Page
THE CHINA MAIL, TUESDAY, JULY 21, 1953..
BRITISH MUSEUM
YEARS OLD
THE
IS 200
HE British
Museum,
priceless treasure
house of the nation,
doctor
and
wig
By Peter Lovegrove
used
#
10 detect, radioactivity. Thanks to this complex in- strument, the Museum, will be able to gauge with even greater authority the age of archaeolo gical manduct of the Museum's
materials. affairs is in the hands of
of 20, Standing Commiten headed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lord Chancel- lor and the Speaker of the
nual budget is currently run.. House of Commons, and its an- ning Museum has increased so
at about £300,000,
rapidly that it has spread from Bloomsbury. The natural history exhibits were moved to South
and at Colindate is the world's collection of newspapers, and periodicals—a copy of every single one pub- lished
in Britain finds its way taken from the Parthenon by THERE, 400, is Shakespeare' there. Also, by Act of Parlia
signature 10 Blackfriars ment and parallel legislation in Lord Elgin, busts of Roman em-
agreement perors, Etruscan pottery, Cretan morigage, Milton's gold and silver, ancient Egyptian with the publishers of "Paradise the self-governing Dominions, a mummies, the Rosetta Stone,, Lost," geiling the copyright for Babylonian and Assyrian
£20, a letter in relics.
Dryden
a parliamentary grant of £00,- best for the honour of our which has just been cele ond and a £50,000 donation from country. Goodbye."
The original deed of purchase brating its 200th anniver the Pilgrim Trusi). sary, owes its origin to an Today the Museum has be- from native chiefs for blankets, a come one of the world's great tomahawks, knives, scissors, and Irish physician
storehouses, unmatched QJ a looking glasses, of the land on public lottery.
show.place, and its library of which the city of Melbourne now
Captain
Scott's The
Sir over six million books ranks stands. And
in the Antarctic, with Hane Sloare,..a hionable second only to the National diary
that dramatic last entry London physbian in the early Library of France.
ick March 29, 1912: We shall stick part of the 10th century, who
In that splendid building, with it out to the end, but we are spent the fortune he had mado from rich patients in acquiring the massive lonte portico, can feeling weaker of course, and
found When be
the incomparable the end connot be far. It seems rare books and plants.
Portland Vaso-smashed" by E he died, his huge collections, Por
a pity, but I do not think I can 24 write more. R. Scott. For which include some 40,000 books, madman with an umbrella
32,000 184
1845 and mended by Josiah God's soke look after our Kensington some 70 years ago, 3,500 manuscripts and
Wedgwood-beautiful
goldsmith coins, and were then valued at
from the Anglo-Saxon people."
work
in
£50,000, were offered to the burlol ship at Sulton Hoo, ex- Crown for £20,000.
quisitely carved Lothar crystal, and the famous marble friezes
To gruse this sum, and find cuitable budding to house Sloane's collection and others
acquired, previously Parliament ranctioned a publie lottery, which was rigged. making disreputable agent
"ornt" of the take's and promptly reising the of a profit of four shillings per ticket up and down the country,
Money Found
Not Insured
from
the Black Obellak of Shalmane rppealing for payment of arrears ser, gold ornaments and mosales on his pension a Poet Laureate
of the draft of Pope's Illad; original from the royal grave of Ur the Chaldees,
tablets funerary
by Swift, Scott, Defoe, Jane from Carthage and Phoenician manuscripts
Austen, Kents,
Trol- whalever the memorials, implements from the Ceorge Eliot, Thackeray, HOWEVER,
bronze and iron was stone, money
and documents from Erasmus, found and the Museum war es Buddhist statues, Afghan knives, lope and Thomas Hardy; Ietters Colvin, Galileo, Rubens; Inblished in Bloomsbury. Since Japanese swords, jode ornaments
reandal,
the
asures
and
arrd Very valuable collections, not least from the Sovereigns of England, Five regularly enriched it.
