Housewife historians
From Diana Gould
Sir: I am the 'Gloucestershire housewife' James Delingpole describes in his review of the Channel 4 documentary Secret History: Sink the Belgrano as outraged that the Argentine cruiser had been sunk outside the total exclusion zone (Arts, 10 July). I would like to put it on record that I was deeply distressed by his flippant description of me and my 'instant armchair expertise'.
He arrogantly assumed that housewives, i.e., those who choose to bring up their own children rather than rely on others to do so, are not well educated. I am a Cambridge MA and have particular knowledge of the Southern oceans including the Falklands area. After graduating in 1947 I entered the WRNS as a meteorological officer and in 1950 married a fleet air arm observer.
Channel 4 based its programme on Penguin's Classic Military History The Falklands War 1982 by Martin Middlebrook. Because of the controversy that followed the sinking of the Belgrano, the Parliamentary foreign affairs committee held an inquiry, published in 1985 as 'Events Surrounding the Weekend of 1-2 May 1982', which was a very complex document, released when Parliament went into recess and never debated.
As a result the Belgrano Action Group was formed, which held a public inquiry in 1986 and produced a report, now out of print but available for study in the British Library and elsewhere. Therefore my knowledge comes directly from Parliament and from the United Nations Association's own library.
Diana Gould
Cirencester, Gloucestershire
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