Letter from Hughe Knatchbull-Hugessen, Ankara, to Thomas Balston, 1941 October 1 : autograph manuscript signed.

Hoping that he has really recovered from his sufferings and is able to look at life "from a viewpoint which is not all the time being kaleidoscoped by telephone calls, telegrams, interviews & all the things which make continuous thought impossible", stating that his life is "anyhow interesting", but that he wishes he had time to read a book, the train being the only place that affords him time for that "antiquated pursuit"; mentioning that they were in Smyrna for a week to see the Fair, describing a dinner he gave for 220 people at which he made "a rousing speech", and complaining that, although he rather likes the sound of his own voice, he is "cursed" by having to give his speeches to the press beforehand and "more often than not" having "to speak in French, which is worse."; writing that they visited Ephesus where there was "really a lot to see", but that the Temple of Diana consisted of "3 stones in a smelly pond."; noting that he involved in "Turco-German trade negotiations which aren't going too badly for us!"; asking Balston to write and tell him what England is like, as he fears it will seem like a foreign land when he returns and "It is difficult to picture the changes which the war has brought", noting that the most obvious changes have been in social relations, with "certain class & cast bars[?] having, I hope, been blown away."; wondering, in a postscript, what will become of Public schools ("I am thinking of my grandson"), and asking "Are future decisive battles not still going to be won where Waterloo was won?"