When Impeccable BBC Men Blunder

Radio Record, Volume XII, Issue 23, 18 November 1938, Page 5

When Impeccable BBC Men Blunder

**Record’s’"? London Reporter. TMPECCABLE urbanity of BBC announcers gives sharp surprise to moments when they lapse into ‘"howlers." "You have just heard the Bathroom Orchestra from Pump," said one announcer, at the end of a concert from the Pumproom, Bath. Another, describing a volcanic eruption, said in a deeply serious tone: "A large area of lager is rapidly overcoming the village." Describing changes in the equipment of London’s mobile police, one announcer remarked recently: "Arrangements have been made for the London police to change their combinations this winter." In the musical session, the Offenbach work, "Orpheus in the Underworld" was announced as "Orpheus in the Underground" and the former conductor of the BBC Military Rand, B. Walton O’Donnell, was re ferred to as Wee Boiton O’Donnell. During one of the Empire pro grammes the announcer apologised, in the small hours of the morning, for having failed to make a preliminary announcement at the opening of the broadcast. The lapse, he said, was due to "partaking of excessive sleep." Another time the announcer told listeners he was unable to play the last record in a gramophone re cital, he had just sat on it. At the end of a recital the following apology occurred: "Excuse me, I have got so wrapped up in this that I have gone on seven minutes over my time." :