CENTRE OF EMPIRE

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 92, 12 January 1935, Page 15

CENTRE OF EMPIRE

Journal of a Great City IMPERIAL LONDON Most new things begin with promise, but the first issue of “Imperial London,” a beautiful magazine, starts with a great achievement. It is rich in information and artistic illustration. The first panel of contributors guarantees high merit without too much literary embellishment. The journal is written for all classes in the British Empire, with perhaps a special appeal to exiled men and women whose duties keep them at the Empire's outposts. Among the writers are Messrs. J. B. Hflestley, 11. V. Morton, S. P. B. Mais and Gilbert Frankau. Several well-known experts contribute perfect articles of the kind on “The Romance of the Thames,” "The City of London,” “The City Livery Companies,” “Empire Broadcasting,” “London Transport,” “The Story of Gold,” “The World’s Best Dressed Ci4y,” and many other interesting subjects. The aim of the publishers is to combine an authoritative “picture” of the greatest city the world has ever known, with modern magazine appeal. They have hit the centre of the target with their first shot. It is impossible, of course, to review the whole cavalcade of London life and immense activities and universal influence, and only a few of the high lights may 'be shown, though the temptation to quote something from each informative article is almost overwhelming. Those who love the history and pageantry of London will find an equal ardour of affection in the magazine. “For Real Enjoyment Give Me London,” is the caption to Mr. Mais’s essay, and he reveals how and why he enjoys life in the friendly city. As a famous searcher, Mr. 11. V. Morton looks for “Faces in the Strand,” and everyone' who has strolled down that world-famed thoroughfare will see his own face as in a mirror—eager, exulting, contented. Mr. Gilbert Frankau explains why he lives in London and in justifying his reasons succeeds in making less fortunate people envious. “Do I need —at small cost—the taste of French food, of some ‘little wine’ they drink in Touraine or Perigord? Would I eat chop-suey among Chinamen, curry with the Hindus, or a pote with the men and women of Andalusia? Is my mood to watch Russians, playing their silent chess, or Austrians slapping their thighs to music? . . . They are all here, all in this London. . . . Whatever I want to see, London can show me—and instantly, whether it be pictures, gems, needlework, a face-lifting operation, a working model of a coal mine, a map of the Kalahari Desert, or the scale plan of the Cathedral at Bourges.” Transport iu London. After lingering in London’s fascinating byways one may enjoy in the pages of “Imperial London” and travel through the mighty city in every form of transport conveyance since the days of Henry the Eighth, who decreed the paving of old London’s main streets which were then "very foul and full of pits and slough, very perilous and noyous as well as for the King’s subjects on horseback, as on foot and with carriages,” until to-day, when a Londoner has a choice from over 90 separate transport undertakings. And what a procession!—rude carts, slung hammocks, sedan chairs, hackney coaches, cabs, elegant coaches, hansom cabs, horse omnibuses, trams, motorcars, tube railways, motor buses, and now, high overhead, aeroplanes and air liners. It is now claimed as a fact, not as an empty boast, that London is the world’s best dressed city. Londoners have conquered their former (inferiority' complex in respect of raiment.- They maintain a standard of smart and suitable dressing to be nowhere rivalled. The credit extends to all classes. Wealth is not the sole cause. The East End has its trim young women attired in the latest styles and its dapper young men. “Watch the business girl on her way to work. She is turned out with knowledgeable simplicity. . . She is as agreeable to look upon as the fashionable woman, a vision of sophiscation about to sally forth on a round of night life. . . . An evolution has taken place in the Englishman’s sartorial outlook. The younger generation prefer colour and freedom from dullness and tradition. . . . English style is used as a slogan in Continental shops to entice the customer. The Press has preached the art of living to the mass. Prices have come down.” Result: London in 1934 is the world’s best dressed city. There is something for everybody in “Imperial London,” and students will find it more entertaining without loss of accuracy than text books on arts and crafts, gold and silver, banking, insurance, stockbroking, modern housing and industrial expansion. The illustrations are first class. There are excellent photographs of his Majestv the King and his Royal Hifehness the Prince of Walds. A great journal about the greatest city of all time—“lmperial London.”

Imperial London,” by the Empire Trade League Publications, Limited (London : The Arden Press),