THE JUNGLE AT SCHOOL
Sir-I noticed that two points of view were expressed about the BBC programme Forenoon in your issue of January 29-one by a regular contributor to Radio Review, and the other by a guest critic. This was all to the good, and it helped me to understand why my own feelings about the programme were divided, I suppose most of us like to meet these schoolboy characters, but we don’t always see that some of them are stereotypes. Even Fanshawe, the "expert in injured innocence and fabricator of insurance schemes," seemed to belong more to books than to real life. What bothered me most, however, was the amazing eloquence of all the schoolmasters, If there are men in the schools who can speak like this, I have failed to meet them. It might have been credible if one master had rhetorical gifts; but when everybody, from the Headmaster downwards, poured out words with Celtic fervour and gusto, I began to suspect that we were hearing one voice only, the voice of Gwyn Thomas, who wrote the programme, And yet it would have been hard to stop listening to Forenoon. The babel of young voices in the background, the sound of the bell, and an occasional classroom joke all helped to build up the feeling of nostalgia which explains the success of school sturies with older people-unless, of course, they happen
to be teachers.
T.A.
B.
(Upper Hutt),
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19540212.2.12.1
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
New Zealand Listener, Volume 30, Issue 760, 12 February 1954, Page 5
Word count
Tapeke kupu
240THE JUNGLE AT SCHOOL New Zealand Listener, Volume 30, Issue 760, 12 February 1954, Page 5
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