[Archive; unpublished history] Papers and correspondence relating to an intended history of the early years of the Daily Express

For more about John Rutherford Gordon (1890-1974), editor of the Sunday Express between 1928 and 1952, see his entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.Although the volume for which the present material was amassed did not materialise, there is no doubting the seriousness of the project. Working with Beaverbrook's approval and encouragement (the nine memoranda by him present in the collection indicate his interest), Gordon employed Sunday Express news editor Jack Garbutt (John Lambert Garbutt, 1907-1973), John ('Jock') Selby Bradford and 'T. N. Shane' (i.e. H. A. H. Healy) to assemble material, with Garbutt and Bradford conducting interviews and Shane working through the correspondence of the newspaper's legendary editor R. D. Blumenfeld. A letter from Gordon to Beaverbrook on 21 October 1954 reveals that Gordon's researches have 'already produced a packed box file of scraps of notes, memories and records, perhaps approaching 100,000 words of them [...] I began by compiling a list of all the personalities I could remember. The list was added to by others of long service. Those who are still alive were seen by Garbutt, Bradford and myself. Nearly all of them have been able to get their memories onto paper.' (In a letter written to E. J. Robertson three months before, Gordon lists 48 names he can 'recall from the very far past'.)The present collection comprises approximately 200pp. of correspondence (original and copy), interviews, drafts, memoranda, notes, relating to the proposed volume, many items featuring manuscript emendations, mostly by JG. The collection is in good condition, on lightly-aged paper, with some of the material contained in seven worn brown card folders. The material in this collection is of the greatest interest, presenting interviews and archival research by three respected senior journalists (Gordon, Garbutt and Bradford), written up with a newsman's eye for the essentials of a story. It provides a vivid and informative picture of the early years of the Daily Express, and has not been utilised in any history of the newspaper. (R. Allen's inadequate 1983 volume Voice of Britain: The Inside story of the Daily Express contains only two references to Gordon.) The material is informative and frequently amusing. Beaverbrook reminisces on his financial dealings in Wall Street, and on Lady Diana Cooper's starting the presses of the new Sunday Express; and there are anecdotes concerning Blumenfeld's complaints about Perceval Phillips's excessive use of the 'STOP' in telegrams, the 'ex-royal riff-raff' who used to assemble in Guy Pollock's 'mother's boudoir', Beaverbrook's complaint at Leslie Hore-Belisha keeping a taxi on the meter during a meeting, T. Alun Jones's toupee, and the termination of Hugh Pollard's career after he let off his two 'pet guns' in the office while telling an anecdote about an encounter with the IRA.Many items are typed up on 4to sheets of paper. Much of the material is dated, with some earlier items carrying 'Shoe Lane Story' as a proposed title for the book in the top left-hand corner of the first page, and other later items with this title changed to 'Express Story'.In addition to Beaverbrook, the collection includes material relating to editors R. D. Blumenfeld and Arthur Christiansen, as well as S. W. Alexander, George A. Atkinson, Beverley Baxter, Stanley Bishop, Lord Castlerosse, Sir John Elliot, David Ellis, Harry J. Greenwall, Leslie Hore-Belisha, J. S. Hutchinson, Gwyn Lewis, Sidney Long, L. M. McBride, Emilie Hawkes Peacocke, Hugh Pollard, T. N. Shane, Sidney Strube, William Warren, Viscount Younger.The following description is divided into three sections:A. Material relating to individualsB. Correspondence of John GordonC. Drafts of sections of the proposed book--A. Material relating to individualsLord Beaverbrook [William Maxwell ('Max') Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook] (1879-1964)ONE: Nine original memoranda from Beaverbrook, typed out on strips of paper by his personal secretary Margaret Ince (1899-1993, later JG's wife), with manuscript emendations (by Ince?), responding to JG's news of progress on the book, and contributing a few of his own reminiscences. One memorandum accompanied by a Typed Letter Signed to JG from Ince, dated 2 May 1955 ('Lord Beaverbrook has asked me to acknowledge your letter of the 28th April, and to say he is very glad to get the enclosures. | He is satisfied with your summary of the Blumenfeld letters and is glad to have them. He will not need the actual copies of the letters at all.'). For example, one undated memorandum reads, in full: 'Lady Diana Cooper's