Marconi Instruments - 1965 Diary and Notes (Oct-Dec)

Some time before October 1965 S.H. Arms had bought my doctor's old house and was living in Harpenden. I was told he had social evenings in his house to which my colleagues but not me were invited and that furthermore that my doctor and his wife were present at one or two of these gatherings. Knowing how adept some M.I. people were in obtaining information I was careful not to talk to my doctor about my life in M.I.

On Friday 1st October, REB & I had a brief conversation about salary, probably when we happened to be alone having a morning coffee in the Conference Room. I said I thought £3,500 p.a. was quite a good salary. I little thought this figure would soon turn up from an unexpected source.

Later in the day I was at a low ebb when G.H. Scott came into my office and engaged me in conversation. George Scott, Assistant Works Manager and a Security Officer, had been Works Manager in the early days of M.I. and Purchasing Officer when I first knew him. Thus he was a long-established employee of M.I. and well-versed in company politics

The gist of the points he made to me was that non-conformists were essential for the well being of society generally. They found it hard going but were extremely valuable. He had regretted turning down an offer of General Manager once. It was an opportunity that so rarely occurs. It was a shame to let people down when they have made all the arrangements. He could quite understand that nerves fail at the last moment but an intelligent person at the age of 41 (my age at the time) can make a go of it. He said nothing was certain. He shook my hand when he departed and wished me the best of luck.

That day my car was in for servicing and I obtained a lift back to Harpenden from Shull Arms. During the journey I mentioned my appointment to see G. Bosworth on Wednesday 6th, evoking the comment "He's a crafty operator". Although this set me thinking somewhat, I could not come to any conclusions. Shull Arms seemed hurt and disgruntled when I asked him to drop me in the centre of Harpenden rather than at my home.

On Saturday 2nd October, following up his request, I met Max Impey at his sister's home in Harpenden. Max Impey set an unusual tone to our meeting by giving me first a very large drink and then asking in a formal manner many questions about M.I. affairs. I wondered if he was asking on behalf of his Uncle, F.N. Sutherland. I kept quiet about what had been going on but made general comments on policy. The following day, again at his request, Max Impey visited me in my home. He met my wife and family as well as John and Joan Hammond. Again he asked questions when the opportunity occurred, some in the presence of John Hammond.

On Monday 4th October, I mentioned the weekend's encounters with Max Impey to R.E. Burnett and he seemed amused. I wondered if he had put Max Impey, his former Personal Assistant, up to it.

In view of the intimations that a reshuffle of posts was about to take place I felt there was little point in asking for a posting until after the Board meeting. If on the other hand I was to get an appointment, I did not want all this cloak and dagger stuff. I therefore cancelled my appointment with Bosworth.

On Tuesday 5th October I received a letter (handwritten, from his home) from J.A.B. Davidson, Engineering Director of Muirhead, the company which had applied for membership of the M.I. MATE Consortium. It said the Engineering Director post I had applied for through MSL had been filled but there was an R&D Manager vacancy at a salary of £3500. It was a strange coincidence that this was the salary that had come up in the conversation REB a few days before! Why, I wondered, had the Engineering Director handwritten the letter from home?

For a few days before a visit of J.G. Orr, then Secretary of the Engineers' Guild. I was relegated to very lowly places, ignored at Company meetings and humiliated in various minor ways. But on the day of the visit, when I went into lunch, I found R.E. Burnett had placed me directly opposite him and next to J.G. Orr. Conversation that day was exceptionally scintillating.

On Wednesday 6th October, as I had cancelled my 0900 meeting with George Bosworth, I turned up at the start of the meeting of the SIMA W.P. on a National Calibration Service. Wynn & Dawes of Ministry of Technology were present. Somebody said I was uncharacteristically silent and indeed there is no quote from me in the Minutes. 65j06 .

At 1700 hours I had a conversation with R.E. Burnett, after his return from the M.I. Board meeting which had taken place at English Electric House. S. Arms was en route to the USA. I noted the exchange as follows:-

First thing on Thursday 7th October I had a conversation with W.A.G. Brian (Company Secretary) which elicited the fact that no appointments had been made at the Board meeting the day before. However, he said, there might have been another meeting afterwards as the Board had finished at about noon and REB had not returned until about 1645.

