Evening star., 1940-11-22
CONTINUED From Page A-15)

tConttnued From Page A-l50
having Wing Comdr. Maxwell given
four days leave to show me the
r. "A. F. Much of what I have
learned of aerial combat comes from
hina and from his 22-year-old BROTH
.er, Michael. currently combat pilot
in his brothers old squadron. With
private license and 160 hours in
the air I knew just enough about
flying myself to be able to under
stand the language.
"What Next?"
have broken in on the diary OF
my first day in London with this
long discussion about what it was
went to seek and how the Eng
lish received me and the sources
of the information / am presently
to set down because 1t was on my
first afternoon that I faced the
problem Of what next?"
Ben Robertson and I sat In the
drawing room of my suite and talked
about it after lunch. The head Of
the Ministry of Information is Al
fred Duff Cooper. whose wife was
in the Dorchester. They had asked
us to dinner that night. Good.
The paper with the largest cir
culation-2.7 TOO ,000-in Great Britain
is called the Daily Express. It's
owned by Lord Beaverbrook One
of its star reporters is tiny, pert,
pretty Hide Marchant. Yorkshire
girl of inexhaustible energy and
terrierlike disposition. She is cur
rently in charge of the Express
editorial campaign for the improve
ment of shelters. She rides by
night in company car. under
black painted tin hat and every
one in the shelter business knows,
respects, and, if he is not on his
job, fears her. Ben says she wants
to meet me: she wants to show me
the shelters herself before any Off
cials from the Ministry Of Home
Security get hold of me and sell me
a bill of goods Fine. Well get
hold of her for tomorrow night.
foofW-fin cNUovge itGSA etaoin
Murrow After Dinner.
want to see Ed Murrow again,
because 7 admire his broadcasts and
want to find out how he goes about
getting his information every day.
We know we can find Murrow after
midnight at the broadcasting sta
ton. Good. Well get hold of him
after dinner.
Now We must decide how to go
about seeing people in the govern
ment-Whether 10 use the letters /
brought with me from New York,
the good offices of one or two olds
friends in London. or put it up tf
the Ministry of Information whbt
Ben says will be my official host-in.
the person of one Douglas Williams,
head of what's called "the American
section" I remembered that Will
liams. whom I had never met. had
sent me message of greeting when
landed from the plane.
Scene of Peace.
It is still fine, sunny afternoon,
the noise of traffic along Park Lane,
taxis honking and buses whirring,
comes family through the open win
dows. The canopy of balloons over
London catches gold from the sun
as it drops toward the horizon.
There could not be more peaceful
scene.
There is no indication that there
Is war on-nothing could be less
warlike looking than balloon or
series of balloons. Until we start
working the telephone.
The telephone in London Is war
inconvenience number one. The
electricity, Ben tells me. has never
been out for more than brief inter-
ludes. Now and then, in one sec
tion or another, the gas has gone
for a little while When I take my
first bath I will find some rust COM
ing up through the Dorchesters
new plumbing because the bombs
have Jared it loose from the old
mains under the street-many Of the
mains in London are so old, I am
told, that they are not on any maps.
But the telephones seem the most
Vulnerable of the services. Whole
exchanges are out for long periods.
All the time I was there the Ministry
of Information was able to call me,
but was never able to call the Min
istry of Information back, because
the exchange handled only outgoing
calls-a phenomenon that never per-
colated to the ministrys secretariat,
which was continually leaving me
polite requests to call back.
Triple Priority Is Magic.
I did a great deal of telephoning
In London. I would estimate that
completed about nine out Of ten
calls. But the tenth always seemed
TO be some one wanted to get hold
of in a hurry. The telephone girls
always said something like, Il don't
believe you can get any Butterf1eld
numbers today. but will be glad to
try, sir" Presently, they reported
that they were sorry but they
couldn't put the call through.
+ Long distance is even more diff
cult. You wait anywhere from
few minutes to few hours to have
pne completed. That is, unless you
can establish priority. Priority. as
found out first in Linbon, is a
vital word in world at war I'M
portant government business has
what's called triple priority" Triple
priority is magic.
/ I had a letter from Washington
10 Ambassador Joe Kennedy. At
Also I interrupted my telephoning
TO walk around the corner to the
embassy. Mr.. Kennedy was return
ing to the United States next day.
I talked with him for about half