... persuaded Noel Coward that he was a heaven-sent revue ir-t-A writer By Collie Knox BEHOLD, there is not one Cochran but many Cochrans-- all sizzling within the body (Incorporated) of one Showman, whose failures have been more magnificent, and much more expensive, than the successes of lesser beings. The successes of Charles B. Cochran (B for Blake) had for years thrown the traffic round ...

... By John Courtenay THE HIDDEN YEARS (Fortune) is a story of forbidden friendships whose author, Travers Otway, has sworn by the oaths of judgment and reason. That is to say, Harlston is a credible school, and this particular case- history a plausible business, though I still find the doings in the common-room-- where the beaks assemble-- more plausible than those in the studies (men only) ...

... . Compiled by Russell Palme (Skelton Robinson 18s.) From page 137 of this book I learn that Cecil James the Bassoonist is the son of Wilfrid James the distinguished bassoonist, and the nephew of E. F. James and Frank G. James, J respectively eminent bassoonist and trur.i- 2 peter, while he married Natalie Caine, tie oboist. Small wonder that he has been most active in the world of chamber ...

... , which replaces the old Point-to-Point Calen dar, is a first-class handbook for those inter ested. It has just been issued again and covers the 1947 season. The Point-to-Point people just missed the frosts and floods which killed National Hunt racing last year, and had a very successful season the record is, accordingly, a full one, devoid of blanks in the fixture list. The little book, like ...

... BEHIND THE SCENES IN BIG FOOT BALL The name and reputation of the author Leslie Knighton is a guarantee chat this is an authoritative and authenti cated work. It is well written, illustrated and packed with what are undoubtedly true, behind-the-scene stories. Stanley Paul, Ltd., London, 16s. ...

... - -1948 We are often asked by our readers whether Ashley Courtenay's Hotel Discoveries could not be reproduced in book form. To a large extent they are. Ashley Courtenay's Let's Halt Awhile, is now a hardy annual of which the 1 94s edition has made a welcome early appearance this year. Well illustrated and describing some 500 of his personally recommended hotels, we commend it par ticularly ...

... At The Pictures (■la morons Legend Freda Bruee Loekliart IN our age the word glamour has taken on a cupro-nickel tone. But have we another to describe the mysterious magic which rare people shed about them as they go, the sheen on their own personalities, the spell they cast on others? If I were playing one of those paper games which used to pass the family time, and were asked to name the ...

... ARTIE BAKER first came into prominence when he understudied Artie Shaw from 1940 to 1942. Later he played with Raymond Scott's band and recently he has been a soloist in the Perry Como radio programme. Now, on the first record of his Salon Swingtet to be released in Britain, he plays two of his own compositions, Platter Chatter Jump and Microphonics. The first features himself and his pianist ...

... THE piano Has always been one of the most difficult instruments to reproduce satisfactorily, but present systems of recording have reached something very near perfection. Of the spate of piano records this month I think you will do well to hear that made by Miss Moura Lympany. Born in Devon in 1916, she began to learn the piano when she was at school in Belgium, giving her first public concert ...

... All This Is Ended (St. James's) Anthony Cookman and Tom Titt ACCORDING to a programme note, nearly every- body in this play, which was written during the war by a serving soldier, was somebody the author had met along the rocky road from Dunkirk to the Sangro. Reading the note, one feared the worst. Thomas, wrote Stevenson to Barrie of a Thrums worthy, affects me as a lie I beg your pardon; ...

... DESPITE the ruthless omni potence of the Gestapo, it is obvious that some potent anti-Nazi forces existed and were active in Germany even at the height of Hitler's power. The plot which culminated in the abortive attempt on Hitler's life in 1944 was born of no sudden resurgence, but of a long-term understanding be tween certain elements in the political and military circles in Germany. ...

... ALL playgoers salute Gladys Cooper on her return to the London stage (Criterion Theatre) after a long absence. But she has chosen a curious part. The frustrated wife who makes a misery of her existence in the vicarage of Oldchurch-in-the-Vale, with a husband who is halfway between an idiot and a saint-- this is not the sort of thing in which Miss Cooper is remembered. Well and loyally as ...