Muriel Gantry at Moira Cottage
Photo courtesy of Beryl Cheetham
45:03 / 355 words
Part 3 of 4
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On November 19, 1994, Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke interviewed Muriel Gantry at her home, Moira Cottage, in Sible Hedingham, Essex, England, about her 36-year friendship with Savitri Devi, as part of his research for his biography of Savitri Devi, Hitler’s Priestess. In 2002, Professor Goodrick-Clarke sold his interview tapes to me, along with all of this other research materials.
Muriel Gantry (born Agnes Muriel Cox, 1913–2000) was a theatrical costume designer and seamstress in London. She was also the author of the novel The Distance Never Changes (London: Hutchinson, 1965), which was dedicated to Savitri (Maximiani Portaz) and another friend.
I apologize in advance for the quality of the recording, which is poor in general, and particularly bad on the first side of the second tape. Muriel Gantry’s accent is also hard to understand. She was more than 80 at the time of the interview, and apparently she gave it without benefit of her false teeth.
The sound is also bad at the opening of the first segment, because Muriel did not know that the tape was actually running and did not speak directly into the microphone. She was apparently reading over some of Goodrick-Clarke’s notes. (Her correction of Ram Gopal’s name never made it into the final edition of the book.)
In the first tape, Muriel gives information about Savitri’s family, recounts how she met Savitri in 1946 in London through her neighbor Veronica Vassar, and tells of their friendship through the 1950s. In the second tape, she talks about her friendship with Savitri in the 1960s, particularly connected with the Cotwolds camp in 1962, and Savitri’s final visit in 1982, when she died at Moira Cottage.
If anyone knows anything about Veronica Vassar and other people mentioned in these recordings, please contact me at [email protected].
If you wish to help us pay to have this interview transcribed, please visit our Donations page today.
Greg Johnson
Editor-in-Chief