during the year bringing the staff strength to one programme supervisor and two programme officers.
60. 'Topics' staff are faced with the difficulty of working from two locations-Broadcasting House and the Island studios but most prob- lems have been overcome by the development of two self-recording studios which allow easy transfer of news material between the build- ings without undue loss of quality.
61. In addition to the three staff members, 'Topics' relies heavily on contributing reports, without whom this wider coverage of local and international events would not be possible. The programme con- tinued to follow closely all aspects of local affairs with very extensive coverage given for example, to the remarkable expansion of the Colony's industry and trade. Much emphasis was also placed on report- ing development in three important fields: labour relations, education and transport.
62. International news events covered during the year included the conflicts in Indo-China and the Middle East, the release of a number of Britons detained in China including journalist Anthony GREY, the resignation of President De GAULLE and the launching of China's first earth satellite. The single news item given most coverage and stimulating most interest was the epic voyage of Apollo 12 culminating in man's first landing on the moon.
63. Many international celebrities found themselves before the microphone again this year. Among them were Michael CAINE, Cliff ROBERTSON, Stanley BAKER, Eddie FISHER and Matt MUNROE.
Presentation and News
64. 15% of the output of the English Service is made up of news bulletins and summaries and a list of the times of these news broadcasts is given in Appendix D. Only one change took place in the pattern of news programmes during the year, and that was the rescheduling of the lunchtime bulletin from 1.15 p.m. to 1.30 p.m., to bring it into line with all other bulletins and summaries, which are broadcast on the hour.
65. The FM Service now runs separate programmes each day of the week, mornings and evenings, with five hours on Sunday mornings and two hours each weekday morning. Closing time continues to be midnight from Monday to Sunday but on Saturdays, programming is extended to carry special sports relays from the BBC and the station then closes down at 1 a.m.
12