0001                                         29th November 1985.

0002 The Revd. Briuce Duncan,
0003 The Vicarage,
0004 Crediton
0005 Devon EX17 2AS.

0006 Dear Mr. Duncan,

0007      I am a more or less retired journalist and author,
0008 and am working on a memoir of W.H. Auden´s years in Austria
0009 when I got to know him very well.   As he and Chester Kallman
0010 were used to involving me in domestic catastrophes of various
0011 kinds, CtThester asked me to bring order into the chaos which so
0012 often follows upon a deathöand in this case was acute because
0013 of the total lack of comprehension between the anglo-american
0014 side and the local Austrian authorities.  Hence my approach
0015 to you; on enquiry I was given your name by the present
0016 incumbent of the Chaplaincy to the British Embassy in Vienna,
0017 Canon Phillips.
0018     Would you be so kind as to confirm that you took the
0019 ecumenical service - shall ISscall it that? in the church at
0020 Kirchstetten in October 1973, jointly with the parish priest?
0021      Do you recall the form of service used, and did John Auden
0022 consult you about it?  I simply cannot remember, and al[]shthough
0023 there was a long and magnificent passage from the NT which I
0024 could have sworn was from Corinthians^1/2, reading throutgh Cor.I & II
0025 nothing seems to ring the right bell.  Then there was the burial
0026 service. I am told that the whole occasion aroused a great deal
0027 of interest here and was mukuch discussed: so normal to the
0028 British, in Lower Austria it was a sensation.  I should be
0029 extremely grateful if you could find time to tell me anything
0030 that you remember, and give me permission to quote you.  Not
0031 everything about Wystan Auden was very appetising, his private
0032 life was a mess.  But he was kind, generous and totally
0033 unpretenstious, and personally I was devoted to him.  It is