DAB and FLOUNDER
by WALTER
Fishmonger
THE HONGKONG TELEGRAPH, SATURDAY, APRIL 23, 1949,
THE MAN WHO WAS TEMPTED
He was a London clerk: He became an officer in
Germany: Easy money, night_life-And
RANDLE
the whispers from the ruins
operator! Everybody almost
everybody-admires blin..
Gaitskell's pupil left the class
by JOSEPH FRY
and breakfast, takes his fox ter- rier for a 10-minute walic, then
STAMP NOTES
EOFFREY Cotterell, works steadily until lunch. He NEW YORK-Yugoslavin
Hammond, the crooked bat- man. Charlie Morton, who slaps him, on the back und calls him a dark horse. He even wins the respect of Panting, that citsdain- ful equivocal character who is
Ꮐ
of whatever his IN SPRINGTIME. By Geoffroy beckoning from the shadow of in the really big money.
novelist, must be ono cats "a lot"
works broken buildings. A somewhat Cotterell. Eyre and Spottiswoode. 9s. 287 pages.
grisly wanton. But the victor s been wasted, Ile has a genius for writing today.
Howard realises that he has of the best-looking authors mother has prepared,
solidly, until ten, and then "in- THIS is a novel about temptation. It makes good its not in a fastidious mood at the business, A flair. It would be
termittently until midnight. Now and then he goes to a claim on the reader's attention by the old, sound moment,
madness for him to go back to Six feet tall, weighing cinema ar theatre. Arriving in Hamburg from his the insurance office. methods of good story-telling. Firmness of outline,
Twice a week he plays a round puritanical battery in the Ger- And certainly when this last 12st. 10 lb., a six handicap
near-by speed of movement, unmistakable moral; characters that many village, Howard is shocked big venture comes off, he will be golfer who has played all on
Wanstead golt by what he sees. Shocked and able to make a real start at the games and was a major falt of his athletics. come alive' on the page. ·
Nowadays that is the ext excked. He is an ordinary, weal home.
an nck-ack He composes direkt on to a young man. He has decent Finndards, rather shaky at the It. It involves a car, diamonds, a battery at 24, he has the typewriter, but does "an enor
It is Oito who puts him on to commanding knces,
trip to Holland, A trip with physical attributes of an mous amount of correcting, re- He can see very well that Otto, who puts on Polish adventure-strip hero. Charlle Morion, that amusing uniform for the journey. Just a character who is both a British short
trip and then back to officer and a small-time black Ide and her exacting but markel operator, while he may indisputable love. not be a villain-there are hard- ly any vilius here is not in the snipe moral class ns Styles and Hemsleigh,
Mr Cotterell knows exactly what he means to do, and sets about the task with commendable promptitude. His writing is pleasantly satirical and alert. It is no part of his business to carry out profound psychological probings. Mr Cotterel establishes his people just up to the degree of understanding that renders require.
Ordinary people in an extru- ordinary situation. Extraordin- ary and not at all pretty.
Ghosts of ruin
THE background, filled with
Leeskate
George Malcolm THOMSON
Learning
Bumpily-attractive
course.
orthodox
higher
has announced a row stamp to commemorate the centenary of the death of Dr Franc Presern, the greatest Slovene poet of the 19th century. A great Slovene patriot and nationalist, his influence on Sloveno literature is notabla,
The stamp is 10 dinars on slate and shows a sitting por trait of Dr Presern with the antes 1840-1949 in the upper left hand corner.
SPECIAL 3c commemora- tive stamp being Issued in connection with the first gubernatorial election in the territory of Puerto Rico wit be placed on sale for the first time at San Juan, on April 27,
writing, research and just think. ing."
