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have to find a new boyfriend. Tears filled her eyes when I told her about South Africa. But I also told her that my mother had promised we would come straight back to England when Mosley came to power and that would be about 1950, certainly no later than 1955. But then we would be fifteen, almost old enough to get married. But it was The Leader himself who stopped our plan to leave England and go to South Africa. One freezing night in February 1948, Jeffrey came up the stone basement stairs and knocked on the kitchen do<strong>or</strong>. He had on his usual light sp<strong>or</strong>ts jacket. My mother made him some soup and he ate it quickly with almost half a loaf of bread and margarine. He nervously pushed back his hair and sat perched on the edge of his chair. He told the Grundy family that he had some exciting news from Ireland where Mosley had gone to live after his release from prison. Mosley was returning to Britain, he told us, to start his new political <strong>or</strong>ganization. It was to be called Union Movement. Jeffrey Hamm had done much of the spadew<strong>or</strong>k by helping to set up bookshops which were distributing some of Mosley’s pre-war books, his defence of his position and a new book called The Alternative. Jeffrey said he had heard about our plan to move to South Africa but hoped that would not happen now because Mosley needed every man, woman and child, and with a smile on his Welsh face which was probably irresistible to women, he looked at me. I remember glancing at my parents and then at Lovene, who was thirteen and mildly interested in a new life in South Africa but not wildly enthusiastic. She felt s<strong>or</strong>ry f<strong>or</strong> the blacks in that country. My mother leant back in her chair and rested her head. My father stood up and 20 | ColdType | October 2010 Trev<strong>or</strong> Grundy ❝ mosley was returning to britain, he told us, to start his new political <strong>or</strong>ganization. It was to be called Union movement f<strong>or</strong> some reason, I thought he was going to hit Jeffrey, but he didn’t. Instead he saluted him and went to a long, low, oak sideboard, which he had bought at an auction f<strong>or</strong> a few pounds the week bef<strong>or</strong>e. The cupboard had several drawers, some of them locked. My father returned with a bottle of whisky and poured a substantial amount of the golden liquid into three glasses. The adults stood up and raised their glasses and I stood up pretending I had a glass in my right hand. My father said “The Leader!” and we responded, “The Leader!” I put my hand to my mouth and knocked it back. It was a moment of great meaning and passion. I remember thinking that it must have been like this when the disciples were together in the locked room, when crowns of fire settled on their heads and they went out and spoke in tongues to people who were amazed. But Jesus was dead and Mosley was still alive. There he was on the mantelpiece, looking at me, rather thin-lipped, I thought, but with piercing eyes and a large right fist which looked as if he had just thumped the table and made the fish cakes bounce. It was signed ‘O. Mosley’ and was my mother’s most precious possession. I watched her dust it at least three times a day. Sometimes I would stand next to the mirr<strong>or</strong> and try to imitate the Mosley look, even place my small fists in front of my chest and to look aggressive, determined, a man you wouldn’t play around with too quickly. “The Leader.” I looked up at Jeffrey whose glass was being refilled and then at my mother whose eyes were shining and whose voice sounded like music. The three were laughing and clinking glasses. There was a knock on the do<strong>or</strong> and Lily Hamm came into the warm room looking pale and ner
vous, but after a while she too was laughing and drinking my father’s whisky. They came up the following evening with the dummy of a new newspaper which would be published and sold in London, a paper called Union, which would be edited by one of Mosley’s imp<strong>or</strong>tant followers, a man called Raven Thomson who had written a book about Superman. The newspaper and the movement would be called ‘Union’ because Mosley’s new policy was the unification of Europe, which would end centuries of division between the English and the French, the French and the Germans. Once united, the Europeans would pool their resources so there would be one vast European Empire, which would be bigger than the British and Roman Empires put together. “The Leader!” I could not remember a time in my life when I had not known his name, seen his picture <strong>or</strong> loved his heroism. To the right of the mantelpiece from which Sir Oswald glared out at the w<strong>or</strong>ld there were three seagulls: my mother once told me that when the great man Rudolf Hess flew to Scotland from Germany to try to stop the war, three seagulls flew alongside his plane. Next to the birds on a table was a picture of the Mosley Family at the home in Ireland: Sir Oswald, his wife Diana, Max and Alexander. Mosley was wearing a c<strong>or</strong>duroy jacket and looked fit, even a little fat. Max was very thin but had obviously recovered well after being pulled from his mother’s breast by the man from Special Branch. I was certain that if it we met, Max would be my best friend. Bef<strong>or</strong>e I went to bed that night, I asked my mother, “Why is Mr Hamm like St Paul?” She kissed the side of my face and I breathed in the smell of lipstick and her LOvE, HAtE & tHE LEAdEr ❝ the newspaper and the movement would be called ‘Union’ because mosley’s new policy was the unification of Europe, which would end centuries of division between the English and the french, the french and the Germans favourite face powder which was called Cream Puff Tempting Touch. “Because when Jesus died the disciples gave up and Peter denied him three times. It took Paul to get them all going again and that’s what Mr Hamm is doing, getting them going again.” “But if Mr Hamm is St Paul, who was Jesus?” My mother replied: “Mosley.” Then she told me something which frightened me and which I would never f<strong>or</strong>get. “You’re not to tell people what we talk about in this house. It’s all secret. People outside the Mosley movement would never ever understand. Just think that you and Lovene live in two w<strong>or</strong>lds, this one and the w<strong>or</strong>ld outside 40 Blandf<strong>or</strong>d Square.” I discovered that living in two separate w<strong>or</strong>lds when you are eight years old is not easy. The day after my mother’s bedtime instructions, the hist<strong>or</strong>y lesson at school was about great battles and great men in hist<strong>or</strong>y. We had been told to ask our parents f<strong>or</strong> their opinions. Mr Walker and Mr Simon sat in on the class. Most of the children said that the greatest man of all time was Winston Churchill. Mr Walker smiled; Mr Simon looked grim, but applauded loudly when a boy called Hardy stood up and said that the greatest man in the w<strong>or</strong>ld was Stalin. Most of the children said that the greatest battle of all time was the Battle of Britain <strong>or</strong> the N<strong>or</strong>mandy invasion. At the end of the discussion, Mr Walker stood up in his tan tweed suit and said that he though the greatest battle of all time was Agincourt and that one day we would read about it in William Shakespeare’s play Henry V. It was great, he told us, because it showed English people could easily beat f<strong>or</strong>eigners if they had October 2010 | ColdType | 21
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Page 3 and 4: I Ieft pArt OnE memoir of a memoir
Page 5 and 6: Part Two my chiLdhood His was a fam
Page 7 and 8: when Blackshirts in their hundreds
Page 9 and 10: ment, they grew surprisingly close,
Page 11 and 12: She mimicked: “Take him away!”
Page 13 and 14: mans flew away again she was taken
Page 15 and 16: was all right. Within a few minutes
Page 17 and 18: it opened, it closed again. I kept
Page 19: gle room and shared an outside lava
Page 23 and 24: as the Communists called it. My mot
Page 25 and 26: a question got thumped, got set on.
Page 27: WriTinG WorTh read

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