| Description | Subject file kept by George F. Vale, Borough Librarian (Bethnal Green), Central Public Library, Cambridge Heath Road.
Vale wrote to 'distinguished English men and women for a short list of their favourite books' with 'the aim of fostering good reading' by publishing a brochure by the Council 'to be distributed free to users of the Public Libraries'. Contains letters in response to his request for a list of favourite books from well known public figures and famous individuals as follows:
Clement Attlee [Clement Richard Attlee], Prime Minister. The request was declined on his behalf
H. E. Bates [Herbert Ernest Bates], author
Ivor Brown (The Observer Limited)
Agatha Christie [Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie], author
Richard Church [Richard Thomas Church], writer, poet and critic
Sir Winston Churchill, M.P. The request was declined on his behalf
Daniel George, editor
John Hadfield [John Charles Heywood Hadfield] (Director of the National Book League), author and publisher
Percy Holman (House of Commons), M.P. for Bethnal Green
C. A. Lejeune [Caroline Alice Lejeune] (The Observer Limited), writer and film critic
Cecil Day-Lewis, poet
Ethel Mannin [Ethel Edith Mannin], novelist and travel writer, political activist and socialist
Wilson Midgley (John O' London's Weekly, George Newnes Limited), author
Field Marshal Montgomery [Bernard Law Montgomery]. The request was declined on his behalf
Anna Neagle [Florence Marjorie Wilcox], actress, singer and dancer
Nancy Price [Lilian Nancy Bache Price], actress, author and theatre director
J. B. Priestley [John Boynton Priestley], novelist, playwright, screenwriter, broadcaster and social commentator
Sybil Rang, typescript agent
Ralph Richardson [Ralph David Richardson], actor. Kay Graham, secretary replies on his behalf
Sir Malcolm Sargent [Sir Harold Malcolm Watts Sargent], conductor, organist and composer
Dorothy L. Sayers [Dorothy Leigh Sayers], writer and poet. She declined
Frank Smythe [Francis Sydney Smythe], mountaineer and author
Evelyn John St. Loe Strachey [John Strachey], M.P. He declined
Sybil Thorndike [Agnes Sybil Thorndike], actress |