Jottings

Radio Record, Volume V, Issue 6, 21 August 1931, Unnumbered Page

Jottings

TILE: another, hook’ concerning ‘the reat Egyp ani. In "Cleopatra: A Réyat Voluptuary,? Oscar von Wertheimer, gives«the’'facts." ‘of ‘ her life, character and amours.so far ‘as they are known,’ with a praiseworthy attempt to-be ‘impartial. "As her genius was beyond question, people tried to blast her reputation," we are told. She ~ was perhaps.no*sverse than her for- * bears, but itis -part" of Wertheimer’s case that she was, intellectually far superior to them:or any of her contemporaries, » SH@- was in "her teens when she becamé;Caesar’s: lover, "slim and supple, with,a: long ‘thin face, soft symmetrical — ‘fejituires, a. somewhat Semitic nose; finé sénsual mouth, wonderfully large eyes and abundant hair; while race and regal majesty char--terised her every movement." Widely tured, too;,it:would seem, and thus qualified to jimpréss the massive intellect of Caegiinas sell as subdue his heart,. though he Was too great to be. her helpless victim, as Mark Antony was. ‘ Att-interesting contribution to the literature on a fascinating figure — of: tragedy. reed Yi: Pe R. JOSEPH THORP-so widely ~ know as "T" of "Punch"’-has writtén his autobiography under the title "Pyiends and Adventures." ~ The author has had experiences:as a Jesuit, commércial traveller, typggrapher, advertising consultant.journalist, and it was he who started the‘Agenda-Club. .His publisher, Mr. Cape, -describes it as the "spologia of an impenitently ‘unsuccessful’ -man."- 8 * eo, * PRINCESS PETHR WOLKONSKY’S Hook, "fhe Way of Bitterness: Soviet "Russia, -1920;" tells a moving tale of: love and privation and. heroism. It relates how ‘its atithor* succeeded, in rescuing her husband: from imprisonment by the Soviet."To this end she endured. great weariness and humiliation, tramping through.the-darkness of night the forty-two, versts between Gatchina and Petrograd, and,subsisting, during a protracted period &f.negdtiation, on 2 minimum of food. That she in the end prevailed was due, over, and. above her tireless..persisten¢y,. .to,.a. literary asso‘giation. An earlier-Princess of the same me had followed her husband to exile . in ‘Siberia. This: devotion inspited a poem, 4nd whet Dzerjinsky’s attention was called to it; and its modern parallel, he relented, and the Prince, who had heen arrested.,without reason or. explanation, was permitted to withdraw with his wife to Hsthonia and freeom.

Seon talent of Mr. Bric Gill is very * varied, for he is not only.a seulptor, wood-engraver, and designer. in general, but he also writes well. His most recent book is called "Clothés," which he discusses as houses, wotk‘shops, churches, and town halls. Then "follow: chapters: dealing . with the ‘Tyranny of Tailors, Dignity of Decency, ‘Nature and Nakedness, while the book .eloses with an epilogue on Trousers-~ rhly intriguing’ titles. & 2 e ‘*QHALLOW WATER" is a good title * for Miss Theodora Benson’s new .booke It ean hardly be called.a novel, though a tiny romance runs through its light and ‘airy pages. It is rather } fi ger ies of little dialogues, more or less ‘ow: the lines of those earlier dialogu¢s. "py Anthony Hope that some of us found so delightful in long-past days. This is a jolly little: book, and may be recomh-. mended for light, very light, entertain ment. ~ : . N "Rousseau," Mr, ©. BD, Vulliamy has produced a valuable and interesting study of that perplexing genius, Jean Jacques Rousseau. "To read ‘this _ book is. to know Rousseau; and to know , Rousseau is to become acquainted with "the:-most amazing bundle of confounding ‘opposites ever brought together under*the same epidermis. Of his genius __there is no need to speak.’ In his books ‘he will remain, for many. a generation "£0 come, a living influence for good and », evil in the minds of men. We fre given a portrait in Mr. Vulliamy’s biography "of an amazing bundle of human oppo- ~ sites, of one who was neither a liar " nor-an honest man, néither a coward "nor. .2 hero, neither a cad nor a gentle- , fnan} he was all of them at once, and through life as if he had been "Hed to the tail of an invisible balloon. ~ _ 2 By, "Playing for England," by Jack Hobbs, all who love cricket will find Smuch to delight them in Jack Hobbs’s ~own account of his experience in Test matches. He played against Australia more than 21 years ago, and has gone ‘td.the wickets first for England in néar‘Iy all the great matches, evér: Since.’ Easily the best batsman" Of his:. time, everybody knows. hotv’ he has passed thé: record of W..G, Grace; the ericket hero of fhe preceding generation. And 8 ds the only professional who ‘has Bngland against Australia. ‘ae: ‘own ‘story is characteristic of: the MRD Mii its ‘modesty, its generous appre7 elation, of: colleagues, and. its recogntof ‘the, goud qualities ‘of the ‘other _ sda "These liails are of the essénca et ‘good sportsmanship,