Check For Reds On Royal Tour
By Percy Mayne
TNUSUAL
U
beng taken by
precautions
en
Special Security officers trusted with the safety of the Queen during the Royal Tour of Nigeria. Thia follows suspect Russian Inoves which, it is feared, might cause unrest among the native population.
There is evidence that Soviet agents have been trying to incite tribal secret societies to open revolt like the Mau Mau war in Kenya, Russian propaganda keeps telling
1/19771 the British
are oppressing them.
UNDESIRABLES
The Foreign Office is cer- tain the recent Russian do-
near putation to Nigeria's neighbour. Liberia, WILI carefully timed to make impressionalde Africans "Soviet-minded" on the eve of the Queen's visit,
Nigerian police have worked feverishly on secur- ! ily arrangements,
Every.
one who will come into con- fact with
The
being screened.
Africans who
Queen 18
will wait have on the Iteval party all been checked and issued with passes bearing photo- graphs, so that police on various rest- duty at the
Queen dences where the nad Duke will stary can quickly recognise genuine servants.
the
Police in neighbouring territories have been ed to ebeck undesirables crossing into Nigeria during
the tour.
Emmwood.
'THE CHINA MAIL, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1850,
CHRISTIE. PUBLICTRUST
FUND
FOUR VC HOLDERS
ON
VC HEROES
By Merrick Winn
That is the official
This is Bob's...."I had to forward because, honestly,
Too scared of couldn't go back. mur chaper bagonets.”
Version. go
THE MYSTERY OF
AGATHA CHRISTIE
Who done it? Who let the lady take £1,000,000?
W
A
by Thomas Wiseman
•HO cares who done
It? Evidently few million people do- profoundly. They have been willingly, eagerly, peacefully handing over to Agatha Christie and her partners in crime more
did she come to make blood money than AJ
so much money? Miss Christie Capono was ever able to couldn't say. extort with machine-guna and stilettos.
How
L
Bho said no, she hadn't. Miss Christle was inore Inclined to Lalk about her husband's, ox- cavations than about the secret of her mucoPKE.
So who is the gullity party? We follow the Christie Une that It must be the least likely per- con. The narrator, or the corpse or the corpse's deceased cousin.
In this instance the least likely person turns out to be me. And you.
I Miss Christig has managed to emtract a million pounds for her tales of blood without thunder, it is because you and I have been prepared to let her take it.
Still seeking that vital elve, I 100k A look at the written evidence. Miss Christie's classic to part with our money?
Why have we been so eager who-dumalt, "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd,"
plunged
I was immediately Into a sermly world in which munterers
may forgel thetr their voronal phints, but never
manners.
more
Because we are nervous souls.
When
No shots
"Witness for the Pro- secution" was showing in the It is a world in which the
West End a notice informed tho Wo discussed homicide. hors d'œuvre is always 4 red
public that there were no re- Naturally, she had her favourite herring and people method, but she Was open- busily exterminating dandelion volver shots in the play. There was no need for people to Now Miss Christie har been minded on the subject and pre- routs than victims. Murderers, forsake the delight of a good
with rewarded
on being unmasket, say Thank murder just because they were CBE for pared to try any blunt instru- 1.tiering the pages of her books ment once. She didn't like ony- you for a most interesting oven- and the stages of London and thing gruesome, though. Murder ing." New York with enough bodies must not be in bad taste. to make
2K
murder syndicate
look like a petty cash business.
"Witness for the Prosecution"
is up for sale in Hollywood. The price? £100,000. This play la
in 1 13th month
every week,
flow
Broadway and Taking £7,000
London's two
In London she has
Is he guilty?
And yet Miss Christic makes more money than Bernard Shaw ever did.
The mystery deepens.
At the end of our encounter, the on had not a single clue to
I asked Margaret Lockwood, scrupulously star of "Spider's Web," whether Christie Mystery. examined her footprints, but all she had
any theories About they told me was the size of her Christle Mystery. shoes. Not how she mannged to
"Spider's
It would be easy now te in- Web" at the Savoy, now in its
But
walk pounds.
away
with 11
million
Still tizzle. I went to Peter
the unders,
MUB
who plays.
Sunday lost was the 100th birthday of the Victoria Cross. Much has been sold and
V.C.,
is written
Here about
recently, what four V.C. say about themselves...
The citation added that at OUR men whom the
Presents Miss Christie's Di point: "Every time world considers ne
Could he be the gulity party? bomb was moved there was a heroes Bald To me: loud twanging noise which **Cint
down from this milded nothing to thoir peace of
mind." TRIK pedestal we're no
Salet
That is under- heroic than anyone else.”
stating it hit. T
was scared Now the question is: Did hvid. All the same, I've always they speak the truth?
thought the crew had a worse time than I diet.
