1956-03-17 — Page 8

DECLINE OF THE LONDON PUB

D

By HARRY WALKER

00M threatens the London "local." Whether that in

true or merely a passing phase, sociologists are taking a serious view, as though the way of life of a certain section of the communtiy was changing-and not for the better. Even the licensing courta hüve expressed anxiety.

What the courts have discovered is that more and more publicans of the small local houses cannot make a living among the beer-tap, and are having to supplement thele small takings by seeking other jobs and leaving their wives and daughters lo 2020 Da best they can. They are even keen to give up their neencen altogether,

TV AND TAX

Television naturally is the ready explanation of dwindling attendances. Certainly on nights when boxing is being televised Ure absence of regulars is noticeable even in public hnuses which tay on television for customers-on installation which is never quite successful, for 1: seldom happens that all the customers want to look-in and hold their tongues.

Few publicans give television the major blame. They full back on their old enemy-the high taxation of beer.

The quality of beer untu to be the barometer of the popularity of the typical London "local," and beer was the natural accom-

paniment of the neighbourly meetings round the lables in the bar, where working men and their wives foregathered.

1

A pint of bitter would easily outinst the best of three games on the dartboard or at shove-ha'penny or cribbage.

No harm wwe done. Intoxication was regarded as a scandal except perhaps

bank holiday.

Thus while there was proff on brer, the landlord regarded his "publle" customers as his friends, and called them all by their Best names and knew all their offspring by their names tuo,

His "saloon" bar customers he probably called sir or madam, served them, and left it at that. For the more elegant saloon hur, where the drinks cost more, la that section of a "pub" traditionally frequented by the mure aloof middle-class Londoners. TRANSFERRED ATTENTION

The London publicans long agn, and with the best intentions, agreed among thôntelves that their friends-the working men- sbestiek still have their plot at a price they could pay. They would forgo Ureiz profits on beer and leave them to the Can- cellor of the Exchequer and the browers. True, the price to the Consumer went up, but not in proportion to the tax and costs.

That was all very well, but the publican has now to try to fhed his peralt elsewhere. In the "salon" section of his house he serves his whisky nip as a sixth, charging the same as a Scotush publican chun ges for i fourth, which means that he gets thirty hips out add a bottle instead of twenty and wids £1 to his profit. The atrinkers of shorts" are now his cultivated friends, ant it regular in the "public" are drifting to less desirable haunts, fecting a seat of neglect and a loss of fellowship. The atmosphere has changed or is chingling, and not for the better; in fact, even

eutotaller would say it was deplorable.

( THE CHINA: MAIL, SATURDAY, MARCH::17, 1958.

Concluding: Treason In The Twentieth Century

THOMAS WISEMAN reports from Hollywood

I dine with the

King of Tin

Pan Alley

KNOW ANY

ANY GIRLS IN SPAIN?

THE SCIENTIST WHO VANISHED

E

ON

VEN if it was late in

the

dlay, British overtook

Security

the

of

trenchery Nunn May and Klaus Fuchs. But Bruno Pontecorvo was the one that get away. Be cause of this his defeetion may be considered the mast damaging of the three.

A ROMAN

October 1950 his disappearance and his subsequently wenchery were announced.

implied

By NIGEL GEE

HOLIDAY

ed.

Pontecorva had no deep roots.

asks SINATRA

F

and that RANK Sinatra was

she thinks Mr Sinatra is apparently Texas half-way through his not so easily soothed, Morc- Frankie is lust great, Frankie, I notice, has hardly said a word bamburger steak over, the interview Was to her all the evening, but he when he leaned limited in scope by another lights her cigarette every time Across the table and in factor; he had brought a she puts one in her mouth. formed

me with

all the girl friend along who would Frankie says that he is going charm at his disposal that periodically give him an to Spain shortly to make a film does anybody know any beautiful girls in Spain?

he might quite conceivably affectionate hug or a loving rock me on the jaw. I do squeeze,

not know whether it is due

buud

movies (or maybe appear-

to seeing too many

ing in them), but Mr

A PARTY

and

Suddenly nobody knows any beautiful girls In Spain and there is no mention of Ava Gardner who is a beautiful girl and often in Spain nowadays,

During a break in the table was scarcely possible to ask hopping I inquire of Mr Sinatra

Sinatra is always express- In those circumstances it

ing the wish to sock some

one or other on the jaw. him about Ava Gardner. Or what he has got against the

He

the

ask

snorts any such

None the less I was mild- about his fatal attraction Press. . .

for women. Actually, one He says: "There are column- ly surprised to discover that.

