Rumours

Friday, January 19th., Royal Thames Yacht Club, London.

Lunch at Reform today. Informed positively that Nivelle was to include all British Army in his command. It was said that he said of Hague: "Il n'est pas assez souple. Il est trop orgueilleux." This statement absolutely contradicted by Press Bureau tonight. 

Aftermath of the Silvertown explosion

Tonight in Piccadilly an immense red flare in the sky, followed by a great explosion. Piccadilly rather excited. Mair was informed by telephone at 10.30 that chemical works at Blackwall exploded and set fire to South Metropolitan Gasworks. Apparently TNT is one of the things they make there. Seems almighty strange to me to have such a dangerous industrial facility in a heavily populated area. "Thousands of wounded  in hospital". We shall see if this is a fact.

Mair and Willie Weir and George Whale dined with me tonight at the Yacht Club. Very interesting. Mair said there was nothing in the alarm about a German invasion of Switzerland, and that it had been deliberately got up by the French authoroities (who said Foch was at Besancon and actually began to dig trenches) in order to get Swiss securities out of Switzerland and into France for the purpose of helping to regulate exchange.

Mair has promised to take me over London in an airship.