WE MEET A FAMOUS VOICE

New Zealand Listener, Volume 13, Issue 338, 14 December 1945, Page 24

WE MEET A FAMOUS VOICE

BBC's Leading Naval Commentator

AS in the Royal Navy during the 1914-18 war .... later a pilot in the Fleet Air Arm... . wrote the play "While Parents Sleep" in 1932, and one or two other plays... has written, directed and acted in films . .. directed all George Formby’s films and some Gracie Fields films . .. . directed "All At Sea,’ "Keep Fit," "I See Ice," "It’s in the Air," and "Trouble Brewing" ... . during this war has been one of the BBC’s topnotch commentators, doing all the big naval broadcasts, eye-witness descriptions from Salerno, from a Malta convoy, about a naval action off Crete, and the Fleet Air Arm’s raid on Petsamo and Kirkenes ....is 44.... _is here as Chiet of Naval Information for the Pacific.

ND so on. Those were the biographical facts about Captain Anthony Kimmins, R.N., that I could have gathered without meeting him. It was easy enough to get hold of the facts. But they don’t make a portrait of the man. And trying to see enough of him to complete the picture turned out to be harder. Not that there was any difficulty about getting in touch with him. He was to call at an NBS studio to record two ten-minute talks, and I went there to meet him. On His Own Ground Captain Kimmins is a big man, in more than one way. He is very tall and solid, with a big head, ‘and a wide, frank face. And he has the habits of someone who has had to develop a technique for dealing with lesser people who seek Something from him. When you are introduced he leans down with an overwhelming smile. In his way, he is not unlike Sir John Reith. He is polite, and he greets you. But it is Ais ground he is meeting you on. It is he who will be in charge of the interview. He yields up nothing of his personality to casual inquirers. | People started making preparations for the recording. Blank discs went on to turn-tables, the light went on in the dark little studio next to the control-room, and a glass of water was put on the table under the microphone. Before Captain Kimmins made his test run, his offsider, Lt. Stewart, a former Daily Express man, saw the opportunity to create a fitting naval atmosphere. There was an engine-room telegraph, part of the Drama Department’s sound effects gear,.in'the studio. He signalled Full Speed Ahead with a distinctly nautical clang. Captain Kimmins enjoyed the joke, and opened his scripts. When the red light went on and we were all watching from the outside, there was an opportunity to see how one of the -BBC’s crack war commentators goes about his job. , He doesn’t put out his cigarette, for por thing. It stays alight in his right

hand, and he takes a short puff between sentences now and again. He doesn’t sit back in comfort with his legs stretched out; he sits on the edge of his chair, with his feet tucked underneath, resting on his toes. The effect is df nervous energy being poised for a skilled performance. As he reads, he fiddles with the end of his tie, or pushes back the roll of his shirt sleeve when it slips. And while your eyes tell you.all this, your ears hear that polished and precise but lively voice that you seem to have heard before. That he is reading, or smoking, would never occur to you if you were only hearing him. With his voice he projects your mind into the scene or the situation he is describing. There was a bit of backchat afterwards — Captain Kimmins said he had been in The House the night before, and "one gentleman was putting up a very sound argument but no one would listen to him’"-but I succeeded in getting him away and leading him to our photographer. On the way he asked me what The Listener wanted to know. So I asked him what it was, about the Navy, that produced literary menor was it a case of attract rather than produce? There was Taffrail, Bartimeus, Commander Gould, for instance. He.looked at me rather hard. "God forbid," he said, "that you should call me a literary man!" This was in effect a closure on the topic. But I persisted. So he admitted that perhaps the Navy, of all the services, provides the best copy. While the photograph was being taken, Lt. Stewart saw the need, and turned reporter's friend. He would try to arrange an appointment under less distracting conditions. No Time Like the Present Coming out of the building, he said to Captain Kimmins: "Our friend would like to have a talk with you, sir." (continued on next page)

(continued from previous page) Captain Kimmins stopped in the doorway. "Right!" he said, "Let’s have it here!" I was dumbfounded. How does one really discover anything about a man who will stand in a busy passageway and wait for questions to be asked? But it was my turn to be exacting. So I said, with an attempt to be equally blunt: "Tell me about films then. You were producing them?" "Yes, I did some of Gracie Field’s and all of George Formby’s." It was my turn to produce another question. I "began to feel like the castaways of Disappointment Island, with only five matches left, and all of em rather dampened. "What do you feel about Arthur Rank?" " I know Rank. I admire him. I think his intentions for the film industry are the very best. He’s out for the really good stuff." He suddenly stopped speaking. Another match had flared and gone out.

Lt. Stewart was waiting on the footpath a few feet away. A naval driver was watching from the car across the street, wondering what was going on. After a pause, I said: "Your plans for the future? Will you be broadcasting or back in films?" "I’ve no tie-up whatsoever with the BBC. I’m completely free of them, As a matter of fact I hope to write a few plays." I felt it was up to me to decide that Captain Kimmins was in a hurrywhich he was-and make a move towards the car. We took our leave. "If there’s anything else you want to know," said Captain Kimmins, "just give me a ring at the hotel." -Staff Reporter.