| Description | Typed transcript of pp.51-98 of Belgrave's diary for 1 May to 2 December 1953. Topics covered include a visit to the Thornburgs at Om as Sabaan (1 May), the death of local businessman Abdul Aziz Kozaibi in Beirut (2, 5 May), trip to UK with Shaikh Sulman and entourage (plus an unfriendly party from Qatar) for the coronation of Elizabeth II (12 May -13 September), flying to Beirut then travelling by sea via Alexandria (16 may), Venice - where Belgrave and Shaikh Sulman visited Freya Stark (20 May), Montreux and Paris, before reaching England at the end of May in time for the coronation on 2 June followed by meetings with Churchill and Selwyn Lloyd (10 June); there is a gap between 10 June and 11 September, before his return to Bahrain (13 September), violence during the Muharram procession with police and Sunnis fighting against Shias (20 September), followed by several days of tension, strikes and sporadic disturbances (21-24 September), James Belgrave starting work with BAPCO at Awali (29 September), visits from MPs including Sir Peter Macdonald, Teddy Wakefield and David Ormsby-Gore (10-14 October), annual meeting of the Gulf Aviation Company (17 October), cinema visits (23, 25October), visit from Gerald de Gaury (25 October), opening of new cinema at Awali (29 October), visit from J.G. Hawtrey, Air Officer Commanding in Iraq and cousin of the actor Charles Hawtrey (9 November), news of the death of King Ibn Saud as well as the killing of two British officers by their own men in Oman (9 November), the sending to Jedda of a deputation from Shaikh Sulman's family to offer condole and congratulation the new king of Saudi Arabia (12 November), comments about the power of Abdulla Derwish in Qatar (14 November), eighteen individual callers to see Belgrave on a single evening (17 November), Emil Bustani's arrangements for another visit of MPs at the end of December (20 November), arrival of Lionel Smith Gordon (25 November) and discussion of site for a new mental asylum (1 December). |