1971年5月23日英国《星期日快报》（Sunday Express）报道Jailed Britons ‘plotted to oust Chairman
Mao’，称被中共关押的两名英国人涉嫌参与挑战毛泽东的行动，这两人分别是Mrs. Elsie Epstein（爱泼斯坦夫人）和David Shapiro（夏皮若）。该消息来自正在日本访问的澳大利亚籍左派记者Wilfred Burchett，他之前刚访问过中国。Burchett说爱泼斯坦夫人和夏皮若属于由美国人Sidney Rittenberg（即李敦白）领导的极左派“五一六”成员，他们试图把毛泽东的左右手林彪和周恩来赶下台，以此孤立毛泽东，使其变成傀儡。
该报说Burchett的消息可为多方面的信息所佐证，比如北京近来出现抨击“五一六分子”阴谋的大字报，毛泽东前不久接受斯诺访问时说在红卫兵运动高峰期间局势曾短期失控，外交界的消息来源说爱泼斯坦夫人曾出现在1967年冲击英国驻华代办处的人群中。
5月24日，Eric Gordon就这篇报道打电话给英国外交部远东司的L V Appleyard，说他以前在北京友谊宾馆时，在那里居住的外国人对1967年6月初英国驻华代办处两次被外国专家冲击的事情有很多讨论。美国人David Milton的儿子参加了冲击代办处事件，事后他告诉Gordon见到David Crook（即戴维•柯鲁克）、爱泼斯坦夫人、夏皮若也参与了此事。Gordon还说当时外国专家一致认为此事就是由上述三人（他们仨都是英国人）组策划的，但也都认为冲是对的。
Mrs. Elsie Epstein，原名Elsie Fairfax-Cholmeley，中文名邱茉莉，1943年与爱泼斯坦在重庆结婚，1944年离开中国。1951年应宋庆龄的邀请，爱泼斯坦夫妇从美国回到中国协助宋创办刊物<China Reconstructs>（即《中国建设》），1984年邱茉莉去世。
Shapiro 在1967年6月10日的《人民日报》上被称为夏皮若，后来改为夏庇若，英国外交部关记录他的名字是Michael Shapiro。他曾任英国共产党伦敦市Stepney区的头目，1950年由英共派到中国，长期在新华社工作，1986年9月29日去世。
Eric Gordon，原英国左派记者，1965年被中共聘请到外语出版社，1967年11月份要离开中国时，在从北京前往广州的火车上被扣留，因为中共在他的行李中事先检查出对中共形象不利的笔记。1969年10月他和妻子小孩一同被释放返回英国，1971年在伦敦出版<Freedom is a word>讲述了自己在中国的经历。
美国人David Milton和妻子Nancy Doll Milton在1964到1969年间在中国工作，任教于北京外国语学院。据戴维•柯鲁克的儿子柯马凯（Michael Crook）回忆，Milton在美国就从事工会运动，他有两个儿子，大的中文名是米克里，小的中文名叫米马克，其中米马克和柯马凯是在北大附中1965级初一的同班同学。（见米鹤都《柯马凯口述：老外红卫兵》）不知道参加冲击英国代办处的是Milton的哪个儿子。Milton夫妇返美后于1976年出版<The wind will not subside: years in
revolutionary China,1964-1969>。
据武宇红的硕士论文《“文革”中留京工作的外国专家不同的路径选择——以李敦白、马海德等为例》，爱泼斯坦夫妇和夏皮若都是在1968年3月18日被逮捕，且均于1973年1月出狱。
至于澳大利亚记者Wilfred Burchett，早在1969年11月就被原苏联叛逃者Yuri Krotkov在美国参议院的听证会上公开揭露为KGB特务。前苏联解体后，历史学家根据新发现的档案也证实了Burchett的特务身份。
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CONFIDENTIAL
(to:) Mr Morgan
Miss
Booker News Department
BRITISH SUBJECTS
DETAINED IN CHINA
1. Please see the attached
extract from the Sunday Express
of 23 May. I notice
that the extracts have repeated the allegation that Mrs Epstein "was seen
at the back of the mob during the sacking”.
2. Eric Gordon, a British subject formerly
detained in China, telephoned today about the
article. He said that when he was in the Friendship Hostel in Peking there had
been a lot of talk about
the two demonstrations against the British Mission in June 1967. Although he personally did not speak to
Mr Crook, Mr Shapiro or Mrs Epstein (his faction
was not on speaking terms with their faction) it was generally accepted among
residents of the hostel that the trio were among
the group of foreigners who had planned and participated in the two
demonstrations. At
that time
of course this was still a meritorious
deed. Mr Gordon also said that, as far as he could
recall, there had been a photograph of the
demonstrators in one of the foreign language journals produced by the Chinese-run Afro-Asian
Journalists Association in Peking. One of the
people who told him that the trio had been involved in the demonstrations was
the son of someone called Milton, an American resident
in Peking. Milton’s son allegedly took
part in the demonstrations.
3. Mr Gordon said that one of the
people on the latest SACU
tour of China who had formerly lived in China had heard from a Foreign Ministry
official that Mrs Crook was under arrest for
activities in support of the Rittenberg faction. Rittenberg
is an American, long resident in Peking, who was a member of one of the Red
Guard factions which seized control of the Peking Radio
during the most extreme phase of the Cultural Revolution and who was
subsequently disgraced and arrested towards the end of 1967. Mr Gordon did not
give me the name of his informant but I suspect that it may have been Andrew
Watson.
4. If what Mr Burchett is
reported by the Sunday Express to have said is true, then Mrs Epstein and Mr
Shapiro are in rather more serious trouble than we had thought. Rittenberg will
probably be treated quite severely by the Chinese authorities and anyone
associated with him is not likely to get off very lightly.
L V Appleyard
Far Eastern
Department
24 May 1971
Copied to:
PUSD (Mr Duff)
CONFIDENTIAL
出处：英国外交部档案FCO21/847
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