They say I go with 1 he was still up to this sort did not have to ask-one ists.

different dame every night. My of thing.

private life is my own and I had been told merely had to watch. that he had mellowed and

The dinner soon became different dame every night. That furthermore I do not go with a matured with his 'new-found more of a party than an is what I have got against the or he was virtually blackmail success and was hardly ever interview, with a constant press. I have friends in

rüde to anyone any more. procession of film celebrities presa, too, but you misquote me, like Spencer Tracy, Ronald kid, and you're dead with me. When a man is paid Colman and Esther Williams "In fact, I'll nock you on the He was born in Italy and had $4,000 a week as Mr Sinatra making their pilgrimage to law." worked irr France, America, is for singing at a night the Shtatra table to ex- thr fact alone that the way. Enigmatic remarks made Canada and Britain. Hie was

I see another table hopper and club, there is really no rea- change pleasantries with the getting ready to hop and Pontecorvo caravan Arally came to coilcugues and unaccountable without natural joynities to rest in Russia eut leave little nellons of his wife before they he had never troubled greatly son for him to feel unwant- King of Tin Pan Alley. quickly whether he is a happy

newed or persecuted. At the end of July 1950 doubt of his sympathies. There left tended in the light of later about the acquisition of a Pontecorvo,

to suggest his nationality. He was also a tire- with

his Swedish is supporting

which developments,

the mind was already made up. wife and his two children, set nins added significance in

fuss jobseeker, at tits juggling the Tiff by

with several prospective ap- for Continental light of his detection. His par- Nunn May and Fuchs are hellday. They travelled leisure-

On the other hand they left pointments at once. He would ente were Jewish, and the anti-

their

three clothes, Semmille measures proved to have given vital y through France, Switzerland

Mus-

bank always be ready to listen to of the

the accounts, admittedly not over- better proposition. solini regime They be secrets to Russia. That was and Austria to

to Italy. haved and

sufferi the

family fortunes and had driven laden, and the rest saine injury enough, but it prob- have

possessions.

also need He would vicissitudes as thousands

the younger members into exile, worldly ably did no more than other families on holiday. They

from abroad to persuasion if he had anything correspondence their friends

unstrained mich wa

ON espionage on his hasten the inevitable.

bad car trouble, the children It does not necessarily follow

end suffered minor ailments, and all

positively Implied their cor science, if Russia had greater that even

deep hatred of Fas Pontecorvo has not been there events were faithfully re-

subsequent return at the end of need of him in Rusia than in cisin makes a man automatical-

the holiday. Atu Eng- convicted of spying, and ported to their friends

Communist, but it provides the soil in which Communism his part in the Russian land and elsewhere.

the atomic

enn grow or be grown. development of bomb is no more than a matter for apeculation. However,

PAID IN DOLLARS

ly

་

evidence

had ruined

Most of the Pontecorvo chil- dren in fact did not to to this

"GOT AT"

not only deprived Britain of of a Swedish airline and himself worked for some time double construction.

booked five single tickets for after his exodus from Italy

(1

his services, he has also Stockholm. After given them to Russia. That conversation, h changed the in France.

the

order return

Communist professor

of their Their

DOUBLE LOSS

期

little

As far as

t

sble TVAR

man these days. derisively and denies

10

vulgar state of affairs. His best

But in a way I was glad ascertain, he did not express the to find that the rumours wish to punch any of them on about how he had reform- the nose. This was Sinatra. ed were unfounded.

lie is said to be the hottest thing in Hollywood holding He has found a straight court. A spectacle that is part left more effective. It goes of the Hollywood scenery these better with his ties.

IMPOLITE

days.

work as an actor has come out

of bitter personal unhappiness, he says.

