... D. U. Wyndham Lii* HEARTS-OF-OAK with mahogany faces and in fact all sons of the unplumbed, salt, estranging sea-- especially the neurotic ones-- will be glad to learn from The Lancet that when their electro encephalograms begin to show activation of the alpha rhythm and slowing of the dominant wave-frequency, it is time to drop the gobstick and make for the lee-rail. Nelson's electro ...

... No full census of London's restaurants has, to my knowledge, ever been made. It all depends-- as Professor Joad used to say-- upon what you mean by restaurant. A rough definition held by this column is that the restaurant should either have a wine J licence, or acknowledge the need for wine. In the past two years well over 150 of such London resorts have been listed and reviewed. And there ...

... AGATHA Christie, whose The Mousetrap will become the Ambassadors' longest run in a month's time, has written a new play to be called Witness for the Prosecution. This authoress has her own especial formula for success, but this time she is using an estab lished recipe-- a trial scene at the Old Bailey. A trio of magnificent old-timers form the protagonists. D. D. Clarke-Smith will be the ...

... D. B. Wyndha.ni Lewis FOUR champion girl-divers with tears stream ing from their glorious eyes-- as if those babies don't get wet enough in a normal way-- in a jam at Blackpool touched the tough hearts of the Sports Page boys, for once: and rightly, however such a display may revolt the 5,667,432 big sporting girls who bang about. For us, too, those tears touch a chord deemed long since mute. ...

... IN producing Hamlet and All's Well on con secutive first nights the Old Vic made considerable demands on their players, but the occasions emphasized the versatility of the company for this season. Particularly, these evenings served a treble-line whip on behalf of Michael Hordern, who managed to present a Polonius free from boredom and who made Parolles exactly what Shakespeare intended-- the ...