Description:"Mr Georgi Malenkov, former Russian premier and now (1956) Minister of Power Stations, made a secret visit Stone on Wednesday. Shortly before 1.00pm a convoy of black super Zis limousines sandwiched between two police cars arrived in the High Street outside the Crown hotel. So secret were details of the visit that half an hour before the Russian convoy arrived every national newspaper and all the local ones had a battery of reporters and photographers on and around the steps of the Crown Hotel and there was a crowd of about 200 in the immediate vicinity.
Mr Malenkov (pictured centre) met Sir George Nelson (left), Chairman of the English Electric Company on the steps of the Crown hotel. They entered the hotel and went to the Ballroom for lunch which consisted of “a typically English meal” of asparagus soup, smoked trout, roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, new potatoes, ice-cream, gateaux, coffee and a variety or red and white wines.
Following lunch there were speeches by Sir George Nelson and by Mr Malenkov which were translated by Mr A N Vassilissin, English Electric’s European export manager. After lunch Mr Malenkov was taken for a two-hour tour of the English Electric Stafford Works, returning to Stone in the evening for dinner at the Crown Hotel."
The above information is an extract from the Stone Guardian published on Saturday 24 March 1956.