GELB, Norman

Scope and Content

Thirty eight audiotapes of interviews, conducted by Gelb between 1983 and 1984, with veterans of the Battle of Britain, 1940, used as research material for Gelb's book Scramble: a narrative history of the Battle of Britain (Michael Joseph, London, 1986), including interviews with ACM Sir Christopher (Neil) Foxley-Norris, AM Sir Denis Crowley-Milling, AVM Harold Arthur Cooper Bird-Wilson, AVM George Philip Chamberlain, AVM Robert Deacon Elliott, Maj Gen Basil Perronet Hughes, AVM Alexander Vallance Riddell Johnstone, Air Cdre Edward Mortlock Donaldson, Air Cdre John Lawrence Wemyss Ellacombe, Gp Capt Sir Hugh (Spencer Lisle) Dundas, Wg Cdr Robert Roland Stanford-Tuck, 1983-1984; two paperback editions of Scramble: a narrative history of the Battle of Britain (Pan, London, 1986).

Administrative / Biographical History

Born in New York, USA; author and journalist; chief European correspondent for the Mutual Broadcasting Network, Berlin, Germany [1960-1962]; London correspondent for the New Leader Magazine, 1986.

Publications: Enemy in the shadows: the world of spies and spying (Luscombe, London, 1976); The irresistible impulse: an evocative study of erotic notions and practices through the ages (Paddington Press, London, 1979); The British: a portrait of an indomitable island people (Everest House, New York, USA, 1982); Less than glory [1984]; Scramble: a narrative history of the Battle of Britain (Michael Joseph, London, 1986); The Berlin wall: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and a showdown in the heart of Europe (Michael Joseph, London, 1986); Dunkirk: the incredible escape (Michael Joseph, London, 1990); Desperate venture: the story of Operation TORCH, the Allied invasion of North Africa (Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1992); editor of Jonathan Carver's travels through America, 1766-1768, an eighteenth century explorer's account of uncharted America (Wiley, Chichester, New York, USA, 1993); Ike and Monty, Generals at war (Constable, London, 1994).

Arrangement

Thirty eight audiotapes, two volumes.

Access Information

Open, subject to signature of reader's undertaking form.

Acquisition Information

Presented to the Centre by Gelb in 1997.

Other Finding Aids

Summary guide entry on-line at http://www.kcl.ac.uk/iss/archives/cats/, and detailed catalogue available in hard copy in the Centre's reading room.

Conditions Governing Use

Copies, subject to the condition of the original, may be supplied for research use only. Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the Trustees of the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, attention of the Director of Archive Services.