The Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, flew into Croydon airport today in 1938 with a scrap of paper. It contained Adolf Hitler's promise to invade no more countries after Czechoslovakia. He called it, optimistically, 'peace with honour', echoing Benjamin Disraeli's phrase after the Congress of Berlin in 1878. Unfortunately, Hitler was not of the calibre of the statesmen Disraeli sparred with and the scrap of paper was worthless.
Was Chamberlain aware of that? Almost certainly, but years of Appeasement had made Britain unwilling to face up to Europe's bully-boys.
In other news ...
Today in 1630, John Billington was executed for murder in New Plymouth, beginning a fine tradition that Americans still continue to this day.
