Sir Christopher Meyer is best known for being Britain's Ambassador to Washington DC at the time of the September 11th attacks. His spell in the American capital also coincided with the Monica Lewinsky scandal that led to Bill Clinton being impeached.
His nominated object is a war time diary belonging to his mother (Eve). He did not know of the existence of the diary until after she had died. In her writings, Eve details what life was like in the build up to World War II, and also describes her budding romance with Sir Christopher's father Reggie. Reggie, who served in the RAF, died in action during the war - Sir Christopher never got to meet him.
Although the diary is of deep personal significance to Sir Christopher, it also illustrates the importance of war time diaries as a whole. In particular the insight they bring into how individuals deal with war and its aftermath.
Sir Christopher Meyer's war time diary
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Comments
I was extremely touched listening just now to Christopher Meyer reading out extracts from his mother's wartime diary. Like him, my Northern Irish father was in the RAF, a pilot in Coastal Command, and was shot out of the skye on the 1st April 1942, when he was 25 and I was 17 months old. I only got to read his letters to my mother after her death in 1995; these dated from the beginning of their courtship in 1938, and continued until the day before he died, as he was then up at Leuchars and was seeking accommodation for us there. I wished I had been able to have this window into my beloved but not known father's personality and how he felt about me far earlier in my life, but understand that it would have been so terribly emotional for my mother to share them - indeed, she was going to destroy all the letters late in her life, and I am so very glad I persuaded her not to. Sara Paget, was Boal, Isle of Skye
ps I too have my father's logbooks. He was in 217 Squadron, flying Beauforts, searching for the Tirpitz in the North Sea. Shot down over the Skaggerak. Sara Paget nee Boal