I felt I had to clarify the job position with G. Bosworth at Head Office and immediately after my conversation with REB, I telephoned G. Bosworth. He asked me to come in and see him that morning. I cancelled a visit I was to have made to the Fighting Vehicles R & D Establishment, to see a Mr. Burton, who protested that senior Army Officers would be attending to meet me. I sent an assistant instead.

I had decided not to make complaints to G. Bosworth but simply state facts about my experience and make a request for a job. G. Bosworth said he didn't know I had been asked to find another job within a few days. He inferred that he did not know me other than as a circuit designer, he didn't know of my IEE activities etc. I told G.B. about my committee work and that I had applied for a Ministry of Technology job but it was a very long shot. G. Bosworth responded that I had just missed an opportunity of a secondment for a year as Secretary of the Electronics Little Neddy and then asked me if I would be interested in a job as a schoolteacher at Marlborough. I said I would be interested in an English Electric Group job, preferably in Southern England. He said he would see what he could do. I left an open door to any suggestion. I didn't know what false information REB might have given him. I heard nothing further from G. Bosworth following this meeting.

Back at M.I. a very downputting Notice, signed by REB was issued. It was probably prompted by my enquiry of him the previous day about who would be in charge while he and Arms were away. I was probably supposed to see it on the day it was issued but I did not return to the Company after my meeting with Bosworth until the day after.

When I went into M.I. on Friday 8th October, Wray asked if I had been with Mr. Bosworth all day. I told him it had only been for half an hour. Then Wray said "You were supposed to pour your heart out".

Later, Richard Foxwell, M.D. of Wayne Kerr, telephoned, said something about a meeting with Wynn and referred to 6 Chairs in Measurement. I wrote the same day to Richard Foxwell about the role SIMA could play in enhancing the Measurement field through Chairs already existing. 65j08 .

RF went on to say he had many contacts in the Ministry of Technology and asked if he could help. The irony is that I only made moves in the direction of Min. Tech. because I thought it would not be fed back to REB and would not be subject to pressures and manipulation - the Government Department would be much more circumspect than Industry.

The following day, Saturday 9th, I heard from Robert (Dr. R.C.G.) Williams that he would be delighted to lend his support to the Assistant Secretary, Min. Tech. application. 65j09 .

Around this time, one of the Area Sales Managers who had recently joined M.I. from the Royal Navy, told me that he had got to know my G.P. very well. He said he had invited him to a Conference on X-ray Image Intensifier equipment, entertained him at a comfortable hotel at Company expense and now they were close friends.

I found the contacts (or, rather, claimed contacts) of M.I. colleagues with my doctor rather oppressive. I probably wondered if he had been targeted by M.I. and if so it would have strengthened my resolve to leave the Company.

On Monday 11th October, Professor P.M.S. (later Lord) Blackett, President of the Royal Society visited M.I. I was seated next to him at lunch and we had a fascinating conversation. I was not included in the morning's conversations about CROs (being excluded from that part of the visit was no doubt a 'put down') but I did show him over the Research Department.

This was the third VIP visitor this year with whom I had enjoyed a conversation over lunch. I would hazard a guess that REB had been instructed to see that we met, was reluctantly doing what he was asked and making the most of the visits for the benefit of M.I. Was this associated with Eric Eastwood's putting in a good word for me here & there? Or was, perhaps, Lord Nelson of Stafford the instigator?

On Tuesday 12th my involvement with M.I. and Hatfield CoT colleagues through the IEE continued with a visit by A.G. Wray, J.R. Thompson and myself on E1 business to see Mr. Dean at Letchworth College of Technology about the Digital Measurements Symposium to be held there in May 1966.

Around 14th October a Mr. Chisholm of English Electric, Kidsgrove, telephoned and asked me what I knew about CCL. He said he was thinking of getting them to make up some apparatus for an exhibition and somebody had told him I knew them. The outcome of this conversation was that it was arranged that Chisholm would visit CCL and that I would meet him there to effect an introduction. I telephoned Tim Eiloart and fixed the joint visit for 1130 on Thursday 21st October.

When our visit took place, I was surprised that Mr. Chisholm seemed to have forgotten about his original requirement of exhibition apparatus and devoted most of his time to asking questions about the financial aspects of the CCL.

It is worth noting that by this time I was just about beginning to suspect that there was something going on behind the scenes in respect of CCL. However I treated this approach along the same lines as the one from English Electric Stafford back in July, i.e. at face value.

