Fantasy London flat
C K Stead thinks I am having a “fantasy” about a meeting I had with Dr Michael Bassett at Parliament in 1989 (NZB Summer 2009). Perhaps he has confused one meeting I describe with a later one. At the first meeting, I was there, Stead was not.
By all means, read Stead’s text alongside that of my memoir Beside the Dark Pool. I think readers will be able to decide for themselves who is living in fantasy land.
Fiona Kidman
Wellington
Doctor not Nurse Montgomery
I feel bound to point out a small but significant error of fact in David Grant’s generous review of my book Kiwi Compañeros: New Zealand and the Spanish Civil War (NZB Summer 2009). The Auckland volunteer Gladys Montgomery was not a nurse, but a doctor. To be fair to Grant, Dr Montgomery was surely often mistaken for a nurse during the civil war itself, since she was one of only a handful of women doctors serving in that conflict. The few scattered facts about her in my book represent the only information I could find on this remarkable woman. I am hopeful that more details will come to light, for inclusion in a later edition.
Mark Derby
Wellington