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Show LE LIE ERIC TEA DALE ugu t 16 2001 But that was the same as when I worked at Hertz as a chauffeur. People used to come and they d sit in the back of the car. And we wore uniforms. We had a uniform, and a hat and gloves. And even when I drove Sir Alec Douglas Hume-a lot of the guys would have been as nervous as anything carrying somebody as important as that- but he sat in the back of the car and I talked to him. I'd driven him previously with his wife. But what I was going to say was if it was a German riding in the car I was always interested in what it was like in Germany before the war. And I'd say to him-showing off, I'd say (speaking in German)." And they wouldn't talk to me because they were embarrassed. You know, they thought I'd been badly treated. I said, "I wasn't badly treated." I said, "We were protected by the Geneva Convention. It wasn't any picnic. I mean, I wouldn't want to go through it again, but I'm glad I had that experience. It taught me a lot. I learned to speak Italian, I learned the accordion." WIF: It was the Nazis wasn't it, really? LES: It wasn't only the Nazis .. It was also the Jap guys that clicked their heels. You'd keep as far away from them as you could. But this Sir Alec-the first time I took him out to London. The second time I met him, just a few days after, he said, "I want you to take me to the House of Commons." I thought, oh, that's great. I'm going to the House of Commons. I've never taken anybody there. And we get out into Knights Bridge, and he's sitting next to me, actually. And it was a day that Wilson, Harold Wilson, had announced a snap election. And I couldn't resist it. I said to him, "It looks as if we're going to be busy, sir, the next few ... " He said, "I don't think he 52 |
