THINGS TO COME

New Zealand Listener, Volume 21, Issue 531, 26 August 1949, Page 26

THINGS TO COME

Frank Swinnerton Remembers PRANK SWINNERTON, himself a novelist and critic of distinction, has many good stories to tell about the great figures of British letters during the present century. He recalled some of them in a series of five-minute talks in the BBC Light Programme, four of which have now been issued as transcriptions. Swinnerton’s memories are of the famous at their most human -of H. G. Wells tiring out his guests with wildly vigorous ball games; of J. M. Barrie trying to get out of writing a preface to The Young Visitors; G. K, Chesterton bellowing with laughter at his own jokes; Arnold Bennett gently boasting about the number of words he had written before lunch. Swinnerton has an observant eye and a memory for the telling incident. The first talk, under the title Z Remember, will be heard from 4YA at 2.1 p.m. this Sunday, August 28. The Case of Blondie "[Ts a funny thing," Frank Warren said, "but I’ve spent years evolving ingenious ways) of committing murder -and I’ve never had the curiosity to try out a single one of them. Can't you imagine how one would feel after having done it? You’d say to yourself: ‘For years I’ve been a slave to convention; I have the power of life and death and -have been afraid to use it; but now I’m free!’" \A writer of detective stories getting involved in a real-life murder sounds a tarnished theme on whjch to base.a radio play, but it is skilfully handled in The Strange Case of Blondie White, written by Bernard Merivale and Jeffrey Dell, and p¥oduced by the NZBS. It will be broadcast from 2YA. at 9.32 p.m, this Sunday, August 28. Does Warren carry out what he thinks he might do at the beginning of the story? Listeners will find out by tuning in to this slicklyproduced thriller in the best Dashiel Hammett style. Women’s Sessions at the YZ’s TARTING this week, the four YZ Stations will include a Women’s Session in their programmes. There will be four types of feature: recordings of the 2YA Wednesday morning panel’s discussion, a series of talks written by women earning their living in various ways and describing a routine day, "Among Ourselves," which will ‘ give listeners an opportunity to write into the station about things that interest them most, and a hobbies discussion. And once every four weeks answers will be given to a variety of listeners’ questions. Station 3YZ Greymouth will start its Women’s Session on Monday, August .29, at 2.15 p.m., 1YZ Rotorua, on Tuesday, August 30; at 3.0 pm., 2YZ Napier on Tuesday, August 30, at 10.45 am. and 4YZ Invercargill on Thursday, September 1, at 3.0 p.m. } London’s Policewomen \WHAT are the qualities necessary in ‘a policewoman? What sort of work is she expected to do? London may have the best police force in the world, but the addition of women police to its ranks has caused considerable argument in recent years. Some say women police are unnecessary, others that an up-to-date for¢e is deficient without

women to do certain jobs. Haigh, for instance, is supposed to have been the first criminal suspected through the intuition of a woman police officer sent to question him, and not because of any concrete evidence. H. M. How-grave-Graham, a former secretary at Scotland Yard, recently paid a short visit to New Zealand, and recorded a talk on London’s policewomen which

will be heard in 3YA’s Mainly for Women session at 2.30 p.m. on Monday, August 29. Recruiting is difficult, he says, for many reasons. One is that the wastage rate through marriage is very high, for discriminating constables are quick to snap up the smart, intelligent women who are genefally selected for this difficult vocation, —

Library Treasures ROBABLY not many of the regular visitors to the Auckland ~ Public Library are aware of the existence of the "Treasure Room,’ much less that it contains, what the Chief Librarian, John Barr, believes is the finest manuscript and rare book collection of its kind in either Australia or New Zealand. There are at least 100 manuscript books, in many languages and ranging over eight centuries, including a copy of Lectionarium Graecum written between the 10th and 11th Centuries, an Antiphonal or music service book with vellum leaves twenty-two inches by fifteen inches, and a tiny New Testament written in Latin and said to be the work of Thomas A’Kempis. This collection will be discussed by John Barr in the: talk A Treasury of Books, to be broadcast by 1YA on Thursday, September 1, at 7.15 pm. On September 8 Mr. Barr will discuss some of the library’s examples of early printed books, which, he says, prove that "in it§ infancy printing attained perfection. No better work has ever been done than that of the best of the first generation of printers." In the same talk Mr. Barr will mention some of the literary rarities kept in the "Treasure Room." These include First, ‘Second and Fourth Folios of Shakespeare, and a copy of the first book pri ted in New Zealand, a Catechism in’ Maori, dated 1830. Checkmate by Bliss RTHUR BLISS’S ballet Checkmate was first produced at an International Festival in Patis in 1937, and the English choreographer and ‘daticers astonished the foreign audience by their conception and execution of a ballet that shows a game of chess as a symbol of relentless human cruelty. The music was admired for its qualities of stately decorativeness and for its fierceness, which exactly matched the scenario. A concert suite, arranged by the composer later on,

made the music seem emptier and less successful, but even so it reveals Bliss as one of the strongest creative musical personalities of the day. This suite will be broadcast from 2YC in a British Concert Hall session at 9.0 p.m. on Saturday, September 3. It is played by the Northern Orchestra conducted by Charles Grove, As the Twig is Bent OST of us have had some experience early in life that has left an indelible impression and, given the opportunity and an encouraging atmosphere, we are just as anxious to talk about it as about somebody else, In a talk. from 3YA on Sunday, September 4, at 4.20 p.m., the well-known writer Compton Mackenzie will explain his attitude to life as it has been shaped by experience and events, in a programme from the BBC series In My Experience, His recollections go back to the deep impression made upon him by the sight of a chained gang of convicts on their way to work. He was only three years old at the time, but the memory never left him. In this talk he will relate those early impressions to his outlook on life to-day. O To Be in New Zealand! PRING is here again-almost, So while the gorse is blooming on the hills and the starlings are starting to nest once more in the storm-water pipes, it is a good time for expatriate New Zealanders to emulate Robert Browning’s lament. and cast a nostalgic eye back at the old country. Three exstudents contribute to the session Home Thoughts From Abroad which 4YA will broadcast at 9.30 p.m. on Fridays, starting on Friday, September 2. They are Katherine Eichelbaum, formerly: of Victoria College, who is. now teaching in London; R. O. Davies, a Rhodes Scholar from Otago University, who is now at Oriel College, Oxford; and W. H. Mabbett, of Hawke’s Bay, who is at present ‘in Munster, Westfalen, Germany. In Europe they, are facing another grim winter, afd’ these talks will no doubt draw attention to conditions over there and compare them with our own.