Meet the LADIES

New Zealand Listener, Volume 1, Issue 19, 3 November 1939, Page 51

Meet the LADIES

"GRAN" of 1ZB-in private life Mrs. Donne-is a Scot. Nobody could possibly mistake it. She still talks with a faint Celtic burr that is fascinating, and she’s got a certain feyness of mind that is quick, penetrating, that tackles any problem of the mind or heart and irons it out smoothly. She’s got a dry Scots sense of humour, the same that made Sir Harry Lauder ‘one of the funniest comedians on earth, and the same sense of underlying kindliness in her wit, a feeling of unobtrusiveness that gave the puckish humour of Sir James Barrie the inevitable label of " whimsical." Gran is whimsical. She’s also rather shy, and shuns publicity. But if publicity and the type of "ionising " which usually follows a radio personality brings her into the public eye, she accepts it quietly and without fuss, and there’s an end. "Gran" spent her first New Zealand years in Southland and Central Otago, and her first introduction to radio was over Station 1ZS in Auckland, after which she went to 1ZM, Manurewa, There, as "Gran" of 1ZB, she became known to thousands of Scots, who formed a Scottish Radio Club with a member- ship of over four thousand. In 1937 she joined the Commercial Broadcasting Service at 2ZB, later trangferring to 4ZB, where she started the first women’s commercial session from that Station. Now she is up at 1ZB and conducts the Home Service Session at 2.30 daily. Always her sessions are characterised by her gentle whimsical sense of humour, her unobtrusive kindliness, her good Scots common sense. "Gran" has published a book, " Bits and Pieces," and has written numerous tadio sketches, which are far too heady, far too slick as radio scripts for us to be hoodwinked by "Gran’s" modesty, And there’s another thing — "Gran" shares with her sister the distinction of being the only women to have spent a night on Campbell Island, three hundred miles south of New Zealand. The island is now deserted except for a few sheep, and was reached only by a very small boat over very stormy seas. Yes, there are many things about "Gran" — for which we can admire her.