Matt Bevan

He said...

Every effort was made by... Should I do it in Churchill's voice again?

Every effort was made by our hosts to ensure our comfort, and every chance remark was noted with kindly attention.

On one occasion, Admiral Reginald Portal had admired a large glass tank with plants growing in it and remarked that it contained no fish.

Two days later, a consignment of goldfish arrived.

Another time, somebody said casually there was no lemon peel in the cocktails.

The next day, a lemon tree loaded with fruit was growing in the hall.

All must have come by air from far away.

Yes, that's right.

Yes.

Things are appearing everywhere, which, you know, potentially is the way it was.

The Soviets were known to have been spying on everybody.

And if anybody remarked that they wanted something, the Soviets would be very keen to provide it because they couldn't provide working toilets anywhere.

They could potentially provide fruit.

Well, I mean, it's really impossible to say.

But, I mean, I think probably that there was one lemon tree.

I mean, I love the Roosevelt story the best because, you know, Roosevelt and Stalin are there having drinks late in the evening and then Stalin makes a tree arrive the following day.

So that's a possibility.

Were there multiple lemon trees as well?

That's also a possibility.