Really Good B.B.C. Recorded Play

Radio Record, Volume VII, Issue 9, 8 September 1933, Page 18

Really Good B.B.C. Recorded Play

"Worlds Away" Was Very Entertaining-The Fascination of Egypt -Children Should Choose Their Parents Wisely — Good . Advice to Rugby Coaches,

‘THE recorded B.B.C. play, "World’s Away," which chronicled incidents in the Arkwright family from 1812 to 1933, was a very entertaining one, Romance-probably a _ little stretchei-was incorporated to give theatre sense, in the manner usually adopted by the cinema-as when a "heroine" accompanies a flying squad of desperadoes. The play doesn’t lose much by the inclusion of hypothetical love scenes, although strictly accurate facts concerning the family would have made it more romantic perhaps. The invention of the spinning-jenny by the barber Arkwright fifty years before, together with successive inventions by Hargreaves and Crompton, laid the foundation for Lancashire supremacy in cotton and one of the staples that made modern England and her Empire. ‘"World’s Away" is the type of recorded programme which Should appeal to all colonials.

N spite of all discomforts experienced, one who has once drunk of the waters of the Nile willdo so again, declared Mr. Leslie Greener, quoting an Kgyptian proverb. After a short absence from Hgypt, one forgets all about the flies and the dirt and the unspeakable inefficiency, and there returns a longing for the everlasting sunshine and contemplation of an Arab sleeping in the heat while others are about their occasions. The Egyptian still possesses the virtue to accept with contentment everything as it comes, a gift Westerners have lost, and herein lies much of Egypt’s charm. On the day following his talk, Mr. Greener departed for Egypt again and he had no regrets. s s e T Luxor, in the Valley of the Kings, the University of Chicago has its Egyptology headquarters, which is in reality a little township of its own. It possesses an immense library; its own: electric light plant; living quarters, centrally heated, for the nights are eold, a small railway system for exeavating purposes, and a fleet of motors and launches. Before the: installation of the railway, spoil dumping was done in the customary manner of the Hast. A contractor was engaged, who in turn employed boys to carry baskets of soil with about an aggregate weight of four pounds, while the contractor himself dozed in the sun and pocketed most of the disbursements. The railway both cheapened excavation and added to efficiency. e s A GLIMPSE of real inland China was given by Captain Talbot-Lehmann when he spoke of the "Red Spears," an organisation of ignorant peasants which had been formed by an enterprising headman who forsaw gain accruing from playing upon the peasants’ credulity. Thousands joined the society, and armed with a spear with a yellow tassle, and fortified with cryptic passwords and signs, they believed themselves invincible, even against modern: artillery. Foes at a distance of 200 yards invited extermination, for nothing could prevent a Red Spear attaining his object unless he was shot dead in his. run. If mortally wounded advance was only impeded. They gave no quarter, and by swallowing the yellow tassle charm firmly believed in their inviolability. The speaker gaye a most realistic picture of squalor and inherited disease that sounded like real China. . e Ly EC So far from being surprised at the few books of ancient times that have come down to us, Mr, A. D, MeLeod thinks it marvellous that so many remain in existence. In addition to thousands of religious texts, over 30,000 clay-tablet documents have been unearthed in Babylonia. When books developed to the papyrus stage, preservation was difficult, and only the ardu-

ous task of copying permitted the writings to survive. A papyrus roll was about 85 feet long, and continual unwinding and rewinding very soon destroyed it. As in modern times, the bibliophile of an earlier age was given to forgetfuless and loss of moral sense,

while bigots like Omar, who burned the Alexandria library, in pursuance of his belief in Koraniec sufficiency, logically expunged books that did not support the Koran as pernicious, and burned as redundant those that did. (COMPUTATION of intelligence in children has become an exact science by application of modified meth-. ods adopted by a French psychologist, according to Professor W. H. Gould. A simple and standard set of questions has been evolved for various chronological ages. and by examination the sub-normal, normal, and abnormal may be differentiated. The procedure is extremely simple, but it is not a task for the tyro. but for one highly expert in the work. Regular and constant testing has proved the efficacy of the method, and results show that infantile dullness or brightness are usually permanent. Intelligence is mainly biological, and Professor Gould contends that children should choose their parents wisely. & x s HE type of coach who bemoans his team’s inferiority and insinuate they had sixteen men in opposition while as a bonus to a favoured team two tries were awarded. against them, wasn’t spared by Mr. Dan McKenzie. It was emphasised that Rugby football is a grand sport, and sportsmanship had made it what it is-not the lack of it, Dan gave some very valuable hints to players, spectators, and young referees, all of whom should profit by the experience of one of the most thoughtful of older referees. HE Saracens were not the only destroyers for the Crusaders eclipsed all previous destructions. When the Church assumed complete control of learning, it, too, followed in the path of the vandals and exorcised many works, of pagan origin. Other civilising institutions did similarly, and had it not been for the amazing thirst for knowledge and a full appreciation, of the Hellenic legacy exhibited by the conquering Arabs of the ninth century, much more would have been lost forever. The Arabs speedily dropped intolerance and kept Greek philosophy alive when mediaeval TEurope was steeped in sorcery.