article was for the Sunday Express. It was published in the first issue of the Sunday Express, I think, if not in the first issue certainly almost immediately about the time the paper was started. | Lady Diana Cooper started the presses the night that the Sunday Express was launched. | That is for John Gordon. | She dined with me before the event at the Savoy Hotel and Hugh Young, the gynaecologist from Baltimore from John Hopkins in Baltimore dined with me too. | After the dinner we went on to the Sunday Express, and Lady Diana gave the, I think she touched a button if I remember right.' Another memorandum, from Cap d'Ail, 6 April 1954: 'Tell him that I have received his letter of 2nd April. But for the $50,000 which I was compelled to borrow in Wall St. I had to pay a very big price, £50,000 rather, had to pay a very big price, and it could only be secured at that time on the basis of paying very considerable commissions, worse than any money lender, any Wardour St. money lender or where the money lenders are to be found.'TWO: 9pp. (6pp. in 4to, and 3pp. in 12mo; with an additional slip) of transcripts of extracts from thirty-two of 'Lord Beaverbrook's Letters to "My dear Blum" [i.e. R. D. Blumenfeld]'. Dating from between 1927 and 1945. Topics include: 'the anti-Socialist union'; the Empire Crusade Club; his gratitude, on his 80th birthday, for their friendship; Cherkley; Sir James Dunn; the Maldon by-election of 1942. On 6 June 1936 he writes from Cherkley that Blumenfeld is 'not the only member of the Daily Express group who wants to turn back. I do too. It was a grand fight. And Northcliffe was a doughty fellow. He was like Joe Louis. But Rothermere must, I suppose, be compared with kid Lewis.' On 7 February 1942 he writes from 12 Downing Street: 'I am not a Major in field boots in this war. I am a Minister in harness. And I wish I were a private citizen in slippers.'THREE: Typed copy (1p., 4to) of letter to Blumenfeld. 75 Lombard Street, E.C.; 9 August 1911. Expressing concern at his illness, and stating:'I am doing my best to get that infernal sheet out of the grasp of the present person.'FOUR: Anonymous typescript headed 'Lord Beaverbrook's Views. | Deductions drawn from the Files.' 1p., 4to. Dated 20 May 1957. In manuscript at head of page: 'Private to J.R.G.' Begins: 'He dislikes PROPAGANDA as such. Let the facts do the job. In other words, no mere dope. | He dislikes malice in political writing - and in fact generally - and is almost morbidly scrupulous on this point.'--S. W. Alexander [Stanley Walter Alexander] (1895-1980), Daily Express City Editor, 1923-1946.Typescript (2pp., 4to), dated 8 April 1957, headed 'Extracts from a typescript biography (Undated).' Prepared by JG (as acknowledged in autograph note by him). Mainly recounting how Beaverbrook took a shine to 'a diminutive office boy' - the fourteen year-old Alexander - arranged for him to have shorthand lessons, and then employed him as 'sort of assistant to an assistant secretary'. (The actual circumstances are not recorded in Alexander's entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.) 'By 1914 he had become principal private secretary, with complete charge of Lord Beaverbrook's investments.'--George A. Atkinson, Daily Express film correspondentTypescript regarding him titled 'The First Film Correspondent of the "Daily Express". 1p., 4to. Dated 13 February 1957. Ends: 'Bishop told me recently that he believed Harold Saunders was still extant, but doesn't know where he lives. [...]'.--Beverley Baxter, Daily Express Managing Editor, 1924-1933Brief anonymous typed memorandum regarding dates of his career.--Stanley Bishop (d.1965), Daily Express crime reporterTypescript (3pp., 4to) chronology of events in life of 'Stanley Bishop'. Dated 8 April 1957. With typescript (4pp., 4to) of further reminiscences of Bishop (by Jock Bradford) headed 'Add Stanley Bishop. (to previous notes)'. Dated 6 May 1957. Begins: '"Bish", both professionally and as a personality is one of the great legendary figures of Fleet Street. | He was news editor of the Labour newspaper the Daily Citizen at the time of the outbreak of war in 1914. Joined up and rose to the rank of Captain. | Then he came to the D.E. as Labour correspondent at £9 a week, J.B. did the engaging; R.D.B. is said to have remarked that this was a pound a week more than he would have offered. Soon he became Chief Reporter (the job of Labour correspondent going to H.R.S. Philpott) and also acted as News Editor of the newly founded Sunday Express, at a total salary of £12 a week.' '[S]ome of his beats' follow, under the headings 'Little Willie' ('the ex-Crown Prince of Germany'), 'Murder of President Doumer', 'Ena of Spain', 'Thompson-Bywaters', 'Mrs. Pace', 'Vacquier' and 'Bish and the Beaver'. The last section begins: 'Bishop was leaving for a holiday in Ireland with his wife and family. As he was saying Goodbye to the News Editor the 'phone rang. | Lord Beaverbrook wanted the best reporter they had to post down to Cherkley and uncover a tremendous scandal. That meant Bishop. He protested vehemently, but there was nothing for it but to obey. | (Bradford goes on) - The story wasn't really a story at all. It had been transmogrified from mouth to mouth. It only meant that the Baron thought the price of electricity at Leatherhead was disgustingly high. | Bishop couldn't help bursting into laughter.'