Monday, September 13, 2010

Sir Archibald Clark Kerr

Warning:
The following post contains risqué language.

Back in June I posted an item about names which, when spoken, can sound quite rude. I mentioned the prank by the young people at Heathrow, the practice of giving the name Haywood Jablome to journos (and subsequently having that published)  and the paging of names by Bart Simpson. Read the post at:

I am indebted to my father in law, Noel, for bringing to my attention a similar item concerning a letter sent by Sir Archibald Clark Kerr many years ago. A little bit of research on the internet revealed the details.

Archibald Clark Kerr (above), 1st Baron Inverchapel, was born in Australia in 1882 and died in 1951. Having become a British diplomat, Sir Archibald served as the Ambassador to China 1938 to 1942, as Ambassador to the Soviet Union between 1942 and 1946 and to the US between 1946 and 1948.

Despite his many years of loyal service to Britain, his friendships with Stalin during WW2 and the Kaiser’s sister before WW1, and the fact that he was a disappointed suitor of the Queen Mother, he is today best remembered for a letter he wrote to Lord Pembroke in 1943 whilst he was Ambassador to Moscow.  The handwritten note on the letter indicates that the letter was released under the Freedom of Information Acy in 1990:

(Click on image to enlarge).

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