The death of Lord Uthwatt recalls an old story which
I don't think I have told before. On November 11th, 1918, Mr. Andrewes Uthwatt, as the future Law Lord then was, and Mr. A. G. Gardiner, Editor of the Daily News, walked out of the Reform Club together. "Well, it's over," said Gardiner. "Yes," Uthwatt replied, "and if I were to tell you who, in my view, had done more for victory than any other man you wouldn't guess right in a hundred shots." " Well," Gardiner rejoined, " that's interesting. Not a soldier ? " " No," said Uthwatt. " Nor a sailor ? " "No." " A civil servant ? " " Yes," cdmitted Uthwatt, showing some surprise. " Salter ? " " Yes," came the further concession, "How on earth did you guess ? " " Well," Gardiner explained, " I happen to know Salter." Mr. Salter was chairman of the Allied Maritime Transport Executive, and as such deeply and ceaselessly concerned in developing the measures which by defeating the submarine alone made survival possible. The judgement may be right or wrong—I don't know what the Senior Burgess-for Oxford University thinks. I tell the story as it was told to me by the man who guessed right.
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