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when interviewed about Bahrain’s economy and what merchants in Bahrain sought

from the Government, answered simply: ‘stability’.

Scenes from inside the Police Fort headquarters in Manama and the outside

structure of the Ruler’s palace in Riffa were shown. The final segment of the

programme included a short interview with Belgrave on the local conflict. The

report is the only known live interview with the Adviser on film. During the

interview, Belgrave seemed rather nervous and uncomfortable. He said he thought

that some of the demands forwarded by the NUC were reasonable but others were

not. He also pointed to Wyatt that discussions with the NUC were still ongoing. 678

Wyatt later described his stay in Bahrain in his own memoir and saying that

he had become ‘persona non grata’ on the islands. He went on to allege that when

his interviews with locals was made known, a unit from Bahrain’s ‘local Army’

(possibly he meant the police) sought to stop his activities. But by then he had

managed to conclude all his interviews. Belgrave then asked Wyatt to leave the

country. 679 His diary entry of 2 June expressed his frustration at Wyatt’s behaviour

and his further knowledge of the NUC interviews. 680 Wyatt would later play role in

collecting funds to help with the defence of the exiled members of the Movement in

St Helena as is described in Chapter Nine.

In early June a letter written by Hassan Al-Mahmood, a Bahraini from

Muharraq was published in Al-Watan, criticising local cinemas for showing a pro-

678 ‘Report on Bahrain’, Panorama, BBC, 1956.
679 Wyatt, Confessions of an Optimist, 245-46.
680 Sir Charles Dalrymple Belgrave’s Personal Diaries, 2 June 1956.

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