Big Ben
HETHER you enjoyed 2YA’s broadcast of The Story of Big Ben last Thursday night depended to a large extent on whether or not you still feel a sentimental attachment to the nine o’clock chimes. To Londoners throughout the blitz the voice of Big Ben must have been a source of strength and comfort, aural symbol of their unchanging and unflustered defence of the British way of life. During the war we in New Zealand needed Big Ben. We needed the comfort of the minute of silent prayer. We needed the sense of kinship with our people in England which listening to a common symbol brought to us. We needed to listen to the news bulletin which Big Ben introduced. But now that the war has been over almost two years, Big Ben’s voice has something of the "monotonous and inescapable insistence of the next-dogr dog’s barking. If this programme had been produced two years ago we would have been considerably moved by it. But to-day such statements as "As far afield as. New Zealand Big Ben has become an institution and an integral part of everyday life" remind us mostly of our far-afieldnesss.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19470704.2.16.1
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
New Zealand Listener, Volume 17, Issue 419, 4 July 1947, Page 8
Word count
Tapeke kupu
195Big Ben New Zealand Listener, Volume 17, Issue 419, 4 July 1947, Page 8
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Material in this publication is protected by copyright.
Are Media Limited has granted permission to the National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa to develop and maintain this content online. You can search, browse, print and download for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Are Media Limited for any other use.
Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
Copyright in the Denis Glover serial Hot Water Sailor published in 1959 is owned by Pia Glover. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this serial and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the Listener. You can search, browse, and print this serial for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Pia Glover for any other use.
Log in