1955-06-06 — Page 4

Page 4 T

THE CHINA MAIL, MONDAY, JUNE

6, 1955.

THE ENEMY AT

THE DOOR

N the spring of 1941, our London flat made uninhabitable by an incendiary bomb, my wife and I moved into the country.

A friend had told us that a house in her neighbourhood had suddenly been deserted because the district had become a Danger Zone, and we could have it for

a nominal rent.

That suited us, and we found ourselves in a fair- sized half-Tudor, half early- Victorian farmhouse about three miles from Battle in Sussex.

It appealed to me because I was struggling with my biography of Bernard Shaw just thep and the sounds of war were remote. The near-

est village was a mile away.

"

and the house was surround-

ed by fields and woods.

the

Danger zone

11

FACT 2 FICTION? Again » story

to thin sarias by famous writers invites “youts solve the pazzio. This tale COULD

havo happened. But did it? Te „the answer will be given.

FEW have written se much about so many great men as Hesketh Pearson. Shakespeare, Shaw, Dicksens. Disraeli, Conan Doyle, Gilbert and Sullivan, Oscar Wilde, and now Sir Walter Scott-he has personailsee them all in blographies. But in this story he turns his pen on himself-relating wartime

which ma episode

may be

be fact or fiction,

Born in Worcestershire Just sixty-eight

years ago young Pearson went from a City

office to the stage and from histrionice to historical and other literary interests. On the death of his first wife in 1951 he married again and now lives in Malda Yale,

by Hesketh Pearson

Although, three years later, midst of which an old disused atmosphere was radically, bridge crosed the line, all marks changed by the advent of flying of a road or track leading up bombs, at the time we arrived to

either side being of the Danger Zone was a place peice, and we might have been on in island in the South Pacific.

The house stood in the middle of an acre of garden, and after my mental exertions of a morn- ing there was plenty of manual labour for me in the afternoons, with the grass on the lawn to cut, the weeds in the drive to uproot, an orchard to keep clear of brambles, and a vegetable patch Won

in which to dig for victory or gluttony.

duties as an air-raid My warden were not too onerous, and as I am fond of solitude. it seemed that I had come to the right place.

cutta garden.

it on obliterated.

I was leaning on the parapes and smoking a pipe when sud. denly an army officer appeared from the wood rather taken aback at Anding me there.

And

I knew there were

We

seemed

troops

a

I had met in the woods only few hours before,

Surely, I thought, there had been

quite something not English about him. Was it the face? No. The walk? No. The veico, the accent! No,

Then

The message

On the other hand, they might laugh at my assumption that all English officers speak concisely. What ought I to do?

At that instant of my uncer tainty I left the sloping wheat- held down which I had been walking and plunged into Tig-. wood, only known to myself by that name because it reminded me of the gloomy wood where Montague Tigg in Martin Chuzzlewit was murdered. Wild garle grew in this dense spot, which was so dark that even the sunlight falled to penetrate it, except here and there by a few unirradiating bars.

Ridicule

In spite of a full moon, the place was more sinister than ever tonight; mid as I felt my way slowly along the rough path which bordered a small trout stream, stiliness and ob-

the

scurity were so portentous that the stap of twig under my fect sounded like a ride shot.

By the time I stepped on to the rickety plank bridge I felt my heart thumping and the clatter of a loose board brought it into my mouth.

I half ran up the hill leading to our house, and when I got there I bad to stop under the porch to steady my shaken

nerves.

On reflection, I decided not to frighten my wife with my own app apprehensions, and not to report my meeting with the officer for

of fear ridícule.

I was eleven o'clock when I reached home, and after a short chat my wife went to bed.

April and May we During

heard the Battle siren wailing an

"aler somewhere the about ten at night, and an "all clear between twelve and one. Though the first had not yet bean sounded, I decided to sit up as usual until one o'clock Lighting my pipe, I was soon absorbed in David Copperfield.

I remembered hilleled in the neighbourhood slightly odd phraseology-It that I have lost Lut i had seen one of them at appers

A close quarters,

myself." good-

typical Britoa eveninged one another and then would have said." "Where the he said: "It appears that I have hell am 17" And will

how to find Just myself. Will you please please tell me tell me how to find lountfielt Mountfeld Hali?" would have- Halt?"

been rendered in the vernacular "Where's Mountfeld Station?"

