TOWER OF BABEL

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 4, Issue 129, 14 July 1941, Page 2

TOWER OF BABEL

EAVESDROPPING ON THE ETHER THE CHANGING FACE OF BRITAIN 0;v- of the oddest results of th? war has been the electrification more sense' than one by the B B.C. of a sleepy little country town somewhere in England—a town which, for censorship reasons is usually- calle/d "Hogsnorton." writes Maxwell Heath in the Otago Daily Times. Acting on the principle of planned dispersion, so that no bombs can put the British radio out of action, the 8.8.C. has established studios: and other services all over England. One of the most important of these centres is near Hogsnortot:. where some of the great country houseis have been taken over and converted into studios and Tiff ices. The natives, of Hogsnorton, who were at first startled and alarmed at some of the strange figures which had come to live among them, are now getting fairly used to the sight,; say of a dark figure in a conspiratorial clriak and a white turban walking through the market place. This particular figure is a member of General de Gaulle's Free French forces, who has been lent to the 8.8.C. as an announcer in Moroccan Arabic. He is only l one of more than a score of different nationalities who are to be seen in their national costumes- in the narrow streets and Avinding lanes of Hogsnorton. These <Viend.lv foreigners help in two of the most important services that the war has forced upon the 8.8.C. —foreign language broadcasts of news and news commentaries to most countries of the world, and "monitoring."

Important Service. "Monitoring" is," the curious word that has been given to. the service that listens to every broadcast on the ether. It is estimated that the monitors listen, to—and automatically record —over 1,000,000 words daily. Their written reports average 150,000 words, and the "Daily Digest" compiled from them 40,000 words. This bulletin goes to all dopartments of the British Government, as a highly valued, source of information, not only about enemy military activities, but also as a revelation of the trend of thought underlying Nazi propaganda—for, of course, the most important of the monitors are those who listen in Germany broadcasting in many languages. Thel distilled essence of this analysis of Nazi propaganda, its tricks and stratagems and* double tongues, is what can he heard every day by listeners to the 8.8.C.'s short-wave service. Hogsnorton, though, is not the only one affected by these' warlime activities. The sedate English members of the 8.8.C. have also suffered "a sea change into something rich and strange," as the result of country life. Men who had previously never been seen in any other clothes than a neat pin-stripe suit and black hat, have now blossomed out into corduroy trousers, vivid jumpers and, in some cases, even beards. The: primmest of London secretaries may be seen in trousers and high boots cycling with abandon down the country hills and, it must be admitted, rather shocking yokels. An Ungrateful Staff. One would expect them to be grateful at being thus removed from thei battle of London to an utterly neaceful little country town in the heart of one of the loveliest stretches of the English countryside. But they are not. On the contrary, they all fought strenuously against being sent out of London; and they take every possible chance to come back to it. This is merely because they find country life, out of' working hours, comparatively: dull and because sleeping and billeting arrangements arc necessarily somewhat primitive. There is a very strong undercurrent of feeling in almost every one of them, men and women alike, that in spite of bombs' it is fine to be in the front line when history is in. the making. This feeling is fully shared bv those rrfembers of the 8.8.C. who have been able to remain in London all along. They find, as most Londoners do, that it is an invigorating experience. Indeed, the difficulty of the Britirh Government generally is not to prevent panic evacuation from the large and bombed centres, but rather to force out as many as possible to the comparative safety, of the countryside.