A J Alan - A Short Story Collection: Alan

By A. J. Alan

Leslie Harrison Lambert was born on 11th November 1883 in Nottingham.

After attending Rugby School he trained to be a surveyor. One of his passions was magic and such was his prowess that he joined The Magic Circle, and performed at society events.

By the beginning of World War I he was an amateur radio ham and volunteered to work at a coastguard station in Norfolk to intercept German radio transmissions. By November 1914 he was with the Admiralty at Naval Intelligence Room 40. By 1919 this had become part of the new Government Code and Cypher School. He was still there as World War II erupted across Europe and with many of his colleagues he transferred to Bletchley Park. There, in Hut 8, he was quoted as saying that "in contrast to his outrageously unconventional stories" that he led his life on "a monotonously regular timetable". Life outside the Intelligence services was very different. He married but the couple had no children. They lived at Holland Park with a second home at Potter Heigham for sailing on the Norfolk Broads. Other interests were as an amateur radio operator, using the call sign G2ST, and an authority on food and wine.

He contacted the BBC to suggest he might tell one of his own short stories on the radio. Thus was born A J Alan, and his broadcast of ‘My Adventure in Jermyn Street’, on New Year’s Eve, 1924. It was an immediate success and although he only broadcast a handful of times a year he was one of the most popular radio personalities of the time. He spent weeks working on each short story, honing his conversational style, making his stories seem like anecdotes that had peculiarly happened to him.

A live broadcast was, in fact, a performance. He used cards to avoid any rustling noises and kept a candle lit in case the lights failed. His attire was a dinner jacket with eye glass, and a slim black briefcase.

Many of his stories were subsequently printed in newspapers and magazines.

By 1937 his health had deteriorated and he reduced his radio work making his last broadcast on 21st March 1940.

A J Alan died on 13th December 1941.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Miniature Masterpieces
• Release date: Jul 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9781803549798

Book preview

A J Alan – A Short Story Collection

An Introduction

Leslie Harrison Lambert was born on 11th November 1883 in Nottingham.

After attending Rugby School he trained to be a surveyor. One of his passions was magic and such was his prowess that he joined The Magic Circle, and performed at society events.

By the beginning of World War I he was an amateur radio ham and volunteered to work at a coastguard station in Norfolk to intercept German radio transmissions. By November 1914 he was with the Admiralty at Naval Intelligence Room 40. By 1919 this had become part of the new Government Code and Cypher School. He was still there as World War II erupted across Europe and with many of his colleagues he transferred to Bletchley Park. There, in Hut 8, he was quoted as saying that in contrast to his outrageously unconventional stories that he led his life on a monotonously regular timetable. Life outside the Intelligence services was very different. He married but the couple had no children. They lived at Holland Park with a second home at Potter Heigham for sailing on the Norfolk Broads. Other interests were as an amateur radio operator, using the call sign G2ST, and an authority on food and wine.

He contacted the BBC to suggest he might tell one of his own short stories on the radio. Thus was born A J Alan, and his broadcast of ‘My Adventure in Jermyn Street’, on New Year’s Eve, 1924. It was an immediate success and although he only broadcast a handful of times a year he was one of the most popular radio personalities of the time. He spent weeks working on each short story, honing his conversational style, making his stories seem like anecdotes that had peculiarly happened to him.

A live broadcast was, in fact, a performance. He used cards to avoid any rustling noises and kept a candle lit in case the lights failed. His attire was a dinner jacket with eye glass, and a slim black briefcase.

Many of his stories were subsequently printed in newspapers and magazines.

By 1937 his health had deteriorated and he reduced his radio work making his last broadcast on 21st March 1940.

A J Alan died on 13th December 1941.

Index of Contents

My Adventure In Jermyn Street

The Hair

My Adventure in Norfolk

The Diver

The 19 Club

My Adventure in Jermyn Street

I am going to tell you about rather a curious experience I had three years ago. One morning in October a letter arrived by the first post which rather puzzled me. The envelope was typewritten, and it contained just a single stall for Wyndham’s Theatre for the same evening. No letter or card to say who it was from—just the ticket.

Of course, it was obvious what had happened—somebody had found himself with a ticket that he could not use and had sent it on to me, quite forgetting to put a note in with it. He would probably ring me up during the morning.  However, no one did telephone, so during the afternoon I got through to two people who might have sent it, but neither of them had. Anyway, it didn’t matter. The play was Bulldog Drummond; and I hadn't seen it, so I naturally decided to go.

I got there a shade early and went and sat in my seat, which was in the middle of the sixth row, wondering rather vaguely which of my friends was going to sit next to me; at the moment there was no one else in the row at all. Presently in came four Americans who took the seats to my left—not people I knew—and a minute or two later an elderly married couple, whom I did not know either, came in and sat down next but one to my right. When the curtain went up the seat immediately to my right was still empty, and so it was at the end of the act.

During the first interval I went out and smoked a cigarette, and during the second—as still no one had turned up to sit in the seat—I went round to the box office and inquired whether it had been sold at all. The man looked up the plan and said, Oh, yes—it had been sold all right and to the same person who'd bought mine the day before, but that was all he could tell me. So I didn’t worry any more.

Now, then. While I was clawing my way back to my seat for the last act the lights went down, but there was just enough twilight left to see that the mysterious stall was at last occupied:—and by a lady whom I'd never seen before in my life. I must describe her a little, if you don’t mind, because her appearance had everything to do with what happened afterwards.

She was about thirty. Most attractive-looking and well turned out. She hadn't much jewellery, but what there was looked good. I liked the way she did her hair; I mean