8

I replied that the quickest and casiest way was to walk along Except for the presence of the the line as it was only a mile. main Hastings-Londen railway away, He thanked me and I line,

which ran through a

watched him until he dis- just beyond our appearei

round the railway we were bend. scarcely conscious of the outside That evening there was world and the trains did not special meeting of wardens at bother us because the cutting the local pub to hear the latest dulled their roar.

instructions from

headquarters. These were confined to â warn. ing

that an invasion was expected probably by para chutists and we were again told what to do in that event,

Our paradise

The approach to the house was by a long narrow lane. the surface of which was in such a shocking condition that cars could only

H negotiate

with safety in low gear and even pedestrians avoided it because of the ruts and holes in all 502sors, plus muddy pools in wet weather. Such was our paradise; but danger was not so distant as we thought.

One May evening 1 Was taking my usual walk between

Moonlit night

Having absorbed the details with our beer the wardens on duty remained at their post and the rest of us went home.

IL

recurred

you

Midnight

I now began to feel alarmed. At midnight came the "alert," This chap may have been finding which struck me as queer, but likely spots. for flashlighting to

that was because 1 felt a bit airplanes.

must ring up jumpy. The siren Blied the headquarters the moment I got air with its din. and when home and report the incident. it ceased the silence

deathly. For half an hour 1 sa: with my eyes on the book. my mind elsewhere, and all I heard was the bark of a fox some three fields off. Usually

They would want to know why I hadn't done so before, and 3 could reply that the Suspicion had only entered. my head after thinking ovET the official message

at the meeting that night.

P

way

I enjoyed the peace of our isolation but tonight it made me feel uncomfortable,

The windows, though blacked out with shutters, · were open, and towards one o'clock I be-

familiar

came vaguely conscious of un- sounds outside. Blam- ing my imagination, I drank a But the sounds stiff whisky. were now clearer, and straining my ears I felt convinced that they came from the stealthy tread of feet upon grass.

Tip-toeing

Dr Showeći

CLEARLY a my

duty to report ... our telephone was in the hell.

then came

#

ly. . And

a bump I wondered if they were going to set fire to the house and ignite

places several such

to assist their landings. At last a Slipping off my shoes I went

sudden shout gave into the hall and listened. The me the signal of relief. I seized

only firearm sounds were more definite on the my

a double- other side of the house, where barrelled gun; unlocked the the grass was longer and door, flung open, rougher. I crept down to the several British soldiers con- laughter while a kitchen, and distinctly heard a vulsed with naise like the tip-tocing of men flock of sheep were scampering away from the house and across across the gravel yard.

the lawn.

Clearly was my urgent duty to report what I could no longer doubt that the expected para- chute invasion had started. Our telephone was in the hall. lifted it from the table, carried it as far away from the front door as the flex

would allow

touch with district head- quarters, and spoke as softly as possible. I was ordered to stay indoors and ring again, if any- thing else happened.

next

The suspense of the quarter of an hour was in- describable. I waited in the hall nearly suffocating myself in an attempt to catch every move- ment outside.. First I heard the "sound of heavy breathing just beyond the door. Next the handle rattled ever

Amazing Discoveries

DANCE

The

and beheld

I sensed the humour of the situation, but could not laugh as heartily as they,

WORLD COPYRIGHT RESERVED

DID IT REALLY HAPPEN?

YES

NO

©Pet you Lick at the sonce nhove and keep this panel by you wetij tomorrow ... what the aurww will be pirsa-zită

onether story in this wrist by .

►

ERNEST RAYMOND

THE ENGLISH THEATRE IS

NOT DEAD YET

H

ALF

By RICHARD "FINDLATER

the

London. In spite of all the snares and

.of Shaftesbury

Д

West End heartbreaks theatre is now supplied Avenue, we've already had a

trop, of good plays. Take from Broadway-two look across the seas. recent imports bring the total of transplanted New biggest successes have been Eng- In Paris, some of the season's Yorkers up to 14. And this sh inports by. Graham dearth of home-made drama Greene, Terence Rattigan and has brought the

Peter Ustinov, among others. stage ghouls out on their spring In Belgrade, the non-party line drama of Noel Cowarth and Terence Rattigan is hailed with

manoeuvres.

