More Attlee

IT is easy to forget just how quickly technology moved forward last century.

In the late 1940s the telex machine, which could be used to keep up to date with reports from news agencies, was relatively modern.

Clement Attlee's chief press officer, Francis Williams, persuaded the prime minister to have a telex in Downing Street after pointing out the reports would include up-to-date cricket scores.

Attlee's biographer, Francis Beckett, takes up the story in The Oldie: "After it was installed, Attlee looked into his press officer's room. 'My cricket machine - it's giving out the decisions made in cabinet this morning. How can it do that?' Williams explained that he routinely briefed the lobby. 'All right - leave the show to you. Good work'."

Golden Oldie

I GUESS it should not come as much of a surprise if a magazine called The Oldie has items of historical interest.
But, despite being a subscriber, I cannot recall much along those lines - mostly the magazine is full of old-ish people commenting on present-day matters.
But the July issue, which came through my letterbox earlier this week, has a piece of historical interest on post-WW2 prime minister Clement Attlee.
Biographer Francis Beckett writes: "At one of his press conferences, which was running into the ground after 10 minutes because of the prime minister's monosyllabic answers, a journalist who knew him well said, 'Prime Minister, we're all stumped - what's 12 across, two words, seven and six letters?' And Attlee talked for 10 minutes about how he had solved the clue from that morning's Times crossword."
The anecdote strikes me as being at least embellished, and almost certainly apocryphal (10 minutes is a long time to talk about one clue), but enchanting none-the-less.