Bedfordshire Archives Service Catalogue
  • Reference
    AU10/102/1/194
  • Title
    Typewritten letter
  • Date free text
    3 November 1970
  • Production date
    From: 1970 To: 1970
  • Scope and Content
    "Many thanks for your letter and the magazine which arrived yesterday. I hope Andrew will show you the magazines of the New York Historical Society which I sent to him. They have a Quarterly, with articles about early New York history. i suggested they printed Andrew's booklet on Ampthill and New York exactly as it stands, but they seemed to think it would be better with a little information about Ampthill itself: where it is, and so on. I think the article will arouse a great deal of interest. I had a most enjoyable time in New York: the galleries are full of wonderful pictures from Europe. One wonders how on earth they acquired it all: but of course the millionaires are responsible. The Marcollas took me to the new Metropolitan Opera House, and I met many of their friends. They hope to drop in here next summer on their annual trip to Europe. Washington is a fine city, but it has the highest crime rate in USA. We were warned never to go out alone at night, and even in daytime to keep within sight of other people. After 6 p.m. a policeman boards every 'bus. Two or three years ago the 'bus men went on strike because so many of them were being murdered ... simply for the fares in their bag. New York is nearly as bad, in the side streets. The Marcollas told me they always drive with their car doors locked. It is, of course, as you see from TV and the papers, the big problem in USA. It is getting serious here, but at any rate up to the present one can walk about London without getting a knife in one's back! We get a lot of burglaries round here. So far the Castle has escaped ... except that last summer three lead pipes with Lord Avebury's crest on the top were stolen from the terrace. It was at the time when the terrace was being done, and workmen were coming and going all the time. I suppose no one was about, and they just lifted them on to a lorry and drove off with them. Fortunately, insurance covers the cost of new ones. There have been no actual breaking-in incidents. I suppose thieves never know who is, and who is not, at home. Some new people who bought a flat last year as a seaside and weekend place were here for a few days. When they went to their home just outside London they found the house had been completely stripped! Neighbours had seen a furniture van arrive, but they naturally thought they were taking some stuff to the flat here. I went in the White House at Washington, and visited the graves of J.F.Kennedy and his brother Robert, just outside the city. Niagara was impressive, but not so much as the Victoria Falls in Rhodesia. A lot of the water is taken off for hydro-electric purposes: even so it is quite a spectacle. We went on to Toronto, Ottowa and Montreal ... just got out of Montreal apparently before the trouble started. The man they are holding - Cross - is a great friend of the Staverts. Patricia spent a year out in Canada some time ago. They are naturally very worried about events. I enjoyed this trip so much that I should like to go again next year ... but this time to the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone and Yosemite Parks. There is a BOAC tour taking about a month which I might be able to fit in at the end of the summer. Meanwhile, I have decided to spend next winter in Ceylon. For the first time for many years I am forsaking the sea, and shall fly direct to Colombo. I shall be leaving about December 15th. and return as usual in March. I expect to meet an old friend there ... Lhakdas de Mel. His family were said to be the richest in Ceylon. They entertained the Duke of Windsor (then Prince of Wales) on his Empire Tour, and the father was knighted. Mr.Broun knew them well, and we often talked about them. Lhakdasa was at Oxford and Cuddesdon, and then came to S.John the Divine, Kennington, for a year as deacon. He returned to Ceylon, and eventually (as everyone expected) he became the first native Bishop of Colombo. He is now the Metropolitan for all India and Ceylon ... a big noise indeed! I last met him in 1960 when he came here for a night with my old Vicar the Bishop of Bloemfontein. They were in England for the Lambeth Conference. Bloemfontein, of course, died a few years ago. How the years have gone! Yes, I remember Queen Katherine's garden. Horace White had his workshop there. Do you every hear anything of the Du Sautoys? What a lot of families have just faded out since my time! Du Sautoys, Eagles, Bartons, Wingfields, Russells ... I don't remember the grapes and S.Joseph's. I remember a peach tree. It was I who persuaded them to remove the greenhouses from the front of the house, and put one at the side. I remember Prof. Richardson was very pleased, as they ruined the appearance of the house. I suppose that enormous yew hedge is still there. Do they, by the way, still ring the Angelus 3 times a day at the church? One of the old ladies at the Feoffee almshouses did it, and when she died Miss Diana Eagles took over. I remember buying Millet's picture THE ANGELUS to hang in the Baptistry. There are naturally a lot of new names in the magazine that I don't know. But I note the Davies's are still prominent, and of course Jim Gillett. What a day it will be when I pay my visit to Ampthill (when I am 80???) and hold court in the White Hart. Well time passes quickly ... I have been at the Castle 16 years next month. But so far from settling down into a serene old age, I seem to be moving about more than ever. By the way, and old gentleman living in a big house near by lost his wife last year. He is 94, and last week he married a widow of 82. Truly a case of Never Say Die! Yours sincerely,"
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