JAZZ BLAMED

Hokitika Guardian, 7 November 1936, Page 5

JAZZ BLAMED

MUSICIAN’S BANKRUPTCY

' United Press Aseiciatlon— By Electric ; . Telegraph—Copyright) t ,

LONDON, Nov 6

.Mr J. H. Squire, of Celeste Octet broadcast fame/ and one of the first players of jazz music in Britain, who has filed’ J his petition in bankruptcy, attributes his difficulties to jazz;

. “Yes, jazz has got me beat,” he declared this week. “T do not think it will be. very long before I can pay, and when I am abl© to do so, all my creditors will be invited to a big dinner. There they will receive envelopes, containing the amount of their debts, plus interest at 5 per cent.

“My wife is urging me on and helping me as much as she can. It have decided to return to the Celeste Octet.”

Mr Squire, who is fifty-six and the father of six children, is said to have made three fortunes and lost’them,. He ran away to sea when a boy. He became a trumpeter in a South American revolutionary army .at fourteen, but soon deserted. Music publishing was , the next interest. \ Y ■ In 1914, he formed the famous Celeste Octet. Its programmes of light music were the most popular broadcast. , • ■ !