Postbag

Although broadcasting technology was once considered a threat to the theatre, it has, in many ways, proved to be its saviour. From its earliest days, radio programmes offered extracts of plays currently being staged, giving theatres wider exposure, and hopefully shifting some more tickets.

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I was raised by my grandmother as my mother died when I was born and my father was in the Army, training soldiers for WWII.

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When Match of the Day started on BBC television it was on BBC Two only and we only had BBC One at the time. As we lived in a flat over the top of a TV shop, I arranged with the shop manager to set his time switches to make sure the telly in the…

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It is well-known that bits and bobs used to ‘disappear’ from factories during the war, and the methods devised to avoid being searched on the way out of the gate sometimes bordered on the unbelievable. Once the obligatory shelter arrived, our pocket-sized garden in London lost its appeal, and my father decided he would keep…

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After Empire Day in May, the next big event at school was Alexandra Rose Day, which took place in June. At Hearnville Road School in Balham, London, our rose queen was chosen by popular vote. Like Britannia, hers was a non-active role. Once she had made her entrance, and was crowned and gowned with her…

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In the autumn of 1938, I started work at ICI at Blackley, Manchester, for £1 a week. I was what is now known as a management trainee, but my initial job was as an office boy, delivering mail around the offices and wax cylinders to the typing pool.

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