‘Today is Sunday,’ wrote Sherriff to Pips, ‘and we have had a fairly easy time’. He was still at the Officers’ Training School, so had little work to do. Today he had spent his time playing cricket: ‘I scored 23 – mostly from swipes which are the chief method of scoring on the ground at our disposal’. Sadly, though, it was unlikely to last – he expected to be moving on in a couple of days: ‘I am afraid we are returning to work again (which, after all, is all I suppose we are here for, much as I dislike it).’

Cricket was important to Sherriff throughout his life. Here he is (on ground, second left) with the Hollywood Cricket Club in the mid-30s. Other notables include Boris Karloff (middle row, second left), C Aubrey Smith (middle row, middle), and Ronald Colman, (middle row, third right). By permission of the Surrey History Centre (Ref: 2332/6/6/12/6)

He had received a letter from Pips telling him about the ‘aeroplane attack’ in London [the Germans were no longer using only Zeppellins] – Sherriff confessed that he had felt a bit ‘uneasy’, knowing that they had flown over the city.

He was continuing with his reading, turning often Marcus Aurelius, especially when he felt miserable; in happier times Scott was his author of choice. But Alice in Wonderland was still his favourite – in fact he had already lent it to two other officers: ‘it is so delightfully fresh and humorous that no one can fail to appreciate it.’

That was all for today’s letter – he promised a longer one later, but in the meantime, as it was a beautiful day, ‘I am going for a quiet country walk’.

[Next letter: 16 July]