1956-03-03 — Page 8

'THE CHINA' MAIL, SATURDAY, MARCH · §, 1964.

Fago 8

"NO MORE DICTATORIAL RULE

That glint, 30 feet up the bank

S

FOR US W.

Chimwuan

London Express Sarvion.

COPRAIS POLLITI

Now, Why Didn't Sir Laurence

F

Employ

Miss Monroe?

By JILL CRAIGIE

FOLLOWING hard on

the beds of

the

with hs that does 170

lu il

Olivier was talking tongue in his cheek. point he was. htest Monroe doe- As we all know, film stars live trine Sir Laurence in the grand manner. They buy has always been my dominks and expensive cars.

ut

J. Arthur Rank has stepped he is the idiocy of the present

in and succeeded in getting

μL

f the limelight transferred to British films,

announced £3,000,000 budget for 20 pictures to be made by the end of the Year. This is £1,000,000 and seven Alms more than last year.

And it puts Pinewood among the world's largest Kim com- ponies on the azue sole as Hollywood nutikt.

thespite

♫

situation:

The tax collector allows

was it a leg-pull? Or a worthless lump of quartz? No, it was

The Biggest Diamond In The World

ONE OF THE WORLD'S STRANGEST STORIES, By LESLIE AYRE

0

Na January day just

GO

The

Bite

Was

of

"The

Star Afries," largest of the diamonds cut

of

from the Cullinan,

But this was no practic discovery. years ago Mr al joke, as Mr Wells quick- originally that of the farm

an old-fashioned Boor of a type Fredcrick Wells ly realised when, by means who, shotgun under arm, was could hardly believe of his pocketknife, he had inclined to resent intruders. la shown here in

actual size. But Cullinan, suspecting that

It in this eyes. Could it really extracted the huge stone

sel into the Royal be? Could it The biggest from the yellow ground and this was likely land for

mond prospecting, crawled un- Sceptre. diamond in the world?

hurried off to havo der the fence with some friends

it

dio-

one night and earried out d preliminary investigation which of 8,024 satisfied him that he was on the

right track

No wonder Mr Wolls weighted. breathed heavily with CX-

It was a gem cit: ment as he investigated carats, of lovely quality and

of the Nashing

blue-white colour - four

the source

Night on the bank-side in inches by two by two-and-a-

the Transvaal.

He bought the farm

באת

The really was standard by which to (Ses

so unl- anything for

que.

£45,000 and the Premier Mine was opened in 1903.

half inches, three times And less than two years later

A surface manager of bigger than any diamond the Cullinan Diamond was dis- the Premier Diamond Mine, hitherto known,

covered.

Worth £2,000,000?

Huge though The stone was.

First of all it had to be protect_ od. All the im- portant people in The diamond world wanted to see 1, near Pretoria, Mr Wells That evening Mr Thomas

and it was decided was making his final round taler Sir Thomus > Cullinan

that it should be of inspection befor: going chairman of the company was it was clear from one of the taken to Johannes- off duty

The Journey that bright entertaining 11 friends in dianer surfaces that it was in fact only burg.

when

Jelegram bringing part of a bigger alone, afternoon of January 26. the news the discovery was thought

It was accomplished-with

dia- that the missing part mond hidden in the hatbox of a 1906, Suddenly, away up handed to him. He was not very must have been even larger Mrs Perrow, wife of a Devon- near the rim of the 30ft, impressed and, as he passed the than the portion that was found, ahire man, George Perrow, who What happened to the other was in the South African postal crater, some object, catching message round

remarked casually: "I expect huit? the sun, sparkled with ex-

thay pre miming. It is probably a traordinary brilliance. large crystal,"*"

on

Blue-White Gem

was safely the

1

ports, with Sir Arthur Lovy, senior partner in the firm of M. J. Levy and Nephews, Holborn Viaduct, advising

