Around The Nationals

New Zealand Listener, Volume 6, Issue 140, 27 February 1942, Page 20

Around The Nationals

OMB Doors Open" an exciting dramatisation of the training of an air observer is a BBC feature thet; wil be heard after the London News at 6.30 p.m. on Monday, March 2. It is the answer to anyone who has asked "Why does a bomber carry an observer?" "Why not carry an extra bomb instead?" Perhaps the name "observer" is misleading. Certainly after hearing "Bomb Doors Open" one realises that this member of a bomber crew has to do a lot more than merely "observe." The feature was written and produced by Cuil McGivern in collaboration with training and bomber commanc~ of the R.A.F. and was heard from the BBC on the R.A.F’s 23rd birthday. It follows the career of a bank-clerk who feels somewhat humiliated at being chosen for training as an air observer and not as a pilot, but later is proud of the responsible part he finds himself called on to play. For, as it turns out, he is just as important as the pilot. On his skill in navigating the bomber to the objective and finally in sighting the bombs depends the success of the whole expedition; if he fails in his job, the work of dozens of others, the flight itself-and the bombs-are wasted. * * * PERATIC excerpts with the NBS orchestra, a chorus, and soprano comprise a special programme to be presented from 2YA on Tuesday evening, March 3, in place of the usual orchestral concert. The selections are from operas of the romantic period, and they expose a cross-section of the music of the lyric stage in the 19th century. Weber, the pioneer of romantic opera, is represented by the Finale of Act 3 of Der Freischutz and the Finale of Act 3 of Oberon; Bellini, who stands between Rossini and Verdi in time, and above them both in the esteem of certain composers (Wagner and Stravinsky to wit) is represented by an aria from The Somnambulist; Wagner himself by an introduction and chorus from Lohengrin; Catalini by an aria from his best-known work La Wally; the Bohemian Smetana by the overture to his The Bartered Bride. A more recent composer, Delius, is represented by the intermezzo " The Walk to the Paradise Garden" from his A Village Romeo and Juliet. % Eo & ADELINE ALSTON, a _= much travelled ornithologist and writer, will give a series of talks from 2YA. With her husband, Colonel Conyers Alston, she was in South Africa, Turkey, Palestine, and Egypt. © ‘n 1925 her articles were published in England and several books followed. She has followed up her study of birds in New Zealand, and has been to Little Barrier to watch the birds there. Her talks will be linked together by a thread of ideas; the first (2YA, 11.0 a.m., Monday, March 2) is "What Makes for Happiness"; after that, "Woman and the Home" and "On Staying at Home." An interview with Mrs. Alston appeared in The Listener in March, 1941,