i really welcome with great warmth our guest of the evening, norman moss. [applause] norman: thank you. i did indeed work one summer as a hat check boy at the english speaking union. i recalled this this morning and she said well they probably thought it was nice to have a hat check boy with an english accent and i had to tell her at that time believe it or not i didn't have an english accent. if i ever write my autobiography, and i won't, there will be a chapter called "i was an american teenager." anyway, to the subject at hand, "19 weeks. what was so special about those 19 weeks from the second week of may, 1940 to the third week of september? well, that was the most eventful period of the last 100 years. the events were dramatic. and they were extremely significant. they changed britain. they changed america. they changed the world. some people of the time knew just how momentous were the events they were living through. the american military attache in london major general raymond lee a very perceptive observer wrote in his diary on august 31, 1940, tom

lot of love because he has a connection to the english-speaking union that goes way back to rid norman moss is an englishman but did live in the united states for his formative years. and he, during those years that he was in new york, he was a hat check person at the old english speaking union. down oth