BR TO GILBERT MURRAY, 16 OCT. 1948
BRACERS 52416. TLS. Murray papers, Bodleian
Edited by W. Bruneau. Proofread by K. Blackwell

18 Dorset House
Gloucester Place,
N.W.1.
16th October 1948.

Dear Gilbert,

Thank you for your nice letter. I don’t think that you are right about my experience being pleasanter to hear about than to suffer. I did not, at the time, know that there had been any fatalities, and the whole adventure was mildly pleasant. It had no after-effects whatever, but perhaps you had better not tell Mary that I attribute this to the fact that they gave me a large dose of brandy.

I am very sorry to hear that she broke her leg, and I hope it is mending well.

I agree with you that you and G.B.S. are being rewarded for your temperate lives, but as for me I abandoned temperance when the King took the pledge in 1914. I owe my preservation to tobacco, since the people in the Smoking Compartment of the plane were saved, while those in the other Compartment were drowned. I do not know how to draw an edifying moral from this fact.

I wish we met sometimes, not only at Winston’s Gargantuan feasts. Do you think you could come here for any meal at any time when you happen to be in London?

Yours ever,
<signed> B.R.