30 DECEMBER 1932, Page 17

A special word of praise is due to the "

poetry night-caps which have been irregularly broadcast during the last few weeks at the conclusion of the programmes and before the dance music. Particular instances which I can recall, among a crowd of good things, are the reading of Shakespeare's seventy-third and seventy-fourth sonnets and (a happy con- clusion to a delightful programme of three Haydn Symphonies) Mr. de la Mare's "When Music Sounds." Under such conditions familiar poems gain anew and peculiarly vivid meaning. The innovation is one of the best that the Talks Department of the B.B.C. have made during the passing year.

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