LONDON LETTER
325
to a small minority. Also, as the BBC is a chartered corporation and,
during the war, has been heavily subsidised by the government, it is sub–
ject to a great deal of ignorant and hostile criticism in Parliament, of
which its directors are terrified.
If
the highbrow stuff is isolated in a
separate wavelength where the average listener who keeps his radio
tuned in to the Home Service for twenty-three hours a day need not
be bored by it, much of the criticism will drop ·off and the more intel–
ligent people inside the BBC
~y
get a free hand. As I we1l know, there
are in the BBC, mostly in its lower ranks, many gifted people who realise
that the possibilities of radio have not yet been explored and cannot
be explored unless one is content with a minority audience. However,
although it is claimed that the "C" programmes (ie. those on the sepa–
rate wavelength) will
be
highly experimental and almost completely un–
censored, the people ultimately in charge of them are still high-up per–
manent officials of the BBC, so it may be that no real change is con–
templated.
I can't think of any more news. It is a beautiful spring, with every–
thing in bloom very early. The railings round the parks have not been
:restored, but the statues are returning to their pedestals. London looks
as shabby and dirty as ever, but even after an interval of a year the
cessation of the blackout is still an acute pleasure.
GEORGE ORWELL