King. the table, he

They were not wrong, as Cul-

linun found to his satisfaction

The story was current for years that a native worker had found and stolen it, and oven- tually offered

t

Ox

£1,000

service,

The chief of the guards over the diamond was on English- man, Watter Preston. whose duty it was to take it from the to a notorious criminal named vaults of the Standard Bank in Fourie. A meeting between the Johannesburg and hold it while two was arranged, and, so the the diamond 12 story went, Fourie produced ained it.

bag, opened it, and showed that

when he drove down to the mine the following day. As a first celebration be had emprest made of glass, one tur

ot the

it was decided to entrust to Messrs I. J. Asscher, of Amster- dam, the extraordinarlly difficult task of cleaving the diamond.

magnates exam-

H contained sovereigns. Hut the getting the stone in safety

Then came the problem of ou

the

native Was suspicious, and, the diamond market in London, with him all the time until the

Af the back of Mr Wells's mind us he made his way up the earth wall of

the himself and the others for his crater was the thought that, dinner guests. And Mr Weils as sometimes happened, one was prompty given a bonus of plunging Irres-

£2,000. of the men had decided to pull his leg by carefully placitu large piece glass where it could catch his attention.

Can and drive the indeparazitat p duty out of busiNESS,

Cas

Lety artists toted, in and they * to the high bidder you blame the

Sir

11 to

Scars tink Laurence Olivier's iu』 nver Sir the younge, generation may not

Litirence his life of luxury but in quote what it is 1 day. His debles him the right of genuine, talent and expertise will U Mif-expression. In other words, even greater. Will be be the power.

pre-king over a great rugainst studio like the un at Pine.

1e may cli

home tax But if he had saved enough money to buy Terence Rattigan's play, his savings Would have been taken from him,

14

Prewar savings My Monroe he may live

Not a hope, He will have less we to choose his own stories, writers and Mars than many of Inc bezountanį: who now dominate Brilish pictures, Like

Will But unlike her he cannot atom to be hly own boss, Yet,

optimistle TODAY, no Hritish nim-maker With

No wonder T

cán succeed in becoming an earnings, GRADUATE ment, Tory and Social-

proturor ist member of Parlament are sleptalent

Sir tane“ we pravi bat the industry. The Michart Blv. Sir Michael

This by painstakingly eie. death of Sir Alexander Karda, 20ved the closing af Balleg 5 udos and brunidir; up is savings before

rust. We war el mig attendances, they bellove, in the long rul produce yet another crisis,

They

would like to discover new beans for expansion. Many Soc al MPs bebeve that a res

film lars! dur tion

salaries night help to bring this abinet. Others wilt he to protect the iratependent producer.

Her idol

SPEAKING

of Miss

"if Miss Monroe British actor as her

film-making Industry?"

Apparently Mr

Marilyn

II

But net is a furile Driven

out of Ealing

Irony. Studios

tilx.

Sir

ile,

by the entertainment Machined to now in Amerten, tou, may return with a contract to make flims for an American company. I so, the profits of que most indigenous film would, in the future, be lost to Britain.

Alexander MacKendries, who AKT Guinness Pictures, "The Latykillers" and The Man in the White Suit,” I also negotiating with an Ameri- can company. So, too. is David Loan.

made

You will shortly be secing

་་་་

Heves that the whims of Marilyn and Grewa and brought

N

be describen 11 "the £121 Jsit

so they

this way. Loked at

(COPYRIGHT)

JL

of

The son of the head of firm took it over to Amsterdam by the Hook of Holland route, carrying the stone in his leN- hand trouser pocket and an

ja automatic

his right-hand to pocket. An armed detective was It gem was safely delivered at the In his hand. found After being heavily Insured that, apart from the top layer,

was sent off in February, 1005, other side.

that My And now it was The discovery marked

the bog was illed with wasners. by ordinary parcel post with a Joseph Asscher took over the

and nominal recovery value-and peak point in the career of the Then he took to his heels

of cleaving the and self-made was not seen again.

dummy stone in a sealed pack- dalleato task enterprising

diamond. Thomus Cullinan, who had had Later Fourie was hanged for

the was at

time little schooling and had started poisoning, a native chieftain. earried in the captain's safe in

amallship and guarded by de out

Both stones any tectives.

