A BLIND, DEAF AUTHORESS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19344, 19 November 1932, Page 11

A BLIND, DEAF AUTHORESS

DR. HELEN KELLER Dr. Helen Keller, the blind and deaf American authoress, left England for America recently after having spent nearly five months in that country. During this time she and her faithful teacher, Mrs Anna Macy, toured Britain from Land’s End to John o’Groat’s, and have been feted wherever they went. Dr. Keller said that the three things which impressed her most during her visit were her meeting with the King and Queen at the Royal Garden ■ Party, her chat with Mr George Bernard Shaw, and dining at the House of Commons with Captain lan Fraser, the blind M.P. “I love your Queen,” she said. “She is not stiff and distant. She gave me a warm handshake, and listened with such interest to what I had to say. I told her how much I loved the gardens at Buckingham Palace, and she wanted to know how I could enjoy flowers I could not see. I explained to her that I could smell their fragrance and feel their beauty. “My talk with Bernard Shaw was not so easy. I could not think of a single clever thing to say to him, and I am sure he found me dull. “I love your country,” Dr. Keller went on, “and I have been amazed at the Englishman's love of flowers and birds.” During her visit Dr. Keller made investigations about the deaf-blind population in England, and was in touch, through the post, with at least 700 people who are afflicted as she is.

ON THE LIDO

Pyjamas are not now worn on the Lido. The vogue is for simple, rough linen suits cut with a low back. A cape or short coat is put on for the trip across the lagoon back to Venice. Captain and Lady Diana Duff Cooper have been entertaining at the Plazzo Grandolino. Lady Duff Cooper does not believe in sunburn and is generally seen on the Piazza wearing a large picure hat and equipped with a sunshade as well. Sir Robert and Lady Diana Abdy are still at Palazzo Babarao„ a very beautiful palace. Lord Dudley is a regular Lido bather, although he is not staying in Venice, writes our Paris correspondent. He has taken Count Paul Munster’s lovely Schloss in the Dolomites, set among some of Europe's most romantic scenery, and finds it quite easy to motor from the castle to the Lido for a swim. Mdlle. Caruso is busy painting scenes of Venice. Her name is Gloria, she has a lovely voice and is also an accomplished artist and pianist. Mme. Caruso is justly proud of her.

THE NEW COUNTRY HOUSE. For use at her new country home, the Royal Lodge, in Windsor Park, the Duchess of York has just bought a pretty modern dinner service of jade green china painted with a design of jonquils. It carries out the colour-scheme that has been chosen for the dining room, for the walls are tinted green and the curtains are shot with gold. The round table and the sideboard have been fitted with glass tops.