Dear Editor,
I was delighted to read the letter from Henry Haslam, headed 'There is much more to Iran', in the SCG last week.
I bow to his erudition in many matters, but why I write now is the extraordinary coincidence that I was a lecturer in Shiraz at exactly the time he passed through.
I had a Jewish landlord who looked after me for two-and-a-half years there, and helped me to learn Farsi, their language.
I had a modest income, as I was on a voluntary service overseas income, which I topped up by working at the British Council there.
It acted as the cultural arm of the Foreign Office of the British government.
As well as that, I befriended the Iranian head of Savak, the equivalent of the secret police, to ensure there was no revolution against Reza Shah (the puppet ruler imposed by the Russians and the British against the popular Tudeh party of Mohammad Mossadegh).
The Shah's wife was Qashqai, a nomadic group that wintered in the Persian Gulf at the ports leading to Hormuz – of such significance today in the ongoing war – and came up to the mountains at Shiraz, 5,000 feet above sea level in summer, for relief from the heat.
Don’t get me wrong; there was great fun, joy, and frivolity there!
The motto of the famous poet Omar Khayam then was, “Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow you may die!”
How opposite is that today for us all?
Jefferson Horsley
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