Meanwhile, on 15th October I applied for the Assistant Secretary, Ministry of Technology, appointment, electronics field 65j15 . On the 20th I attended the IEE to hear the Address by the new Electronics Division Chairman, Professor A.L. Cullen, and afterwards attended the Council Club Dinner. Regarding Professor Cullen, I had been interested to see that when the M.I. Consortium compiled its statement on resources it had available, he was shown on the list provided by Richard Foxwell as a Consultant to Wayne Kerr. On the 21st October the Civil Service Commission replied to my letter of 29 September suggesting organisations for research into Electronics Design. 65j21 .

Around this time Burnett told me that a friend of his had gone to a much less exalted job and was very happy. He suggested I should apply for a Senior Lecturer's post at Hatfield.

REB also said he had once been responsible to the late Lord Nelson but had been demoted and had survived. He remarked that the present Lord Nelson associated him with Measurement.

At noon on 27th October I attended a meeting called by H.S. Arms about cooperation between the Research & Engineering Departments. I took with me a list of members of Research Department and their functions, which had been asked for by S. Arms. A.G. Wray was present. I had no inkling of what was to come the next day.

On Thursday 28th, a General Notice signed by H.S. Arms was circulated at M.I., announcing the transfer of 7 of my Research Department staff to the Engineering Manager, Arthur Wray, leaving me with 4, and referring to my "undertaking special duties".

That day, too, I received a letter from a former member of my Research Department, J. Fulford, (now at SRDE) thanking me for the invitation to contribute to an IEE Colloquium on Phase Measurement. 65j27 .

I found I was able to get virtually whoever I asked for on my committees. Conversely some engineers almost clamoured to join them: I agreed to take two or three, including Professor Humphrey Davies of Queen Mary College, but declined to yield to others, such as Francis (F.E.) Oakes and Dr. G.S. Brosan.

It was probably on 1st November that I showed S.H. Arms an announcement in the IEE News about the IEE Discussion on The Selection of Topics for Research in Electrical & Electronic Engineering which had been organised by Sir Gordon Radley and at which Dr. E. Eastwood was to be one of the speakers. It was scheduled for the afternoon of Thursday 4th November. This was right up my street and I had made notes on points to make. 65k04 . I probably mentioned to Arms that I had prepared a contribution to the Discussion. His reaction was sharp and very shortly afterwards R.E. Burnett called a special meeting of the M.I. Product Policy Committee on November 4th, which I felt obliged to attend. I have an idea there might still have been time for me to get to the IEE Discussion but I was deterred from doing so by something unremembered happening at the PPC meeting.

Around this time I was asked, probably by the Dunchurch Lodge Management Training people, if I would like to go on two courses which a year before I had to decline. I therefore wrote to Bosworth, with a copy to Arms, as follows:-

Meanwhile my application for the post of Assistant Secretary (Electronics) had been turned down without an interview. I wrote to the Civil Service Commission asking it to look again at my application with a view to interview. My main them was that my class of degree was outweighed by my experience. 65k01 . Very shortly afterwards the Civil Service Commission replied expressing regret that they were unable to add me to the list for interview for Assistant Secretary (Electronics), Ministry of Technology. 65k05 .

Some weeks after I had enquired in strict confidence about a post advertised by the not very well known overseas subsidiary of a British construction company and had received a good deal of literature about it, Dr. Arms called me into his office. He first asked me what I knew about the construction company and in fact it was very little. He then asked me what I knew about the overseas subsidiary company. I was glad of the opportunity to impart my knowledge and so fell into the trap. By what route did he get to know about my application?

In the morning of the 11th November I received a visit from a member of the SIRA staff about a matter I had raised on behalf of M.I.. SIRA contacts with me were usually at a senior level but my visitor was considered too junior to take him into the Managing Director's Dining Room for lunch. I took him out to lunch locally. I had little doubt this was an arranged 'put down'.

In the evening of the 23rd November I got an extraordinary phone call from David Marples with a hint that Bob Telford & I were to be appointed General Managers of Marconi & M.I. respectively. I think by this time he had already indicated that he knew George Bosworth well enough to call on him at English Electric House without an appointment (we did, after a Committee meeting and G.B. was not there).

The following day I wrote to David Marples, using a point about systems as a pretext, so that I could include the words "If I ever have the good fortune of being chosen to run a Company . . . . ." 65k24 .

