Television and Radio.

Press, 1 April 1980, Page 15

Television and Radio.

Edward Blissen — the regular presenter of 8.8. C. “World of Books” begins the programme this week (Concert radio) with a discussion of his recentlypublished autobiographical book “A Nest of Teachers.”

The book deals mainly with his post-war training as a teacher and the early days of his marriage.

He is asked about the splendid eccentrics who helped to train him and why even his wife in the

book is not called by her real name.

“Rat Jelly and Other Poems,” a book by Michael Ondaatje recentlypublished in Britain, is featured. The Author talks about the book, what inspires his poems and why he likes dogs. Next, listeners hear surprising about their

heritage, the folk narrative that lies behind Western literature and culture.

The folk-lore scholar, E. L. Ranelagh, shows how many supposedly Western stories — including some biblical ones — have an Arabic ancestry in a discussion ofi his latest book, “The Past We Share.”