AS ONE MAN SAW IT

Evening Post, Volume CXXIX, Issue 23, 27 January 1940, Page 21

AS ONE MAN SAW IT

(By "Qflivis.")

REPORTER IN AMERICA

"I LOST MY ENGLISH ACCENT"

The newspaperman these last ten years br so has reaped a double harvest t from the public. Thfe first lies, as f always/ in his daily work for his paper, t j where his news and views appear ! under file anonymous caption of "From : Our Special Correspondent in Paris" (Berlin* New York, Borne, or wherever! else it firiay be), arid are probably more I [widely tead than ever because of the' I public's aiixiety td be in the know and' iget the "dinkuna oil" or the "inside 'dope" on eyetits. HtMti, a little later, [perhaps, when the market seems proj pitious—and it is "Open Sesame" nowadays—"Our Correspondent" will pub-1 lish a book of ireGoliections or the inside story of events with far more {Jxeedoni than, the policy of bis paper permitted. There have been many such books these past ten years, and most of themhive been "best sellers" or riear-best. Such, for instance, I can repair personally in Hamilton Fyffe's "My Seven Ages," John Gunther's "Inside Europe," Douglas Reed's "Insanity Fail1" and "Disgrace Abounding," Eugene Lyoils's "Assignment in ' Utopia," and Gedye's "Fallen Bastions." The first thing to be noticed is the excellence of the titles, a sure sig*s, to those who know, that the author is what' we call a "working journalist" arid what the Americans preferably terni a newspaperman or reporter. These works are jtistly popular. They are planned and composed with the - idea of being read, for unless a newspaperman can write that way for his paper, not .only get the news, but present it to get the maxinium effect, lie will always be handicapped in the race to excel in the craft Academic critics may sometimes quibble at the style, bad grammar here arid split infinitives there, but there is seldom or never any ; dtfubfc about tbe meaning, ONE OF THE BEST. "The book under review now is one of the best. Its only fault is the title, "I Lost My English Accent,"' which makes tod much of a passing fashion, of which the first example in my reading was Andrew Smith's. "I Was a Soviet Worker." The author of "I Lost My English Accent" is C. V. R. Thompson, American correspondent of the "Daily Express," and the publishers are Nicholson and Watson,; Ltd., London. In passing one might mentiott that the book gains much by the excellent type and lay-out used. A printer will appreciate the "quirks" used on the title page to frame the title and through the book to flank the chapter numerals. Mr. Thompson was? a young English journalist chosen by Lord Beaverbrook; proprietor of the "JDaily Express" and a Canadian by birth, ta represent the "Express" in New York in 1933 when Franklin Roosevelt came to the White House. Mr. Thompson set out with J a prejudice against Americans and prepared to find Americans prejudiced against the English* In the seven years lie has been in America he has "overcome his prejudices and "lost" bis English, accent, but the other prejudice remained to be overcome; at least among the American correspondents attached to the Royal train, by the manly simplicity of the King and the womanly charm of the Queen on their visit to America last year; But that is in the last chapter of the book and only then does the hard-boiled reporter, Mr. Thompson, become senti-. mental. He had been asked on his return from a visit to England at the time of the Munich affair of September, 1938. td become an American citizen, and, somewhat reluctantly, he had declined, though married to an American lady journalist, Dixie Tighe. This is what he says after the farewell to the Royal pair from Newfoundland: I wished then that I had another opportunity to say "Never." For I knew that if there were more Munichs, if Chamberlain should make such blunders that the world laughed at the glory that had been Britain's, arid if I slioiild live in America for the rest of my life, I should never again have the thoughts I had in those moments after I landed in the atitamri of 1938. I knew that I bad regained my respect and my reverence for the man whVwas my Ring. I knew that I stood ready to answer Iris call. SNAPS AND WISECRACKS. The book contains twenty-one chap* ters mostly devoted to sottie important and often historical assignment between 1933 and 1939. Among these are the;meeting with President Roosevelt, a visit to Sing Sing prison, the Cuban revolution of 1933, the repeal of Prohibition, Miami Beach in depression time, Chicago and Death-kiss Margaret, at Newport for the America's Cup race, the story of the Morro Castle, the Hauptmann trial, with Roosevelt On the 1936 election campaign, American doctors and nurses, meeting famous people, London revisited, and finally the Royal tour. The effect of the whole Is to give a brilliant picture of America through the eyes of an Englishman with a gift of appre-; ciation and expression. The writing is vivid and bright, with the special tang that comes of writing regularly for certain papers. The "Daily Express" has always specialised in bright writing, at Its best very entertaining, and always readable. Throughout the author sums up in the American style with wisecracks, some of which are [worth quoting. Here are a few: American men are very much like the parole boards of American prisons. They simply won't let you finish a sentence. Of the return of liquor: An excited people heard the good news by a national hook-up. An excited people celebrated the good news by a national hic-emp. It is not the waiter in New York who waits at table. It is the customer. I know how best to describe Miami. It is Coney Island in evening clothes. American society is not nearly as hidebound as I expected it to be. It is clothbound instead. (Referring to the Social R'egiater.) History, like garlic, repeats itself. In England we, like our doga, are spartans. . . . We may bs uncomfortable, but it is a rule of science that nothing spoils when it is kept chilled. "I Lost My English Accent" is a very entertaining book. It gives the cream of the experiences of a leading newspaperman in America not only in his big ifctfgnments, but also in his daily obsecrations and. impressions of many aspd&« of American life. It is well worth reading.