--R. D. Blumenfeld [Ralph David Blumenfeld (1864-1948)]ONE: Typescript reminiscences (1p., 12mo, and a slip of paper) of Blumenfeld by his son Sir John Elliot (1898-1988), headed 'Sir John Elliot's Memories. - 3. | (In an interview by J. L. Garbutt, 11.9.54.)' Dated 2 February 1957. On the subject of his father, and including the following: 'R.D.B. believed in anonymity. He did not like reporters' names at the head of stories. He did not think that newspapermen were news. One night when there was a big storm in Fleet Street and it was said that lightning ran along the sprinklers in the News Room R.D.B. commented "Nobody is interested in what happens to us." | Perceval Phillips used the word stop constantly in his cables. R.D.B. cabled him "Stop wasting money on stop or we stop salary." Phillips cabled back "Won't stop stop if you stop salary." | R.D.B. had got the accountants to work out just how much Phillips' stops cost the firm in a year. | R.D.B. had contents bills stuck over the paper reels coming through the streets of London bearing the words "--- miles of paper for the Daily Express" Other papers copied the idea. | R.D.B. had the idea of putting the title on the back page as well as the front. He had seen a man reading the D.E. in a tube train; R.D.B. knew it was the D.E.; but realised that most people would not know it. Everybody copied this idea too.'TWO: Anonymous typed biography of 'R. D. Blumenfeld', apparently unpublished. 4pp., 4to. Dated 6 May 1957. Featuring a mass of information, some not present in Blumenfeld's entry in the Oxford DNB. For example: 'One day in 1900 a chance meeting in a barber's shop in Fleet Street with Alfred Harmsworth (Lord Northcliffe) brought him the job of news editor on the Daily Mail, then only four years old, [...] Blumenfeld found that life as a Harmsworth satrap had its drawbacks, and in 1902 he became foreign editor of the Daily Express, recently founded by (Sir) C. A. Pearson to challenge the Daily Mail.'THREE: Memoranda, partly in type and partly in JG's autograph, headed 'R. D. Blumenfeld by John Elliot'. 1p., 4to. The typed section only amounts to a few lines: 'Blumenfeld could set type himself. | He brought H. V. Morton from the Evening Standard arranging it with Jimmy Heddle. | He bought The Blue Lagoon for serialisation.' The 18 lines of manuscript are almost illegible.FOUR: Typed copy (2pp., 8vo) of letter to Blumenfeld from Rudyard Kipling. Kessingland Grange, Lowestoft; 4 August 1914. Expressing impatience and optimism over the First World War (declared that day). 'How the Teutons must despise us - and how justly! [...] Frankly I have high hopes - higher than I dare say out loud.' The letter, now in the University of New Brunswick, is printed in vol.4 of Pinney's edition of Kipling's correspondence.--Lord Castlerosse [Valentine Edward Charles Browne, 6th Earl of Kenmare] (1891-1943)Typed transcription of extracts by JG from apparently unpublished 'Profile of Lord Beaverbrook. | An unfinished biography by Lord Castlerosse.' 6pp., 4to. Headed 'Express Story.' and with the transcription dated '24 June 1957'. Preliminary typed note by JG: 'This is eminently readable but, if seriously meant, is not the right approach. It lacks balance and dignity, and is to some extent a caricature rather than a portrait. Here are extracts from the factual part of the sketch)'. Includes the quip 'Lord Beaverbrook is a good friend to his friends - he is an even better friend to his enemies.' In a section headed 'Early Childhood' JG writes that 'C[astlerosse]. reports that Lord Beaverbrook claims to have been a very ordinary boy until a mowing machine went over his head and split his skull, which gave his brain room to expand. The he goes on: - | "I have heard bankers listen to this bunkum in all seriousness. I have heard prominent public men expound on this strange phenomenon till I wished that Lord Beaverbrook would not extend his loyalty to his old jokes."'