I see them coming with delight, while Socialist Realism takes a beating. And Scan- their shining mattocks and dinavia has welcomed Christo- H-line shrouds. I hear the pher Fry, whose plays have now heavy splash of glycerine been staged in some 30 countries. tears upon the coffin. For the umpteenth time they stage the inquest "and dig, the grave. Cause of death? No dramatists.

11

A SHORTAGE

German theatres, too, suffer from a shortage of new writers, and borrow plays from Londen. But

I beg you to put Thus, Elizabeth Bergner staged away your mourning and lift her Berlin comeback in The Deep Blue Sea," and Gustat UP your hearts. It is much Gruendgens Germany's leading too early to bury the Eng- actor has just starred in John lish theatre. Once again the Whiting's "Marching Song" (an report of its death has been honourable flop in London).

Even In New York, English exaggerated.

authors have made their mark. Sandy

Wilson's

"The Boy Friend" and Christopher Fry's The Dark. is Light Enough"

IN DANGER

And

It is, of course, plagued have done their bit to improve. with diseases. The American the balance of power.

Agatha Christie's "Witness for occupation of the West End the Prosecution" was voted the illustrates one ailment best foreign play of the year by failure of nerve among Eng. the crities. lish managers, Entertain-

handful of our ments tax is another deadly dramatists are

deing quite · « pest. And, like the election brisk business in the export

the campaign,

theatre trade. Why, then, do we see suffers from a lazy public have the last two plays of Fry little of them at home? Why It has never, I think, been in such danger.

a Yes,

and Whiting, for example, been translations from the French?

DISCRUNTLED

Above all, how can we get

But there is plenty of cause to

for rejoice,

the theatre has never enjoyed such a splendid opportunity. Whatever else it inay lack, It has an abundance of talent at its disposal-not more new plays (of every kind) Did Saturday's story—The Quack wily in actors but in play from more new writers? At Bea, by T. £. B. Clarke, - } wrights, certifiably alive and

"Educate the stars!" says one actually happen? The answer is willing to write their heads off

disgruntled

who so slight YES..

playwright, with a bit of encouragement.

prefers to remain anonymous, "All they want, are safe. parts. for themselves and cues from

And cut their - everyone else. salaries, too!"

of a German Scientist

LANGUAGE

LANGUAGE OF THE BEES

while D

actual

"Discourage the critics!" says Christopher Fry answering. the questionaire of a U.S. magazine. And Peter Ustinov supports him by demanding "Fewer and less Intelligent critics. All the arts

141

Was a beautiful still, motnlit night and I decided to

Munich. ter, and escape human observa- The other bees will then fly by acusp of set dog out anym any at a considerable distance, hid-are inhibited in our day by those return across the fields instead of by road and lane, One ROFESSOR Karl von tion

bee likes home the smell and find the place at app to a souȚUL den by a large obstacle. A long who know too much and feel and supper through the sentence in the warning we had

Frisch, Ph.D., of the

dancing.

easily.

in complete durkness on a verti- detour was necessary for a bee too little." woods. which

full of resivnj were

A bee having found z feeding- fo me: it

The bee's dance is contagious, cal University of Munich, place will hurry to the hive to The follower bees "reading" the siltutes gravity, ie, the vertical with the situation. It indicated partition. Here 4t stab- to reach it. The scout bee dealt anemones. There was a spot stressed the

the fact that some few hundred yards north vaders would probably be in is known to his colleagues tell its fellow-bees of the trea- message join in the motions, direction, for the direction of the direction of the place as the of our house where the railway British uniforms,"

and after and somehow as "Bee Frisch." This out- sure. Let us first consider the

of whole the divided a biggish wood, in the

the it made me think of the officer standing biologist, who did case of dancing on

the distance, it horizontal

The group of bees is seen repeating straight in the sun outside. The crow flies, but when it came to landing-board.

the dance. Then, the bees such much of his research work bec alights and executes curious leave the hive to visit the angle with the vertical line, and the detour. The other bees were as to subtend a deanita length of the flight, including at Vienna and Graz. owes dan

dancing

movements,

attracting object. It it is found worth this angle is identical with the quick to understand, and took other bees. his worldwide fame to his the attention

angle the direction of the ob- the correct course to the objec- Some of its fellows follow in its unique investigation of the steps, trying to keep contact

jective makes with the sun. tive without being baffled by the language of the bees. No, it with its abdomen by means is not humming; it is quite their antennae. What does it different.

