ITEMS OF INTEREST

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 65, Issue 5493, 3 July 1942, Page 3

ITEMS OF INTEREST

LONDON LETTER EXTRACTS BLISS-FULLY UNCONSCIOUS About Arthur Bliss, the new Director of Music of the British Broadcasting Corporation (he succeeded Sir Adrian Boult when the latter relinquished that office to concentrate exclusively on his work as conductor of the B.B.C’s. Symphony Orchestra), there is nothing of the long-haired aesthete. He looks—and was, in the last war—a guardsman, albeit not one preoccupied with the preservation of his dignity. On his new appointment it occurred to him that his hat didn’t look very director-ish. It was not only greyer than when he bought it three years before in California, it

was showing other signs of age. Black, he thought, might be a more serviceable colour in war time. But the assistant—in a well-known London hatter’s—seemed unaccountably reluctant to bring him just what he asked for. “Sorry, sir, we’ve nothing in black that would suit you. “But what about that one over there?” Bliss protested. “Oh no, sir,” and the tone was pained, “that has too wide a brim. It would make you look like a musician.” HE WORKED HIS WAY TO FIGHT A twenty-two year old Czech'airman told recently, in a 8.8. C. broadcast, the truly remarkable story of his three years of travel in an effort to join his country’s free fighting men. His mother is still in Czechoslovakia, his father is in Russia, and his sister in Ecuador. He has had no news of them since he left Czechoslovakia. At the outbreak of war he was working in a Warsaw factory, having left his native Bohemia when the Germans took possession. He was caught by the Germans 'in Warsaw, “after they had shot me a little bit,” he said, and he had to work for them. His job was to fetch drinking water from outside the town and carry it to the hospital. One day he went as usual—but did not return. He escaped to Russia. For eight months he worked in Moscow, till he had saved enough to travel further. In Manchuria, the Japanese arrested him. When they set him_free, he had no money, so he did various jobs in China. “The Chinese,” he said, “are very nice, good, educated people. I made some money, and then I wanted to join the Czech army. But with my Czech passport the Japanese wouldn’t let me go. They always made trouble when they saw my Russian visa. So I bought another passport from a foreigner and had to change my name. “I got to Singapore, and was interned while the British authorities found out which of my passports was the right one. Later I was set free and told that I could get to England to join the Czechs.” And so at last he came to join the Czech Air Force. The total distance he had travelled is greater than twice round the world. REALIST HARRY HOPKINS “It was singularly impressive to hear this quiet, cultured diplomat' express the ruthlessly realistic sentiment: ‘We aim to send munitions to all the places where Germans and Japanese can be killed.’ ” (Colin Wills in a 8.8. C. Radio Newsreel on his interview with Mr Harry Hopkins).