مجموعة ٣٠/١١٤ "تقارير إجراءات السُفُن البريطانية." [و‎‎١‎٦] (١٢٠٣/٣١)

Enclosure NOe 1 to East Indies letter No e 518 /EoI« 156 of
4/6/39 (Cant’d)o
23rd of Aprilo
At 1000 I visited the Royal Naval Guard in their
quarters at the Military Academy^ and was very impressed
with the comfort in which they were housedo
2o At 1500 we all attended a "Youth Display" at the
Stadium; the latter is about the size of a large football
ground with seating accommodation for about 60,000o The
Display was on a gigantic scale, lasting some three hours,
and was extremely well organised© It opened with a parade
and inarch past of 1500 Girl Guides and 1800 Boy Scouts,
and the subsequent items were on an equally large scale.*
with the exception of an exhibition Association Football
match, which lasted for about a quarter of an hour, and
an extremely interesting exhibition of ancient Persian
gymnastics© The latbv* consisted of very strenuous muscle
control and muscle developing exercises, carried out as a
ceremonial with songs and verses, somewhat on the lines of
the ceremony attending ju-jitsu performances in ^apan 0
(Dress No© 4)©
3© At 2‘JOO* I attended a dinner given by the officers
of the Iranian Army at the Officers* Club© The arrangements
on this occasion were more chaotic than ever** and the
general delays longer; we did not proceed to the Dining Room
until 2130* and then took about half an hour to find our
g laces at the tables© The proceedings were enlivened
owever by the Belgian Minister* who for the celebrations.
had been created "Ambassador with a special mission*© He
claimed that his place at table was not commensurate with his
new title and dignity.* and he refused to be seated until
he was moved to a higher place© Though a large number of
additional guests had been invited to a soiree, due to
commence at 2200, we did not Join them until 2345 when there
was the usual firework display, followed by dancing©
(Dress - Bali Dress).
4© On that evening* the men of the Royal Naval Guard
and Band and the RoAoF© personnel were entertained by the
British community at the Tehran Club© This entertainment
was a huge success and from the mens* point of view* one
of the high spots of their visit to Tehran©
24th of April©
At 1315 I had the honour of lunching with the
Earl of Athlone and Princess Alice** and at 1700 we all
attended a tea party at the Majlis (Houses of Parliament)
given by the Iranian Prime Minister© (Dress No©4)o
2 0 That evening* at 2000* I dined at the Ministry for
Foreign Affairs© This party was better organised than most
and not only was there a table plan* but we were even
introduced po our partners before dinner and informed
in what order we were to enter© The dinner party was
followed by the inevitable soirbe with dancing and the
even more inevitable firework display 0 The Ministry of
Foreign Affairs is a new building which had only been
completed three days before the party 0
I was ©oo