... YY/bile the Thames flowed swiftly and smoothly by in Central London, held in check by the massive embankment walls, there were scenes of acute distress last week in many parts of the Thames Valley, and from Windsor to Weybridge there was a vast, continuous lake from which Army Ducks and Sherman tanks had to rescue the marooned. At Windsor, Maidenhead, and Reading con ditions were really ...

... MIIBiil HThe Exhibition of the King's Pic tures at Burlington House and the Spanish Art Exhibition at the National Gallery have both been highlights in the art world of 1947, and now comes the great French Tapestry Exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum, the public view of which starts to-day following yesterday's private view. The Exhibition, which was seen in Paris last year and part ...

... Jet propulsion, now firmly established and on its way to revolutionising fast air travel, is not as yet widely understood, and it is the popular view that it is the blast that drives the plane forward. This is not so. It is also not true that the drawing in of air in front of the machine causes a forward movement. The simple basic facts are these. The propelling force is produced and thrusts ...

... x. New Oxford Street, W.C.i. The Last Viceroy.-- The last Viceroy of India is a great-grandson of Queen Victoria, who was proclaimed Empress of India on January 1, 1877. Disraeli's gift to his Queen was assumed at the time to have a longer expectation of life than seventy years. All the splendours which grew up round the Viceroyalty suggest that that was so. I suppose Lord Lytton was the first ...

... THE EARITH BREACH, SOUTH OF ELY An aerial view of one of the vital gaps in the Fen defences through which the flood-waters of the Great Ouse have been pouring, inundating thousands of acres of rich agricultural land. It was at first decided to put a Bailey bridge into the gap and fill this with sandbags. Some of the equipment for the work is seen on each side of the breach. Later an attempt ...

... Cor months past tidings have reached England that Ben Hecht, the American playwright and scenario writer, has been fitting out a luxury yacht which, manned by an American volunteer crew, would attempt to run illegal Jewish immi grants into Palestine. A fortnight ago a yacht, sailing under the name of Abril or Ben Hecht (reports differed), was intercepted off Haifa. The 600 immigrants were ...

... THE Moscow exchanges had barely got under way before the totals of German prisoners still held by each of the four came under discussion. Round numbers suffice for present purposes, and here they are: U.S.S.R., 890,000; France, 630,000; Britain, 435,000; United States, 31,000. Less than 2,000,000 all told. Biggest shock was to the Germans, who for some time have claimed to be awaiting 3,000 ...

... THE UNITED STATES ARMY AIR FORCE PLANS A DEVELOPMENT IN ARTILLERY WARFARE Dropping a howitzer from a C-82 Fairchild transport plane as a means of reinforcing ground troops. This picture, taken from a neighbouring machine, shows a small ribbon-extraction parachute pulling a howitzer from the open rear door of the Fairchild's cargo compartment. The howitzer moves easily across the floor of the ...

... Jn 1731 the first British lightship took station off the Nore Sand. To-day these vital navigation marks surround our coasts, some of them automatic, hemg lit and extinguished by the action of the sun, and many of them manned. During the War the lightships were attacked by the Luftwaffe, and Trinity House, which is responsible for their maintenance, is now replacing them with new, more ...

... n -Drawing by S. Beck A FOCAL-POINT OF THE BRITISH GRID SYSTEM-- at this G.W%- BQMtffnr LONDON'S old post office tube station a control SUPERINTENDENT AND HIS CHIEF ENGINEER REGULATE THE TAOC ^'^DiNG THE LOAD WHEN POWER CUTS HAVE TO BE MADE The station served a vital purpose during the war when bom!Mftg>at any moment could wipe out a major power station, and it is ptayijRg art almost equally ...

... 1/wirJn B W [47^*1 BJ ['M|. The courtesy visit to British waters of the cruiser Wilkes-Barre and the destroyers Beatty and Hugh Purvis is of special interest in view of the fact that they represent two or the most successful types ot war ship built in American yards during the last war. During their stay at Southampton Admiral Richard Conolly, the American Naval Commander in European waters, ...

... HnnpnB NICHOLAS IS INTRODUCED TO DOTHEBOYS HALL BY SQUEERS Alfred Drayton gives a full-blooded characterisation of Squeers. On his right is Smike (Aubrey Woods), Ralph Nickleby's son, abandoned when a child so that Ralph could inherit his fortune I BRIMSTONE AND TREACLE FROM MRS. SQUEERS Dame I Sybil Thorndike in an unusual role. Squeers Junior I (Roy Hermitage) enjoys the unpopular ...