THINGS TO COME A Run Through The Programmes

New Zealand Listener, Volume 1, Issue 19, 3 November 1939, Page 6

THINGS TO COME

A Run

Through The Programmes

\ X 71TH few exceptions, all the outstanding amateur and professional golfers in New Zealand have entered for the National Championships, first big event on the Centennial list of sports fixtures. The first three days come into next week’s programmes and at 7.10 in the evening after events on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, November 9, 10, 11, Harold Black, champion of 1930, will give listeners a commentary from 2YA over a national stations hook-up. Miramar is the course to be used. Overseas entries, of course, have simply not arrived, but the local field will make excellent golf. Hon. Gentlemen There are various kinds of Parliamentary humour. There is the laugh that is raised when a member sits down on his own hat, but this is liable to occur more often in the House of Commons than in Dominion Legislatures. There is the humour of repartee: "The hon. gentleman has thrown the apple of discord on to the floor of the House," said

the late G. W. Russell of F. M. B. Fisher. "Yes," retorted Mr. Fisher, "and the hon. gentleman got the pip." There is Parliamentany humour that is subtle, and more, so one would gather, that is penny plain. Downie Stewart, who is to speak on the subject at 4YA on Tuesday at 7.30, ought to be an authority. He was in Parliament for years, and he is sure to find more humour in his subject than our contrary artist has suggested. Adolf Was Innocent If you have been feeling that fate is playing the cards against you, listen to the true story of Adolf Beck. He bore such an amazingly close resemblance to a criminal who had married different women and absconded with their money that he was identified by

the women as the criminal. For his supposed crimes, he spent a long time in prison. Up to that point the story seems almost incredible, but what happened after is really more extraordinary than any fiction. Following his release, he was again mistaken for another criminal who had committed the same crime against several women. Again Adolf Beck went to prison, and it was not till he was old and broken that his innocence was discovered. "Misfortune and Adolf Beck" will be presented from 2YA Wellington, at 9.50 p.m. on Wednesday, November 8. Small Town Fun People who live in cities are rather inclined to look down upon those who live in small country towns, and pity them because they live so far away from the Bright Lights; ~. which is all very silly because life in a small town can be very amusing and worth living. Take Bunnyfield, for instance. Bunnyfield is a little country town with an immense amount of civic pride. Nearby lies Westfield, also bursting with commendable pride, and jealously between the two towns runs high. Listeners who would like to know more should listen in to 2YA Wellington at 9.25 p.m. on Monday, November 6, when "Royalty Comes to Bunnyfield" (the first of a series called "Bunnyfield Diversions") will be presented. These plays are by a New Zealand authoress, Grace Janisch. A play by Miss Janisch won a prize in the 1937-38 -radio play competition, and it suggested the new series which Miss Janisch was commissioned to write by the NBS. Viewpoints on Verse LO What are your favourite passages in Matthew Arnold and Tennyson, especially the latter? Would you plump for "The Charge of the Light Brigade" or the "Queen of the May," or the story of the peer disguised as an artist who married a humble maid, or "Enoch Arden," or what not? Because if you did you would find yourself sternly reproved by the critics.*Our own choice would be something like this: " Ulysses," passages from "In Memoriam," one or two things from " Maud," a bit out of " Lucretius," and the poem to Virgil. This for a start at any rate for, with reservations, we are unrepentant Tennysonians. As for Matthew Arnold, our choice would be verses from "The Scholar-Gipsy" and "Thyrsis," and the

purple passage at the end of "The Church at Brou." Well, we'll see what choice Professor Sewell of Auckland University, makes when he reads his Personal Anthology from these two poets at Auckland on Friday, November 10, at 8 p.m. Debunking Turpin Dick Turpin was a fraud! He was not romantic, nor gallant, nor debonair, nor a hero. In fact, he was none of the things legend says he was. He stole horses, insulted women, and murdered without compunction. His undoing was brought about by an act of bravado; he shot a cock-bird with his pistol. The shooting of a "privately-owned bird" was a bad offence. Turpin, who was posing as a wealthy gentleman-horse-dealer was taken to court and tried, and while he was on trial, his former misdemeanours came to light, and he was hanged at York on April 10, 1739. His story is dealt with in the feature "Two Worthies And A Highwayman," one of the "Notable Centenaries" series, to be heard from 1YA Auckland on Sunday, November 5, at 2.0 p.m. Because most people seem to take a vicarious delight in wickedness, the highwayman may be found a more interesting character than the two worthies, John Galt, who wrote the famous "Annals of the Parish" and Nicolas Saunderson, the brilliant English mathematician. Historic Road There is a lot of history in the Ngahauranga Gorge road, the main highway out of Wellington to the West Coast, and oldtimers will recall some of it when the reconstructed road is opened on Saturday next, November 4. Further back than their memories go, Ngahauranga (properly Ngauranga) was an historic place. Te Wharepouri lived by the stream that comes out of the gorge, and it was there that Colonel William Wakefield had his first talk on land about the purchase of Port Nicholson. It was a beautifully forested spot in those days. Later when the road was made, it was an important stopping place. with several hotels. Will Lawson has described: How, with hot brakes a-scream, Cobb’s coaches raced here long ago, Before the days of steam — Five Yankee lamps like jewels glowed, And five staunch horses tore Along the old Ngahauranga Road In those brave days of yore.

Listeners will hear something about the history of this old road from 2YA on Friday, November 3, the evening before the opening. Wreck Bear Island lies 210 miles from Norway, well north of the Arctic Circle. Bitter gales sweep its desolate wastes and huge seas pound its battlements of cliffs. It was here, in November of 1931, that the ship Howe was wrecked during a fierce storm. Her feeble wireless signals attracted the attention of neighbouring fishing trawlers, and several went to her rescue. On the opposite side of the island to the wreck is a wireless station and from here the two Norwegian operators set out to the rescue. It was only after 48

hours of struggle that a line was got down from the cliff-tops to the vessel and the crew saved. "Arctic Rescue," a vivid dramatisation of the event by " Taffrail," will be presented from 1YA Auckland, at 9.25 p.m., on Sunday, November 5. Waltz King A few weeks ago the municipality of Vienna seized the estate, the royalty rights, and the personal relics of one of its most beloved citizens-Johann Strauss. But the composer would probably have wished it to be so. On his death in 1899 he left his royalties to his widow and everything else to the Vienna Friends of Music Association. Since Johann Strauss is one of the most beloved of composers, listeners should find his "Tales from the Vienna Woods" well worth tuning-in to when it is presented from 3ZR Greymouth at 9.20 pm. on Tuesday, November 7.