THINGS TO COME

New Zealand Listener, Volume 5, Issue 116, 12 September 1941, Page 3

THINGS TO COME

A kun Through The Programmes

WO hundred years ago next Sunday (September 14) Handel completed the masterpiece that Britons love perhaps more than they love any other composition-The Messiah. It was completed in a little over three weeks, and has been ringing through the world for nearly two centuries. In the words of Newman Flower, "Considering the immensity of the work and the short time involved in its composition, it will remain perhaps forever the greatest feat in the whole history of musical composition." The Messiah Bi-Centenary programme to be broadcast from 2YA on Sunday afternoon, September 14, will embody descriptive incidents of The Messiah’s beginnings, also the last occasion on which Handel himself was the conductor, Million-Airs Some industrious person in 2YA has compiled a list-by no means a little list-a very long list. It contains 89 names of songs that have sold a million. From this big field Rosaleen Hickmott and George Morrison have made a selection which listeners will hear from 2YA at 8.14 p.m. on Wednesday, September 17, With the soprano and bass ‘will be a chorus. They don’t propose to sing all these 89 songs, but they have selected enough to fill in 23 minutes of programme time. We can’t give the whole list here, so readers will have to wait —

and listen for themselves to see what it contains; but we do notice that almost all the songs are old songs, like " Songs My Mother Taught Me," and they range from "Ora Pro Nobis" and Braga’s * Serenata" to "Trees" and "Valencia." The nearest thing to modernity seems to be "There'll Always Be An England." Historical "My God," said Mr. Arliss, speaking to the Shah of Persia, with his hat on, "if I could have served my country as well as I have served the Suez Canal Company, I should have been a great man." His real name, of course, was Cranmer, and he lived in Latimer Square. He was a tall dark man with

a hooked nose which he put very effectively into the vaults of the Bank of England just about the time Norman Montague was going to foreclose on Gaumont British Films, All this in exposition of our offsider’s idea about the BBC production which 2YA will broadcast on Friday evening, September 26. It is in the series about great parliamentarians. Our source of unofficial information seems to have mixed his facts somewhat, but listeners who really want to know who Disraeli was, why he wore his hat (see illustration), and even, per-_ haps, about his contribution to the progress of the film industry (see above), can tune in at the right moment and hear the unsullied truth about Gladstone’s doughty opponent. Cars Without Petrol Who remembers that lyrical little essay, "Farewell, My Faithful," published a few years ago in an American magazine, in which a motorist said goodbye to his trusty old Model T as lovingly as any Arab farewelling his steed? We had imagined that motorists, these sad days of petrol restrictions, had said a similar farewell to their vehicles and stowed them away, well covered in grease, until the day when coupons have disappeared from the land. But no! ‘In Auckland, at any rate, motorists are apparently just as interested in motoring as ever they were, even if, for some of them, motoring consists of taking the car out of the garage every week-end, polishing it with loving care, and putting it back again. Evidence of this continued and altogether praiseworthy enthusiasm among Auckland motorists is

the fact that Rod Talbot, who has been giving radio talks about motoring on and off since 1928, is still going strong from 1ZB. He is on the air every Thursday evening at ten o’clock, and his session is notable for a thorough grasp of his subject (he has been in the motoring business practically all his life) and his keen sense of humour. Busy Year It’s strange where music does lead the curious. An investigation of possible sources for an item by the Grenadier Guards Band from 4YA on Tuesday, September 16, at 8.15 p.m., led to a discovery that 1664 was a year notable for more than a substantial output of fine old ballads. In that same year an apple fell on Newton’s head and the scientist followed up his statement of the differential calculus by suspecting that gravitation and not bad luck had caused the dent in his learned pate, Charles II. tried the effect of healing by touch, Parliament passed the Conventicle Act, Queen Anne was born, New Amsterdam (New York) was taken from the Dutch, two people were burned for witchcraft, and while Charles was being touched back to health someone was composing "Here’s a Health Unto His Majesty.", This old tune, and a lot of others, will provide the material for 4YA’s broadcast of "Fantasia of 17th Century Music, 1664," Number 13 A friend of ours has a friend who knows a chap in the Air Force who trained with a group numbered 13. Every trainee in this group survived his course

without casualty, except one man who was transferred to another group and thereupon crashed. With Dad, however, different circumstances prevail when he visits the Café Chantant, as listeners will hear if they tune in to " Table No. 13," the musical-comedy feature which 2YA will broadcast at 8.26 p.m. on Saturday, September 20. Dad, as you can see by the illustration, is for trouble, Or is it luck? For Racegoers But for the fact that it would be poaching on the territory of another well known broadcaster, we would like to give a talk on Just Going to the Races. For on the few occasions on which we have patronised that noble sport, we

have met with remarkable experiences, Most of them were concerned with the strange and puzzling business of picking winners, and while, unlike the traditional humorist, we have never been forced to walk home without a shirt on our back, some hair-raising tales could be told. Selecting the right horse to back undoubtedly makes or mars the sport of racing for its patrons, and Dunedin race goers are likely to save themselves time, energy and, just possibly, a certain amount of ready cash by keeping in touch with a gentleman who styles himself "The Topper,’ and who conducts previews of week-end racing from 4ZB, at 9.45 p.m, every Friday. He will be giving previews of any important mide week racing fixtures, too. They Also Serve In June, 1940, when France collapsed, England awoke to the fact that she was threatened with invasion. Equipment was scarce, organisation had been disrupted, and both the army and the people were bewildered. Yet from this chaos there emerged order-and the Home Guard. Composed of men from every branch of society-from earls to poachers-this band of "old contemptibles" have now reached the stage of being ready to prove themselves the equals of any army in the world at guerilla warfare. Listen to 2YA at 8.2 p.m. on September 19, and hear "We Also Serve"-the BBC’s story of the development of Britain’s Home Guard.