the first time that SHAKESPEARE had been presented by local players over the air and the programme was remarkable for the youthfulness of the actor playing the lead who was only 18 years old and was still at school. The play took three months to adapt and produce: it lasted for two and three quarter hours and made extensive use of incidental music to heighten atmosphere.
89. A preview of the 1959 Hong Kong Festival of the Arts covered everything from Lion Dancing to the Beating of Retreat and the westernization of Chinese music, and included dramatic contributions by various societies and by Radio Hong Kong. A half-hour feature, it included studio explanations of various aspects of the 1959 Festival by a number of people, ‘actuality' recordings of items in the Festival and
so on.
90. A review of Radio Hong Kong's major English programmes throughout 1959, ‘Looking Back', began with the New Year's Eve Roundup of 31st December, 1958, and took us through the Fat Choy Drive, H.R.H. The Duke of Edinburgh's visit, the 350th anniversary Shakespeare programme, the advent of 'The Archers', Firkusny, the introduction of night flying at Kai Tak, the broadcast of the Vienna Philharmonic, Hamlet, the Queen's Christmas message, and ended with the New Year's Eve Roundup of 1959-60.
91. On April 1st that sacred agricultural institution 'The Archers', an everyday and seemingly unending story of country life in England, was brought to a sudden halt with a special All-Fools' Day edition in which all those involved met sudden death. Reactions to this violence were generally favourable and so presented the programme planners with a slight dilemma, whether the series should continue. In the evening of the same day gentle fun was poked at the daily news programme of a friendly rival.
Sport
92. The outstanding events in the Colony's world of sport were all covered during the year. The Walkathon involved twenty different commentary points and the use of VHF transmitter vans; the cross- harbour race required commentaries from launches; the Colony golf championship featured telephoned reports; and the biggest project of all, the Macau Grand Prix, included five separate commentary points round the Guia Circuit at Macau and was a co-operative venture with Rediffusion and HKCBC, involving ten commentators and a highly complex technical layout. Other highlights of the year's sport which
15
Page 25Page 26