--Arthur Christiansen (1904-1963), Daily Express editor, 1933-1957Typed 'early reminiscences of the Sunday Express' (two copies: the first, 8pp., 4to; the second - with the correction of typing errors 'owing to my bad handwriting' - 7pp., 4to), made from an 'original manuscript' destroyed at Christiansen's request. With covering Typed Note Signed by Christiansen, on Daily Express letterhead, dated 30 December 1954, referring to corrections, and asking for the original manuscript to be destroyed. Begins: 'When I joined the Beaverbrook group in 1926 the Sunday Express was "edited" by James Douglas. He was a "writing" editor, a breed that passed out and gave place later to technical men who could not only write (if necessary) but lay out, sub-edit and in fact bring out the paper. | The managing editor was T.A. Innes; he was the man who produced the paper in fact. | The editorial staff consisted of these two with two assistant editors - Valentine Heywood (later Assistant Editor of the Sunday Times for many years) and F.W. (Freddie) Wilson, author of the notorious Baldwin interview which presumably cost him his job on the People.'--Sir John Elliot ['Coosey' Blumenfeld] (1898-1988), son of R. D. BlumenfeldTwo TLsS to JG. Both 1p., 12mo, and both on letterhead of 18 Albion Street, Hyde Park; 1 and 18 May 1953. The first refers to photographs, a 'Muscombs picture' and a lunch date. The second provides correct biographical details of his father after returning from a visit to his mother ('celebrating her 87th birthday'), and giving his opinion that his father's description of the Coronation of King George V, in his book 'All in a Lifetime', was 'the finest thing he ever wrote'.--David Ellis, R. D. Blumenfeld's secretary at the Daily ExpressONE: Typed reminiscences (9pp., 4to). With covering TNS from Garbutt to JG, 2 September 1954: 'This stuff by Ellis is excellent on the pre-Beaverbrook days.' Entertaining and informative, as the following indicates: 'One night - I had been promoted to head boy - I was determined to ask for a rise. I stopped the great R.D.B. on his way to the composing room. | Instead of rebuking me for tackling him during a hectic period, he patted me on the shoulder and said: "Come and see me tomorrow at 3 p.m." Result: my pay was raised 2/6 - to 15s a week. | My next move was a switch to day work - secretary to the erudite Sidney Dark and Boyle Lawrence. Both were outstanding theatre critics, and Lawrence was induced to join us from the Morning Standard. A bridge used to span from that office to the Express.' With typed summary of the same (2pp., 4to), titled 'David Ellis. | (From an interview with Garbutt) | 2nd. Sept. 1954'. Dated 29 April 1957.TWO: Typed notes by Garbutt of Ellis's reminiscences of 'Personalities. | (From David Ellis).' 4pp., 4to. Dated 29 April 1957. Concerning the following Express employees: Percival Phillips ('the Beau Brummell of Fleet Street'), Charles Henry Alfred Arnold ('The daddy of us all'), Spenser Sarle ('The Grand Old Man of the office'), Herbert B. Tourtel, William Forrest (a full page giving an account of how 'His coded copy was spiked' when reporting from Madrid during the Spanish Civil War), 'Peter Potter's Scoop. | (An amusing story which could perhaps be told anonymously.) [a full-page account of how - having been warned about his drinking - he consumed '35 ginger ales' in pursuit of a story]', Ambrose Lambert ('something out of O. Henry'). At the foot of Potter page: 'The story of how Bishop failed to put across, late at night, the mishap which had overtaken a circus, because the night news editor thought the snakes, moneys and elephants were the figments of an alcoholised imagination had better be given a miss. Jimmy Dunn, who was supposed to have been with Bishop at the time, used to tell the same story about himself. Anyhow, it looks rather as if it originally came out of a joke-book.'--Harry J. Greenwall, Daily Express foreign correspondentONE: Typescript headed 'Harry Greenwall's Story of Lord Beaverbrook's Telephone Call'. Dated 29 April 1957. Regarding a call from Beaverbrook in a phone-box during a Lancashire cotton strike.TWO: Typed notes on 'Personalities. | From the Greenwall Files.' 4pp., 4to. Dated 29 April 1957. Concerning the following Express employees: Guy Pollock, Robert Henery ('Henery could hardly spell any word of more than one short syllable; the subs had to do the job for him every time. He was apparently very well connected; all sorts of ex-royal riff-raff used to meet in his mother's boudoir, but the stories he brought out of this circle had to be very carefully vetted'), Dr Emil Mathis ('he had a Jewish grandmother, and when Hitler came, Mathis fled with a ten dollar note to help him on his way. Greenwall got him a job of sorts in Paris. No trace of him since 1940.'), Reginald Berkley, Wilson Ruttle, Spenser Sarle ('he used to deal with callers whom the Editors did not want to meet'), Colin Cathcart, Crossley Sutcliffe, Beverley Baxter ('Greenwall tells this story: Baxter was one of a group in the bar of the Albion, at Brighton. Various celebrities including Ll[oyd]. G[eorge]. and Steve Donoghue were mentioned in the talk; each time Bax chipped in "Well, as he told me last night . . . ." or words to that effect. One of the party, bored by this display, said "Well, so long. Have to take my wife to the opera." | "Good God!" said Bax. "I'd nearly forgotten. I'm taking the tenor role in that." | They didn't believe him - till they heard him half an hour later.'), Maurice A. Cowan ('a fellow sergeant with Strube in the Artists' Rifles in World War I. They were inseparable').