Talented team had vital wartime job

Press, 26 October 1982, Page 23

Talented team had vital wartime job

Listening

In August. 1939. a bus load of talented European men and women drove from Broadcasting House in London to Wood Norton near Evasham in the heart of England. When they arrived they plunged immediately into a demanding 24 hours a day routine — they started the 8.8. C. Monitoring Service. listening to radio stations all round the world and reported on what they heard. "Listening to War." (National programme. 7.30 tonight) tells the story of that service. The 8.8.C.'s Monitoring Service continues to function today, eavesdropping. as it has done since its formation in 1939. on radio stations throughout the world. The task it performs is vital both to the 8.8. C.. especially the External Ser-

vices of which it is a part, and to the British Government. "Quotations from Other Lives." Penelope Gilliat's new book, is a collection of 12 linked stories. What they have in common is work, loneliness and love. The author will talk on "8.8. C. World of Books" (Concert programme. 7 o’clock tonight) about this love element. In his book “Eccentric’ Travellers" John Keay defines eccentricity .as" "the result of pursuing logic to unusual extremes." He traces the journeys of some eighteenth and nineteenth century men whose travels to the most remote and hazardous parts of the world have made them part of history. His seven "heroes," however, were often the. object of ridicule in their own lifetime, as he will explain on the programme.