The Dennis Wheatley 'Museum' - Dennis Wheatley in World War II: a supplement

Lasting friendships

An invitation to the Ismays

Click on the images to enlarge For transcripts, click here

DW and large numbers of his wartime colleagues kept in touch well into their old ages, and one (Derrick Morley) was one of the last people to visit him before DW died

DW kept in regular touch with large numbers of his wartime associates after the war. Many came to stay the weekend at his house Grove Place in Lymington and he then stayed with them in turn.

For a long time, LCS held annual reunions (these continued until at least 1968), mostly black-tie and at Johnny Bevan's Club, and many of DW's wartime friendships continued until interrupted by death; indeed, Derrick Morley was one of the last people to visit DW before the latter died.

To give a measure of the man he was, and of how he was regarded, here are a few quotes from DW's correspondence with his war-time friends:

• 'Do let me know next time you come up. I should so like to talk over old times.' (Oliver Stanley)
• 'Oh, you are a kind man...' (Johnny Bevan)
• 'This is indeed an opportunity for me to thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your friendship, kindness and help ever since I had the good luck to meet you in 1942 - nearly 35 years ago. It has made a profound impact on my life from which I have derived so much fun and pleasure' (Johnny Bevan)
• 'Thank you a thousand times... for... the luck of knowing you.' (Ronald Wingate)
• 'It is a thrill - I really mean it - to meet my old friends who were in great events. Very few now, and you were the best.' (Ronald Wingate)
• 'I do miss my No.1 Colleague, Wheatley' (James Arbuthnott)
• 'The Offices of the War Cabinet and all that seem like a dream already. A moderately pleasant one, but it wouldn't have been even that but for you Dennis.' (James Arbuthnott)
• 'You were a sort of spiritual radiator so far as I was concerned.' (James Arbuthnott)
• 'Proud to be your friend Dennis' (James Arbuthnott)
• 'I often think of our days together and of all your kindnesses to me when I was a tyro and you the senior old boy at L.C.S.' (Neil Gordon Clarke)
• 'It was a real pleasure hearing from you after all these years.' (Harold Peteval)
• 'My husband looked upon you as a real friend.' (Lady Hoare)
• 'Pray carry on your great task of mystifying and misleading the enemy. The old guard is ready to cooperate.' (Desmond Morton)
• 'Buzz Wyeth says he sent you a copy of Bodyguard. It's a book I'd have preferred you had done.' (Bill Baumer)