reached bricklayer and small contrae

London safely and the rest dia

in Cullinan mond was placed Lor in Cape

vaull. Colony, even

bo-

one

as

A

a

il

That story circulated widely. but there has never been absolute proof of its truth. Siver the discovery of the Diamond severni stones of cun skierable size have been found in the same vicinity and may

and be that they were broken pieces

of the original stone. But again there is no certainty.

lem

same

Winston's Plea

arrival

રી

bank

Shortly after its fez inspection by King Edward was taken to Buckingham Palace VII and then went back to the

A diamond, like a plece of wood, has planes of cleavage, and Asscher spent weeks in studying the Cullinan to decide precisely where the blow should "be struck, knowing that a slight inaccuracy might smash the stone Into small pieces. Then he practised with wax and gings models and relaxed for a few days before the big moment.

the of biggest build-

Once the Cullinan Diamond cry in Johan had been found the next prob-

inch notch in the surface of the First ho ground q quarter- ncsburg.

was to decide what to do

stone, which was then clamped The directors of the The Premier with it,

in a special holder and the Mine itself mine, thrilled though they were

in the In 1900 the Trangvuol fvas cleayége blade inserted was his own by the discovery, were actually granted

self-government by, notch With, nerves tensed somewhat depressed at

the Britain and the following year struck the blade with a heavy thought that there seemed little Louis Botha-Britain's enemy in rod-and the blade broke,

Leslie with a

II

ן

bank vault

buyer. the Boer War--became Prime

Ayre likelihood of finding glass The biggest diamond the Minister and conceived the repites of the world, it was difficult even to happy idea of marking hia Cullinan dia- place a valug on it.

nominal mond which is given kept in a City office.

was country's loyally to the Crown value of by purchasing the diamond and

said presenting it to King Edward.

Cullinan £150,000---but that it was worth anything be- tween £200.000 and £2,000,000!

"BLASPHEMOUS," THEY SAID

W

the

Man and

art likely to sway the hearts of Britain in such form that our Others objected on the his fellow-members even more big domestic audience will relish Burely than the hard statistics

them as it does our better Holly

This is good wood offerings." news. It would be even better if the overseas profits came back to Britain.

grounds that people would

have to pay for something

OF GASLIGHT

a

model

stcom

WELL, WHAT D'YOU KNOW!

DISTUS

a lot

the USU of coal-gas

ho

Then He Fainted

A second blade was inserted, the blow struck, and the cleav age was effected precisely

as

And Asscher, keyed ND to breaking point, collapsed on the floor in a dead faint,

But all was not plain salling. Planned. There was opposition among many of the British population in the Transvaal who objected to such a presentation being. Later, a further spilt WAN made by an ex-enemyl

made and ning large stones and The British Party in the 08 smaller brillians were cut Transvaal Legislative Assembly from the three main portions,

though opposed the plan and.

But the strain had been the motion was carried, the much for Mr Asscher, who had decision was not unanimous, the to spend three months recover- voting being 42 to 19,

ing in hospital. Eventually he died in Denuvile in 1937,

Now the Brush

Cabinet

the Boer

for

gift,

too

to

Jopeed with a nervous break- pald

down and was sent to South advising Africa to recover.

HEN. early in the Nevertheless, a company was hat, which made a surprising was just like Murdock to re-

After the main cleavages there ▷ Monroe's plan to star with

19th century.

it formed in 1810 and a start was ly loud clatter. It turned out fuse this handsome offer; hu began to feel embarrassed at the was still the work of faceting

made on Brighter London.

to be a wooden one, which the remained loyal to his masters. lack of unanimily in the Trans- and polishing the stones, a task Sie Laurence Olivier in her own

was first proposed

youngster had made on bis And he never made a penny vaal, but young Mr Winston entrusted to three men, one of procuction of Terence Rattigan's

to erect gas lamps

But one factory in Soho had father's lathe!

