Denham or Dieppe?
Sir: Professor Villa wrote a book about the Dieppe raid. I said what nonsense I thought ' it. Professor Villa responded crossly (Letters, 14 April). Your readers will probably think that enough is enough. May I pick up one point that he makes, however?
In his book Professor Villa remarks that the Joint Planners 'presumably did not know how much time' Mountbatten was spending at Denham Studios helping in the preparation of In which we serve while the Dieppe operation was being planned. I pointed out that presumably Professor Villa did not know either, since Mountbat- ten visited Denham only once during the relevant four months, and then for less than an hour. Professor Villa now says that what I mean is that only one visit was 'recorded in Mountbatten's diary', suggest- ing he has a better source revealing that more time was spent at Denham. I did indeed rely on Mountbatten's engagement diary, which lists what he was doing at every hour of the day. What is Professor Villa's source? The only evidence in his book to support his thesis is a photograph of a group of people at the studios. 'The unidentified man with his back to the camera,' he writes, 'would appear to be Mountbatten.' I don't know who it would appear to be, but it was David Lean.
Philip Ziegler
22 Cottesmore Gardens, London W8
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