... Oliver Warner Whatever one's political belief, the advent to power of Mr. Wilson is among the most exciting internal political events since the war. Anthony Howard and Richard West, who are professional journalists and wary admirers, disclose the matter in The Making of the Prime Minister (Cape 25s.) This book is digestible reading and there are moments, for instance the end of the tug ...

... I Spike Hughes It was quite like old Diaghilev times again to find a composer being mentioned in the same breath as the name of the ballet he'd written the music for. This happened last month when they put on Romeo & Juliet at Covent Garden and Proko fiev's not inconsiderable con tribution to the three-act ballet was mentioned quite generously. What ballet supporters will think of it I don't ...

... Pat Wallace English plays and English players in the last few years have been among our most successful exports, so success ful indeed that, a season or two back, there was dark talk in New York about a second British Invasion and Man hattan satirists were busy pointing out the possible dangers to home-grown pro ducts. Now things have settled down to a more peaceful two-way traffic and English ...

... Elspeth Grant/ It's no easy matter to assess the precise amount of money being earned abroad by British films because, as the British Film Producers Association will con firm, there's no industry like the film industry where the obtaining of essential financial backing and the final appor tioning of profits or loss are concerned. When I approached the above-named affable and efficient ...

... J. Roger Baker/ A sad moment in an otherwise exciting month has been the revival at Sadler's Wells of the 1960 production of Orpheus in the Underworld. Five years ago the trio responsible-- Alexander Faris (conductor), Wendy Toye (producer) and Malcolm Pride (designer)-- seemed to have come up with a stylish and witty updated ver sion of Offenbach's already frivolous examination of classical ...

... I Gerald Lascelles Living in close and constant toucli with the rapidly shifting jazz scene, I find it very useful to refer to various yardsticks of performance of past eras, not only as a measure of tech nical improvement among musicians, but equally of stylistic changes The doyen of jazz pianists 25 years ago was Pats Waller, whose Memorial Album (Encore) was recently released. This album ...

... 1 Elspeth Grant According to Richard Brooks-- whose screen version of Joseph Conrad's early novel, Lord Jim, was chosen for this year's Royal Film Performance-- any body bent on making a success ful film of a Conrad work must be prepared to adapt it very freely for the cinema. Mr. Brooks, as we know, is always prepared freely to adapt: when he made Tennessee Williams' Sweet Bird of Youth, for ...

... berald Lascelles In an age when beauty of expression often has to take second place to practical re quirements or eccentric de mands, I am happy to report that pianist Bill Evans takes high honours for the skilful way in which he retains and embroiders the themes chosen for his latest album, Trio '64 (Verve). People who may have been perplexed by some of his more complex approaches in other ...

... Robert Wraight Nicely timed to coincide with the exhibition Italian Art in the Royal Collection now at the Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace, comes a finely produced book on the same subject that may well become a collector's piece itself one day. Italian Drawings ana Paintings in the Queen's Collection (Macdonald, 8 gns) is edited by Oliver Millar, Deputy Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures. It ...

... Robert Wraight/ We are a funny people. We are so anxious to maintain our national modesty that the only thing we permit ourselves to boast about is that modesty. So at the present time, when even the most chauvinistic of us must be hard put to it to find occasions for self-congratulatory national back-slapping, it is refreshing to hear us telling ourselves that our sculptors are the best in ...

... Gerald Lascelles Gramophone records, particu larly in the old days, did not travel well, and it was not long before the major producing companies tied up with their opposite numbers abroad to reduce the physical problem of export to a minimum. To sup port this policy, the customs officers of many countries pounce eagerly on even the innocent individual who so much as shows the rounded shape of ...

... I John Baker White C.S. Closed Sundays W.B. Wise to book a table Chez Luigi Restaurant, 50 St. Martin's Lane (where Brusa's used to be), (TEM 1913.) Open Monday to Friday for luncheon (12-3) and dinner (6- 11.30). Dinner only on Satur day. C.S. The decor, with warm reds as the predominant colour, contrasting with the white tablecloths, creates a feeling of comfort, conducive to good eating. ...