Founder of Scouting

New Zealand Listener, Volume 26, Issue 658, 15 February 1952, Page 19

Founder of Scouting

HE train from London is a rather slow one, but eventually it ends its journey at the village of Chingford, and beyond stretch the green pastures, the common land, and the dark green oaks of Epping Forest. In the midst of this pleasant English countryside — bursting so abruptly on the scene in the middle of industrial and suburban surroundings — stands Gilwell Park. "ite sa "wort .6f shrine, Gilwell, towards which faithful members of a world-wide fraternity turn for guidance and, when they can, a memorable visit. This relatively small area of land gave to the founder of the Boy Scout movement his title of Lord Baden-Powell of Gilwell.

Baden-Powell accumulated other names during his career. At Charterhouse, his school, he was known by youthful associates as "Bathing-Towel," but the Matabele, against whom he fought so successfully, gave him the much more impressive title of Impeesa -‘"the beast who does not sleep." Later, when he devoted his entire efforts to the Boy Scout movement he had organised throughout the world, he became known familiarly among his followers as "B-P," a title singularly apt in view of the wide renown of the Scouts’ motto, "Be Prepared." The story of Lord Baden-Powell’s life will be heard as the February 20 episode of This Was the Week-a programme depicting the lives of famous men-heard from the ZB stations at 8.30 p.m. on that evening. February 22 was the date of B-P’s birth. A military’ man, Baden-Powell captured the imagination of boys in England and abroad with his accounts of army scouting.

Then, when the cry "Mafeking is relieved" rang out in the crowded streets of London, Baden-Powell became a household topic. He _ published his Scouting for Boys and the intense interest shown by boys in England moved him to form the Boy Scouts. At the instigation of King Edward VII. and the Secretary of War, Lord Haldane, "B-P" gave up his Army career and devoted himself solely to the task of uniting the youth of his country, and later the world, into a "United Nations of Youth." The programme offered by the Commercial stations on this occasion deals less. with the famous movement than with the personal history of the. man who, set it in motion. It deals with Baden-Powell’s activities in ~ South Africa, his versatility on the stage, his sculpture exhibits at the Royal Academy exhibition of 1907, his numerous publications and his. contributions to the nation as a statesman and leader.