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mean?

By WALTER THEIMER

to

the dance is now

gave

If the straight-line walk is isn't H

obstacle. Quite an achievement,

I asked two highly talented different young men, in very felds of the theatre, for their Suggestions. John Whiting asks. for Imore security and con- Hinuity.

He wants to see less wastage of new plays, by apply

g the repertory method as used at the Old Victo modern dráma. Why should the first

Sandy Wilson calls for enterprise from the

Instead of on an Eng

directed upwards, this means;

the "Fly toward

sun at an At the time of swarming, run be the last?

the bees, cluster round the old The simplest piece of

angle corresponding to the one I while, they return with honey

make with the vertical" A queen bee on some tree, while Professor von Frisch has information is the round dance.

walk straight-line and repeat the dance with a The dancing bee describes a

directed scout bees fly in all directions "more done much research in other small circle, but just before it view

downwards means:

to look for "The same

a new bome for managements," recruiting more fields and has, written a completed

the tribe. They return to dance taking a chance it turns back collector bees, and thus traffic but fly away from the sun."

These are once more remark- on the surface, or to cancelih musical, they invest in the modern. textbook of biology sharply and runs a parallel circle between the hive and

Pecurity of a Broadway suy "It feeding-place grows fast,

the able performances in abstract cluster, and report in dance they're looking for English much used in German in the opposite direction,

symbolism, and language on the direction, musicals, they don't even go to secondary schools; but none means in bee language: "In the

repeats this many times. This For objectives at distances thought, in

greater than 60 yards, the bees especially in trigonometry. The distance, and quality of the the, trouble of listening to the of his achievements will vicinity of our hive, some 60

data are always very have a more complex code, the

precise. proposed new dwelling. Bees have # strong sense ever attain the popularity yards

If it is an attractive place in "tail-wagging dance" This is a there is a away,

a sheltered position, the dancers his bee research has won for feeding-place, Fly around till most amusing sight notwith- gravity and of angles.

will advertise "át by vebement standing the serious purpose of him. He has written a you find it".

the performance.

movements, while second-class charming book on the life "

Outside, the bee finds its bear lodgings will be announced byt The ings with the aid of polarised slow, reluctant dancing

Are, the manegers to blame? a light. The scattered light of the bees in the cluster make notes Yes, and No, may I

Norby blue sky is always polarised, of the better propositions and

because they expect

brain,

nice

P

means

BC-

مین

score."

TO BLAME?

$

another which means, its waves lle all ty to the places indicated to starting waves of, was, son the ma), care-high tragedy

eye.

is

12

The dancer bee describes a semi-circle at great speed, the of the bees, which is strictly

it slows down and walks in scientific (which cannot be The circling dance

straight line at the base of the said of the effusions of cer- round about"--quite an tain well-known novel-complishment in symbolism, semi-circle, semi-circle anti-clockwise, If the first one ordinary light lie in all possible supportowage announcements of or low.comedy-to arrive by writers on the subject), but we think of the bee's tiny

was clock-wise, When the planes. The human eye cannot the first scouts, these bees will post, without any effort from none the less amusing to the In vew of the considerable straight line is reached, it is distinguish polarised light with return to repeat the same dance them. But Shawlet Gals- extreme.

velocity of the bee, no details walked again slowly and

worty Bride, ty pick a Professor von Frisch has been

handfu has a similar apparatus in its on the direction of the place solemnly in the same directed at special apparatus; the bee with growing intensity,

of names: didn't the for nearly three are required,

bees will as before. studying bees

It

reminiscent

come dramatists by chance: decades. He carries the docile quickly circle the hive within This dance is repeated over laboratory devices for polarised

they were commissioned t little creatures about in a test the orbit"indicaled and are sure - and over, and when on the light and produces * similar Offer beef which have

write plays. bee-hive, in order to see how to find the place,

straight line, the bee wags its pattern of black, white, and far advocated a different pro they behave in different places, Informaton on the kind

at tail in

in a peculiar manner, partly grey crosses changing with the position swill;

Yes: because they let the change, their repertory) and yub theatres from mountain tops to radio food is given by the smell the unfolding its wings.

direction.