US
UN.
If they did there is com-
"They
could do nothing but fort for the aak.
of rest
wait and pray. I had a job to There is comfort. for every do and that kept off the worse who has panie. I was stuggered whon man and woman
Would be they all thought I'd done some- ever wondered: herois too If a crisis came?
thing wonderful.
"It's just u Jock said *** Let's see....
you're not really a hero, I'
other people think I met them for lunch in Lon- only that don, these four world's
Local papers reguet that "150 t welles
1024 gocibirds
wel-known arrested
have been?
une sentenced to various teema of hmprisonment to keep them
Put of the public
The Qur's vil"
eye during
the
WOOING OF LIBERIA
the
All new Trivals Colony and hotel registers are being checkoj.
گاری
Exmination
all Royni routes and high bauidings over- Txa
has been part
them of railine security procedure
Although the
Queen Is nex companied by Ber own Two private detectives from Britain. Chief
Perlane Su erintendent and Superintendent Kelly, w or three local police officers will always be at hand to keep an eye open for possible trouble- makers.
It is stressed by all concern- ex, tarwever, that security prob- lems are considerably cused by Nigeria's enthusite for the Royal visit.
R.
Police Inspector Generni p McLaughton Auys: "Everyone, from every part of Nigeria and every section of the community, is tremenciously excited and enthusiastic."
The wooing of nearby Liberia --Husala's first new diplomacy" thrust down inle We heart of Africa-follows propaganda campaign,
The Cominform Journal in Moscow two years ago staled: "The question now uppermost In the minds of all Nigerians striving for liberation of their country from Imperialism is to find the practical steps to trans- form this prospect into reality.
"A firm
lead, coming from the working classes, can relievo the pent-up energy of the movement and give it such a purposeful
direction that unity with the world's anti- imperialistic movement it can end British imperialistic rule in
Nigaria
the
who hold
decoration: proudest Victoria Cross. It started as ទេ celebrations for the 100th birthday
the CTUSS it ended as an investigation into heroistn
They
men
looked like four
picked STUTA you could have any bus or train stop. In tret, they were two V.C.'s from the last war, and two from the one before, Tom: Petty Offleer T W. Gould, H.N. Jacko: Warrant Officer N C. Jackson,
AFYR Bob: Sergraht Downie, Royal Dublin Fusiliers ("All the same
a Sent") I'mm Lance-Corporat Juck
J. Christie, London Regiment.
R.
Bob Downie, 82, earns 17 હત. week 33 0 Atter's mate ifi Glasgow. Jock Christie, 60. a Manchester sales director. pay's Gurlax: Tom
Gould,
41. und "Jacko" Jackson, 37. are both London commercial travellera
"Now look," bezpan Christic. "We're going absolutely honest with other abdat this. No falso I'm Bo hero and
Jock
in bo each
modesty. nother are you.
"But most of us are ordinary chapa who just happened across the three viial factors in win-
ning a a V.C.-luck, opportunity, and someone to see you.
you are."
There seems to be something in that, I found it numest comical, as an onlooker, to see how each of these men, them- selves V.Cs, were impressed by the exploits of the others. As Bob Downle put it:
"I'd no more have the courage tu climb out on the
wing of an Birplane than go down in subumrine - let Blone play about with unexploded bomba" Bob win his Then how did V.C? Well, in 1910, he showed "met conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty" when, most of his offlours killed, organized an attack moTU or less single-handed.
A
}}]
ist that these men were mere-second year, and "The Mouse ly modest.
turt, I assure Trap" at the Ambassadors, in its d them an in-fourth year. you, would
would insult the justice. I Trul courage of their search for the truth about themselves.
Have they done nothing. England. then that they consider oh, yes.
brave!
*The been bought
has Mousetrap"
Just for lming in
he
It is certaintly true that since
putting on started
Miss Christio's plays they have had a greater success than ever before, It is he who has refused to sell for the Prosecution"
Miss Christle. I estimate, has "Witness Induced the public during the for less than £100,000. Jock, for instance: "When I past few years, lo part with a
A kid 1 jumped inte acool £1,000,000. canal.
I couldn't swim, Norw that did take courage."