Magna Carta
יר
ما
concourse
then, books and antiquities of all from New Zealand, at East Voltaire, Roussem, Racine, Hugo,
Indian wooden Biures. Coin
Kent, Gorths a vast kinds have poured in Im a ceramics and glassware, carly
The world ceram unceasing strearn...
astrolabes of painters, actors, theologians
and poets. was scoured on the Mucur's watches and clocks,
and compassos, postage stamps No official will commit himself behalf for curicalfies.
many (including the renowned Penny, as to the overall value of these treasures, which are not insured. Black), early maps and charts,
Fire is centered be tho greatest dangers, and the Museum private telephone autograph letters unfold the line. During World War Two, ill number of trade, and story of the British nation. There part of the library was destroyed
oMelul George IV the remainder of his are
documenta from by Bre-bombs,” and 150,000 time of William father's fine collection after it the
books were lost and many others had leaked out that he intended the Conqueror,
scorched. belling it to the Russian Czar. the four known copies of Magna
Today the Museum has three Notes on In 1772 the Museum acquired
four de- the large number of classical Death, which removed more library departments, antiquities Sir William Hamil than
George II presented 65,000
backs collected by the kings of THE manuscripts, charters and is connected with Soho Fire
England since Hery VII, George
ton
Carta.
50
had got
while together
Ainbassador in Naples;
the
Two of
Station by
large ots
copy of evory book which_ap-| pears in the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth and Empire is sent to the Library, the total number grows, by some 60,000 every year.
so that
How to gamble -and WIN
CHARLES GRAVES recalls the sayings
one three of
who did
Blackc of the partments of antiquities, percent
or sections containing ancient and the in
ΟΣ reign and population and in Edward III, and the Peasants modern coins and medals, prints
Zographos,
and drawings, the famous Read- NICHOLAS
the tiny sun-burned
1803 were added the Egyptian Revol which Richard 11 put ing Room, and a research inbora-
34 by Napo- down yours later. Letters antiquities obtained leon's agents and ceded at the from Henry VIII and Lady Jane tory. capitulation of Alexandria.
IN
Storehouse
cx-
to
his
NEW
WILINE
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World Copyright by arrangement with the Manchester Guardian.
JACKPOT RATTIGAN
A
PART from Noel Coward, Terence Rat- tigan has made more money out of writing plays than any other Eng- lishman alive. Being a com- pulsive gambler, he is also capable of losing more.
"French
When the
run of Without Tears" ended in 1939, he went on holiday to France, and in three rousing weeks at casinos lost the accumu- the
of three years, lated earnings amounting to nearly £25,000. This was about his only early
struggle. 500 Readers
Greek who recently died in his early sixties at Lausanne, was not only one of the richest and most brilliant.
but also gamblers philosopher.
a
Grey.
Intelligence of the Armada's calling from Spain. Journal, Raleigh's
recording Gulana which THE Reading Room originally his expedition to have led
aten. had one table and twenty executon. more recent times
the chairs: now it is a huge circular come the discoveries of ex- Marlborough reporting
of Viatory
Malplaquet. room with a big dome and it peditions made at public
Here are some of the com- unfinished letter can accommodate 500 readers
ments he made to me:— pense to Mesopotamia, Rhodes, Nelson's Iraq, Asia Minor and Central 10
Lady Hamilton, two at tables arranged like the
To be a gambler you have to British days
There are 47 Afrien. In 1934,
wheel. before
Trafalgar. spokes of
have very strong heart. miles of shelves. obtained Government
the Wellington's despatches during
literally. It is all u question of Gorton' The research laboratory, famous Codex Sinalticus, a 4th the Pensular War, century
Manuscript last letter Greek
from Kharium In where remarkable work of re-your heart.
If you get excited you either Bible, from the Russians for December 1854, starting: "If the storation and repair, cleaning show by Bushing, which £100,000. Since the war, the Expeditionary Force, and I ask and preserving is accomplished, Museum has acquired a collec- for no more than 200 men, does is to bring into use this autumn tion of Greek coins, and also the not come in ten days, the town a "gas counter," which is re- Gelger counter Hirsch Music Library (through may fall and I have done my, lated to the
the
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your heart is in a means that bad way; or you go pale, which means that your stomach is quensy.
That also affects your brain and consequently, your gard
sense.
After all, I have played against the whole world and I know. That is why 1, myself, gave up playing cards at baccarats for over a year because I found that it was beginning lat affect my stomach.
Dangerous
If I am winning the others are losing, so it 15 tactless to
look happy. Also, it is bad policy to look sad it ono is
losing.
There is as big a difference between a good baccarat player and a poor one ав there is between a scratch golfer and a mian with an 18 handicap.
