ANYONE who has seen the starry-eyed visi- tor, child or
adult, being led through the portals of Broadcasting House must realise the widespread yearning to penetrate behind those entrancing scenes ; much more will be learned from this compendious survey than from a hundred such initiations. The pub- lishers misleadingly describe Mr. and Mrs. Allan's style as " racy "—it leans in fact towards the ponderous—and the trusting fan may consequently be disconcerted to find himself under the guidance of, say, Mr. George Barnes rather than, say, Mr. Wilfred
Pickles. Much of the book's material comes from official publications ; items of scandal are neither numerous nor novel ; but no one could accuse the Allans of failing to cover the ground—right up to F.M. and Television. They have moreover supple. mented their own labours by an excellent bibliography. They give the impression of being best informed at the lower levels, but they are sound on such points as the absurd. ity of calling regional and national pro- grammes competitive, the poverty of Press criticism, the badness of politicians as broad- casters (to which they might have added the fatal insincerity of clergy), the flatness of interview technique, the " Red B.B.C." bogy, studio audiences and Children's Hour reli- gion. The chapters on radio drama and radio fun are particularly well-studied and stimulating. Inaccuracies are few and partiality practically non-existent. No reader should be left wondering why the staffs at the Broadcasting Houses are look- ing eagerly forward—or why at times there is gnashing of teeth and tearing of hair
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