A MESSAGE

There is no time to ask, what One of the minor diindian- toges of being the hottest thing the bitter personal unhappiness her nome in Hollywood is that you have was and whether

to to stand

#1 dozen times was Ava Gardner for the next during your meal to be intro table hopper his pouneed. duced to gushing women whose However, I had come to friends or husbands insist

The compliments now like water. Franicle's grin seems less Romanoffs, the swank Holly- they simply must meet you.

palned. A dreadful thought to have wood restaurant,

nose.

that

columnists may no longer bother to misquote him - or even quote him. People might even say nice things about him. Any- thing could happen.

England, he would be invited to maks the journey. If he refused, it would not be without

prece dent for hint to be dropped to the British authorities about his AND before he left Pontecorvo treacherous activities. Dog cats whereas Fuchs N August 27 the Pontecorvos opposite

Ahad accepted a new post at dog, and there is some windom extreme, but onc Liverpool University. This

in this double-dealing. Not only dinner with Mr Sinatra- submitted to their compliments ting to be happy.

I have to report that Sinstra occurs to me; perhaps he is get- and Nunn May will do no arrived to stay with rela- brother did, and a sister mor-

traitor turned troitur Com- could have been calculated de- is the more harm to Britain in tives in Rome. Two days later ried a leading Italian

on the with gravity. He is the sort

It could be his downfall. He munist, Bruno Pontecorve ception, but it is still capable of punished, but the country which not to sock hím

inflicts the punishment is denied this field, Pontecorvo has Brumo and his wife went to the

As a guest of pro- of man who will take any might stop threatening to sock his services too.

ducer Otto Preminger, I amount of criticism as long as people on the jaw. Then In answering this question we

felt it would be somewhat is flattering. must again take into account

impolite of me to do this. that the hallday ran its full and

So I finished my Wiener openly Intered course. Had it been planned when the family USSIA hat carried out her Schnitzel and nobody sock- left England that they should hrst atomic, éxolcstort a year ed anybody on the nose.

The following day 1 net con go to Itussia, it is unlikely his before she seduced Pontecorvo. The idea of dining with

firmallon that the worst has new employers would have

happened. I get a message from allowed him to remain so long There were reports, naturally Sinatra (who says he hates sardonie features that seem

unsubstaminted, that the test His career had been spent in

His skin is stretched that Mr Sinatra is as happy as Ho countries.

was Stockholm, and the following that his name did not feature tain on no better pretext than a the hoped for results

have an opportunity of toutly across the high bones of

any man can be Mr Sinatra educated in Italy, worked in day flew

to Helsink i in the lists of traitors uncovered holiday.

achieved, they were achieved meeting the golden boy his face,

has asked this to be conveyed France until the Germon in Finland. From there the trail Ha treachery, if it existed, may by the Gouzcniko revelations.

His hairline la one recession to me to clear up any misunder- vasion drove him out, and then,

goes cold, for the Finns have

As it happened, the British

native and Immigrant time when good food and that America must after undertaking an industrial

reluctantly standing. no further record of their

And he Com- alarm, position in America, had been movements, but it would not that once accepted to be

but that could not be

wine and a congenial atmo acknowledge is here.

Also that when he sald has a bald spot at the bidek of invited to join the Anglo- have been difficult for them to

munist he would place foreseen with any degree of In that ovent her need for sphere would have soothed his head. The grin on his face would sock me on the Jaw, that Canadian team engaged in atomle have passed on undetected to other loyalty, and from the fact

obedience to Russia above any assurance.

Pentecorve would be compelling his disposition.

is that of a man smiling through all ho means was that he some- was just a figure of speech and research at Chalk River, Canada. Russia.

Not only was he in touch with that he had every opportuntly

a pérpetual toothache.

times reads things which malte

for of the loss, three Pontecorvo was

was

ered under a whispered

to four singles and one

for himself. He the asked

in dollars and NO PROOF to pay subsequently arrived with the amount needed in the right Like Fuchs, Pontecorvo was currency, British only by naturalisation.

most able.

SECURITY CHECKS

this HE spent six years on

secret work before he elect- ed to become

British cert and senior scientifle officer at Harwell in Berkshire.