--Leslie Hore-Belisha, 1st Baron Hore Belisha (1893-1957)Typed reminiscences, headed 'LORD HORE-BELISHA', prepared by 'J. L. Garbutt'. 4pp., 4to. 'One day Lord Beaverbrook sent for me to the Vineyard, Putney and asked me if I would write Crossbencher, I stayed to lunch and throughout the afternoon. As I left Lord Beaverbrook said, "I will now show you the way to the tube station." "But I have a taxi waiting," I said. "Do you always keep a taxi waiting for hours?" asked Beaverbrook. [...] In my first eight months I earned £4,000. I used to see Lord Beaverbrook at the Vineyard, in his flat in the Temple, in his room above the Daily Express, at Stornoway House, in the house at Newmarket, at Cherkley Court, at the flat in Park Lane and the flat in Arlington Street. | But I never sa[w] him sit at a desk. He was either lying down on a sofa, covered with a rug and sometimes dosing himself with bi-carbonate of soda, or talking on the telephone.'--J. S. HutchinsonTyped Letter Signed (1p., 4to) to JG, dated 11 August 1954, listing seven individuals, each with 'Department' and 'Address', being 'the only addresses we have of people who were with the paper back in the Shoe Lane days'.--Gwyn Lewis [Thomas Eden Gwyn Lewis], Sunday ExpressTyped 'memories of Fleet Street' (18pp., 4to), in letter to JG, dated from 'Aboard Stratheden at Sea', 22 September 1954. Vivid and witty, and preceded by a list of the individuals dealt with in the letter: 'R.D. Blumenfeld the Master | James Douglas and His Dog | Beverley Baxter, the Toronto piano salesman (?) | Jimmy Heddle (Evening Standard and Daily Sketch in Sir Edward Hulton's time) | J.B. Wilson, one of the great News Editors | Strube before the era of the comic drawing | Tourtel the tyrant | Ruttle the mighty chief sub | Hadfield Farthing, another great sub who had two great loves gardening and cricket. | He wrote the gardening column and died of heart failure in the middle of a cricket game | T. Alun Jones whose toupee would slide about his bald pate when big news broke. No great shakes as a newspaper man but if Dickens had done a book on Fleet Street he would have used Alun to provide the light relief. | H.V. Morton, Ulysses Rogers, Stanley Bishop'.--Sidney Long, Daily Express production directorTyped reminiscences (6pp., 4to; two copies). Begins: 'I joined the Daily Express in December 1905. At that time it was housed in Tudor Street. | In June of 1906, the Express was removed to 8 Shoe Lane, and we simply took 8 Shoe Lane. | We had, at that time, three quad newspaper presses and in the lower basement another half a press which, some two or three years afterwards, was added to. | In 1905 the Company had been reconstituted. The capital was reduced from £400,000 to £200,000 and Mr. R.D. Blumenfeld became Chairman of the new Company, and Mr. Archibald Rider was the General Manager.' --L. M. McBrideTyped notes on two 'Personalities. | (From Bradford Files)': Macbride [sic] and Mrs Kitty MacBride. Dated 29 April 1957. 1p., 4to.--Emilie Hawkes Peacocke [née Marshall] (1882-1964), Daily Express reporterTyped text titled 'The D.E.'s first Woman Reporter. | Emilie H. Marshall | (Mrs. Peacocke)'. 2pp., 4to. Preliminary typed note: 'This is a long, charmingly written piece of autobiography, and a fascinating picture of the early days, but for your purpose you will probably only need the salient facts'. Apparently unpublished, and filled with information regarding Peacocke's two years at the paper. For example: 'She came to London with an introduction to R.D.B. from John Vandercook, an American correspondent. | Her starting salary with the D.E. was £3. 10 a week. [added in manuscript: 'This she says was standard for men too'] It was soon raised to £4. 10 when she got a scoop; [...] Staff travelled to work by horse bus and the smoky underground. For reasons of economy they were seldom sent far from the office unless the story was of the first magnitude. [in manuscript: 'Use of a hansom had to be justified.']'--Hugh PollardAnonymous typed account headed '"Gunman" in the office'. 