The business of extinguishing Radio-Normandie, so far as its broadcasts
in English are concerned, seems a little portentous. The B.B.C., unlike American and various Continental stations, quite rightly includes no advertising in its programmes, but the fact that French stations do, and that after or before some attractive musical item you may hear Radio-Normandie proclaiming the virtues of Tuscan Tooth Paste or a similar commodity would not seem to do Sir John Reith much harm. But Sir John Reith and his colleagues think otherwise and they have persuaded His Majesty's Government to think otherwise. So the machinery of diplomatic communication has been set in motion and His Majesty's Government has persuaded the Government of the French Republic to tell Radio-Normandie that this really must stop. So it is going to stop—to the annoyance, I make no doubt, of many people besides myself. Radio- Normandie is often well worth listening to, and though we can still hear it talk in French it was simpler to hear it talk in English.
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