Cotterell is a young man who fea- made up his mind to be a pro tures; an impressive jaw; a fessional writer, and made the quick shy smile; blue eyes grade. From prep school he won JEED it be said that every- and crinkly black hair-this a scholarship to Bishop's Stort- thing is not as it appears on unliterary looking young ford College, but at 10, bolley-
that Ing But Styles and Hemsleigh, the surface? That all the men of man should be highly popu education" held nothing for him, The with their ideals of austerity July 20 re not quite what lar with women novelists he went to Berlin, And in the foreground? rapid expert strokes, British forces of occupation and and duty to the conquered are they pretend. And that even the and women novel-readers. He learned German at Berlin Germany after the defcal. Ger- government in a brief but sorry they not just a little snooty smartest of young oflicers may He is not thinking of mar- University in a class with 10 many with its underworld come moment of their evolution.
Besides, they have private trip up. to the surface. Ruined Homburg doubt it was
down inevitable, given at Charlie Morton, and Howard learns. The hard way. home at Wanstend with, his soundtrack of the Olymple A slogan, "Chilif. Constitution
We live and learh—at least, ringe. At 29, he lives at Japanese and a Syrian; supplied the English applause for the with the grey ghosts of the the elrumstances; no doubt only 110 Wehrmacht trudging past the a small minority were affected, smiles.
But not too hard. Steadily enter mother ("my resident cri- Winter Sports film, and Onco rubble, the dirty, begging chill- But it was not nice. And it is
faining, uncomfortable convinc- tic") and father, a dental stood within two yards of dren and the blunde, too blonde good to know that it is over.
ing, Randle in Springtime is nede for the pleasure and in surgeon.. struction of a great public.
--(London Express Service).
women.
FROM HERE AND THERE:
Lipstick Gangs Plague Brooklyn
the citizens
Nu
incans.
IF
On the slope
Howard Randle, Mr Col.. terell's hero, has been an it is right (at least, not insurance clerk, in an officer. wrong) to trade a handful and will soon be on insurance of cigarettes for a bottle of gin clerk once again. He will have (but watch the label, old boy), to call Mr Waters "air"
why is it wrong to deal on u slightly bigger scale? Charlle argues the case with the honest indignation of the semi-croąk. What is the answer?
The more he looks at the pros- peel, the less he likes it. Especl ally after he leaves his battery and takes up a tempormy job with the Sociological Division in Hamburg
Jiumburg! The sparkle. The
NEW YORK: Pretty criminals chemists shops and restaurants, tuxury. The galety. All phoney
voted to UAIRE A are plaguing New York's Streal- Recently
How en van he know? ham, Brooklyn. Offieals report drop the law which the Mayors telling toward that,
to permit Sunday he see things in that teen-Age girls have formed enneted and
their proper to nid and Jangs,
encourage chemas.
light, with his narrow experience of
formed tu youths Ranks
and with that grey shadow of The gir pillage the suburb.
the insurance office failing across his path? gangs are in
ways more velous than the boys gangs, They use sald these officials. Paninine cunning to obtain arms for their boy friends and then provide albis for them to pre- vent them from arress.
many
Unhappy Dreamer
A native CAPETOWN: houseboy employed by the Italian consul in Lourenco Mar- ques, habitually sleeping open- mouthed, swallowed a cockroach and rushed to the kitchen, where he drank a bottle of cockroach poison. He almost killed himself Instead of the cockroach.
He Finally Won
NEW YORK: In Zion. Illinois,
n town which until recently be- Heved that the world was flat, Mayor Richard
way to bent Mrs
of today wants to have
Inviting women
Howard is on a slippery slope. Behind him-before him-is Mary, his plain dancee, the suburban tennis club, the cinema
With
a few hundred pounds to start in Civvy Street, queue.
how different it all might be!
In the meantime, there is Wilde, auburn-haired ilde and
her
brother
her Otto, who is, like every other German male, one of the men of July 20-one of the heraca of the Plot Against Hitler. A democrat, one who whispers that Britain and Germany should be friends so that the fussiana Poles, Czechs and suchlike can be put in their proper plates.