David Marples replied to my letter of the 24th with enclosure (not on file) ending with "see you Monday" (i.e. at the IEE Committee on Electronics Design meeting). 65k26 .

On Thursday 25th I went to a SIRA lunch at the Goring Hotel followed by a meeting of the SIRA Council - I felt that if there were behind the scenes manoeuvres resulting the 'put down' of a few days before I ought to 'show the flag'.

Around this time I received a request from CCL for one of their senior engineers, a Mr. Jeremy Prosser, to come to M.I. on 3rd December to demonstrate a sampling converter, a technique in electronic instrumentation of great personal interest. I agreed to the request.

Shortly afterwards, I received a 'gob-smacking' invitation - it was to Opening of a new Wing of the University of Cambridge Engineering Laboratory by Lord Nelson of Stafford! The invitation was in the name of Sir John Baker and staff and the event was to take place on Friday 3rd December.

There was an associated invitation to an evening Conversazione in the Engineering Department to celebrate the completion of the Engineering Laboratory and I accepted both.

On Wednesday 1st December MATE revived with a review meeting at the Waldorf, Aldwych, of the Marconi Instruments Consortium team. The meeting was at the urgent request of Wiatr, the SRDE man most concerned. Wiatr, who had insisted that the review meeting be held at the Waldorf, a hotel very close to English Electric House, at one point turned to me and said very pointedly "Mr. Chairman" - which of the meeting I was not! I have no doubt that the meeting and venue were contrived - there was a Marconi and M.I. Board meeting going on at E.E. House, across the road.

Afterwards Richard Foxwell invited me to tea with him at the Savoy "because this," he said, " is where Prime Ministers go to tea".

Soon afterwards I learned that at the Marconi Board meeting on 1st December there had been some significant changes. Sir Gordon Radley was no longer Chairman of Marconi or M.I. - Neil Sutherland took his place. Bob Telford became General Manager of Marconi. I presumed that Ray Burnett remained Managing Director of M.I. I understand that on 2nd December there was a meeting of E.E. Board at E.E. House at which, to my knowledge, there were no changes.

One day, after a Board meeting, REB phoned me in my office (which was unusual) and asked me to let him have, in my own handwriting, some notes on the objectives of M.I. as a Company. He said he had to talk at Hatfield College of Technology on this subject. He had, he said, asked others such as Arms to do the same. After the meeting we would get down to some serious discussion in the Company to sort out our ideas on the lines I propose. I met his request.

A week or so later I asked him if the discussions could commence. He refused.

Around this time Dr. Lang, Secretary of IPPS/IOP, died. R.E. Burnett was angry when I told him. Later he came and apologised saying that his anger was due to the fact that he greatly regretted missing paying his respects to a good friend.

From subsequent events and notably the comments of Dr. Stickland about finding papers about me in Dr. Lang's files, and remarks by Prof. B.H. Flowers, it could be that REB was arranging something with Lang behind the scenes. However, Eric Eastwood later said he had put in a good word for me at the Institute of Physics.

On Friday 3rd December I did not try to fit in both the CCL visit to M.I. at St. Albans and the event associated with English Electric at Cambridge - I introduced J. Prosser to a few engineers at M.I. before departing for Cambridge.

The Opening took place in a Common Room at the Engineering Laboratory and we stood around for the brief ceremony. Arthur Armitage, Vice Chancellor of the University (and a member of Alma Mater Lodge), introduced Lord Nelson, who said a few words and declared the Wing open. It was at this point that someone I had never met before or since, who had come over to stand by my side, made pointed derogatory remarks to me about Lord Nelson's performance; it would be in keeping with other experiences if this communication turned out to have been pre-arranged.

Of the 200,000 or so employees of English Electric, Eric Eastwood was the only other member of the Group present at the Opening but he did not stay for the ensuing tea. I talked to Arthur Armitage over tea, who twitted me with the remark that I seemed to be spending alot of my time in Cambridge. I discovered that the invitation to me had been at the behest of David Marples. He had also had an invitation sent to Jim Wickens, who had accepted but he cancelled at the last minute.

At the evening Conversazione I met many people, e.g. a very senior Courtaulds man and I.D.A. Nicol, who was Secretary of the Cavendish and had been instrumental in my joining the English Electric Group. One comment Ian Nicol made at the Conversazione was that he had thought that by that time I would be travelling around in Rolls Royces & VC10s.

