Up to Beveridge
There is much argument about whether television should be divorced from the control of Broadcasting House. Into this argu- ment, which is concerned with policies of the purse and fairly bedevilled by personalities, I don't enter. The Beveridge Committee is presumably sitting, broodily, on the subject, and we must wait to see what hatches. What would for preference concern me would be the quality of the television programmes, since now they arc to play so large a part in the education/entertainment of so many people.
Over Alexandra Palace now, as over the Savoy Hill of the 'twenties, there lies a brilliant air of improvisation, a sparkling atmosphere of enthusiasm. As television expands, this must give way to the light of common day. It is a sad thing, but, as organisa- tions expand, something of the pioneering devotion tends to con- tract. " We few, we happy few . . ."—that is something at present of the Alexandra Palace spirit. But the fact remains that they are too few, and their facilities are altogether too limited, to do justice to English television. It is very commonly accepted that the British lead the world in inventiveness, but that when it comes to the exploitation of it the Americans lead us. (They call it technology.) The Americans have, they say, the know-how ; and they are content to leave us the find-out-how.
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