Colonial Under- profk out of gns-lighting-oven Churchill,

them Henri Kod, born in. Lon- play "The Sleeping Prince," Mr

in the streets of London, already been working by gas-

brightly. at Secretary (Avho had been don of Dutch parents. Stephen Swingler, MP. said:

Murdock Invented all sorts of when it burned That "The Man Who Never Was,"

light for seven years. there were many objections. was because

In a specially prepared room, Murdock worked things, but he was so unassum- last, on Westminster Bridge, in Botha's prisoner in British story made by a British

War), derided the Cabinet chooses

1814.

for with a thick carpet as protec- Neame,

Some people said the idea there, and had managed to ing that he was content to let Tho

"taking a very unimaginative tion against damage to the kol, who director, Renak ure we lo say that we have not Hollywood Reporter describes it

Both he and Lord Sel- diamonds H dropped, the men was blasphemous, since God interest the proprietor in his his employers get the credit for

When das was eventually in-view." of "unte gol the talent here to build up as

the most intense had divided the light from scheme. He filled up pipes, what he did.

troduced Into tho

borne, High Commissioner House of

worked from 7 om: to 1.172. and dramas we've ever seen

Arst public sercen attractive

put on the

eight months, a bigger and more

One of his brain-children was Commons, the pipes were fixed South Africa, urged that the fork completed, Koc col- durkness

exhibition of gas-light, to cele- and, more importantly, proves

locomotive, well away from the walls

bo King should

accept the got that good pictures can be made ought not interfere with brate the end of the war with which nearly

him into

stfil even though Lord Esher, of people Swingler bin Eughand with British casts Nature.

thought they might burn the whose opinion the King building. And MP's wore gloves much attention, was for protection they thought the against the idea.

The cut diamonds were pipes would be hot!

from A- brought to England Pocketed Fortune

sterdam in the pockets of four Soon,

brothers of the Asscher family, The Prince of Wales, later then deposited temporarily in a tho bank, redivided among King George V, wrote to his brothers and taken to Windsor father, who was abroad, telling by car, with other cars in front

Ζεστή him that he had heard

to General Botha how disappoint and behind, and presented The gas mantle arrived later ed the Dutch would be if the King Edward.

440 nung decided to call the when a German chemist, Auer offer was refused.

diamond biggest

Star For the overseas revenue from CO British film makers must

van Weisbach, found that cer- Eventually the Cabinet reach- Ainica" end to embody it in the her Blm, which will be mude in now choose between making

It was coal-gas, however, that tain thorium compounds beled a unanimous decision that Royal Sceptre. The next three Britain with British writing alms for American companies or

came brilliantly luminous when refusal would be difficult, and in "alze-though still huge gems directing, musical and technical the Rank Organisation.

If by

to visualise held in a flame of a

Bunsen the King telegraphed from he called "Lesser Stars of talent, wil nccrue not to Britain some misfortune Pinewood if the fear of darkness Scot, Murdock, managed to the uses #could be put to and burner. But not the fabric itselfiarritz that he would accept Africa, the biggest of them but the USA.

unable to repea: this year many vanished, crime would in- make enough gas to light his to evolve the necessary op- that burned away. It was the the diamond as soon as it was being embodied in the Imperial of its past successes, It will bo Judging by the advance pub, cald, as it was said before, that

ash that gave the brilliant light. ometally offered to him. He did Stats Crown, and the next two The police, too, own little collage in Cornwall, paratus for gas-lighting. crease,

in Queen Mary's Crown. Heity, to flim is likely to be a

scared that thieves In those days, Murdock was Although he earned, only

Murdock would certainly have on his 60th birthday.

