Interesting stuff, Leighton. It reminded me of one of the greatest Downing Street diaries, by Churchill's private secretary John Colville, which became a source for Martin Gilbert's official Churchill biography. Colville's fellow private secretary John Peck reported years later that he was amazed at the risks Colville ran keeping a diary, and initiated a spoof minute supposedly from Churchill commanding the diarist to bring the diary for inspection. Fortunately for posterity, Colville continued his record, and published an abridged version shortly before he died in the 1980s. They provide one of the most vivid, and human, accounts of Churchill's wartime coalition government.
Incidentally, when I was reading law at university 40 years ago I was told that 'signing' the Official Secrets Act had no consequence at law. You are still liable for any breaches whether you have signed it or not.
Interesting stuff, Leighton. It reminded me of one of the greatest Downing Street diaries, by Churchill's private secretary John Colville, which became a source for Martin Gilbert's official Churchill biography. Colville's fellow private secretary John Peck reported years later that he was amazed at the risks Colville ran keeping a diary, and initiated a spoof minute supposedly from Churchill commanding the diarist to bring the diary for inspection. Fortunately for posterity, Colville continued his record, and published an abridged version shortly before he died in the 1980s. They provide one of the most vivid, and human, accounts of Churchill's wartime coalition government.
Incidentally, when I was reading law at university 40 years ago I was told that 'signing' the Official Secrets Act had no consequence at law. You are still liable for any breaches whether you have signed it or not.
Thanks, Rob. I read Colville's diaries during the pandemic, shortly after reading Alanbrooke's diaries and tthey have lots of interesting material. I quoted from Colville's diaries in this chapter https://www.researchgate.net/publication/367023798_%27Like_any_wartime_government%27_Covid-19_Churchillian_imaginaries_and_the_limits_of_English_exceptionalism
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Thanks, Leighton!