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Open Microphone

NEWS OF BROADCASTERS, ON AND OFF THE RECORD,

By

Swarf

men who were in Bari, Italy, during the last war will remember the silo of the big macaroni factory that was taken over by the troops for conversion into a theatre called the"Stuky." There were plenty of mechanics, electricians and other specialists in the ranks, and ZEALAND ex-service-

| im no time they erected a _ first-class stage and provided the best of modern | settings for members of the Bari Opera | Company and others. Although badly damaged in a big German air raid on Bari in December, 1943, when over a score of our ships were sunk in the small congested harbour, the theatre building survived to provide entertainment to large numbers of Allied troops in the Adriatic sector. Returned men may remember, too, Neville Clapham, the man responsible for the theatre, and whose rank as a British Army officer and close connection with Ordnance possibly had a bearing on the ease with — —

which fittings were acquired. On one occasion the theatre was used preliminary to forming an Area Concert Party, when. Neville Clapham’s co-adjudicator was the novelist Naomi Jacob ("Auntie Micky" to her ENSA protégés). Today Mr. Clapham is living in Wellington, where he is departmental manager im the office of a big overseas concern. Recently he branched out as a writer (both words and music) of art songs and ballads and, moreover, a successful one. Some of. his songs were broadcast from 2YA at the beginning of this year, and again the other evening from 1YA when the singer was Mr. Clapham’s sister, Aimee Richardson (contralto), Neville Clapham was born in New Zealand, but for the greater part of the last’ 380 years he has lived in England. He’ has been a violinist since he was 10 years old, playing in chamber groups and orchestras, including the Bournemouth Municipal Orchestra under the cofductorship of the late Sir Dan Godfrey. When I asked him about his hobby the other day he said that for a time he gave up music completely. Three years ago he began to compose songs and last year the English tenor John Chew sang’ some of them at a recital in the Wellington Concert Chamber. Chew paid him the compliment of asking him to stand and acknowledge the applause. "I have written about a dozen songs all told," he said. "This year I have completed one so far and another is on .the way. I write the melody first and it suggests a theme for the words." He has also set some of the poems of Keats and Rupert Brooke to. music. "None of my songs has been published so far,’ added Mr. Clapham. "I like to hear them sung by good artists before I start thinking about publishers. I may say that I owe a great deal to Frank Crowther, the Wellington musician, for his encouragement and his help with piano arrangements." , 4 TARTING on Thursday, May 7, Station 1YZ Rotorua will Secaeaes a series of programmes about the life oe

STORY OF A PIONEER

of Hans Homman Felk, known as Captain Phillip. Tapsell, of Maketu. The talks, compiled by Enid Tapsell, are

based on the memoirs of Tapseli dic-

tated to a clerk of the Magistrate’s. Court at Maketu in 1873. Tapsell’s life (he died on

August 6, 18/5, aged 94 years) covered nearly 50 years of sea roving and shore trading in New Zealand. He visited the Bay of Islands as early as 1810 in a whaling ship after transporting women convicts to Botany Bay, and he saw the return of Hongi Hika’'s fleet of war canoes from the great raid in the Rotorua district. Tapsell had many adventures on the shores of Tasmania and off the New Zealand coast before settling down asa trader in flax for the Royal Navy at ‘Maketu in the Bay of Plenty. He lost all his possessions when Maketu was sacked in 1840 by Te Waharoa, of Matamata, and many of the Arawa people, including chiefs whose names have been given to well-known places in Rotorua, were killed ‘before his -eyes. Tapsell escaped from Maketu with his third wife, Hineturuma, who claimed direct descent from the famous lovers Hinemoa and Tutanekai. They made their way in a small canoe up the Pongakawa Stream and then overland to Lake Rotorua. Later, at Matata he began trading again, and it was here that Bishop Pompallier met him and commended him for his upright, Godfearing attitude toward life. Before Phillip Tapsell died he asked that his body should be wrapped in ea blanket and buried at sea "for many a better man than he had been buried that way." He requested that two cannon shots should be fired at the time of his passing; this was done, but his burial place was the old mission cemetery where many another pioneer and soldier of the Maori Wars had been laid to rest. The manuscript from which these talks, entitled Phillip Tapseil Sajlor and Trader, are taken, is written on old blue Magistrate’s Court paper faded and worn with much handling, and tied together with frayed .string made from dressed flax. During recent years

many Danes have visited Maketu i see the place where their fellow-country-man lived and died. In 1938 a Danish writer, Aage Nielsen, spent some time | at Maketu obtaining material for a. book on Tapsell’s life which was pub- | lished in Copenhagen just before the’ Germans occupied Denmark in 1940; ) and in 1950 the Danish Consulate traced Tapsell’s ancestors for several. genera-| tions back. There are 12 talks in the, series, and they will be broadcast | weekly at 7.0 p.m.

PHILHARMONIC AWARD

\ HEN the Musica Viva Chamber | Players of Sydney visited New Zealand in 1950 they devoted a studio |

broadcast programme to works by | New Zealand com-. posers. One of these

works was a String Quartet in E Minor

Dy barry Moss, ot Wellington, who was then 19 years old. Latest news. from London of Barry Moss (right) is that he has been awarded a Royal Philharmonic Society Prize for Composition with his Variations for Orchestra. The

work 1s for full orchestra and Occupies | 20 minutes. The award carries a cash | prize of £50. fe

FUN’S THE WORD

Most of us have, at one time or) *"" another, played a little family game in which we could have put up a phenomenally high score by the use of | one very wicked word. But, of course, | observing the rules of play, and in the.

interests of good man-}; ners, we contented our- | selves with a_ medi-| ocre performance. The

game is called Word Building. Stull, one |. can have an awful lot of good clean fun with words, as L. M. H. Cave, Adult | Education Tutor-Organiser for Tara- | naki-Wanganui, has been showing in his series of talks, Fun With Words, broadcast by 2XP New Plymouth on Sundays at 8.30 p.m. Mr. Cave, who does a good deal of work for both | 2XP and 2XA Wanganui, has’ also arranged for 2XP a series of \documentary programmes _ called Taranaki | Settlers, which he comperes on Wednes- | days at 8.1 p.m. The series gives up-to-date accounts of old and new settlers’ countries of origin, their peoples, cus- | toms and their music.

This article text was automatically generated and may include errors. View the full page to see article in its original form.I whakaputaina aunoatia ēnei kuputuhi tuhinga, e kitea ai pea ētahi hapa i roto. Tirohia te whārangi katoa kia kitea te āhuatanga taketake o te tuhinga.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19530501.2.32

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

New Zealand Listener, Volume 28, Issue 720, 1 May 1953, Page 14

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,206

Open Microphone New Zealand Listener, Volume 28, Issue 720, 1 May 1953, Page 14

Open Microphone New Zealand Listener, Volume 28, Issue 720, 1 May 1953, Page 14

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