Reference
AU10/102/1/119
Title
Typewritten letter
Date free text
1 May 1961
Production date
From: 1961 To: 1961
Scope and Content
"Once more I am dealing with the mass of letters awaiting me on my return from France last Friday. This time I thought I was going to be caught up in a civil war ... I was staying at St.Pierre-sur-l'Orne in Normandy, near Caen, with some French relations, when the news of the Algerian revolt burst upon us. I was assured there was no need to panic - that the time to rush for home would be when the paras descended on Paris, and I could be taken up to Cherbourg for a boat; so we sat tight and waited. It was really a very anxious time for everyone. No one seemed to think a really serious civil war could develop, as evryone seemed to be solidly behind De Gaulle; but a divided army could have produced a very dangerous situation. Thank goodness it all collapsed so quickly!
I now expect to be at home until June 10th. when I fly to Sweden. I go to Oxford for the weekend of Whitsun, and shall be back either Tuesday or Wednesday in Whit Week. So I suggest you pay your visit on Thursday in that week. Mrs.Stavert is coming the week before Whitsun, and hopes to stay until the end of the month; so you will meet her. She is, by the way, keen on Civil Defence, and lectures on it. She went on an instruction course last year at some castle in Scotland, and was the only woman in a crowd of policemen. She flew out to Canada after Christmas to see Patricia (my god-daughter) who has been out there two years, and comes home in June.
I am enclosing the money for the cardigan. It was very kind of you to do it. I think you will be able to take it in without any difficulty. We will pin it when you come.
Somehow I don't think Margate will be your cup of tea - though it is supposed to be the healthiest spot in England. It is mostly Butlin's now. I should have thought you would have done better to stay in London - there is always so much to see and do there if one is on one's own.
I have not had time to wade through the Ampthill Newses yet, but one of them I slit open had a picture of you with the cadets which I noted.
The commemoration service of the Battle of Towton was most interesting. There was a pilgrimage to the battlefield afterwards. I am so thankful it is still farmland, and pasture, with no housing estates in view. It was quite easy to imagine the Yorkists and horrid Lancastrians slaughtering each other in the snowstorm on Palm Sunday 1461. Have we advanced very much since then?
Yours sincerely,"
Level of description
item