B.B.C. STUDIOS

Greymouth Evening Star, 4 November 1939, Page 3

B.B.C. STUDIOS

SECRET AND WELL GUARDED Writing from a mythical “Hogsnorton,” in the West of England, a correspondent of the London “News-Chron-icle” says:— “Hogsnorton” sounds more appropriate than “Somewhere in England” and as I am the first radio correspondent to visit the place I must be careful not to reveal secrets. What a place this Georgian mansion is—and how marvellously the 8.8. C. have converted it into Britain’s secret radio centre!

I approached it through a thick! wood and was stopped by watchmen at a gate in the barbed wire fencing. All must show a pass. Any attempt to. slip through unseen is discouraged by patrolmen —and by Paddy, the fierc-1 est watchdog I have ever seen. His, growls and gnashing teeth boded ill, tor any sabotages I gave him a wide; berth. , . > Gnce inside J found a self-contained j broadcasting community of 100 men j and women. Six excellent studios havc>| been constructed in the old count)yj house and grounds. True, one ot the j studios built in a stable has a veiy 1 un-8.8.C. smell, but the engineers de-, clare that it has almost perfect acoustics.

The chief departments bore are drama and features, music productions. schools and light music. But I must not forget the stationery department in the pigeon loft, the tes-i tauraut in the abattoir, accounts mi the ballroom, or those Important! People, cheque writers, in the sei-i vants’ quarters. Important too. during the wasp I and mosquito season are Matron and her trained nurse. . As for the staff and the special war-time repertory company of 35, who are thrown together here apparl ently for the duration of the war, 1| can only say that they are working at j [high pressure and seem as happy a i family as (hey were in the the old days of Savoy Hill. Two hundred of them cycle to and from their billets each day. Wild life in this rural 8.8. C. centre introduces a ned element in broadcasting. Bats at black-out time wing their way uncannily through the corridors of the ancient building and may produce an unrehearsed' feminine shriek in the studio. , Outside there are snakes, barking foxes, and hooting owls to add cheer to the neighbourhood.