RANDOM REMINDER

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30468, 16 June 1964, Page 26

RANDOM REMINDER

SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION

Today they have radar, and more, but 400 years ago when the Spaniards were preparing to blight our ancestors' lives the alarm system in England consisted of a chain of coastal fires. And, very effective it was, too, if we remember correctly, which we probably don’t But it was not a sense of history which prompted a man living in one of the suburban valleys to set the emergency services alert when, in the dark' sky of early evening, he saw names leaping eagerly on the skyline of one of the adjoining hill suburbs. The man is a newspaper reporter, and very pro-

perly; after asking fire brigade inquiries if they had had an alarm from the hill district he reported what be had seen. The fire brigade said that they had had no reports, but perhaps they should go and have a look. So they sent out an engine from the nearest, suburban station, and the machine was winding Its way up the hill when the reporter, who had set off in his car, first saw it He followed it up the hill and near the top, they found the fire. It was being conducted by a man who was busy burning up mountains of leaves and weeds. It looked very spectacular. The man leaned on his fork wearing, in the

flickering light of the flames, a look of resignation as the machine pulled up. ’ The fire officer explained that they had received a call and had come to investigate. The man asked why the informant could not have minded his own business. At which stage the reporter felt compelled to make himself known. There was no harm done, he said, lightly, and for something better to add likened the bonfire to the Annada warning system. The householder was unimpressed. In fact his subsequent remarks made it clear that if he had little interest in the Armada, he recalled, all too clearly, what had happened to Bishop Cranmer.