ODD QUERIES

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 69, Issue 159, 18 April 1949, Page 6

ODD QUERIES

Conditions in Britain BUREAU IN NEW YORK “What was your first impression of Britain?” Juliet Halford asked an American visitor. She was somewhat taken aback when he said “The Smell.” It was meant as a compliment, however, as she explained during a broadcast in the BBC’s “In Town Tonight” programme. She told listeners about her job. which is answering enquiries at the British Travel Association’s New York office.

Miss Halford is an extremely busy woman in New York and when the “Come to Britain” campaign was launched last year had to deal with some 3000 enquiries a week. Last year tourism came second only to textiles as a dollar earner and this year it is expected to take the lead. She needs encyclopaedic knowledge to answer some of the questions, although most of them are about food. “Most people seem to think they’re going to starve over here, or thqy are worried about coining and eating food because they think it isn’t fair to us,” she said.

But some questions are really teasers, such as that from the man who wanted a planned tour of Britain avoiding all the places where ragwort grew because his wife was allergic to it. And there was also a lady who asked quite seriously if there were any bathrooms in London._ “Many Americans seem to think,” said Miss Halford, “that, because Britain is called a ‘tight little island’ they can see all the sights in half a day, but the general impression. was summed up by the man who said of us ‘I sometimes needed an ice-breaker to start talking to you, but after that I got along fine.’ Anyway, when I get back we shall have opened our big new offices on Madison Avenue, and then our motto will be ‘Let ’em all come.’ ”