The Athletic Look WASHINGTON: According to an expert, Mr Eugene Acker- man, the great
American tradi- on that only male villains are well-dressed is gone forever. Mr
IFE is passing Howard by. Ackerman says that the young Opportunity is giving him Or is it? As he that EXECUTIVE look the brush-off.
the noisy bars, instead of the old-time lumberlanees round
dipy his foot gingerly into the There are Hilde's friends. The Jack's shirt and baggy trousers. garish night life, Howard be- Count who was at Balliol, the Says Mr Ackerman: "The fingins to wonder.
Countess who used to stay at the wool and the good tailoring of
These transactions, which be Ritz Howard meels and hates their war-time uniforms made
with a few cigarettes and them. But how he would like new habits for them." The new Anish with a wad of good Brit. Me Waters to witness his con- habits:
interest more
ikh banknotes, after passing descension towards the Count, colours and fabrics, t desire
And through Lelca
cameras, choco-
are champagne for the easy, draped look which lates, fur coats, even cars. They, cocktails at the Country Club, look young too, might lead to something.. and little transactions in this
These Germon
so and that. women
Little transactions miraculously dressed, so openly which tend to become bigger inviting. They, too, might lead transactions. to something.
makes the wearer and athletic.
Dogs on parade
In
Mac- Latest
MOMBASA: Twenty "kiker” Hire found a dogs-specially trained alsations Grundyiarn. and boxers will be on Last December the citizens guard in July at
Road, Britain's voted to outlaw Sunday cinema. kinnon So Mayor Hire stopped all stores depot in East Africa, in Sunday business newspapers, the latest effort to check thefts milk and bread deliveries, of army stores and equipment.
there
Yes, Howard has fallen. But The vanquished Menace is oh how wide open that boy's transformed into 17
What wanton, eyes are!
shrewd
• GEOFFREY COTTERELL bachelor, aged 29, die tall, ex- tnajor.. lives at Wanstead... educated at Bishaps Bloriford, Berlin University and Landan Univerzity studied economics un-
der Mr Gaskell at University College, Gower Street, filoomsbury
now writes (8 or 14 hours a day) for a living.
VIGNETTES OF LIFE
WHAT KIND OF A HALF-WIT ARE YOU, ANYWAY... DON'T YOU KNOW BY THIS TIME THAT INVOICES AND ....*
ETC.
shaves,
He gets up at seven,
does some work, has a bath
The Answer To This One's A Sporran
NOR
Fo
mare than 200 hours. Mr Ernest Neal, a Taunton schoolmazier, has wat stin- ierged in
trees
By CHAPMAN PINCHER
to snoep on the night life of Britain's
most misunderstood animal-the badger,
Four of
of his findings-con- by flashlight photo- firmed by Sans-havo astonished ex-
naturalists:- (1) Badgers do not hiber. nate.Fresh footprints in the snow chowed where they had paddled out for a Christmas drink.
(2) Familles of badgers pay each other social calin-Well- trodden paths connect badgers' dens.
tho
(3) A badger can climb a tree like a bear-It shins up the bark on the lookout for tasty slurs.
(4) Badgers entry their bracken bedding by tucking It under the chin with the forepaws-They make it up
Into
bundles
: and then slide home on their cllows.
The
inalde
of an old bad- Her net as a den is called......... looks like the London Under- with round railway system, connecting tunnels, stopping ventilation shafts. places and
One mystery Mr Neal has not solved to his satisfaction is where badgers go to die. the report of his night But watch-Just published in book
tells how one form'..-lie female badger carefully dur 1 grave for her dead has- band. and burled him in it with what seemed ilko re-
verence,
до
Badgers
increasing steadily now throughout Bri-
What use Lain.
are they? Their hair makes the best shaving brushes-and the best sporrans.
London Express Service).
"The Badger," by Ernest Neal. (Collins, 12e. 6)
Himmler.
TIRING of Germans, he re- TIR
turned to study economies under Mr Galtskejl at Univer- sity College. But he spent much of his time in a Gower Street cufe writing short stories,
About this time, he modestly decided that its only hope was the_working-class weeklies. After a few months he sold a story for £5, left economics for ever, and concentrated an fiction.
