GEORGE LEFTWICH'S TELEGRAPH STORY DURING THE COLD WAR

This story was submitted to the People's War site by a Melanie Bird from CSV/BBC London at the Living Museum on behalf of George R. Leftwich and has been added to the site with his permission. George R Leftwich fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

George R. Leftwich.

As a Telegraphist with Cable and Wireless (C & W) I was earning 12 shillings a day but when I was called up it went down to 4 shillings a day with the Royal Air Force, National Service.

During the 1950s at the London Office of C & W we received long messages from a secret source which were transmitted to the BBC Cavesham in Kent. They were mostly press stories regarding things like the Notting Hill riots and anything going on that could be made detrimental to the well being of our country. In other words in the worse possible light.

This was all carried out on wireless frequency that were always subject to good and bad conditions including stoppages. On one occasion the condition was so bad we lost contact and the BBC asked why they weren’t receiving any signals. Our operator said “The station is ‘blown up’”. This was a regular telegraphic slang but the BBC took it literally and contacted the British Foreign Office who at the highest level contacted C & W and the operator was duly admonished.

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