When I was next in M.I., St. Albans, I heard that Jeremy Prosser's visit had been a disaster - the sampling converter proved to be faulty and could not be demonstrated. That was my last contact with CCL while I was still at M.I

On Monday 6th I was due to visit J.R. Thompson at S.E. Essex Technical College and then go on to a meeting of his Fryerning Lodge but I felt unwell so I cancelled the arrangement.

On Wednesday 8th December a PPC meeting at M.I. was cancelled. Another arranged for the following day was also cancelled - something was probably going on.

Rea-Palmer (Home Sales Manager) asked if I was still going to represent M.I. or if I would be representing another organisation on an E.E.A. committee at some future date. Probe question on behalf of someone else?

Also on the 9th I circulated a memo entitled Where to, MATE? about SRDE comments on the Project. Apparently the M.I. Report was one of the two best Reports. I wondered if Plessey's was the other.

On Friday 10th I visited Marconi at Chelmsford to discuss MATE with Way, Morgan and Colchester. I was very well received. Among other things I drew a diagram showing the Marconi Baddow organisation and its managers. On Tuesday 14th I circulated a 2-page memo to REB and other M.I. managers about my visit to Chelmsford concerning MATE. Burnett advised me not to send copies to the Marconi Co. He said he would take the matter up himself in the New Year. REB was upset when I told him Marconi, Chelmsford, had an Automation Department which included automatic testing. (I noted REB's reaction on my copy). p1

During my visit to Chelmsford, C.D. Colchester was keen that I should know that a transistorised clock in his office had been made for presentation during a visit by the Duke of Edinburgh. In 1965 such a clock embodied quite advanced technology.

On 10th December (Human Rights Day!) papers were sent to me for the E.E. Management Course F1 on Human Relations to be held at Leamington Spa, 3-7 Jan 66. G.V. Holroyde was Director of Studies & Course Tutor. The papers included the Course book, Managerial Psychology by H. Leavitt.

At the IEE in the evening of Tuesday 14th December I chaired an open E1 Lecture, in which Cooke-Yarborough of Harwell spoke on Nuclear Instrumentation. It was probably on this occasion that Joe Regan, Secretary of the IEE Electronics Divisional Board, asked me what I thought about Secretaryship of the Cambridge University Engineering Laboratory. He said the existing Secretary was leaving. When I questioned him about his enquiry he was clearly not interested for himself but in obtaining my reaction.

Two days later three English Electric people, Lucas, Wignall and Clendon, came to M.I. at their request to talk to me about a University of Cambridge Engineering Laboratory student with ideas about CROs. Lucas & Clendon (formerly of M.I.) had Personnel & Training jobs in the E.E. Group and Wignall had the University Liaison Officer job I had been offered and from which Ray Burnett had deviously diverted me. I gave advice on what they told me about the student's idea and left it at that.

The CRO was a type of electronic instrument in which I was - and was known to be - intensely interested and was therefore a topic ripe for an attempt at influence by association. This, coupled to Joe Regan's enquiry about Secretaryship of the Engineering Laboratory I had good reason to wonder if these events together comprised a crude attempt to get me interested in the Cambridge University post on a "get him back to Cambridge" basis. There may also have been an association with the invitation to the Opening of the new wing of the Engineering Laboratory.

At 1130 on Monday December 20th J.R. (Jack) Thompson visited me at M.I. at his request. In the course of conversation he asked if his experience was sufficiently responsible to get him full IEE membership. Until recently he had been Senior Lecturer in Measurement at the Hatfield College of Technology and was their industrial officer covering M.I. His former post at Hatfield was vacant. Up till now I had regarded him as a personal friend, had introduced him to the IEE E1 Committee and we had exchanged visits to our respective masonic lodges.

J.R. Thompson then revealed that he knew Burnett had offered me the job of Personal Assistant some time before. I cannot think that anyone other than R.E. Burnett himself told him this. Thompson then asked how long I would be content to be Research Manager. He said I was a 'front' man building up personal prestige. He had been appointed Senior Lecturer at Hatfield by Burnett and it was the best thing that had happened to him.

When I took him into the M.D.'s Dining Room for lunch I noticed S. Arms looking at him very intently. I had no doubt that J.R. Thompson had visited me to make an indirect communication on behalf of Burnett and that either S. Arms knew about the arrangement or he was sizing him up with a view to using him himself to influence me.

