamberlain, 422

  116 Our failure in Norway, At the Admiralty, Channon papers, 1136

  117 covered in blood, Douglas-Home, 71

  118 It was a massive, Francis Chamberlain interview with author

  119 square with the picture, NC Diary Letters, vol. 4, 527

  120 too apt to look, ibid., 527

  121 more trouble than, ibid., 517

  122 It was a shattering, BOD MSS Dawson 44 diary, 19/4/1940

  123 strong inclination, NC Diary Letters, vol. 4, 523

  124 he didn’t think, Joseph Kennedy, Letters, 399

  125 half a dozen people, NC Diary Letters, vol. 4, 445

  126 I don’t see that other, ibid., 493

  127 ubiquitous … cadaverous-looking, Spears, 15, 106

  128 like a teak-faced, Chair, Die? I thought I’d Laugh, 132

  129 Our Secret Service, Feiling, 347

  130 he had a devious, CA Amel 8/76, Vansittart to LA 12/7/1954

  131 had been fixed up, Guy Liddell, Diaries, 55

  132 The telephone check, ibid., 71

  133 the seamy side … organisation”, J. C. C. Davidson, Memoirs of a Conservative, 272

  134 had the gall, Tree, 76

  135 Ring me there, SP Tree to Cranborne, 2/5/1940

  136 Hoare’s star is, AM diary, 16/2/1940

  137 Winston himself is very, NC Diary Letters, vol. 4, 432

  138 It is very difficult, BCA Dep. Monckton Trustees file 17, 13/11/1939

  139 To WHOMSOEVER, ibid.

  140 What we really want, BCA Dep. Monckton Trustees file 24, 23/6/1940

  141 carrying on a regular, NC Diary Letters, vol. 4, 351

  142 whether there is, Hansard, 13/4/1939

  143 and that his job, Andrew Roberts interview with author, 11/12/2014

  144 You have been, Gerald de Groot, Life of Sir Archibald Sinclair, 22

  145 Archie knows or guesses, ibid., 23

  146 used to play football, Bernays, 134

  147 blinded by prejudiced hatred, Colville, Fringes of Power, 91

  148 scuttle away, Groot, 152

  149 We had the impression, PA Harris papers HRS/1

  150 close relations, BOD MSS Simon 12, 9/5/1940

  151 this brilliant, puffing, At the Admiralty, Channon papers, 1136

  152 Chagrined by his failure, Channon, 242

 

‹ Prev