UNIQUE BROADCAST SOLDIERS AT THE FRONT

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVIII, Issue 21554, 17 January 1940, Page 11

UNIQUE BROADCAST SOLDIERS AT THE FRONT

The Christmas Day broadcast from the Western Front is regarded as one of the most notable feats of wireless. It brought “Tommies,” “Poilus” and the Air Force of France and Britain to British firesides. From the Maginot Line, the British Broadcasting Corporation broadcast French troops’ singing of their Maginot song, then a Royal Air Force concert from a hangar. These were followed by a British concert behind the lines, at which Grade Fields sang for half an hour, joked, and led the troops in community singing. The corporation next picked at random four “Tommies,” who broadcast personal greetings to their families from a blockhouse. The Empire-wide broadcast which

followed was clearly received and emphasised the manner in which radio has become a strong Empire link. British listeners had the feeling that fellow Britons overseas were sharing their Christmas firesides. At the same time, the Empire broadcast has been widely criticised for its “dullness, lack of humour and imagination and stilted speeches.” Charles Graves, in the “Daily Mail,” describes it as the shoddiest Christmas programme yet broadcast, and declares that the British Broadcasting Corporation fell down lamentably. The writer adds: “The Australian girl munition worker’s contribution was flimsy. Why did not the corporation get hold of someone like Regimental Sergeant-Major Price, of Perth, to say something?” Mr Graves would have preferred some more picturesque New Zealand personality than the sheepfarmer who broadcast, and asks why “Billy” Bishop, the Canadian V.C., “who is still the senior air *ace’ of the Empire,” could not have supplanted the anonymous Canadian commercial pilot who had just joined the Air Force.