But how was the diamond to The remaining five big stones winner. I could bring home we have not the talent to make were

easier time working for Boulton and Wath, pound a week, Cornishmen ze exchanged the mantle of great- a great number of films in Bri- would have an several million pounds or, even thin.

the steam-engine plonters. cognised his genius and simple neas for the discovery of that be prepared? It was too big to and most of the small brilliants and they worried about Boulton had had a foretaste of folk thought

make a superb dia- YOL dollaro,

wizard. other mantle, more important,

which gave the be faceted as a single gem and, went to even In British territories the It will not be said that success horses bolting in the glare the Scot's ingenuity when, as a When he was invited to go to Bnal touch to his bright inven- If it were split, there would be mondecollar for Queen Alexan-

that serious darker of shattering it dra, a collar

was later results in the box office will is more likely if the choice of of unaccustomed light. youth, in 1777, Murdock had the Soho factory, mine-owners tion, merely

Into tiny fragments. There were handed on to Queen Mary. applied to him for a job. The offered him twenty pounds American subject is spread among people

(COPYRIGHT) long discussions among the ex- Treasury.

nervous lad had dropped his week to stay in Cornwall It.

Yet even Mr Swingler has failed to point out that, what ever Marilyn Monroe's value an import, as an export she ta something of

snake in the grass,

Perhaps he 15 chivalrous.

profit

F

the

100

Must choose

they didn't want. Doctors France. But Londoners thought trouble.

He tried it out on the caught on Glasgow was lit up were convinced thut

gas it was

kind of road one night, and it rnced in 1817; Liverpool and Dublin a just a now would affect people's health rework display..

away from its muker at great year later. apted. The glow of the engine FINAL TOUCH and that lighting the

In 1892, a great many people and the hiss of the steam gavʊ streets would cause people believed they were celebrating villagers the fright of their to stay out late and catch the hundredth anniversary of lives, cold!

ens-lighting, but they were two or three

out in their Then there

years were the

moralists who thought that 1704 or 1795 that the versatile was the first man

reckoning. It was either int was Murdock's real interes. He

of widely differing tastes.

In the meanwhile, the fate of

TWO MADMEN

Same team

the Film. Finance Corporation, Looldag back, it makes you British Lion and London Films wonder how anyone ever saw How different it might have Ho

is undecided.

If they go under the new artlaciar lighting at been if Sir Laurence had Brilish film-makers' bargaining all. Even Sir Humphry Davy, purchased the services of Marilyn power is further undermined. the man who gave miners their Monroe instead of vice versa, The most ardent desire of men famous safely-lamp wns op- Precisely the same film, made like Sir Laurence Olivier

or prehensive. He said the dome with the same team, would have David Lean to make the films of St Paul's Cathedral would be helped to build up that attrac- they believe in. It is a most needed as a gas-holder to store tive British Alm-making indus lauilable ambition. From # all try that we all want. It would purely patriotle point of view and the required for London have also helped, in its small

in any event, it would ex- nothing could be more desir-plode. And Sir Walter Scott way, to case our balance of pay- able.

neosed: "There's a madman in ment problem.

city with what do you think? London proposing to light the

--smokat"

No wonder some people get So why, people are entitled to dld Bir Laurence fall

a little weary of the never- purchase Terence Rattigan's pley, ending attacks of Socialist MPs

to

In the first piece? The answers on film stars' salaries. Boclatin's

And whọ was the madman? belleve in a juster society. So Well, thero' were a pair of thom clover Scottich

is simple. He could not afford it, they devise a system of taxation really very

This brings me to film stars that strengthens vast combines inventor, William Murdock, ani entorios, When hip dovcribed his at the expense of the artist, a German, Hämet Winter, who prospective earnings as "tha "Tories:believe in fred enters tried and falled to get, Parlia- usual pitinner." people. must prine and competition. So they ment's backing for a scheme to have thought, that fir Laurence, support, a systems of taxation light up the whole country.

JOHNNY HAZARD

JOHNNY! WHAT'RE YOU DOING 7

MISS HAVEN HAS TO TALK TO HER CHERBOUT THOSE STOLEN PAPERS GONNA FLAG HIM DOWN!

him

a.

TAKEN LEAVE OF YOUR SENSES, - HAZZ YOU PLAG IM DOWN........AND THOSE CYCLE BOYS WILL CUT YOU

| DOWN, FASTER'N YOU CAN WINKKE

(COPYRIGHT)

By Frank Robbins

...this situation

calls for a

San Miguel