Rich and Strange

New Zealand Listener, Volume 36, Issue 928, 24 May 1957, Page 22

Rich and Strange

E’VE heard most famous people by now, so the pleasure of satisfying a vulgar curiosity about their voices is granted to us less and less often. To me, therefore, the happiest thing about the BBC Young People’s Forum on Books (Sunday National Programme) was the extraordinary quack-quack sound made by Lord David Cecil. Do all Cecils talk like this, I wonder? Has the Cecil voice been as carefully preserved through the centuries as the Cecil face? I can’t recall hearing Lord Salisbury, but in any case, his political career might require the sacrifice of something so rich and strange, (Incidental intellifence; the announcer did not call it Cicil.) Marghanita Laski’s didactic manner was another surprise. Rupert HartDavis's voice was gruff and open-air; Iver Brown and Robert Henriques sounded ordinary; Lady Violet Bonham- — Carter sounded like Lady Violet Bon-ham-Carter. They all discussed the young people’s questions with spirit and humour and sound sense, Miss Laski was right enough: textbooks ought not to be more attractive, in the sense of easier; but to make them more attractive to look at would not demoralise students, surely? Lerd David’s modesty forbade him to say the obvious thing, that one reason, biography often outshines the noyel these days is that biography these days is often so well written. Lady Violet had to say it for him, It was all quite delightful.