Reporter’s Diary

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33917, 9 August 1975, Page 3

Reporter’s Diary

Old soldiers ANOTHER Christchurch “Old Contemptible” has turned up to join the three who are remembering the outbreak of World War I, 61 years ago this week. They got their name from Kaiser Bill’s slighting reference to the “contemptible ■ little British Army,” and are men who served in the British Army in the early days of the war. Mr Henry Buck, of Spreydon, was a foundation member of the Old Contemptibles’ Association in Christchurch. Now 81, he served with the 2nd Battalion of the Lancashire Fusiliers, and still has his Mons Star. Mr Buck will be invited to join the other three at their commemorative service in St Matthew's Church, St Albans, on Sunday morning. A friend of yet another old soldier telephoned to say that he was an Old Contemptible, too, but that he was too shy to say so. Beer shampoo “OUT, OUT,” shouted the publican of a suburban Christchurch hotel when he spotted a particular customer in the bar. He had been “dis-barred” — and the publican reminded him forcefully that he was forbidden to enter the portals while he was publican there. It seems that the unwelcome guest had been the perpetrator of a spectacular practical joke in

that very bar. Towards closing time one evening, he had approached the bar with beer jug in hand and had said to the barman: “Knock, knock.” The barman responded with the customary “Who's there?” whereupon the customer cried “John the Baptist” — and upended the contents of his beer jug over the barman’s head. Aftermath A MEMBER of the Templeton Golf Club who suffered no personal damage in the recent nor’westerly storm lent a hand this week to clear up storm damage at the course. While there, he fell off a truck and dislocated his shoulder. Now he is off work. Linguists A MAN who can speak 52 languages has been figuring in the correspondence columns of the “Guardian.” He is Mr George Campbell, of the 8.8.C.’s foreign service. Another notable linguist who worked in the British communications media was a New Zealander, Mr Harold Williams, foreign editor of “The Times” in the 19205. He spoke 58 languages fluently, and knew many dialects. According to the Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, he was the only man to attend the League of Nations in Geneva and

talk with every delegate in his own language. “He read grammars al! his life,” says the encyclopaedia, "as other people read detective stories.” Kea here VERY little could stand up to the nor’west gale that swept across Canterbury a week ago. One creature which appeared to have ridden the wind was a kea seen by Mr B. T. Stickle at Mount Pleasant on Monday morning. He heard a strange bird in the trees near his garage and recognised the kea’s call. Field glasses were called for, and Mr Stickle was able to make a definite identification. He has been visiting the Southern Alps for 20 years, but has never seen a kea so close to Christchurch before. Rear window LONDON police are hunting for a car thief who is undeterred by rolled-up windows, locked doors, and alarm sirens. He just removes the back windows of cars he wants to steal from, and the owners often do not realise they have been robbed until they drive away and feel a draught on their necks. Police think the thief has a special device for removing window rubbers. He just leaves the window neatly propped against the nearest fence. Dirty old women “HEN NIGHTS” at a hotel run by a former policeman and his partner in Dorset.

England, have attracted the attention of the law. After plain clothes policewomen attended one evening and saw about 60 women clamouring for a male stripper to “take it off,” Bournemouth police charged the proprietors with keeping a disorderly house. The policewomen gave evidence that a male stripper took the stage dressed as a Viking warrior, with his helmet burning. He was wearing three layers of a small garment, a garter, and laced-up sandals. Women in the audience were invited to remove his clothing. On another evening, the stripper wore a black top and trousers decorated with gold braid. When he had taken everything off but a G-string, women started shouting: “Off, off, off.” One of the proprietors told the police: “It’s very difficult to draw the line in these acts. The women usually shout for more, and the performers get carried away by the encouragement.” His critic DR BRIAN EDWARDS, enfant terrible of the tiny screen, and one-time Labour candidate for Miramar, will soon have the opportunity of sitting in judgment on the Leader of the Opposition (Mr Muldoon). Dr Edwards is one of three judges of the James Wattie Award for Book of the Year — and one of the 44 books submitted by New Zealand publishers is “The Rise and Fall of a Young Turk,” by Mr Muldoon.