Daily Post - 13.09.1941, Blaðsíða 3

THROUGH THE GUNS
In the foreground HMS Sussex’s guns; in the background, cruis-
ers at speed providing a picture of the might of the British
Navy.
MPBESSIOM OF ÍCELANB
OASIS IN
THE DESERT
Nenories of tbe 1,000 th.
Annlversarj.
The photographs of Mr.
Churchill in Reykjavik bring
back memories of a visit to
Iceland when HMS Rodney
took parliamentary delegates
and a few press representativ-
es to the celebrations of the
thousandth anniversary of the
Icelandic Parliament. When I
saw that Mr. Churchill visited
a hot spring I wondered which
of the geysers it was. There
were lots of them. There is
the sort that spouts up every
so many hours and which says
“thank you” if you put in a
piece of soap, and there is the
more exciting, though quieter,
kind that suddenly tums a
piece of §tony desert into a
green oasis.
I remember driving all day
in the sun over shimmetring
white stones, with a view of
volcanoes, which had blown
their heads off no more than
a century or so ago, on the
horizán. Suddenly there was a
house in the middle of a green
meadows and. wonderful to
rejate, a greeiihouse with
roses, among other flowers,
growing in it.
We were introduced to the
owner, who had married, if I
remember rightly, a Danish
girl and settled on this warm
green patch. His visible assets
Were one warm spring, which
Was hot enough to boil an egg
a hundred yards from the
house, to serve as a bath fifty
yards away, and, nearer still,
to keep a greenhouse at an
equable temperature all the
year round. After that it acted
as central heating for his
house, the walls of which were
stacked up with green turf. The
happy owner of this spring
could keep a cow and a goat
on the grass, and seemed to
live very comfortably on his
fertile island.
I can well belive that Ice-
landers do not like American
occupation, for they are an in-
dependent people who refused
to remain a Dominion even of
the Danes. But they are also
a very sensible people; most
London
The most iworthless signature
in the wOTld is also the most
valuable. At oament oolleotors*
xates. the veritable autograiph of
A Hitier is fetoing ait least a
a hundred guineas. By oompar-
ison, a Winston Churcihill or a
'Franklin D. Roosevelt is worth
oaily a few pounds. The reason
is simply that 'the Hitlers of this
worJd have — thank heaven —
a rarity value.
Not many examples of Hitler’s
signature have found theár way
out of Germany and, by the
time íoommunications between
that oountry and the rest of the
wt>rld beaome civilised agaán.
Hitler won’t be signing his name
any more. Torn-up treaties will
be at a premium again.
of them seem to talk English
as well as to read the sagas in
the original Old Icelandic, and
they have the closest relations
with English fishermen. If the
alternative is German occupa-/
tion, which would not end after
the duration, I should expect
them to find temporary Anglo-
Saxon occupation a very easy
burden to bear.
From the “London Diary” in
“The New Statesman and
Nation.”
Letter
The sOiurce of my information
— uddly enough — is Douglas
Furber, famolus as the man who
wuote ‘The Lambeth Walk’ and
London’s most sucoessfiul author
of musioal shows. Duggie knows
all about it beoause, reoently, he ,
made a huge aolIeOtion of auto-
graphs whLoh was sent to Holly-
wood to be Taffled thefie on be-
half of the war effort. Great and
small, we all signed it. Then, to
make the book mone valuable,
Furber took it to one of the big
autograph dealers to have a few
special names pasted in.
He bought Sir Henry Irving’s
for five shiliings. Barry’s, Wells’,
and Galswoithy’s fetohed thirty
shillings the three. An origánal
lette' from the author of Lorna
Doone was valued at seven shill-
ings amd sixpence. Sdarcely any
living fiigure — with the ex.oep-
tkwi of a fewi kings and states-
men — aost more than five
sihillings.
Duggie says that he asked the
dealer whether the prices were
fixed for every celebrity’s auto-
graph. When tlie dealer answer-
ed yes, Duggie enquired wthat
his owtn sdgnaitune was orth.
‘About eighteenpence a pound,’
said the dealer.
Snnday Services
CHURCH OF ENGLAND:
• Holy Communion: 7.30 a.m.
(Lakeside Church). 8.30 a.m.
(YMCA Chapel).
Matins: 9.45 a.m. (National
Cathedral). Rev. M.C. Tenny-
son, US.
Evensong: 7.30 p.m. (Lake-
side Church). Rev. A. J. Ostle.
NON CONFORMIST:
Parade Service: 9.30 a.m.
(Salvation Army Hall).
ROMAN CATHOLIC:
Masses: 6.30, 8, 10 and 11
(Parade).
Confessions: Saturday, 6—
9 p.m.
Time Serving?
Heard at a Kent Assizes.
An officer, giving a soldier
prisoner a good character, said
he expected the man to return
to his unit.
Mr. Justice Humphreys:
‘Expect? Suppose I give him
ten years’ penal servitude.
Would you still expect him
back?’
The officer: ‘Yes, ’my lord.’
The Judge: ’Expecting a long
war, aren’t you?’