81. Later in the year an attempt was made to form a per- manent jazz group for a weekly session, but 'Colony Jazz Club' lasted for only a few weeks. It
It died not through lack of audience support, the Concert Hall was full to overflowing for each of its appearances, but the demands on the services of musicians for other work in the Colony led to considerable uncertainty as to whether any musicians would turn up for the session, and on one occasion the broadcast had to be cancelled for this reason.
Light entertainment.
82. Movie Magazine and ‘Going to the Pictures', were weekly features throughout the year. The former is an uncritical pro- gramme which presents news from the studios, interviews with the stars and music from the films. The latter is a weekly critique of current films in which a panel of critics talked about three films under the guidance of a chairman. With the short runs given to most films in the Colony, the panel usually have to see more than the number of films they can talk about, or cram their viewing into Thursday evening and Friday afternoon. Timothy Birch's 'Thursday Scrapbook' turned out to be one of the most popular light entertainment programmes of the year and ran for forty weekly editions. Almost any scrap was included-unusual music, eccentric views on serious topics such as cheese, advice on how to mix drinks, and a personality series. 83. An addition to the weekly magazine programmes was 'Women Only' which began in December and has since covered a wide variety of subjects of interest not only to women but also it seems to men, judging by the volume of comments received from male listeners. Child care and upbringing, Chinese cook- ing, women drivers and careers for children have been among the topics.
84. 'Beginners Please' had another successful run, its third, in January and there was no sign of a falling off in its appeal. Some of the acts were more suited for television than for radio, and the studio audience are unlikely to forget the one man band from the Royal Navy who appeared complete with false red nose and whiskers. There were classical and dance pianists, singers, whistlers, performers on the ‘bones' and bands, including another naval entry with a most bizarre assortment of instruments including an oil drum.
22