Some excellent transcriptions were made available by the B.B.C., including Vaughan Williams 'Sinfonia Antarctica' and 'A Tale of Two Cities' by Arthur Benjamin. The Henry Wood Promenade Concerts, broadcast at 9 p.m. on Sunday evenings proved extremely popular.
51. As with some of the talks series (notably those by Lord Russell), listener reaction to music programmes not only proved that many of them are listened to by Chinese listeners, but indicated that far more Chinese than European listeners listen to classical music and serious talks.
Features
52. The output of locally written and produced feature programmes continued at the 1953 level. It would not be possible to increase it at the moment, as the writing and produc- tion of these programmes is a lengthy business which has to be fitted in with the ordinary routine of planning nine hours broadcasting per day.
The year started with a dramatized history of the Hong Kong Volunteers' "Second to None in the Orient", produced for the centenary celebrations. After tracing the history of the Volunteers from their beginning in 1854, and the vicissitudes of the Force during the last century, several members of the H.K.V.D.C. who fought in the defence of the Colony in 1941 told of the part the Corps played in the battle.
Another full length feature was the programme in the series 'In Your Service' which dealt with the work of the Royal Observatory.
Other programmes dealt with the launching of a ship in one of the Colony's dockyards, on the origins of the London Police, St. Valentine's Day, Chinese New Year, the work of the Army Catering Corps and many others.
16