minds and join in the dance (often in die Ahageal trouble) stations. It is obvious that bees scout bee carries home, It Now the

traight Ine, is ob

This pattern forms the basis for the better plan and so do the talent scouting and play- have a system of information. adheres to the it

viously the

thing,

Being Pithout alping hand. that in London today, we that its direction, always the

"Sad Days' to Bristol; the feeding-place. The If you place a dish with sugar to time, which means: "This is

of quency

the solution on the window sill, a how the place smells.”

straight-line bee is sure to alight sooner

walks, on the other hand, in or The smell later. Having drunk of the

usually also dicates the distance of the ob- sweet liquid, it will depart, but adheres to its body, and this is "jective. after a while, several bees will why the other bees scan it with their antennae for the Gradually, more appear.

and more bees will come to suck bees olfactory sense is located Contact with your sugar solution. No doubt in these

organs

adained from the lower in and closer examination shows on the days are instructed frantically to the same tartan

for directions to a majority dabeigts

the first bee gave precise in the dancer's abdomen is also

PENALISED

question. The dancer disgorges a tiny drop of honey from time same, Indicates the direction of to By in such a way as to have when this age. is reached owe

this particular pattern constantly the swarm ristup into the

ward Worthing: "The Diary before their eyer, and to correct to a wild great noise toward wall Mary" and "Gellor Be-

Fathe

new dwelling, which of of a Nobody to the Arts, and their course if the pattern changes owing to a deviation course is a comfortable new The Boy Friend to the Play The method is somewhat like hive, prepared by the

the basere human blind flying with the aid keeper. of a pattern on the radar screen. The bees have avery distinct The bee has its own system of On one occasion Professor von sense of time, and their time numbers, which le construed on Frisch placed his experimental system is based on the 24-hour The colours formation on the pasture and necessary in the interior of the numerical system: large figures: The sweet food was placed at spectrum has shitter toward the ornalised by entertainements tax

a principle contrary to our own beehive inside a radio station day as ours.

Nor" because """ they are Its position back home in the hive, where there is no light, mean small distances, while the top of the iron tower, and short-wave end. They are un-

and by excessively heavy pro beehive, just how it did it was and the other bees

large dis soon found by a scout bee which able to see red, but they can grasp the small figures mean

tances. For a mystery until Dr von Frisch meaning

dance by aces

example, 10 dutifully hurried

back

to see ultraviolet which we can duction and rumming costs. straight-line passes within feeling,

15 announce the opportunity. But not. Bers know, only came,

No: because!

the last word If the object is non-smelling, but 6 passes only mean 500 has no word for "above." Nolours: yellow, blue-green, blue, resta not with the producing.

seconds mean about 100 yards, alas! The language of the bees colo "He found out that the bees

Where we see and communicate with each other by like sugar solution, the bee

[manager - but with the mam daisies white dance languge. They turns out, its own perfume yards, and if the bee walks the flowers grow in the clouds, and means of

on a green whose theatre he rents. bottle, a anall gland at the end sraight line very slowly only once the word is not normally needed meadow, a bee sees/blue-green theatre owner takes, the dance their messages. Beekeepers

The bee tried all sorts of starlets against a yellow back- had for long noticed some of the abdomen, and sprays 1ts Het is 10,000 yards away

ground you back ziek (in a boom period) and. ributor;........HANG-TAL-&-FUNGS-CO. LTD. dances of bees on the perfume Birmover the place la Professor von-Frisch has malce but failed regrettably_0_{

landing-beards of

hives, mark it, their

Bee-smell like a diagram of the bees' numerical, cular meaning

to its fellows the parti Protissor von Frisch's die wields the most power

of the message. coveries have been confirmed by Meanwhile leta ignore the but they had never understood melissa, Dancing back home, system by plotting the tail- viz, that they were to fly verti- English and American expert mourners. The theatre is dead? their meaning: Most of the, the smelling organ is everted wagging frequency against the "cally upwards." dances take place inside the bee... ngain, which means;

This is distance

henters, and as far as we know,|| All right then, long live the experimental hive in the dark, for that male Eow I have marked that place.

On another occasion, the in- the language of the bees is theatrel And down with the feeding-places.

vestigator chose. a. feeding-place Internationally the same.

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15 seconds, then the objec

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bur

The

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ja.