Russell Remembered, by Rupert-Crawshay-Williams.
Source: Russell Remembered, by Rupert-Crawshay-Williams (London & New York; Oxford U. P., 1970. 7. 163 pp. plates port. 23 cm.)Chapt. 1 Russell encountered
* the opening sentences
The Portmeirion Estate lies just north of Harlech on a peninsular between two estuaries.(Virtual Portmeirion) Half-way between the hotel and the main road (the drive is about a mile long) there sits a massive pseudo-baronial castle, built in 1840. Clough Williams-E1lis, the creator of Portmeirion, bought the castle sometime in the 1930s and turned it into a separate hotel.For a year or so until 1934 Bertrand Russell lived and worked there(Famous Visitors and Residents), and in fact wrote 'Freedom and Organisation' in the Victorian Gothic Library. When the war began, in 1939, the Castle was taken over by the Ministry of Education as temporary home for a preparatory school from Frinton, which had been evacuated because of the danger of invasion. Owing to the exigencies of war, and with total lack of experience as a teacher, I had come there in 1942 to teach mathematics, French, and English.
In the relatively academic atmosphere of the school the legend of Bertrand Russell's presence was still alive. Indeed there was proof of the legend in the curious diversity and sophistication of the school library. The greater part of the books on the shelves were in fact remnants from Russell's own library (he was then in the U.S.A.) plus many of the books which had been sent to him by hopeful authors and publishers.*1The preparatory school moved back to England after the war, and the Castle was turned into flats. My wife and I stayed on in our cottage, which was in what used to be the Castle's stable-yard.
*1: I never read a book after it's published', said Russell once, when swapping boasts. Compare Sidney Smith: 'I never read a book before reviewing it; it prejudices a man so.'
