Reporter’s Diary

Press, 5 August 1976, Page 2

Reporter’s Diary

‘Olym pi an ’ Gam es THE OLYMPIC Games will be considerably purified in the form which the Greek Government is said t< be planning to revive. Al! team sports will be thrown out, according to “The Times,” and so will those that require an instrument, such as rowing, cycling, shooting, and pole-vaulting (but what about those classical Greek instruments, the discus and the javelin?). Also discarded will be sports such as gymnastics, where the winner is chosen hv the subjective opinions of judges. Equestrian events will go, although they were introduced to the ancient Olympic Games as long ago as the seventh century B.C. All that remained would be the field and track events and wrestling. The Greek games might be called the Olympian Games and be held in the intervals between the Olympics. C om pl cm entary TELEVISION’S principle o f “complementarity” seems to have been adonttd by the University of Canterbury. According to i f s weekly diary, the Young Socialists were meeting last evening at the same time that the Film Society was showing “Ivan the Terrible.” Basen jis “ODOURLESS and barkless” pups for sale, said the advertisement. What horr u s of genetic engineering are being perpetrated now? Nothing of the kind, said the advertiser, Mr Trevor Preece. The

pups were of the Basenji variety —- an ancient line. Basenji’s used to frolic with the Pharoahs of ancient Egypt, and still hunt with the Pygmies of the Congo. He is one of onlytwo breeders of Basenji dogs nt New Zealand, and is a complete enthusiast. Their inability to bark and their skill at following a scent made them good hunting dogs, said Mr Preece, and their complete lack of odour made them exce'iant house dogs. “They like a warm climate.' he added, “so there are more of them in the Nort" Island. I know of one which turns on the heater switch when it gets cold.’ Scientists curious about tne Basenji’s lack of bark have examined their throats and found that they aie more like human throats than canine throats. Basenjis do make a noise, but Mr Preece describes it as a yodel. He also claims that Basenjis can turn somersaults. Set for the week A CITY SLICKER helping with lambing on a farm in the Rangiora district was given the job of introducing an orphan to a reluctant ewe. The pair were put in a pen, and the week-end farmer pushed the iamb towards the ewe. He was familiar with the odour of the “motheringon” spray which is squirted on both ewe and lamb to make them take to each other, but the scent coming from this lamb was nothing like it. “Oh, I ran out of spray,” said the farmer, “so I borrowed the wife’s hair spray and gave them a burst of that.” Ii worked like a

charm. The lamb and ewe proved completely compatible, and in no time at all <he ewe was stamping her foot at the humans to warn them away from “her” offspring. Snippet THE WESTEND picture theatre was a-twitter with the gay chatter of hairdressers on Sunday for a special preview of their own film. “Shampoo.” which stars Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, and Goldie Hawn. A.Z. chair DOES the New Zealand body call for a distinctive style of chair? A Wellington furniture company. Nova Holdings, Ltd, believes New Zealand designers can came up with a distinctive style and is putting up $5OOO to encourage them to produce a chair that is unique to New Zealand. “They might get their New Zealand flavour through the use of native materials—wood, leather, or lambskin —or they might produce an unusual design or flowing line which is symbolic of New Zealand's enviroment,” said Mr Ray Reasby, the company’s chairman. He thinks there must be lots of designs which have been thrown aside in desk drawers and pigeon holes because the designers have been unable to interest a firm in producing them. The contest, which has sections for domestic and office furniture, will be judged by architects, furniture makers, a fashion expert, and the director of the Industrial Design Council. Good company WHEN Henry Lang, the Secretary to the Treasury,

becomes a visiting professor of economics at Victoria University, he will find plenty of Public Service old boys on the campus. Mr Noel Woods, the former Secretary' of Labour, is also in the economics department, as a visting fellow. Dr J. L. Robson, the former Secretary of Justice, is director of criminology at the university’s institute of criminology. And one of their political masters. Sir John Marshall, is now a visiting fellow for the university’s new master-of-public-policy course. Architect’s view lAN ATHFTELD. the Wellington architect whose prize-winning design for slum-replacement housing for the Philippines was at the centre of controversy at the United Nations Habitat conference in Vancouver, will give a lunch-hour lecture about the conference tomorrow. He will talk at the W.E.A. rooms, 59 Gloucester Street, at 12.30 p.m. Mr Athfield’s design was chosen from 493 entries in a competition sponsored by th International Architectural Foundation of New York. Shanty-town squatters on the Manila waterfront will build the new houses themselves, with Government help. Criticism at the Vancouver conference centred on the fact that the squatters had no say in the designs of the buildings. Meth ven A VIGILANT reader points out that places whose names begin with M are frequently favoured with the Olympic Games — Mexico City. Munich, Montreal, and next. Moscow. Is Methven in with a chance?

—Garry Arthur