History of Kilburn and West Hampstead

 In 1971 Edward Heath, the Conservative PM, had lunch with his friend Alastair Hetherington, the editor of The Guardian newspaper. There had been some publicity about the security of information held by various government departments, such as the Inland Revenue. Heath had told Parliament this was not an issue, and the security of such information was beyond question. Hetherington was not so sure, and the two men made a friendly bet. Edward Heath, 1971 Alastair Hetherington, 1978 (WikiCommons) After the meeting, Hetherington contacted Ian Withers and invited him to The Guardian office. He gave Withers four names and asked if could find as much information as possible. He assured him the men had done no wrong and knew all about it – it was completely above board. Ian Withers (with kind permission of Ian Withers) Ian Withers and his brother Stuart ran Nationwide Investigations, a private investigation company.  In 1971 they had moved their office from Carshalton in South London t...