In The Press
Churchill's secretary tells of life in dark days of the blitz
From The Bath Chronicle Thu 22 Nov, 2007
Youngsters have been treated to an eye witness account of life during the Second World War.
Pupils at a city school had a visit from a woman who worked as a secretary for Churchill in the dark days of the Blitz.
Year 6 pupils at the Royal High Junior School met 90 year old Muriel Cooper who worked in the Cabinet War Rooms.
They listened to her account of working for the then prime minister during the war.
Mrs Cooper told the children, aged 10 and 11, about the famous underground complex from which Churchill directed the war effort, sometimes spending days or weeks there at a time.
They learned about Churchill’s habits of dictating letters from his bed, and his legendary stamina which kept him going until 3am or 4am when everyone around him was exhausted.
Mrs Cooper told the girls of her memories of taking dictation for the letter that was sent to the authorities in Guernsey, telling them that the British Government was unable to protect them from Hitler’s invaders.
She also told the youngsters about a converted broom cupboard in which the wartime leader spoke to US president Roosevelt on a hot line.
Mrs Cooper said “We were told that we would be shot if we were found talking to anyone about our work.
“We had to be constantly on our guard not to let anything slip, even to our closest family.”
The children learned that letters and memos from Churchill, ministers and military leaders were all marked “secret” or “most secret”.
Mrs Cooper said that no-one knew what the difference was and that they certainly didn’t ask.
Wartime evacuee Audrey Hunt also talked about her experiences.
The pupils have been studying life during the war in history lessons and have visited Swindon’s Steam Museum, to discover what it was like to be an evacuee.
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