"Spectator" Competitions

RULES AND CONDITIONS Entries must be typed or very clearly written on one side of the paper only. The name and address, or pseudonym, of the competitor must be on each entry and not on a separate sheet. When a word limit is sell words must be counted and the number given_ No entries can be returned. Prizes msy be divided at the discretion of the judge, or withheld if no entry reaches the required standard. The judge reserves the right to print or quote from any entry. The judge's decision is final, and no correspondence can be entered into on the subject of the award. Entries must be addressed to :—The Editor, the Spectator, 99 Gower Street,

London, W.C. 1, and be marked on the envelope Competition No. (--).

Competition No. 34 (Set by " Doom") A Nam of £2 2s._ is • offered for a list of the six living people you would most like to welcome at your Christmas dinner. The prize will be awarded as far as possible in accordance with the general vote of the competition.

Entries must be received not later than Monday, December 7th,.1931. .The result of this competition will appear in our issue of December 19th.

• Competition No. 35 (SET BY " CARD.") A prize of £2 2s. is offered for the best list of Christmas presents suitable for presentation to any five of the follow- ing six people : (I) The Archbishop of Canterbury, (2) Mr. Bernard Shaw, (3) Miss Peggy Salaman, (4) Mr. Gandhi, (5) Viscount Snowden of Ickornshaw, (6) The Editor of the Spectator.

Entries must be received not later than Monday, December 14th, 1931. The result of this competition will appear in our issue of December 26th.

The result of Competition No. 33 will appear in our next issue.

Limerick Competition No. .5 A PRIZE of £1 ls. is offered each week for a new and original English Limerick verse -on some subject dealt with in the current number of the Spectator. The fifth of these competitions closes on Monday, December 14th. Entries should be marked on the envelope " Limerick No. 5."

The result of the third of these competitions will be announced in our next issue.

[It is .requested that to facilitate the work of the judges, entries should, when possible, be submitted on postcards.]

Report of Competition No. 32

(REPORT AND AWARD BY "DLTGLI.")

A PRIZE of £2 2s. was offered for a paragraph made up as far as possible of the names of English newspapers, reviews and magazines. The newspapers, &c., had to be in general circula- tion.- The prize would not necessarily go to the paragraph with the greatest number of names, but to the one in which they were used with the greatest ingenuity. Paragraphs were not to exceed 250 -words in length. This has been a popular competition. There have been entries from all over the British Isles, from Belgium and France, and even from Taormina. The contemplation of a list of periodicals, almost all of which, presumably, hope to improve or instruct their readers, has appealed to the serious side of the competing public. Most of the paragraphs were very moral in tone. " In the World To-day" or " In this New Era," they begin, and go on with the views on the Nation or the Outlook of the impartial Spectator or Observer. One or two competitors have written short stories. One of the best was by Lisa Ginsburg, who tells us how " Eve left her Jewish Guardian and went into the Wide World . . . " and of her meeting and afternoon out with a Scottish naturalist. Lady. MaeAlister, in a thrilling story of robbery and love, shows us her hero John Bull, going" through a Field in Quest of Adventure, Punch, that Champion of the Dog World, following." Gothic Ouster's heroine is Psyche Draper, who reaches a Stage in her History when nothing but Truth will avail," and refusing both the Scotsman and Schoolmaster, and the Man who did not Mind Public Opinion, is found at the end of the story " joining her Guardian in South Africa." The standard is a high one this week and the following should ,b! Highly Commended for excellent entries : Ida K. Shaw, Lieut. E. B. Carnduff, Godric Austen, J. H., Thurbo, Lady MacAlister, Eve (who ties made her paragraph a-compliment to the Spectator), Lisa Ginsburg, L. A. Wilding,-Tabitha, Mary G. Thomas (for really amusing Snapshots by the Bystander on the character of a Woman's Leader and Modern Woman), the Rev. Alexander Smart and M. K. Lynn.

The prize of £2 2s. is awarded to Helen, who is asked to send name and address to which a cheque may be sent.

• PRIZE PARAGRAPH.

(All the names of periodicals included appear in " The 1Vriters' and Artists' Year Book" for 1930.) •

Only a Humorist would call My Home an Ideal Home. Truth to tell, the Builder was an Economia—a Scotsman whose Building shows no Sign of Education in Architecture, but is a Record of his reverence for Antiquity and his Discovery that a Lot o' Fun can be provided by the ingenious use of Tit-bits and Chips. The walls Quiver if you Punch thenal We give a Weekly Welcome to the Surveyor and Municipal and County Engineer, whom we Prize for their Great Thoughts on the supply of Light in the Home and the elimination of Air and Bubbles which hinder the Progress of the heating Machinery. Fortunately, wo like the Adventure of Country- Life and find the Riverside Pictorial, and having Health and Strength, we have some Sporting Times Out o' Doors. Unhappily, in these Times there is a Vogue for keeping Poultry ' - My Favourite flower-bed is a Magnet for the Feathered World and hens appear from the Field Leading Strings of chickens to the lawn, which is the Chicks' Own World To-day.

Though a Connoisseur would consider Homes and Gardens such as these no Criterion of what a Modern, Horne should be and • a Guardian of the Public Health seek refuge in Flight, we ourselves do not Mind, or Miss Modern conveniences, and we Scout all Ideas of a return to Piccadilly.

Highly Commended. .

The Town Crier had announced that The Queen would make a Grand Progress on The Saturday ; escorted by members of The Fighting Forces, Army, Navy and Air Force, and accompanied by The New and Popular Premier, for in Public Opinion this National Citizen was indeed The People's Friend. So now, The People from both Town and Country Homes thronged The Strand. Many a Tourist from Overseas, whom the Union Jack, like a Magnet had drawn from every Corner of The British, Empire, if not of The Universe, stood side by side with a Countryman of John Bull to Witness The Passing Show. Little Folks were there, some quite Tiny Tots, all Merry and Bright. Yonder some Schoolboy Chums wore having a Lot o' Fun, ; here a Schoolgirl with a little School Friend was taking Snapshots. Happy Meg ! a-Quiver with excitement ! it was a Red Letter day for her ? Hor Schoolmistress, a Modern Woman and a true Girls' Friend, was also Spectator. The Lady's Companion was a Scotsman, who, though not a Schoolmaster, had devoted his Life and Work to Child Education. This Scots Observer gave shrewd Answers to another Looker On, a Journalist, who, in Quest of Ideas for a Graphic Sketch for The Newspaper World was busy with Notes and Queries. Suddenly Everyman wa%od his hat and cheered while Scout and Guide stood at attention ; sure S gn

that The Royal Motor was in sight. THURSO.

Result of Limerick Competition No. 2 'IsnE most popular subjects this week were the round-up of the Corsican bandits and the interruption to London traffic caused by the Lord Mayor's Show.

The prize of £1 ls. is awarded to Aramon, for the following :

" THE CORSICAN BANDITS (Spectator, page 628).

When a gendarme, collecting what force he can, Tracks a brigand (variety Corsican), Is the officer right To shoot him at sight He needn't feel any remorse ; he can.

ARAMON.

Some Highly Commended entries.

TILE LORD MAYOR'S Snow.

There was once a young Cockney of Bow, Who said Blimey, yer can't stop the Show.

London's Lord Mayor in state, Is not arf alt o' date.

'E spells 'igh Jenks for us. Nar yer know ! "

Lieut.-Col. F. A. GODDARD.

SALE OF "OW MASTF.IIS " FROM RUSSIA.

That levellers can't bear the best In state or in art., stands confess'd Russia lost some old masters

In civil disasters— And now they are selling the rest I G. RENDALL, Bushey Heath, Herts.