And
How has she worked
confidence trick?
poll
to get
He told me that he had no solution to the Christie Mystery. this He had once employed a famous to conduct an opinion Jacko: "I plunged alliterary-and perfectly legal agency
among a cross-section of I'd got into buliding my own
the people who went house and that's as near to the This is A mystery that is The Mousetrap." It revealed truly herole ay I'll ever el deeper and more insoluble than absolutely nothing. Oh, I
I've got six
Miss Christie
ever has any mean children!"
written. I set out to solve it. And Tom: "My first speech
And how is t Who done it? go back to un- in public! Fa
rother exploded bombs
than done? face that again I wented for days beforehand...."
it.
Do not think these men are not proud to hold the V.C. or Sald Jock: "I course they are. don't make a show of mine, of course, but I'm tielled to death
when anyone finds out."
It is simply that they cannot believe they deserve it, or that there are not many thousand who deserve it more. Thousands who, perhaps, could include you
and me.
It was Jacko who said: "The with truth is that, given the chance, he there's a V.C. in every one,...
I wonder.
(COPYRIGHT)
to
Let me introduce you first the chief suspect, Agatha Christie, the archaeologist's wife liko an introverted who looks Margaret Rutherford bound and gagged by chains of pearls.
In the book
Saunders
i eliminated Poler
He might be from my seurch. an necessory after the fact, but he was certainly not the master- mind.
liable to get paipitations when a blank cartridge was fired.
The Christie brand of murder without
caters for the bloodthirstinese
of people who would faint at the sight of blood. Being a Christie addict is rather like being a chain-smoker who
doesn't inhale,
{COPYRIGHT)
WELL, WHAT D'YOU KNOW!
Plants
With Animal Instincts
TN the vegetable kingdom, there are as many oddities
as in the world of animals.
One curious plant, a native of Germany, is inflammable known as the "gas plant." It gives off en vapour at the point where the leaves and flowers join the stalks. The whole plant emits an olly matter and if a match is held near the plant on a warm, dry day, this substance will readily ignite.
the
Another strange vegeuble, with aulinai instincts, is sundew, a little plant that grows in spongy bogs and heaths in England. As well as eating insects, It is also able to smell.
it сап
grasp
If a small piece of raw meat is suspended on a wire near the plant, the sundew soon becomes aware of its presence. The leaf, which has tentacles that grip an insect and close round it, slowly I went to see "Spider's Web"
the welcome Again I had taken Shelley reaches out towards the meni unill
tit-bit. She is not an easy person ta Winters to the first night over a
The action may take more than an hour, but the sundew few to me. every interrogate. She is not an easy year ago. I remember she kept
At present she whispering person to find.
must think it is time well spent. she could minutes: "What is it all about?" is a Bagdad. But
there und kept whispering back: NO EXIT hardly be less accessible
haven't the than she is usually when staying "I'm sorry, but I
slightest idea." at her house in Devon.
When I met her, she was
a draf mute. non-committal You couldn't really pin anything on her, even if you were Hor-
cule Poirot.
os
1 still hadn't the slightest idea what it was all about the second But the public time I saw St was still going to it. Presumably some of them understood it.
A TAPE RECORDER BY THE BEDSIDE OF A MOTHER-TO-BE . . .
THE BIRTH
RECORDING of the
birth of a baby, from
OF A BABY
BY GRAMOPHONE
By PETER BUCHAN
has no
Among the insect-eaters is the bladderwort, which roots but flouts below the surface of water. It feeds on minuto The victims crustaceans, which are caught in small bladders. never escape; they enter by a trap-door which is an entrance only -nover an exit.
Then there is a vicious North American killer-plant called the "Venus fly-trap," When an insect alights on it, the leaf closes with a sharp jerk, digests the creature and then opens wide to throw it out.
Among the milder of the vegetables are plants that are literally worth some of their weight in gold. It has been found that plants growing in gold-bearing soil often contain traces of metal in their tissues.
A Czechoslovakian scientist, who made a study of the subject before World War II, extracted 010 grammes of pure gold from one ton of horsetail ash-a larger proportion than would be found in a ton of sea water.
Rarest of all plants, perhaps, is the large aliversword, which is found in one place only in the world, the Hawaiian Islands. It gets its name from Its rapier-ilke leaves that are densely coated with a lustrous white woolly substance.
the time it starts to arrive they are still the subject of what is happening stage by be published as soon after that TREMENDOUS FORCE until just after delivery, is
controversy.
Well, this is the man whose to be made in Britain, Then "conspicuous
bravery,"
one the record will go on sale to midnight 30 years ago. "saved the public. many lives." He took a supply of bombs and attacked enemy trenches all on his own.
A tape recorder placed at
"A damn silly thing to do and the bedside of a mother-to-
Dr Read will speak first on the record, explaining his theory of natural birth with- out anaesthetics,
stage will find that the child as possible.' arrives with no unbearable discomfort."
