HORTICULTURAL MARVEL OF THE CHELSEA SHOW

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27986, 5 June 1956, Page 10

HORTICULTURAL MARVEL OF THE CHELSEA SHOW

LONDON LETTER

[From

KEITH EUNSON,

London Correspondent of “The Press”!

London, May 25. —Whit Monday, a glorious holiday for most of the people of Britain, provided little respite for the small army of gardeners who annually toil to provide Londoners with the most colourful display of the year in the Chelsea Flower Show. When they had finished and the show opened with a visit from the Queen Mother on Tuesday, four acres of lawn had been transformed into a wonderland- of colour and fragrance. The transformation was no simple affair. It involved the transport of tons of earth, of enough turf to cover a hundred test match wickets, and of bales of peat and moss, to say nothing of hundreds of trees, shrubs and blossoms. All manner of artifices kept the plants fresh through the t ree days of the show. The giant marquees became like hothouses as thousands of people crushed in to see this show of the year. The show was magnificent in its sheer beauty. Roses there must be at Chelsea: and they were there in profusion, not only because it is the time of the year for them, but because the old site of the show was the Temple Gardens, where the Red and White Roses of Lancaster and York were first plucked. It was hard anywhere in the huge display to find where the eye could rest from this positive assault of colour, in mounds and pyramids, climbing poles, hanging “rom baskets, cushioned against rocks, overflowing the sides of pots and nans. Cricket Writing The professional cricket journalist has a difficult time in Britain these days. All the big national newsnapers are employing at least one, and some have more, former Test cricketers to write comment on the games in which the touring Australians play. In many cases their iournalistic efforts depend entirely on their cricketing reputations. Some, in fact have “ghost writers” to take down their ideas and mould them into newspaper reports. Three former Test captains—Hutton. Bradman, and Hassett —are engaged on the series, as well as two vice-captains—Compton and Morris—and other lesser lights. S. G. Barnes, or “Battling Sid,” as he became known during the M.C.C. tour of Australia, is the only notable absentee from the journalistic front this time.

“The Sitting Duck”

The story of H.M.S. Amethyst, the frigate which became famous for its exploits on the Yangtse in 1949. is to be filmed with the co-operation of the Admiralty and the Foreign Office by Herbert Wilcox-Anna Neagle Productions under the title of “The Sitting Duck.” Eric Ambler is to write the script and Richard Todd will star. H.M.S. Amethyst’s famous story began when the Chinese Communist armies, advancing from the north, had been on the north bank of the Yangtse for three months, while Nanking on the south bank was still the capital of the Nationalist Government. On her way up the river to Nanking, where she helped to ensure communication between the British Embassy and the outside world, she found herself, without warning, under heavy fire from field and machine guns. Amethyst was severely damaged and driven aground. She managed to move 10 miles upriver and send h°r wounded bv land to Shanghai through Nationalist territory, and at last made her escape down the river without pilot or charts.

American Aid

When the R.A.F. Association planned the rebuilding of St. Clements Dane Church in the Strand it was as a memorial chapel for the air forces of the Commonwealth. The scope of the plan is now to be broadened, as the Americans have expressed a wish to take part and have offered to raise fifth of the £125.000 needed for the building fund. It had always been intended that the American pilots who their lives flying in the Eagle Squadron should be remembered in some special way, but now the memorial will be more extensive. The names of all members of the American Air Forces who were based in Britain during the war will be added to the list of R.A.F. and Commonwealth airmen. These will be compiled in 10 illuminated books. Play Ends Run Terrence Rattigan’s play, “Separate Tables,” at the St. James’s Theatre, will end its run, after 21 months, at the end of June. It is due to open on Broadway in September. Since it opened, the "two stars have been Eric Portman and Margaret Leighton, and they will each have completed more than 700 performances when it is taken off.

Dropping Circulation

It appears that an era of Sunday journalism in Britain is drawing to a close. The circulation of the “News of the World” has been dropping for some time from its peak of more than 8.000.000 copies, and it is said now to have fallen to 7.000.000. This still gives the “News of the World” a considerable lead over its nearest rival, the ‘‘Sunday Pictorial.” with a circulation of nearly 6.000,000. Changes in public taste seemed to leave the "News of the World” unaffected; and its weekly record of crime, sex, and violence from police courts throughout the land was reported objectively and presented soberly in the columns. But as it loses readers now the “Sunday Pictorial” scoops them up, using the same formula that has brought success to the “News of the World” for so long but adding considerably to its flavour and presentation.

Forms of Address

There was considerable press comment when it was published that the Queen, in her message to Marshal Vvoshilov. subscribed herself “Your good friend.” Lady Helen GrahamLittle, in a letter to the “Daily Telegraph,” has suggested that this departure from the usual formal phraseology be widely copied. “Should we not stop telling people, always tritely and sometimes. I fear, untruly, that we are theirs ‘sincerely’ or ‘obediently’?” she asked. "These adverbs have become meaningless, whereas ‘Your good friend' is natural, gracious, and novel. . . Fonteyn Figure

The bronze statue of Dame Margot Fonteyn, exhibited recently at the Royal Academy by Maurice Lambert, has been purchase’d by the council of the academv for permanent public exhibition. The price was £2500. I This figure excited considerable comi ment when the exhibition opened. : along with a portrait of Dame Margot Fonteyn by the Florentine artist. I Annigoni. No decision has yet been i made on where the statue will be i shown. Massive Tanker The world’s largest oil tanker, the Spyros Niarchos, with a carrying capacity of 47.750 tons, has completed her trials in the Clyde and is to be handed over to her owners, the Neptune Tanker Corporation. a ’ iarehos Group company. Her career as the largest tanker will be short. French firms have orders in hand for tankers carrying 52.000 tons and 64.000 tons, while tankers with a carrying capacity of 83.000 tons are building at Kure. Japan. A tanker with a capacity of 87.000 tons is also planned at Kure. For the time being, t ough. the title rest®; with the new ship, which is the largest merchant vessel built in- the United Kingdom since the end of the war. Her dimensions are exceeded only by three ships registered in Britain. Ihe Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth, and the Mauretania. The ship is so big that

she will be unable to pass through the Suez Canal at full draught. Captain Cook The Captain Cook exhibition has prompted a correspondent to write to “The Times” recalling some of the great sailor’s lesser-known activities in New Zealand. In November. 1810. an ensign of the 73rd Regiment, carrying dispatches from Governor Macquarie in Sydney, was a passenger in a ship which spent some days in Queen Charlotte Sound and he kept a diary, the correspondent writes. Against the date of November la there was entry: “We found plenty of greens, celery, and parsley, which Captain Cook had sown while he lay in the sound.” On November 16: “We got some greens and turnip tops from the shore.” These were obtained from Cannibal Cove, where, the diarv says. Captain Furneaux s men “were eaten by the New Zealanders.” Book on Britain “Britain. An Official Handbook” is to have a nrint of 25.000 conies, more than half of which will be distributed free to foreign universities, schools, chambers of commerce, and information centres. Here in Britain free copies are given to embassies. Commonwealth Government offices, and foreign and Commonwealth press correspondents. Compiled by the Central Office of Information, the book first appeared in 1946_ for overseas readers only. In 1954 it was sold here for the frst time. Now the 477 pages tell in story, picture, chart, and graph the whole story of the British Isles—government, industries, transport. trades. finances. social habits, arts, sciences, religions and relaxations. atomic developments, nev’spapers and broadcasts.