For two and a half years he rat every day writing stories for and about working-class girls and their families...at least half
million words,
Sometimes he got three or four rejections by one past. By the time he had begun to sell regu- Iarly (1040) he was called up.
His first novel (Then A Soldier, 1044) was about army 18: his second (This Is The Way, 1947) about life in the suburbs. He says he is just be- ginning
some make
real money.
10
+
MANY readers will remember his brilliant elder brother Anthony, feature writer and author of What! No. Morning Ten! and An Apple For The Sergeant. Anthony was captured at Arnhem and later, in odd circumstances,
disappeared. Geoffrey, who has travelled
the Westem Zones and Holland. trying
ing to find out what happen- ed to
tells me him.
that Anthony's name is still on the lat of the missing. His case re- mains open.
London Express Service)..
SPECIAL die, bearing the
Assembly Centennial Aug 20-Sept. 6, 1949," has been in operation since March 13 at Monterey, California. Tho die will be used until Sep- *tember 5.
EBANON will soon issue five stamps in celebration of the 75th year of the Univer- sol Postal Union. The 5 plastres, 7.00 pl and 12.59. pl are for regular pastage, while the 23 pl and 50 pl are for air. mail use.
JORWAY' will also observe
the 75th anniversary' of the Universal Pástal Union with o set of three commemorative stamps soon to be issued.
TGYPT will honour the Bel-
glan centenary philatello ex- hibition to be held in Brussels in July with a special stamp and an oir mail envelope.
IBERIA has added, two more stamps to its presidential serles with a 4 cent olive tind black stamp picturing the re- public's
fourth. president. James Spriggs Payne, and a $1 violet and black stamp with the portrait of Edwin-Jumes Barclay, who held the presi- dency from 1930 to 1944..
DANADA conmemorated the entry of Newfoundland into Its confederation with a special 4-cent stamp placed on sale throughout the Dominion on April 1.
The stamp bears a reproduc- tion of John Cabot's ship Matthew, sailing off the New- foundland coast. Green in colour, the stamp has tho dates "1497" and
"1949" on either side.
"Those Not-So-Hidden Taxes”
BY KEMP STARRETT
AND IF YOU CAN
ANSWER OUR QUESTION IN ONE MINUTE. YOU CAN WIN A WONDERFUL
SAUCEPAN EXC.
WE KNOW A FEW BOSSES WHO ARE
A "TERRIBLE TAX ON SELF-CONTROL.
SHORT
THE LAD WITH HIS OWN ORIGINAL-TYPE SCENARIO OR DRAMA... WRITTEN AFTER PEEKING AT A
FEW FAMOK AUTHORS...
ISA HEAVY TAX ON MANNERS.
IT'S CONSIDERABLE OF A TAX ON OUR ENDURANCE WHEN THEY WANT TO SPILL ALL THEIR TROUBLES JUCT WHEN WE WANT TO SPILL
OURS.
IT TRED: FOR
HEAVEN'S SAKE,
IT'S SEVENL
THIRTY
SOME OF THE CUSTOMERS ARE A HEAVY TAX.CI OUR CHOULDER
SOMETIMES WIVES ARE AN AWFUL TAX ON ONET PATIENCE ... AND SO ARE HUSBANDS
SOME OF OUR CAFE SOCIETY DITE A TERRIFIC TAX ON OUR SYMPATHIES
THE RADIO-TELEPHONE QUIZ PUTS A STIFF TAX ON ONE'S
SANITY.
THE ONES WHO TAX
ON NERVES
EEEEF
Ledger Syndicate
ZF YOU WANT CHOPS
AND STEAKT G REGULARLY
I'LL HAVE TO
•HAVE A BIGGER ALLOWANCE T'LL HAVE TO HAVE MORE ASWAYZ
THEN TIERES THAT TAX ON OIR INGENUITY HOW TO MAKE THE SALARY MATCH UP WITH EXPERICES