1p., 4to. Dated '29 April 1929 [sic]'. Tells how Pollard - 'one of the greatest authorities in the country - perhaps in Europe - on fire-arms of all types and ages' inadvertently set off his 'pet guns' while telling a story about an encounter with the IRA: 'One bullet is said to have missed Farthing by a matter of an inch or so. The other zipped through the window of the Westminster Gazette. | This is said to have terminated the career of Hugh with the D.E.' Final note by author of piece (T. N. Shane, stating that he was 'not in the office' when the incident 'is said to have happened'.--T. N. Shane [pseudonym of Harry Augustus Hubbard Healey (1887-1977)]ONE: Eight TLsS (all signed 'Tim Shane') to JG. All on Shane's letterhead, 11 Hill Road, Carshalton; dated 30 March, and 6, 12, 20 and 27 April, and 5 May, and 9 June 1955, and 9 April 1957, with undated ANS by Shane, headed 'Correction'. Letter of 6 April 1955 (2pp., 4to) consists of transcripts from letters by Viscount Younger, James H. Campbell and 'Winston'. In the same letter he enquires regarding 'method', complaining that '[m]ost of the documents have been bundled up without any attention to chronological or any other sequence - just as most of us keep souvenirs of this sort'. On 20 April 1955 Shane writes regarding 'Marlowe's bitter allusions to Northcliffe', that he recalls 'a story told me by Bernard Falk, many years ago. He said that N. drove him all over London one afternoon, pointing to a number of large town-houses (including Leverhulme's Hampstead home) and declaring that they all belonged to Marlowe. Finally he said: "Now, Falk, I want you to keep an eye on Marlowe and find out exactly what he wants with all these houses"! | What Bernard did, I imagine, was to keep an eye on N. In fact, it was not long after this, I believe, that the tragedy of Northcliffe's end was played out.' The last letter (9 April 1957) provides information regarding 'the lists of names'. For example, Shane states that he 'did not include Lucien Jones (son of Henry Arthur Jones) because of the rather lurid episode which ended his D.E. career; you will no doubt recall the affair of the Italian diplomat and his beautiful wife'. C. J. Ketchum he characterises as 'rather a mixed up kid [...] His famous Irish despatches were said in the office to be largely the work of the veteran Max Wright, who went as his aide. Max was a fair terror for facts.'TWO: 4pp., 4to, of 'Famous Names in the Daily Express. | Contributors to the columns of the paper during the first quarter of a century of its existence', with two pages of details of contributions by H. G. Wells, Arnold Bennett, Harry Lauder, Rachmaninoff and others, followed by two pages of 'Notes on Names', including H. V. Mortno, Edgar Wallace, D. B. Wyndham Lewis, J. B. Morton ('Beachcomer'). Accompanying Shane's letter of 9 April 1957.THREE: Two typed pages, each headed 'Confidential', addressed by Shane to JG. The first paragraph of one reads: 'You mention Jimmy Douglas's ridiculous lead with the death of Charles Garvice. [...] But Swaffer once led the People - and half filled it for weeks - with "messages" from Northcliffe's Ghost.' The page concludes: 'Poor little Arnold [C. H. A. Arnold], I did not know until I saw it in your Memo, that he claimed to be 112. If he had lived to a later period I should have suspected him to be the original - in appearance - of Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot.' The other 'Confidential' page begins: 'Not long after he had been brought into the Office as an Assistant Editor, Philpott called me into his room and told me not without some sign of agitation, that he was going to resign. He said that Baxter was deliberately trying to squeeze him out, and he had had enough of it.'FOUR: Typed page headed '(Not from Box Files)', beginning: 'For a few years after the war there was a steady influx of Americans, most of them birds of short passage. One of them, a weird type named Myron Parrot, put a fast one over on Beverley Baxter, who was then in charge of "Page 4".' Towards the end of the account Shane comments that Parrot's 'carreer over here ended when he was convicted of pinching handbags in the reading room of the British Museum, and was deported'. The latter part of the page concerns 'Ivy van Someran [who] looked after the Paris fashions. One day she startled the whole room by screaming out "Who's got my French letters? Someone has pinced my French letters!" Tourtel growled over his cigar: "Someone stop that bloody woman. Piss down her neck!" (This was a favourite phrase of his).'FIVE: 13pp. of typed transcripts ('exact to a comma') by Shane, under the headings: 'J. L. Garvin and Lord Beaverbrook', 'Squib dated May, 22, 1915. Attributed to F. E. Smith'; 'Extract from article by R. D. B. Undated'; 'Lord Beaverbrook. Plans for an Advance.'; 'Lord