[BITList] More fall out from the Mumbai attack.

[HUGH]

Ah, Edwina Mountbatten and her lovers - a lady of boundless energy, by all accounts.  During last week there was BBC TV programme on Hutch, Leslie Hutchison, the cabaret pianist/singer who was the darling of the glitteratti in the 30s, 40s, and most of the 50s.  I wasn't in his social set, but I liked him a lot, and that's neither here nor there.  Edwina was his long time lover, as were a number of other high born ladies at various times. One gent said rather acidly that Hutch would never have been welcome at the palace, given he'd slept with half of them.  It wasn't the done thing for newspapers to admit that such things went on, and when one (the People?) broke ranks re Edwina and Hutch, albeit in veiled language with no names, Mountbatten sued.  Edwina lied all through and they got damages - she was sent away for two years on a break, but when she returned the affair was resumed and only ended when she died.  Hutch died penniless in 1969, and there were 36 at his funeral.  Who paid for the gravestone?  Mountbatten.  From what I can piece together, Mountbatten and Edwina had a platonic relationship of sorts.  My Dad reckoned that, but for Mountbatten, the Burma war in which he served under him would have dragged on for much longer.  According to Dad, and I never contradicted him, when conditions made it impossible to maintain ground supply routes the war stopped.  Mountbatten cadged a loan of American planes from (I think) Vinegar Joe Stilwell who was using them against the Japanese elsewhere (China?) and did it by air.  This display of initiative didn't please the higher brass and Mountbatten was replaced by another (Alexander?).

Hugh.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.bcn.mythic-beasts.com/pipermail/bitlist/attachments/20081129/3d0d39bd/attachment.shtml