1st December I960.
Dear Victor:
Your tapes and your letter arrived safely yesterday
and I am replying almost immediately. I am most grateful
to you for doing these recordings. At the moment, of
course, I don't know which of the two good questions will
be chosen, but if Doreen Alexander's one is chosen I will
get in touch with her parents. It would be useful for me
to have their address!
I'm glad to know you are still enjoying life. You
certainly are getting a great variety of experience both
inside and outside of Radio, and that's all to the good for
a young fresh-minded man (I have now put on the mantel of
senile, if not senior, statesman of this disestablishment).
I'm afraid that we are still mucking through in the way of
life familiar to you. Nothing very exciting in the way of
programmes. However, the 'loose-box' standard is well up
to its glories of former years and the news is as untopical
as ever. As you probably know, a lot of the producers haven
been sent to Clarence Street which is now known as The Salt
Mines. Sam Bell seems quite happy there but Ronnie feels
as if the BBC have him half way out. The theatre here is
flourishing with a Jimmy Young farce which looks like running
as long as The Mouse Trap in London. But really the atmos-
phere in Belfast is at' the moment very dull, and the only
stories I have for you are personal anecdotes of people you
know here - the usual small talk which is better related
over a bottle of stout. Do you ever get a drink of that
by the way - or do you confine yourself to exotic oriental
wines and drugs?
I have passed your news over to Diana who is doing all
the hard work in connection with this Commonwealth edition
of "Your Questions". It really seems a life time since we
passed each other on the moving staircase at Piccadilly and
then had a nice evening ending up in the pub with the
Lancastrian folk. Outside it is a dull, grey, missling
December afternoon. I long for some sunshine and bright
colours.