Beaverbook. A canard killed'; 'Lord Beaverbrook. Answer to R.D.B.'s criticism of Express leader-column'; 'Ulster?'; 'Ulster'; 'India: Amritsar', 'Miscellaneous', 'Political Intrigues in 1925', 'Canadians in World War I. Letters of Byng of Vimy', 'Marlowe 1. The Daily Express, the Daily Mail, The Times and the Shanghai Affair' and 'Marlowe 2'. Also a typed 'Schedule of Letters [by Steel-Maitland, Reginald McKenna, Melchett, Marconi and Lord Middleton]' by Shane (1p., 4to).SIX: Folder of typed transcripts by T. N. Shane from newspaper articles with relevance to the preparation of the book, with occasional manuscript additions, some dated to 1957 and some headed 'Express Story'. Other headings: 'Not from box files' and from 'Box files'. One with typed heading: 'This short note might perhaps find a place in the section which introduces Lord Beaverbrook'. Also includes typescript of article (from the Daily Express?) titled 'When Wall Street was rattled | By R. D. B.' 7pp., 4to. Begins: 'In a little article I attempted to describe the causes, incidents and consequences of the great World Depression which ran its course from 1890 over a series of years and I dwelt incidentally on the various panics which shook the banks and exchanges across two hemispheres.'SEVEN: Typed collection of extracts and notes from newspaper correspondence, headed 'From the Letter File'. 4pp., 4to. Dated 24 June 1957. Correspondents are: Lord Alfred Douglas (stating that Oscar Wilde had by the time of his 1891 trial given up 'long hair and eccentric clothes [...] in favour of "correct" dress'), Margot Asquith, Sheila Fry (Kaye Smith), Philip Snowden, Lucy Houston, Ethel Mannin, Philip Sasson, George Belcher, Arthur Lynch, Rev. Dick Sheppard, "June", Marjorie Wells, Lord Halifax, Kingsley Wood, Rosita Forbes, Stepan Lorant, Charles Higham, Samuel Hoare.EIGHT: Typescript of two stories concerning 'kippers'. 1p., 4to. Dated 29 April 1957. The first tells how a report by Bishop on how 'Six skippers were presented to the Prince' during a visit to Yarmouth resulted in the headline 'Yarmouth Gives the Prince Six Kippers'. The second describes how 'that eternal undergraduate Jimmy Wentworth Day once nailed a couple [of kippers] under the desk of Lord Castelrosse, who came under suspicion of not being quite as particular as he ought to be in his personal habits, before the "joke" was discovered'.NINE: Typed text with transcript of letter, headed 'Baptism of Fire. | 1915 Prelude.' 1p., 4to. Dated 29 April 1957. Begins: 'David Ellis quotes the note written by Tourtel on September 9, 1915, and left for R.D.B., who was then out of London, to see on his return'. Ends: 'The original of this letter is in the R.D.B. correspondence, and copies were in the selection made [by Shane] two years ago.'--Sidney Strube [Sidney Conrad Strube] (1892-1956), Daily Express cartoonist 'Strube'Typed account by 'Mr. Gordon' [JG], headed 'STRUBE', prepared by 'J. L. Garbutt'. 6pp., 4to. 'Strube would sit in the waste-basket in R.D.B.'s little room and listen to the editor's ideas. He liked him so much that when the Daily Mail offered Strube double the salary he avoided their approaches. | The office in those days was so small there was nowhere for Strube to lay his brush. He had a studio in Fleet St. and there he would work on his cartoons, finally polishing them up in the process dept., of the Daily Express. | Not even a desk could be spared for him. Often he worked on the roof for inspiration.'--William Warren, Daily Express sports editorAnonymous manuscript reminiscences of 'W. Warren, "Orion" & Sports Editor' (3pp., 12mo), with typescript of same (2pp., 8vo) by 'Garbutt for Mr Gordon' [JG]; and typed summary (1p., 4to), headed '"Orion" Warren and the Cheery Fund'. Dated 29 April 1957.--George Younger (1851-1929), 1st Viscount Younger of LeckieTyped copies of two letters from Younger to Blumenfeld, and of one letter to him from Blumenfeld. All 1p., 4to, and from 1923. Concerning 'adverse criticism' of the Daily Express at the Carlton Club, following the publication of an article titled 'From Aix to St. Andrews' (10 October 1923). According to the biography of Blumenfeld above [ITEM], 'The correspondence with Younger of Leckie indicates [...] that he reacted strongly to attempts by political associates to encroach on the political direction of the Daily Express.'