Encounter with Russian at Oxford College
Tuesday 28 April 1970
I received a handwritten letter from Hans Motz, Reader
in the Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford and
Professorial Fellow, St. Catherine's College. Hans Motz said he had not
been able to find my name in the List of Participants but he had found me
through the Members List of the Physical Society. Clearly, he had not seen
Part 3 of the List. He wrote:‑
If you are indeed the one I met in Edinburgh and invited for Fri May 1st ..... Please ring at above Tel. No. to confirm.
I probably telephoned my acceptance that day. Hans Motz arranged for me to stay in St. Catherine's College overnight.
Friday 01 May 1970
Before setting out on 1st May to dine and stay overnight in St. Catherine's College, Oxford, I typed to Alan Bullock, Master of St. Catherine's College. I had met Alan Bullock when he was a member of an interviewing panel for an administrative job in Oxford University. In the letter I postulated that there is a well-organised submerged "behavioural science" group reaching into "The Establishment" and asked his advice on dealing with it at a political level. I took with me several papers describing my experiences.
I thought I would hand‑deliver the letter and papers to the Master's Lodge before possibly meeting him at High Table and that I would phone him the following morning to obtain his reaction.
[I not now sure what transpired; the only things I can say with certainty is that he did not dine in Hall that evening and that I have only a carbon copy of my letter to him. I wondered, when the furore about Spycatcher was in full swing, if the "behavioural science" group I had postulated was linked to the clandestine group which, it was reported, the Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, asked the USA Administration to look into].
Friday 01 May 1970
I arrived at St. Catherine's College sometime during the afternoon.
Hans Motz took me to tea, in the course of which, without any prompting from me, he said Lord (C.P.) Snow was a good man to have on your side and that he was very helpful to refugees, including those from the Eastern Bloc. He also volunteered the information that he had been sounded out by a waiter about becoming a Freemason! Hans Motz said the waiter was obviously "planted" but he had not minded - these processes, he went on, were perfectly acceptable.
Hans Motz and I got on well - I had learned to enjoy many occasions despite the undertones. He invited me to view the Engineering Laboratory the following day and bearing in mind that there were points I wished to put to him I invited him to lunch afterwards.
In the evening I dined in considerable style at High Table in St. Catherine's College as a guest of Hans Motz. My host's other guest was a Russian physicist, newly arrived from Moscow - we were introduced but I had no conversation with him that evening.
During the evening I conversed with a Fellow named Levi (who was, I think, ordained). I remember a compliment he paid to me for using "correctly" the term "behavioural sciences". A week or two later I had an interesting exchange of letters with him about the behavioural sciences.
[I learned from his obituary in the Times of 2nd February 2000 that he was not a Fellow but he was indeed a priest and that he was highly regarded as a poet. I had discarded the correspondence around 1990].
Saturday 02 May 1970
After the Feast I spent the night in College. When I went to breakfast I was shown into a small room (probably a study) which had one other person in it - the Russian physicist, the other guest of Hans Motz. We conversed as we had breakfast together at a desk. The Russian physicist mentioned that he was on his way to the Department of Electrical Engineering of the University of Cambridge and spoke favourably of the Professor of Electrical Engineering. This was particularly thought-provoking because at the Edinburgh Symposium some six weeks before, the Soviet Ministry of Electronics man who invited myself and family to Moscow had enthused likewise.
During the morning following the Feast my host showed me over the Engineering Laboratory - I think this is the only time I have seen, let alone used, an open lift. He then took me to his home. Hans Motz was most attentive and congenial. The Russian physicist did not accompany us.
I entertained Hans Motz to lunch at an hotel - probably the lesser eating place at the Randolph. It was over that lunch, which it must be remembered I could ill afford as I had received only £55 "income" over eighteen months or so, I showed him some papers I had written on my experiences, including an early version on the Royal coincidences". He was quite taken aback with what he read. The day before, he had put forward the notion that the kinds of processes I had encountered were acceptable but I hoped that from my papers he was getting a fuller picture which led him to revise his views.
During the lunch I asked Hans Motz who the Russian was and at his dictation I entered with a green ink pen borrowed from my guest, the following on a filofax page:-
Prof at Lebedev. V.N. Tsytovich.
Plasma physics (turbulence) accelerators applied to Astrophysics.
[In 2007, putting V.N. Tsytovich into an internet search engine produces numerous references to his work - clearly he became a very productive physicist].
[I have no doubt Hans Motz's invitation to dine with him in his College was to enable him to put to me a number of points as well as an opportunity for the Russian physicist to meet me and repeat the point about Cambridge. The crucial question is "who originated the Oxford encounter?". Was it for example the ubiquitous C.P. Snow? Whoever it was, as will be seen, he did not seem to be in the same network as James Allason and MOD/MI5].