PONTECORVO was never de

uny Det of

MY OWN

He is a smoli, siight man with

to

On September 1 they flew to betrayal, and it is fair to say on the wrong side of the cur- had misfired, and that though/reporters) was that I should have been, etched out of pumice his personal press agent saying

on

were

be surmised only from the fact authorities were slow, to take, killing some of the (with the iron fists) at a

It is

by

Ccm-

stone.

he

more likely then that Western developments and pro- The theory was that he

ngresa, but he had a mind cap- would then talk freely and his sapphire ring.

His sapphire cuff-links match him so mad he would like to abic

Hla suit is fock someone on the jaw. There of highly creative work. If reveal his more agreeable neat and sober this evening, but is nothing personal about it. change this is so, Pontecorvo's defee-

was "got nt” The British authorities were to be a traitor. Neither train of he so unsuspicious of Pontecorvo reasoning ist entirely conclusive, munist agents

in Italy, that they did not begin inquiries

that the decision to for three weeks. They followed The American report which aides was

made Ch an

reasons examine the effects pulse. Twe subatquently the trail satisfied

sible that of the treachery of both its own themselves

for

#

undertook to

tion represents a major triumph self, which is not the side the personality inside it is as decision for Russia and, a double loss for of him that is always reveal. loud as a neon sign on Holly has had this Pontecorvo hat gone to Russia, and British nationals finds an Elther he was persuaded by the West,

ed. In practice, it did not quite work out that way.

They were correct, although undetected leakage in informa- purely practical considerations, searly five years elapsed before tion essential to the progress the made.

Before he went to Harwell the world had absolute

con

Russians subsequently Pontecorvo, it s2yr, may have

he was given three security firmation of their theory. In served as the informant in this chocica, and on each occasion March 1955 Pontecorvo's nothing was found to render him existence

in Russia Was

and more personal matters which, Russian press. a bad risk. Nor in the smaller formally acknowledged in the slude the formal investigation ald he betray himself.

Fuchs and Nunzi May had been quiet, aloof and dispassionate beings. Their associates might drally have accepted that still waters can run deep.

A COMMUNIST?

PONTECORVO'S arrival

area, and it concludes that he may be regarded plausibly, after Fuchs, as the deadliest betrayer.

Finally, we have to consider

why Pontecorvo fict. Was it

simply. In the beller" that the game was up? That seems an in ilkely explanation, for If he Fussio solves the most im- had been, Impelled by fear he portant part of the mystery, would got have spent overal Pontecorvo, However die. but it still leaves much to me wrocks/ meandering about trimedì ởuch' suspicion. "He was plain. Was he a Communist? Southern Europe, Thera pro gher and friendly, open-handed Was he in fact a spy, leading a quicker routes, to Rude: 10 ami even irresponsible, a dedi- double life, as Num May, and extremities than this, cated and talented tennis player. Fuchs had done? Did he go to

and his

H* had all the Frumman qualities Hueria voluntarily, or ww he When Pontecorvo which." Tughs facked and which “peranded" or oven kidnapped? family set bit from England među him the more potentially There are still questiorm upon at the end of July 1900, did ho Il cane that the greater mag kang thou dos

again' inconclusivo“ eith

to, those who knew him when in against por

JOHNNY HAZARD

„RIST A SUITCÁSK, EH, GROOTE? - BRING IT UPSTAIRS... PERHAPS THERE WILL BE SOMETHING OF KHAL VALUE TO COMPENSATE FOR THE RISK. YOU'VE EXPOSED ANG TO!

• (COPYRIGHT)

"THE AMERICAN OPERATOR OF THE

CAR IS OBVIOUSLY NO PERSON OF KNIH

SOCIAL STANDING U MIDDLE-PRICED COSMETICS UNDER-PRAYTIES...AnT RO MANILA ENVELOPESA

I conclude that' Mr Sinatra ΟΥ clee good day wood Boulevard.

employs a very diplomatic press ́Frankie's giri, tells me

agent, that she is a singer and comes from

{COPYRIGHT)

By Frank Robbins

TERESAMI ACH, GROOTE WNYOU PRINCE OF FOOLS? YOU HAVE STOLEN THE CAR OP NO LESS THAN WA KISSSECRET SERVICH OPERATIVEL

B.BUT, CHIEF

I THOUGHT SHE WAS JUST. Ás..

LOADED TOURISTÄ,

this situation

calls for

San Miguel