--B. Correspondence of John GordonTyped copies of letters from JG:JG to Lord Beaverbrook [William Maxwell ('Max') Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook] (1879-1964)Eight letters, dated between 21 October 1954 and 13 May 1955. Totalling 18pp., 4to. With an additional two pages of transcripts relating to the 'Castlerosse-Lorant squabble'. The first of the eight (21 October 1954) gives an informative seven-page progress report of the 'research into the story of 8 Shoe Lane, and especially of course the stories of the people who brought it journalistic fame'. With synopses of the reminiscences of 'Mrs [Emily] Peacocke', Harry Greenwall, Warren, Macbride, Strube, John Elliott [sic], Stanley Bishop, Ellis, together with details of the '[v]arious personalities' from whom he has 'collected a variety of tales'. Other topics covered in the correspondence include: 'some interesting correspondence' between R. D. Blumenfeld and Viscount Younger; 'a fascinating letter from Tom Marlowe to Blum with bitter allusions to Northcliffe'; Beaverbrook's own 'memos [...] concerning difficulties with Castlerosse', which JG feels 'may amuse you, and perhaps awaken other recollections in your mind'; a 'squib' by F. E. Smith, 'in a bold flowing handwriting on a sort of fine parchment', '[w]ritten when Bonar Law was forming the Conservative side of the Coalition Government'; 'Viscount Byng's correspondence with Blumenfeld in 1916'. Also mentioned are the evangelist Billy Graham (about whom JG intends 'to have a go') and the lenient punishment meted out to a U.S. Sergeant by an American army court following a road accident in England. Among a page of transcriptions of 'Messages from Lord Beaverbook about Castlerosse' is a warning that JG 'should guard against Lord C[astlerosse]'s observations on Jews. [...] If he is in favour of them that is all right, but when he is showing anti-semitic tendencies I advice [sic] you Mr Gordon to keep him under complete censorship.').JG to Sir John ElliotThree letters, dated 16, 19 and 23 May 1953. Apparently concerning Blumenfeld's entry in the Dictionary of National Biography, in the last of which JG states that that 'we took the name of William Hickey from [the DNB] when we needed a name for Driberg. And also Jonah Barrington, when we made him radio writer.'JG to E. J. RobertsonLetter of 20 July 1954. Listing 'a few names I recall from the very far past' (in fact 48 names, in two columns), and asking if he can add to them. 'And can you say who is dead? Have we any Ancient Mariners on pension whom I have forgotten?' JG feels that 'in that list there are two who know the past and might make suitable researchers - [Joe] Meaney and [Jock] Bradford'.JG to T. N. ShaneFour letters, dated 1 and 2 April, and 4 and 6 May 1955. All relating to Shane's work on R. D. Blumenfeld's papers, done at the house of his son John Elliot.JG to E. T. Williams of Balliol College, OxfordLetter of 6 May 1953 (on JG's behalf by his secretary). Concerning a biographical account of Blumenfeld's life (his entry in the Dictionary of National Biography?).--C. Drafts of sections of the proposed bookTypescript titled 'General Strike' (4pp., 4to). Begins: 'While arrangements were being made to print skeleton editions of the paper from local hand presses up and down the country, it was decided that some sort of news must be printed in London to ensure the continuity of the Daily Express. | With R.D.B. setting the type a one-sheet edition was rolled off, a "Forme", and a hundred or so copies produced on the first night.'Typescript titled 'Manchester, I.' (5pp., 4to). Begins: 'The Express opened at Manchester with Harold Sorton as Editor, Gordon Helsby as News Editor, and with all its star reporters and writers detached temporarily to the new child, so that in no way would this new venture be let down. It was not to happen so. But from no fault of man. Simply that of machine. | Lord Beaverbrook, two thirds of the Directors, and all the managerial heads were present to see the new presses in Ancoats Street get under way on that great night. Alas they didn't. For rhyme or reason they proceed to "Run Hot".'Untitled typescript. Beginning: 'MacBrides [sic] entry into Fleet Street was slightly incongruous. He had previously tried his hand as a young man at writing feature articles. It was 1921. [...]' 20pp., 4to (including 7pp. of 'Notes'). 'Bradford [i.e. Jock Bradford]' in JG's hand at head of first page.Typed notes (2pp., 4to) towards the proposed book, titled 'Notes for Daily Express records', beginning: 'Blum and Beaverbrook faced with a dying and bankrupt paper, searching for the cure. Daily walks in Hyde Park. Crowds of people. The carriages had gone. Few cars in their place. Britain not too happy. | They went round the Park every day counting the people who read the Daily Express.'--Also present are the following three items:Newspaper cutting of article titled 'How the Daily Mail Financed the Daily Express', from the Indicator, 25 November 1955.Extract from unnamed magazine (4pp., 4to), with the last page a proof. In part relating to Beaverbook, and with reproduction of Low's celebrated caricature.Typed page, headed 'Confidential'.