THINGS TO COME

New Zealand Listener, Volume 12, Issue 287, 22 December 1944, Page 6

THINGS TO COME

A Run Through The Programmes

MONDAY N another page of this issue we have singled out the special programmes to be heard from the national stations on Christmas Day, but there is one item to be heard from 1YA at 8.17 p.m., in the BBC series "Snapshots of London," which we single out for our own personal preference, because we find its title consoling-"Fleet Street at Work." In any newspaper office, as the latter half of December approaches, you may hear the "holiday period" being referred to with bitter sarcasm, and our own is no exception. But if at times we envy the fortunate ones who can make a welter of summer holidays, journalists usually find ways of consoling themselves for the sorrows of being part of the Fourth Estate. Among them, in our case, will be the knowledge that Fleet Street, too, is At Work. Also worth notice; 3YA, 9.25 p.m.: "Trout" Quintet (Schubert). 4YA, 2.0 p.m.: "The White Cliffs of Dover." TUESDAY HE South Island Bowling Championships are to be held this year in Invercargill, from Tuesday, December 26, to Wednesday, January 3. Station 4YZ, therefore, will be the horse’s mouth when it comes to getting the results in other parts of the island, and with a due sense of its responsibility to the followers of this gentleman’s game, 4YZ is making special arrangements to provide a gaily list of results. It is also hoped to broadcast a commentary on the final of the South Island Singles Championship.

Also worth notice: a meee p.m.: "The Water Music" (Handel). 3YL, 9:1 p.m.: Quintet in F Minor (Franck). WEDNESDAY DIP you go down to the railway station at 6.0 a.m. the other day only to find that about half the population had been standing in the queue since 1.0 a.m.? And when the booking clerk said, "Sorry, no more reservations,’ did you turn away, regretfully deciding that it would have to be a holiday at home this yéar? Maybe you won’t be consoled, even after reading the Monday paragraph above, by the fact that the world of journalism will be at work over the holiday period,, but in. any case we advise yqu to tune in to 2YA at 11.0 a.m. on ednesday, December 27, when Carrie Wallace will give a talk entitled Holidays at Home. Also worth notice: 2YC, 8.0 p.m.:, Symphony No. 7 (Sibelius). 3YA, 9.30 pm: " London" Symphony (Vaughan Williams) THURSDAY HERE are various kinds of feverscarlet fever, typhoid fever, brain fever, and sea fever-but with students and members of the forces being drafted out to help the farmers with their harvesting this Christmas, a problem that appears to be facing the Health Depart‘ment at the present time is the possibility of hay fever. So,.if you are at all prone to it, and don’t want to sneeze your way through the coming summer,

listen in to 4YA at 10.0 a.m. on Thursday, December 28, when the Health in the Home series will deal with the question. Also worth notice: 2YC, 8.26 p.m.: Quartet in A Minor (Schumann). 4YA, 8.0 p.m.: "Tallis" Fantasia (Vaughan Williams). FRIDAY’ N the innermost sanctuary of the City of London, in Threadneedle Street, you come upon "a huge windowless cliff of a building with domes rising above the monumental walls like the superstructure of a battleship." That is how the BBC describes the Bank of England, in the programme "The Safest Place in the World," which will be heard from 2YA at 8.40 p.m. on Friday, December 29. The programme commemorates the 250th anniversary of the foundation of the Bank of England, and its script was written by Penelope Knox. The origin, the international significance, and the often spectacular history of the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street are dealt with by the aid of extracts from _the diaries of Londoners who knew her. Also worth notice: 1YA, 8.33 p.m.: "Lieutenant Kije: (Pro- ). SYA, 8.35 p.m.: Christmas Music (organ recital). : SATURDAY HERE was a time when listeners could complain-and did — that they had no opportunities of hearing the whole of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony at a sitting. But this year the

work has been played from various stations several times. As it occupies one hour 10 minutes of broadcasting time, it is usually impossible for the main national stations to fit it in, and it is left to the auxiliaries to give their listeners the chance to hear it in whole or in part, according to the stayingpowers of their ears. Among followers of Beethoven in our Christmas card list there is one who claims to listen for the whole 70 minutes, another who says 35 minutes is about his limit, and another (but he plays his own records, winding the gramophone handle for every side) who says he listens to one movement at a time. For those who are interested, 3YL will broadcast Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in D Minor ("Choral") at 9.1 p.m. on Saturday, December 30. Also worth notice: 1YX, 9.31 p.m.: Symphony No. 2. (Elgar). SUNDAY Y O you remember Nonsense Novels and the other books of Stephen Leacock, that serious Professor of Economics at Canada’s McGill Univer-sity-those books of laughter which were a scholar’s window on to life? If you do, then you will appreciate this BBC programme since it is an hilarious tribute to his memory, just such a tribute as he himself would have appreciated. If you do not, then there is a new world of sheer absurdity waiting for your exploration. Hear the programme from 4YA at 4.0 p.m. on Sunday, December 31, and then beg, borrow, or steal his books. It was Stephen Leacock who wrote, in parody of certain novelists, "He weighed himself recklessly on the slot machine, and dashed off in all directions." Also worth notice: 2YH, 3.0 p.m.: "Eroica" Symphony (Beethoven). 3YA, 3.0 p.m.: "Emperor" Concerto (Beethoven).