Around The Nationals

New Zealand Listener, Volume 5, Issue 117, 19 September 1941, Page 24

Around The Nationals

ee ISRAELI’S reputation, as the , [) sree said of the British Empire, is a ‘queer, queer thing.’ It is not-easy to recover the first rapture with which the Victorians received the miracle of a politician who could both write and speak, or to disinter from maiden hearts the ineffable romance of a Chancellor of the Exchequer who wrote fiction. To the modern eye, those ringlets are almost lack-hustre; and the figure which fascinated Queen Victoria, as it posed in Oriental attitudes against the tartan wall paper of Osborne, has lost something of its power. The emerald trousers and the canary-coloured waistcoat which drew the early ‘forties as with a magnet, fail somehow in their grip upon an age which dresses badly, but with some method in its badness; and there is litt romance in the feeling for aristocracy which Disraeli shared with Miss Marie Corelli." This vivid word picture of "Dizzy" was written by Philip Guedalla, oné of the acutest chroniclers of the history of the last century. Disraeli, listeners are reminded once again, is the subject of the second of the BBC series on Great Parliamentarians, to be heard from 2YA soon after eight o’clock on Friday, September 26. a ne Ea HEN Enmpire listeners hear the voice of Jan Bussell speaking from Lon.don, they probably get a totally incorrect impression of what he looks like. Actually, he is tall and lean and fair, with rather a lot of forehead and an air of gentle melancholy. Before he joined the BBC five years ago, he was an actor and producer, and his chief interest in life is still his old working hobby, the puppet theatre. He is one of the very few teal puppeteers in the world, and has gone touring with his puppet theatre in many countries. With the BBC his job has been mainly that of producer. He produced the first of the North American versions of Radio Newsreel, is now * producer of the Pacific version, and is heard as an observer in some of the background features of both newsreels. In particular, Empire listeners will have heard him in the Namesake Town series. : Ba é a x \WHEN Joy Asquith, the 18-year-old ‘ Auckland contralto, sings from the 1YA Studio this Saturday evening (September 20), it will be no new experience for her. She first broadcast from 1YA 12 years ago at the tender age of six. The explanation is, of cqurse, that she performed in the Children’s Session with "Cinderella." Miss Asquith is a member of the Royal Academy of Dancing, was the Sports Queen in the big Patriotic Carnival in Auckland last year, and was awarded the title of "Miss New Zealand" for physical excellence at the Centennial Exhibition. The picture of her on this page was taken when she won the "Miss New Zealand" contest, and, it must be admitted hardly suggests her vocal qualjfications,