SHAW RECOMMENDS A FRIEND WITH THE HIGHEST PRAISE SHAW (George Bernard, 1856-1950, Dramatist & Critic)

Fine Autograph Letter Signed to Sir Arthur STREET (1892-1951, Civil Servant, Permanent Secretary to the Air Ministry through the 2nd World War) apologising for “this intrusion from a stranger, and the use of your private address; I don’t know your official one. Some time ago a very brilliantly written novel entitled Sagittarius appeared, written by an ace surviving from 1914-18 named Cecil Lewis. I know him personally. He is in the R.A.F. at Gillingham, doing work that anybody could do. Why not make him official historian of the R.A.F.? He would do it very well. He is a tremendously quick worker with his pen - almost as quick as Mr Lloyd George - and he is a vigorous and competent. organiser of a department. Ask Sir John Reith about him. He is an exceptionally presentable figure, towereing over mere six footers like me. It is a pity to waste him on a routine job. He is sober, honest and industrious, by the way. Again forgive my butting in...”, 1 side A4, 4 Whitehall Court headed paper, 4th October

Cecil Arthur LEWIS (1898-1997) was a British fighter ace who flew with No. 56 Squadron RAF in the First World War, and was credited with destroying eight enemy aircraft. He went on to be a founding executive of the British Broadcasting Company and to enjoy a long career as a writer, notably of the aviation classic Sagittarius Rising, some scenes from which were represented in the film Aces High. Lewis joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in early 1939 as a pilot officer and served in the Mediterranean and Middle East theatre of World War II, rising to the rank of squadron leader. Bernard Shaw wrote of Lewis: "This prince of pilots has had a charmed life in every sense of the word. He is a thinker, a master of words and a bit of a poet."

Item Date:  1939

Stock No:  42535      £774

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