Notices were appearing in M.I. signed by S. Arms as Technical Director and by J. Brodrick as Commercial Manager but Ray Burnett appeared to have taken a back seat 65l21 . 65l22 .

On Wednesday 22nd December I attended the Wayne Kerr Christmas lunch at the Mitre. I had a very good reception. One man, G. Ball (who became Marketing Director of Kent Instruments and J.G. Hammond's boss) spoke as though I was going to be a Commercial Manager or General Manager, concerned with financial matters, capital investment, etc. Other members of the MATE team were there (but none from Marconi) and we spoke about possible developments. R.G. (Roly) Friend was there. R. Foxwell gave me a turkey.

The M.I. Christmas Lunch, held on 23rd December, was attended by the new Chairman, F.N. Sutherland. RE Burnett seemed subdued. Arms and Brodrick were vying with each other for Mr. Sutherland's attention. The lunch was not so decorous as in previous years.

After lunch, Arms came and told me he would be informing me about my position vis-a-vis M.I. on the 31st December. We fixed up a time to meet. Arms suggested I should have a good 'booze-up' over Christmas. Going around wishing everybody a happy Christmas, I was asked if I would be around in the New Year.

In the evening I phoned R. Foxwell and said my position at M.I. was somewhat precarious so I couldn't press MATE proposals. This, I think, gave Burnett alot of information.

On this day, too, a Mr. G.M. Smith wrote with joining papers for E.E. Management Course E1, to be held 24--28 January 1966. The Course book Managing for Results by Drucker was enclosed.

On Sunday evening, 26th December, Jack Thompson and his wife, at my invitation, visited us at our home. In preparation I jotted down notes on my situation and counterpoints to the points he put to me less than a week before. I also noted points to make to Richard Foxwell. 65l26 .

During the evening I told JRT some of what had being going on at M.I., particularly concerning REB. He said he and his wife were going on to a party at an old friend's house after leaving us.

The next day I 'phoned Thompson using his query about the membership qualification as an excuse and told him that perhaps I had been too bitter the previous evening. He said he had taken into account what I had been through and anyway he had heard worse things about Burnett.

On Friday 31st December, when I went to see S.H. Arms as arranged he told me I had the choice of resigning or being dismissed, in either case with six months' salary (£1500). He said he would not mind my getting another job before the six months were up! He would give me a good reference.

I told him I would have to consider whether to do what he asked or fight. He set a deadline of 4 p.m. on the 7th January for my reply. He also agreed to my going on the E.E. management course on Human Relationships at Leamington Spa from 3rd to 7th January!

About five minutes after the meeting with Arms, J.R. Thompson telephoned to ask if anyone at M.I. could help in arranging a course on measurements with cathode ray tubes in his old department at Hatfield CoT - would I attend to it personally?

I had arranged some time before for D. Marples and I.M. Ross to visit me at M.I. on IEE Committee on Electronics Design business. I told them what had happened. Marples was friendly to Arms, Ross was antagonistic.

As soon as I was free I rang G. Bosworth and told him what had happened. He was not at all helpful. He said he thought I was getting the Junior Minister job in the Minister of Technology. He had done nothing about a job in the E.E. Group. I said I looked forward to discussing matters at the E.E. management course at which he was due to speak. It was a long time before it dawned on me that he was referring to the E.E. Group Chairman's job - the 2nd Lord Nelson of Stafford was a Junior Minister in that Ministry, along with a one-time E.E. Directors, Lord (C.P.) Snow, and Lord (P.M.S.) Blackett, President of the Royal Society.

Marples accompanied me home to lunch. I said to Marples that I was getting the idea that the 6 months was to enable reforms to be carried out at M.I. in my absence. I had also told him that REB was the culprit though Arms was being cited by REB.

I think it was that evening that R. Foxwell called in at my home. I had asked him to do so to discuss job possibilities. He kept talking about "us Christians" and said he was going to see Arms and Burnett on the 5th or 6th January, had I anything to say which he could pass on to them? I told Foxwell I was probably going to resign.

Meanwhile my first recruit to M.I., John F. Fulford now of SRDE, wrote asking if I would be referee for his application to be S.S.O. (Senior Scientific Officer) grade, to which I readily agreed 65l29 . This was to bring me into contact with a member of the security services, whose home address was given to me by an Inspector in Special Branch.