To Remove Fear
Mr Harley Usill, a direc con- He said: "My wife will tor of the company which describe the exercise I have will make the recording, evolved which will help to said: make this possible.
"The mother's conversa-
I wouldn't do it now," said be will pick up her In
Jock. And added: "Oh, well, Iversation, just before the suppose I was young.
birth, with the doctor and The others said "Yes" to that and the man who said it loudest midwife.
Jacko Jacką,
wad
thinking
Dr Rend expects opposition the recording.
He said: "Some hospitals in Britain still held out against pre- natal instruction.
"The idea that a mother musi have a terrible time to appre clate her child still exists.
"Other hospitals bellove that "From now until the birth, SECRET SOCIETIES
back to the time in 1944 when Then the birth itself-
the mother will follow the she should be unconscious the Although officially there is no already wounded, he climbed with the doctor's instruction will show what can be give in his introduction to the
instructions that Dr Read will whole time. Communist Party in Nigeria, out on to the wing of
a Lan- tions to the mother, and her done if she is taught to relax record, and in a pomphlet that have to do to make a birth casy "I believe the first thing we there are undoubtedly secret caster to fight a a fro and thon
and to forget her fears. will go with ft. societies among the tribes, just fell off, to hurtle earthwards replies.
with Minu among
19 Mau
us thero the Kikuyus.
a
blazing half-openad The record will end with parachute. His citation do- Just after Christanas Inscribed his feat as "almost in the first noises from the. Sierra Leone, the British Colony credible."
baby, and the mother's first adjoining Liberia, police were
words to it whon it is only forced to open fire on a hostile mob, killing five natives Land wounding throe, Twelva Afrİ- cand have been killed in uprisings since December.
The arrival of Me Generalov,
"It was," said Jacko, "In- credible to me. I'd be scored to crawl out on to a balcony now.
Can't think how I did
first Soviet Ambassador in it. Buf Jock's got the answer
a few seconds old.
Name A Secret
The name of the mother
Libya, is worrying Wortern youth! I was young and stupid will be kept secret. The Powers, who think Russin means and, if you like, cocky."
to establish an advanced post Was he afraid? His reply baby, which is due early in there in readiness for an overall was almost _scomful “Afraid? | the spring, will be her first. campaign to stir up the natives | Of course, I was terrified. I
throughout Africa.
really thought I was off to The record will be made
Russia is sending a scientiae heaven." expedition to. Central Africa this year. The Soviet Academy of Scienots has ordered inton- sified
wudies of Auscan janjakson and affairs, and African students are being on
29% 9% jo universities babbat the Iron. Curtain,
COOPTRIGHT)
Grantley Dick Read. under the supervision of Dr
Tom Gould ochood that. Tom whose "cold-blooded courage of the highest order" helped to save the submarino Thrasher. His revolutionary methods With Leemant P. S. W. for ·"childbirth - without - Roberts, RN, who was piso awarded the .ch he moved pain" are widely used all wo abexploded bombs from over the world, and in many the ship'a gun,CRMÉDI
British hospitals, although
"We shall have this part of "A woman following the the recorting ready before the instructions and knowing child is born and the record will
JOHNNY HAZARD
WHY NOT TRY ME??
is to remove fear,
"The record will help do that."
(COPYRIGHT)
WOWRATE] SNAP I CAN BLYE DURING THE
# 1
One of the truly amazing things about plant life is the tremendous force of its growth. A soft mushroom or toadstool has been known to lift a heavy paving-stone out of position.
There is even one small Alpine plant, the soldanella, which has the remarkable power of being able to bore a path for fisalf through snow and ice. And the method It uses is far more sclentile than the laborious tunnelling of the underground animals.
When winter approaches, the soldanella stores up nourish- ment in its leaves, which become quite thick. They are covered with snow and ice but, in spring, a flower stalk begins to grow, and with the heat it obtains from the leaves, the stalk manages to melt a path for Itself, so that it rises and at last bursts through la ley covering."
The melting process takes the energy out of the bonyes which consumed. become quite thín, their stored-up' nourishment having, beari Later, when the snows melt, insects fertilise the blossoms and tho soldanella produces srods to repost ita fascinating Mia cycle -- all over again.
(COPYRIGHT) *
WAR Z WAS IN THE FLYING HÜRSA CORPS 14. HAD A CHANCE, SEVERAL "TIMES........TO TAKE OVER A COPTER'S
[CONTROLS//TRY ME7.
By Frank Robbins
GABY, HONEY. YOU'RE AN ANSILI A FLYING ANGELI C'MON WE'RE GOING UP/
this situation
calls for
Jan Miguel
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.