Editing Sefton Delmer (section)

==Early career==

[[File:Letter Hitler-Delmer.jpg|thumb|Cordial letter from Hitler to Delmer, 30 September 1931, commenting on "crisis" in England]]

After leaving university, Delmer worked as a [[freelance]] journalist until he was recruited by the ''[[Daily Express]]'' to become head of its new Berlin Bureau. Whilst in Germany, he became friendly with [[Ernst Röhm]], who arranged for him to become the first [[United Kingdom|British]] journalist to interview [[Adolf Hitler]], in April 1931.<ref>[https://www.psywar.org/delmer/2013/1001 Adolf Hitler by Sefton Delmer] at psywar.org. Retrieved 1 August 2017.</ref>

In the [[German federal election, November 1932|1932 German federal election]], Delmer travelled with Hitler aboard his private aircraft. He was "embedded with Nazi party activists" at this time, "taking copious notes on everything from the style of the would-be [[Führer]]'s oratory to the group think that lay behind the bond he was forming with the German people."<ref>James Crossland: "Fake news is old news". ''History Today'' (November 2018), p. 19.</ref> He was also present in 1933 when Hitler inspected the aftermath of the [[Reichstag fire|''Reichstag'' fire]]. During this period, Delmer was criticised for being a [[Nazism|Nazi]] sympathiser, and for a time, the British government thought he was in the pay of the Nazis. At the same time, the Nazi leaders were convinced Delmer was a member of [[MI6]]; his denials of any involvement only served to strengthen their belief that he was not only a member, but an important one.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rankin |first1=Nicholas |author1-link=Nicholas Rankin |title=A genius for deception : how cunning helped the British win two world wars |date=2008 |publisher=[[Faber and Faber]] |isbn=978-0-571-22196-7 |page=192}}</ref>

In 1933, Delmer was sent to [[French Third Republic|France]] as head of the ''Daily Express'' Paris Bureau. In 1936, Delmer married the artist [[Isabel Rawsthorne|Isabel Nichols]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.francis-bacon.com/outofthecage|title=Out of the Cage: The Art of Isabel Rawsthorne &#124; Francis Bacon|website=www.francis-bacon.com}}</ref> Delmer covered important events in Europe including the [[Spanish Civil War]] (reporting with [[Ernest Hemingway]], [[Martha Gellhorn]] and [[Herbert Matthews]]<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Vernon |first1=Alex |title=Hemingway's Spanish Civil War Despatches |journal=[[The Mailer Review]] |date=2010 |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=427–8 |publisher=[[University of South Florida]]|issn=1936-4679}}</ref><ref>[https://www.amazon.co.uk/Boadilla-Esmond-Romilly/dp/1999654307/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= ''Boadilla''] by Esmond Romilly, [[The Clapton Press]], London, 2018 {{ISBN|978-1999654306}}</ref>) and the [[invasion of Poland]] by the ''[[Wehrmacht]]'' in 1939. He also reported on the German [[Battle of France|western offensive in 1940]].