To his mother, says he has returned from Matlock, visiting Oxford en route. Got to Matlock via Warwick, Kenilworth and Lichfield. Describes Smedley’s Hotel in Matlock which has been taken over by the School of Military Intelligence. He met an old friend Vignoles [not identified] who is an instructor there.
Says Brigadier Mitchiner is leaving to take over AA command in London; says there has been some jealousy from regular soldiers. In appended note Ridgway says he passed through Coventry which had just been bombed. Also tells an amusing anecdote about Montgomery's failure to provide a specimen for a routine medical, which Brigadier Mitchiner misreported and this led to him being removed from V Corps [Philip Henry Mitchiner, 1888-1952, surgeon, became a major-general during Second World War; he was Ridgway's superior officer in V Corps].