FoLLOW-UP to meeting the 2nd Russian
Monday 04 May 1970
In the afternoon I telephoned James Allason M.P. at the House of Commons. I told his secretary that I wished to send documents to the Prime Minister but would like to discuss the political implications first. She said J.A. was busy but would ring back.
Wednesday 06 May 1970
In the morning James Allason telephoned. He said he would be in the Constituency the following day and would call at 6 pm.
Thursday 07 May 1970
At 6 pm J. Allason M.P. called at my home. I had made notes in preparation for the meeting but I am not sure what points I got across to him. Basically, however I told him something of what had been happening in my life - thus far I had kept my discussions with him mostly at an impersonal level with papers on Training Systems, Privacy and the like.
I said there were Security implications and that I wondered if I should write to the Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, as Head of the Security Services, to let him know what was going on.
Clearly, in view of his response a week later, I gave him food for thought.
Wednesday 13 May 1970
Formal appointment of members of the Committee on Privacy (see Report of the Younger Committee on Privacy, July 1972 Cmnd. 5012, p1).
Thursday
14 May 1970
James Allason M.P. wrote to me as follows:-
I have been pondering over your problem, but I am afraid the Opposition have no machinery for dealing with it, nor does it concern the Security Services. You have tried complaining to the police, but I don't think the law exactly covers the difficulties that you are experiencing.
You might care to get in touch with the Society for Individual Freedom, whose address is 55 Park Lane, London, W1.
I wondered what was the machinery to which the Opposition does not have access but which is available to Government? It seems that James Allason was not referring to the Law, the Police or the Security Services so what was left?
My follow-up of the Society for Individual Freedom suggestion, which brought me in contact with Gerald Howarth, will be reported elsewhere.
Thursday 14 May 1970
First meeting of Committee on Privacy (see Report of the Younger Committee on Privacy, July 1972 Cmnd. 5012, p1).
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Thursday 18 June 1970
General Election. Won by Conservatives from Labour
Saturday 20 June 1970
I wrote to James Allason M.P. congratulating him on his re‑election as Member of Parliament, adding the following:-
I have followed your advice and got in touch with S.I.F. but now, of course, I wonder if the Government have machinery for dealing with my situation. If not, could I help in setting it up?
There was no response to this query by James Allason. My follow-up of his Society for Individual Freedom suggestion, which brought me in contact with Gerald Howarth, is reported elsewhere.
Tuesday 23 June 1970
The Editor of the Financial Times, Sir Gordon Newton, was named as a member of The Committee on Privacy. Might there be a connection with the change of Government?
[I have an uneasy feeling about this entry. Until the IEE events of 23 January 1970 (q.v.) I had not troubled to find out the name of the F.T. Editor and now, a few months later he was appointed to play a key role in the enquiry into Privacy, which was the other matter of great concern to me on that day. Also, according to the Report published in July 1972, the Committee's composition was made known on 16th April 1970 and there was no note of exception regarding Sir Gordon Newton.
My unease is compounded by Press reports of what led up to the expulsion of 105 Russians in September 1971 as well as the fate of my evidence to the Privacy Enquiry].
Friday 17 July 1970
I met Geoffrey Shorter for a bar lunch at the IEE. I tried to get from him details of how he had come to ask me to attend the Edinburgh Symposium and before that, what led him to put out the questionnaire on Electronic Design and show me the Futures magazine. I gave him a glimpse of what had happened. I got absolutely nowhere with my enquiries.
By this time I had still not been paid by Iliffe/IPC; when eventually this occurred I got one cheque for £35 from Electronics Design (the title now conformed exactly to that of my Committee) and another for £30 from Electronics Communications. If my articles were published I never saw them. However much of the text is available from carbon copies of the originals.
Tuesday 11 August 1970
Mr. G.P. Pratt, Secretary of The Committee on Privacy,
wrote saying that the Home Office had passed to the Committee my letter of
17th March addressed to James Allason about the psychological invasion of
privacy. He continued:-
The Committee have now announced their readiness to receive evidence and I attach for your information a copy of a circular which has been sent to bodies likely to be interested in the Committee's work. If you have anything to add to your earlier letter which falls within the Committee's terms of reference I am sure that they would wish to hear from you.
My communications with The Committee on Privacy are reported elsewhere. I kept James Allason informed about my submissions to the Committee.
October/November 1970
By this time I had realised that I had in fact been behind the Iron Curtain. I had recalled that because of the enthusiasm for trains of a Marconi Instruments colleague, at his request and accompanied by him, I had paid a brief visit to East Berlin to obtain a visa to enable us to travel by rail through East Germany from Berlin to West Germany. I thought I had better set the record straight so I called at the War Office building and asked for Mr. McCauley.
The atmosphere had changed radically. I did not get to see Mr. McCauley. I did not even meet the secretary. I was merely asked to speak my message into a Reception phone.
I heard nothing further.
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