New Chartwell Bulletin Now Available!

[John David Olsen]

Chartwell Bulletin - April 2012 http://bit.ly/HDL1RL

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JOHN DAVID OLSEN

Director of Communication

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[Antoine Capet]

Dear all,

In his letter to CSC dated 11 August 1947, WSC mentions that his visitors from Time-Life "brought as goodwill offerings Cigars,
Brandy, a Meisner ham & lots of chocolate for you".

Searches on Google only produce references to radio hams : surely he must have been referring to the food product in those days of
severe rationing in the UK ?

What sort of ham was / is Meisner ham, if anybody knows ?

Thank you all in advance for any enlightenment.


Professor Antoine CAPET, FRHistS
Head of British Studies
University of Rouen
76821 Mont-Saint-Aignan
France
antoin...@univ-rouen.fr

'Britain since 1914' Section Editor
Royal Historical Society Bibliography

Reviews Editor of CERCLES
http://www.cercles.com/review/reviews.html

[mfste...@aol.com]

In researching my book, Dinner with Churchill, I too was flummoxed by this ham name and so left it out of the book.
Cita Stelzer
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

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[mfste...@aol.com]

In researching my book, Dinner with Churchill, I too was flummoxed by this ham name and so left it out of the book.
Cita Stelzer
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

-----Original Message-----
From: "Antoine Capet" <antc...@aol.com>
Sender: church...@googlegroups.com
Date: Thu, 3 May 2012 17:36:46
To: <church...@googlegroups.com>
Reply-To: church...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [ChurchillChat] Meisner ham at Chartwell, 1945

[Chris Dunford]

Although the other items are foodstuffs, it wouldn't surprise me at all if
this actually did refer to a radio. Meissner (note correct spelling) was a
well-known radio manufacturer of the era and sold a lot of "morale radios"
to the troops at low cost.

See here, for example:

http://www.ohio.edu/people/postr/bapix/Ms9_1085.htm

That one isn't actually a ham radio, but the point is that Meissner (a) made
ham radios, (b) was well-known at the time, and (c) was heavily involved in
the war. It would not be at all surprising to find that WSC was quite aware
of them and could casually refer to a Meissner radio in this fashion,
confident that the recipient would also know what he was talking about.

- Chris Dunford

[håkan hallstedt]

Dear all,

Meissner ham is made from a special pig from a region in Germany with that name. 

http://www.kulinarium-meissner-land.de/produkte/wurst-und-fleischwaren.html

Sorry about the language. 

Could that be the ham in question?

Best regards

Håkan Hallstedt

Stockholm, Sweden

[Antoine Capet]

Dear Mr Dunford,

Thanks for taking the trouble to answer.

But (and older Britons are welcome to correct me) I do not think that "wireless sets" or "radio sets" were "rationed" in post-war
Britain. Why should Americans bring a radio set to WSC in 1947 ? On the other hand a good whole ham - not easy to obtain on
"coupons" - would be most welcome . . .

Best,

A.C.
=============

-----Message d'origine-----
From: Chris Dunford
Sent: Thursday, May 03, 2012 7:27 PM
To: church...@googlegroups.com
Subject: RE: [ChurchillChat] Meisner ham at Chartwell, 1945

[Antoine Capet]

Dear Mr Hallstedt,

Many thanks for this most likely lead. Of course Meissner could easily have been misspelt as Meisner by WSC.

The puzzling question is why he should have assumed that CSC would immediately understand what he meant. Was Meissner ham famous
in Britain at the time ? Why ? Since then ?

Also extremely puzzling is why / how Meissner ham could be procured in 1947, at a time when Germany was starving, so much so that
the perpetuation of rationing in Britain was justified by the need to "share" with Germans in the British Occupation Zone in
Germany.

And how did the two Americans from Time-Life (stationed in London) obtain the coveted German ham ? (The question would not arise
if it were American ham.)

It is of course highly interesting that Cita Stelzer was unable to trace the allusion in her thoroughly-researched book.

Many thanks again for this lead,

A. Capet
================

-----Message d'origine-----
From: h�kan hallstedt
Sent: Thursday, May 03, 2012 7:17 PM
To: church...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [ChurchillChat] Meisner ham at Chartwell, 1945

Dear all,

Meissner ham is made from a special pig from a region in Germany with that name.
http://www.kulinarium-meissner-land.de/produkte/wurst-und-fleischwaren.html
Sorry about the language.
Could that be the ham in question?
Best regards

H�kan Hallstedt

[Johan Arve]

The web site indicates that Meissner is a type of pig = Meissner Schwein.

Den 3 maj 2012 21:06 skrev "Antoine Capet" <antc...@aol.com>:

Dear Mr Hallstedt,

Many thanks for this most likely lead. Of course Meissner could easily have been misspelt as Meisner by WSC.

The puzzling question is why he should have assumed that CSC would immediately understand what he meant. Was Meissner ham famous in Britain at the time ? Why ? Since then ?

Also extremely puzzling is why / how Meissner ham could be procured in 1947, at a time when Germany was starving, so much so that the perpetuation of rationing in Britain was justified by the need to "share" with Germans in the British Occupation Zone in Germany.

And how did the two Americans from Time-Life (stationed in London) obtain the coveted German ham ? (The question would not arise if it were American ham.)

It is of course highly interesting that Cita Stelzer was unable to trace the allusion in her thoroughly-researched book.

Many thanks again for this lead,

A. Capet
================

-----Message d'origine----- From: håkan hallstedt

Sent: Thursday, May 03, 2012 7:17 PM
To: church...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [ChurchillChat] Meisner ham at Chartwell, 1945

Dear all,
Meissner ham is made from a special pig from a region in Germany with that name.
http://www.kulinarium-meissner-land.de/produkte/wurst-und-fleischwaren.html
Sorry about the language.
Could that be the ham in question?
Best regards

Håkan Hallstedt

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[Johan Arve]

Meissener probably means "belonging to", "coming from" or "brand/kind". Pilsener beer would be beer of a type that originated from Pilsen.

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[Antoine Capet]

Dear all,

Has any of you ever seen a copy of the book announced as

Churchill and de Gaulle : the greatest allies
by Stossel, Clifford A.
(Headcorn : Headcorn Instrumentation, 2009)
ISBN 9780956328700 ?

It is listed as "out of stock" on all major booksellers' sites - but was it ever "in stock" ?

Best wishes,

[Terry Reardon]

I have had an order in with Amazon UK since last November in order to review
the book for "Finest Hour."
They have had no success in locating the book.
Terry Reardon

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[Antoine Capet]

I am not sure whether this interesting article has been mentioned before on the List or in Finest Hour :

Barr, Charles. ‘ “Much pleasure and relaxation in these hard times” : Churchill and cinema in the Second World War’.
Historical Journal of Film, Radio & Television 31-4 (2011) : 561-586.

Best wishes to all,