COMPETITION
No. 728: Good will henceforth Set by E. 0. Parrott: Very soon now the Prime Minister will be getting ready to conduct his annual Broadstairs carol Concert. After such a year as this, he may Well feel the need for a special carol. Competitors are asked to provide him with one. Limit 20 lines. Entries to 'Competition No. 728 ' by November 23.
No.725:The winnirs
Charles Seaton reports: In celebration of fifty years of radio, competitors were Invited to write in praise — or dispraise — Of the BBC, and incorporate at least ten Well-known titles of radio programmes (though not as titles) in their entries. I soon found that a number of titles lent themselves only too well to this exercise and popped up nearly everywhere. Others, by contrast, were sometimes so well buried by entrants who omitted to differentiate their titles (by underlining, for example) that they caused a certain amount of memory-searching and head-scratching in the effort to do their authors justice.
The number of programme titles embodied in an entry ranged from the Obligatory minimum of ten up to twentyeight, without appearing too contrived, and a measure of ingenuity was used in the deployment of the more intractable.
Though it might not appear so from the winning entries, the balance of opinion Was preponderantly pro-BBC and " Auntie " was used as often in affection as in disparagement.
A prize of four pounds goes to W. F. N. Watson, with three pounds to each of the others printed. Runners-up were H. A. C. Evans, Mrs P. K. Brown, Harrison Everard and W. F. Owtram.
My word, Auntie BBC, what has happened to you? Fifty years old, they say — but who is talking about antiques? It is on your youth and rejuvenation that I am congratulating you — and yours is deservedly the homage of a host of admirers. It sounds familiar, I know, but the shorter you wear your petticoat line, the more people will scan it. It's your line, of course, but speaking for myself, the more you can reveal and air, the better.
If Sir John could hear you today, you'd probably have the Reith lecture; but he can't, so I hope you will continue to keep in touch with the young idea, because, if you think, you've got problems enough to keep you going for the next fifty years. Please have a go at all of them, when you've finished basking in the plaudits from the world, this weekend.
(Anthony Jarvis) All those of us 'under fifty have known Auntie all our lives, and we have perhaps taken her for granted, as one is apt to do with relations, even family favourites. We have made jokes at her expense and scarcely appreciated her daily service of sounds, familiar and unfamiliar, words and music. She has been with us in every crisis and has been always ready to give us a persona/ view of the living world. She has provided answers, when we have sought them, to any questions we might have, whether they were about what took place yesterday in Parliament or is likely to happen in the world this weekend.
Now it is the old girl's birthday and I don't suppose we should have even remembered if she didn't mention it so often that no one else can get a word in edgeways.
(George van Schaick)
Upon my word! Speaking for myself, as homeward bound after seven on my night ride from the city today, I scan the programmes celebrating fifty broadcasting years, I find something that sounds familiar in this talking about "antiques." Can it be that the Corporation is no longer in touch with the living world in this island now? Although claiming to be dedicated to the people's service, it has little to talk about except itself, so that the critics cannot get a word in edgeways for even just a minute! They should be allowed access to Portland Place as to an ever open house, so that they can ask any questions they choose and comment on any
answers they may receive. (B. L. Howarth) Speaking for myself, Auntie, I think you're letting yourself down, Your way of leaving us without any answers to life's problems is stultifying. As for schools broadcasts, whom d'you think you're educating? Archie, my brother, has to listen, and detests it. Ma, too, wants those who select classical music to remember to keep in touch with reality. And though it's your line of business, as an entertainer you're hardly top of the form. My word, Auntie, hasn't the news penetrated that it's 1972, not 1922? Just a minute more of your stuffiness and we'll all abandon you, and yours alone will be the loss. Why, I'd a letter from America swearing that of fifty-two weeks' programmes, only about one week's good: cause enough surely for a jubilee soul-search, Auntie! After all, you're just another daily service in the living world, so wake up. It's TODAY. Any questions?
(W. F. N. Watson)
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