Posted by Paul on August 02, 2005 at 22:02:13 from 59.128.194.110 user kobegaijin.
Jock
According to his Autobiography (P267) and to Hugh Brogan's
"Life of AR" (P234), when AR returned from Russia with two
Americans on 25th March 1919, at Kings Cross Station he was
met by a "gentleman" from Scotland Yard who insisted on AR
accompanying him to the Yard. There he met Sir Basil Thomson,
the top dog, and was asked about his political views - to which
he replied that his politics was "fishing"!!! There is also an
interesting comment to the fact that during this interview a
call was received by Thomson from the Foreign Office warning that
AR was expected to land at Newcastle THE NEXT DAY!!!! When he
finally did report to the FO, he met only a "temporary clerk".
His pro-Bolshevik views were not what the the FO wanted to hear
from a British reporter and he was thus warned. Not that it
changed his subsequent manner of reporting any. I think he really
was apolitical (though naive) and interested only in reporting
things exactly as he saw them.
Paul