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Dear Anna (if I may !) Very many thanks for your note and the most interesting enclosures. I am taking the liberty of copying it to our mailbase discussion group, sinCe I am sure it will be of great interest. Perhaps there will a chance of meeting you at our next meeting on January 16th ? All good wishes, John Radcliffe ----- Original Message ----- From: "Anna Sargent" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Friday, November 18, 2005 10:30 AM Subject: Re: Kipling Society Membership Dear Mr Radcliffe, Thank you so much for your e-mail. I have been working out of e-mail range for a couple of days and only saw your e-mail this morning. I would have found the lecture most interesting - thank you for letting me know about it. I met Prof. Pinney at a dinner/lecture evening at Magdalen Coll. Cambridge some years ago - I was lending a Kipling letter to the display at the event and I was lucky enough to speak to him afterwards. At the time, I was completing a PhD on 'Kipling's paideia' and had just started research on the Kipling and Baden-Powell relationship. When I became employed full-time by The Scout Association as editor of Scouting magazine (in 2000), I had to give up my PhD because the magazine was found to be in such a monumental mess that we were working until the early hours of the morning for months to get it back on track. I have never been able to afford the time to finish the PhD, especially now that I'm responsible for a mortgage! I am now Special Projects Editor for The Scout Association. We're currently producing a coffee-table book with Hamlyn - An Official History of Scouting - which will be brought out to coincide with the 2007 centenary of the foundation of the movement. As one of the two writers, some of my research is finally going to see the light of day after all! I was given a Kipling letter as a 21st birthday present. Kipling was writing asking permission to be admitted to the Magic Circle - something I believe he was granted. I would love to bring the letter to show you some time. I will contact Prof. Pinney directly about the letters held here in the archive. However, I am attaching the transcripts I made the other day for your interest. We can now see that Kipling was invited to the grand launch event to inaugurate the Wolf Cubs in December 1916, but he couldn't attend. The letters prove a) that Baden-Powell was happy to share the credit for this new section with Kipling and b) that their relationship was a lot more cordial, and their correspondence more frequent, than has been suggested by biographers. Many thanks and best wishes Anna Anna Sargent Special Projects Editor [log in to unmask] 020 8433 7215 (direct line) www.scouts.org.uk The Scout Association Gilwell House Gilwell Park Chingford London E4 7QW