Reporter's Diary

Press, 11 October 1979, Page 2

Reporter's Diary

Magical world

THE JOYS of playtime and the magical world of children — this is the theme of the 1980 Unicef calendar and engagement diary now on sale. Sales of these calendars and greeting cards help Unicef to continue many of its vital services to ~ children of all races, religions and cultures. “Busy working to complement the meagre

incomes of their parents, countless young children are too tired, too hungry and often too ill to indulge in the joys of playtime,” the introduction to the calendar says. The 1980 edition has photographs. in colour and monochrome, of children from five continents at play, as well as some of the objects which make toyland such a magical kingdom. The delightful

selections also L.cludes colour pictures of pages from old-fashioned, decorated music books, depicting the lyrics and music of well known children’s songs in the languages of the lands they come from. The many pictures on the glossy pages of the diary have been gathered from museums, private collections, contemporary artists and photographers from ail over the world. Early birds? ARE THE early birds getting earlier? Is the dawn chorus too soon before the dawn? Has mankind confused his feathered friends with daylight saving and summer time to the extent that he who gets up with the lark now has to arise an hour earlier? A reader has written in suggesting that this may be the case, and asks if some authority on the subject could throwlight on it. A local bird expert, asked yesterday to comment, said he was usually awake to hear the dawn chorus, just before the morning sky started to grow lighter. “In my part of town, anyway, the birds are certainly not getting up any earlier," he said. “Perhaps it is your correspondent who has been the early bird.” Mistaken identity STAFF from Radio NewZealand are beginning to feel side-effects of 3ZB’s latest promotion. It involves members of the public identifying “Captain Zedbee” in various parts of Christchurch. If they go up to him and say the right thing, they get a key to the prize car. At the end of the promotion, one of those keys will fit the lock — winning the keyholder the car. But some members of the public have been getting a little

: carried away and approaching almost every Radio New Zealand staff member they see standing near a radio car. Apparently some of the technicians and journalists covering race meetings, sports events and news stories are getting a little tired of such constant attention. Nice surprise THE MINISTER of Transport (Mr McLachlan) received a pleasant surprise when he took his place in Parliament this week after nearly a month off through illness. When the House started its business for the day, the Labour member of Parliament for Sydenham, (Mr John Kirk) a strong critic of the Minister, tabled a motion which read: “That this House welcomes the return of the. Minister of Transport and trusts he has fully recovered and wishes him good health in the future.” Mr McLachlan said outside the House that he appreciated the thought by Mr Kirk. “I was quite taken aback. When I heard “The Minister of Transport’ I thought I was in for it again,” Mr McLachlan said. Not too vital TUESDAY’S item about the brief nude scene in the coming production of “Night and Day” has aroused a comment from a Tai Tapu reader, who says that the split-second flash of flesh across the stage is far from titillating “This scene, as played in the London production, did not exactly cause an uproar — nor will it do here, I imagine,” our correspondent says.

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