But do you know which are the me dangernus orest The
most ones who take drugs.
ugs. They are full of
ore
O COMIC, and when they
up,
they double Most players double when
At 42, he is handsome, tel- fully urbane, and transparent-
Harrovian; Jy
might you imagine him to be an iminese- ly fashionable psychiatrist.
He plays golf, regularly at Sunningdale, where his handi- cap, after repeated protests from the other members,
has
He is the only dramatist to pro- duce two plays
which ran for
more than 1000 performances.
GROBAR27|||| HUMBER THREE IN THE "EW SUMIES |||||28|||
THE QUEEN'S PLAYERS
by.
Kenneth Tynan
just been reduced from 12 to has twice achieved a run of and taking a beating. He chose
1,000 performances — with the beating. "French Without Tears" (1030)
nine.
Deceptive ease
Sat right down and then
begar apain;
Tireless Terry Rattigani
He begat another flop and en, in 1942, "Flare Path," at felt the opening of which he
the conûdent enough to nudge
director and whisper, think we've brought it off." But evon
he nudged, the curtain, re- peating its earlier triumph, be- gan to descend, with two pages of dialogue still to be spoken. It stopped halfway and then, to re- sounding applause, rose again. Miraculously, the play survived.
Success continued to dog him. In 1944, when the Lunts op="
"Love in peared in
Which
was running usly with
ously
"While the Sun Shines" grave economie mis-
calculation, since in a good week Rattigan would earn £280, from the former and, when tax had been deducted, only. £10 from the latter.
For Gielgud
and "While the Sun Shines" At Harrow he continued to (1154). Film scripts, from act and, while resting between Ho then embarked on a "The Way to the Stars" to "The parts, played cricket. "I used period of devotion to John Final Test," have multiplied to stonewall at one end,"
Gielgud, for whom the parts of explains, "while the other chap the KC in The Winslow Boy,"
Tho:
his income.
It was
ho
in
and tha
Wend
In the upshot, Gielgud played
to blisteringly
mado His Rattigan.
He belongs to the Bachelors'
lashed out,"
the schoolmaster Club and the Garrick: what is
His background is as solid more (much more), he lives in
He performa much the same Browning Version," Eaton Square and bos his as his achievement. wallpaper specially designed at first assumed by his family function in the theatre today. actor in "Harlequinade"
Other dramatfats score their all written, that he would follow kla for him
half-centuries with flashing father.
once British Minister
the critics, but at the box- Ho-Is-impeallently prosto Rumania, into the Diplo omice Rattigan usually carries perous, so much so that the
matic
but at served his hand by
prop. his bat. deceptive case of his
success school he
From has put many of his critics on accepting a role in a one-act
went to strolling through Central Park when Gielgud suddenly together the defensive. "Good theatre," play. During rehearsals ho they concede, "but..."
let work slip, and the head- Oxford, and quickly had a one broke a long silence. "I've dond act play rejected by the In spite of buts, he is the master effered him a choice o.U.D.S. It was his
the part dramatic effort; the first com only dramatist in history who between, abandoning.
INDIA HAVING A NEW LOOK
By John Ashwin
they are losing und decrease WE always look upon India their stakes when they are winning. That is wrong..
I really only learned the difference between sheep and wolves when I started to play baccarat and that was too tale. There is no such thing as good luck or bad luck. If you think you know of any par- ilcularly lucky card-holder you just bring him along to the baccarat and you will see..
What people call luck is merely an established fact seen through the spectacles of after events.
է
Pretty girls
It was the inteligent girla rather than the pretty ones who were the most successful in the boom days in the casinos before the war..
rich If a girl marries a
the is not lucky, she is husband Intelligent: because if she had
Harrow he
posed when he was 10, been
second
had
to
a tremendous historical
pageant about the Borgias,
clear
to
The two men were
so much first-rate stuff,” he said, spheres away in meditation:
"How will my public stomach the eccond-rate?"
With Erie Portman
lead, "The FN
which he had to "Harleqsh
WO5
Ppe": there were
03
In the Very
the curr
pende Nos Cow
double bil that delaying from lines for Gladys Cooper, "and tal Which came down threa two for Marie Tempest, who fult utes before the end.
opquestionably
wadhy
mutedly have Nage of the pic noticed,
Then
in
was
Calamity
Last year Ratilgan hit his ful stage quib. "The Deep
Bile S which for wo nets
(third leka Lesolution is aasterpiece of pure theatre.
