Items From The ZB's

New Zealand Listener, Volume 6, Issue 154, 5 June 1942, Page 21

Items From The ZB's

HE "Information Please" quiz session, whi¢h has become familiar to ZB listeners all over New Zealand, has been replaced by a new show, entitled "Take It or Leave It" which brings a new angle to quiz sessions, one of the most interesting features being the computing of prize money. A competitor who answers his first question is offered a half crown prize which he can either take or try to convert into five shillings by answering a further question. If he is lucky again, he can try for 7/6. Instead of drawing a question by lot, the competitor is given a list of six from which he may choose, the subjects ranging from cookery to mythology. Like "Information Please," "Take It or Leave It" is under the control of "Professor Speedee" at each commercial station. Prior to being introduced to ZB listeners throughout the country, the idea wag tried out at 3ZB, with such success that it was decided to run it nationally. As a gesture in the Liberty Loan campaign, a leading citizen of Dunedin has taken the unusual step of sponsoring a 15-minute musical session, "Ballads of Britain", over 4ZB. It is broadcast every Saturday evening and presents a variety of spirited ballads that are associated with the English character. In place of the usual "commercial" the session carries a message aimed to stimulate public interest in the Liberty Loan. The sponsor has chosen to remain anonymous. " > * FEW poems in recent years have attracted so much attention as Alice Duff Miller’s long narrative poem The White Cliffs which was featured from 4ZB as a Sunday evening highlight some months ago. It was presented by Jessie McLennan, and the response was such that it is being put over the air again as a sponsored session every Tuesday evening at 7.45. The popularity of The White Cliffs is due largely to Lord Lothian, England’s late ambassador to the United States. Just before he died at his post, he gave the poem to an English visitor, Sir Walter Layton. "This little book has swept America," he explained. "They ought to know about it in England." Sir Walter took the book to England, and gave a copy to Winston Churchill. The White Cliffs expresses in simple language what the two Englishspeaking nations feel about’ the war and about each other. It is told in the words ‘of an American woman who lost her English soldier husband in 1918 and must face the possibility of losing her son "this time." * * . SINCE 3ZB’s Musical Army first paraded three years ago, hundreds of ' Christchurch youngsters have passed through the ranks and become proficient in some branch of music. On Sunday, June 7, at 7.15 p.m. 3ZB listeners will hear a recital by one of the Army Captains, Peter Ferris, who is fresh from a notable success at the Christchurch Competitions. His programme will include special arrangements for piano-accordion ef Monti’s "Czardas" and Schubert's | "Marche Militaire."