This short paper was accompanied by a PostIt note "Russian visit to Harwell -- probably Bulganin and Khruschev to BEPO etc" written by Bob L who joined Harwell in November 1955 as a Scientific Assistant. He recalls:
We had many VIPs visiting Hanger 10 in those days in fairly quick succession so that working high up on a rig near the reactor I often had a bird's eye view of those occasions. I believe at the time the general opinion towards the Russians, at least of the lower paid workers, was not of respect. This is exemplified by the apprentice flag changing incident outside B77. I was not physically there at the time but the news soon spread. One of my friends loved to tell the story of the apprentices' amusing prank whenever he had a chance!
As far as I remember the Russian flyers were perhaps in the hanger and anyone could pick one up, and of course being in Russian no one could understand them anyway! The Russian visit took place on a Friday but we also learnt that they were to return the following day for a guided tour around other parts of the site. So on a quiet Saturday morning I cycled in via the north gate to just outside the glass blower's workshop. No special security measures were in place and only a handful of staff were looking on. Then to my surprise, while leaning against the cycle, Bulganin and Khrushchev came out of Building 401 (I think!) and were ushered away by officials! It seemed such a remarkable situation, there was me a young man with a bicycle and opposite were two men who could potentially destroy the world!
A maiden trip by the Premier of the Soviet Union Nikita Khrushchev and Prime Minister Nikolai Bulganin was the first visit by a Soviet leader to the West since the proclamation of peaceful coexistence as the guiding line of Soviet foreign policy. Khrushchev and Bulganin, at the head of a large Soviet delegation that included figures of science and culture, arrived in the UK by boat on 18 April 1956 and stayed until 27 April. They held exhaustive talks with their British hosts, notably with the British Prime Minister Anthony Eden, though they also dined with Winston Churchill, and had a confrontational and unproductive encounter with the leaders of the Labour Party.
UK record of discussions with a Soviet delegation including Bulganin and Khrushchev.
Prime Minister of USSR Nikolai Bulganin and Secretary of the Communist Party Nikita Khrushchev met by Sir Edwin Plowden and Sir John Cockcroft on arrival to Harwell atomic energy research centre. They leave car and are greeted by dignitaries. They enter Cockcroft Hall. Bulganin and Khruschev and group leaving the control room. Various shots of Bulganin and Khrushchev being given tour around. Close up shot as Bulganin and Khruschev look at diagrams of reactors. Bulganin and Khrushchev looking at model of DIDO reactor. General views of Hangar 10 showing section of pile. Bulganin and Khruschev leaving ZEUS building. Bulganin and Khrushchev with escort, wearing protective clothing, in chemical engineering section; they are being shown piece of metal Beryllium. More shots of the procession of cars moving along country road on the way to Harwell, crowd lining road.
The visit of two Russian leaders to Oxford brought boos, whistles and cheers -- and more than a little humour. Hundreds of people turned out on April 21, 1956, when the Soviet Union's president, Nikita Khrushchev, and Marshal Nikolai Bulganin arrived in the city.
The Oxford Mail reported: Crowds 20-deep lined St Aldate's from the Post Office to Carfax traffic lights, with sightseers viewing from the windows of the four-storey buildings opposite the town hall. Very few even got a glimpse of the pair as they got smartly out of the car and were enclosed by newsreel and press photographers at the entrance to the town hall. Some climbed the stairs of stationary buses to try to see. The three cars which brought the official Soviet party were escorted by six police motorcyclists.
Mr Khrushchev waved from inside his car before getting out, but he stopped only for a matter of seconds at the foot of the town hall steps when greeted by the mayor. The crowds waited for 15 minutes outside the town hall. Just before the official party came out, someone shouted from the quiet crowd: "Come on, Bulgy and Co!" We now know that was the voice of Christopher Prior -- he admitted being the joker in his memories of Oxford in the 1940s and 1950s (Memory Lane, January 26). He recalled: "The citizens fell about!"
This was not the only occasion when humour ruled. A group of undergraduates kept up a constant chant of "Poor old Joe," a reference to former Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. Earlier, a large crowd of undergraduates met the Russian contingent outside the Clarendon Building in Broad Street, with shouts of "Speech!" and "Go Home!" During a visit to New College, a student mischievously set off a thunderflash, which caused initial panic among security guards.
The Russian leaders, who were visiting Britain to try to ease tensions between East and West as the Cold War intensified, met the mayor, Cllr Marcus Lower, and political leaders at the town hall. During talks with university representatives, they were enthusiastic about suggestions more Oxford students should visit Russia.
It was also agreed a mahogany desk chair looted from the Russians during the fall of Sebastopol in 1855 should be returned. It was taken from the study of the Russian commander-in-chief by the servant of Colonel (later General) RJ Baumgarten and bequeathed to his grandson, the Rev JP Thornton-Duesbery, the Master of St Peter's Hall, who offered to hand it back. Marshal Bulganin, the Soviet Premier, said the chair would probably be placed in the Museum of Arts and Sciences in Leningrad. The Russians also visited Harwell's atomic energy research plant.