It is the sort of town of which as a country that is hide- mothers must have often dream. ed a town where children bound and riddled with
have parks everywhere ancient customs-many of which to play, and roads on While still Oxford, bo Impatient at faße humility, walk without collaborated , a full-denen he bolieves that on his day Ha them such as child marriage which they can and the burning of widows, fear of being killed by a pass-comfy, "First Episode," which is the equal of apt playwright to this hazament, site except Anouilh; and here, which are barbaric and ing car.
for Condom producson. It ran rethought, he made his Chandigarh will have seven three months, dong naugh pont. Yet still from some deplorable.
avo the quarters, the old dry weat up; different kinds of roads, include without Both customs,
degrep pod Theatre, but po... 10 ing roads for children where no university legislation, are dying out, but trame is allowed, roads for and set up shop as rofesion
hopes it may for cyclists only,al playwright. examples of both still occur in adults, roads
find remote places.
rouds cut deep into the
Religan's mission to take the In 3svading thr. Ward curse off that side, dismissive round, below ground level, for
els Brothers at heavy traffic.
weit, he, plirate, it smacks of condescen offered his employer die flat
thanks
Nevertheless, India today
is very conscious of the fact that she is to progress, she must have a "now look." Thus, in the Government and among
India is the rat nation
to
bo
rights of play called "the de sloff of giving a hack his due;
thes
Atis chocon medium is some= month how not qulle respectable,
Vivr
Front doors of houses will be turnede décht Swartlimb and it implies that for a play to
Master builder
many of her "bright young abolished, so there will be no later th Crite lin Theatre Tell men there is a desire to push danger of the little ones coche de Vivre was put in as a slop unexpectedly vacant, and "Jole puce which goss ing progress at
out into the roud to be ahead oven of the rest of the killed. At the back houses will gap production with a scratch world.
on to
pedestrian-only company including Rex Har open
rison, Trevor Howard and roads and gardens.
Kay Hammond, tackle the problem of "popula It will be hot In Chandigarh not married him someone else |tion control seriously. Backed in summer, but the inhabitants
The would have done so.
AND a final quote away from! by the World Health Organis will be sheltered by "sunshade of lis un-English title, wern "good
tion she is aiming at plang shaped" roots which will keep delighted with Rattigan's alter- Coleridge sald) however decora the gaming tables
which will eventually pez back off the fierce glare of the sun native suggestion "French With tive a palace maybe it must Winston Churchill onco
the fastest growing and allow cool air to circulate out Tears. He was stunned; no Rattigan is a muster bulider.
first of all be a house. And naked me what I thought about what is
population in the world. N between the "shade roots" and the French, British, and Italian
the roots of buildings.
armiest
I replied that some men have Courage and no 'physique; some have physique and no courage, Some have both courage and physique. That is the British Army; and I told him that in my opinion it would never bo beaten.
monugement»: dubious
Nobody denies that the best plays, the
of the Dalaces dromo, are more than fust
theatre." But
only by his Buccoss, but by the safety curtain, which struck him
No matter what happens in when his new The "sunshade roofs are in-smartly on the head as he step- Her plans for now town verted so that in winter, when ped forward to make a first- September,
comody "The Sleeping Prince" make H. G. Wells seem old, the rains are heavy, they catch night speech.
a is unvelled, one distinction Is fashioned. India's town plan all the rainwater and conserve His next play was a still-born unlikely to be wrested from mine le futuristic if nothing it for storage.
a It without saying else. It is revolutionary.
And the town will have a song was need malicious real that he is modest, nothing
of was recently soen, at a Knights "No. 1, Now Town of India unique badge to greet visitors, circles, set to will be
bridge party, frowning at him- Chandigarh, with a. This will · consist of a glant, Michael Finnigan:
self in a mirror. "If you'ro, not population of 160,000 - a town, outstretched hand of welcome, which will be the most up-to-suspended on a high pillar as n date the world has ever seen, prominent landmark Just out- hand as neer wine posable fece attuated within eight of the aide the town. In India the open
Himalayas...
palm is the sign of friendstils),
Card game at which you can never \dresö more than three corda and 'in which you attempt to get 'I'
·Dunde - counting, mothala “counting`one,
the lung
• There was a young man called very careful, Terry Ratigan
Terri Rattigang
ho was murmuring, you
Had one hit and then fell flab won't be the prettiest plays
weight in London, 1.