5 MARCH 1954, Page 7

A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK

R. BILLY GRAHAM'S premiere—it is difficult to think of another word to describe the launching of the Greater London Crusade—packed 11,000 people into the Harringay Arena. This I take to have been a good thing, since the more people are induced—by whatever means— to take an interest in religion, the better. The occasion was Very fully reported in the London Press, but the journalists detailed to cover it—the Daily Express sent a Coronation-sized team of six—all had some' difficulty in concealing the mild revulsion ' which Mr. Graham's methods of salesmanship aroused in them. Those, on the other hand, who have met him—so to speak—off-stage seem to have been deeply and favourably impressed by his personality. Mr. John Betjeman, incidentally, will be writing about Mr. Graham in next week's Spectator.