Radio: Sedative for Juveniles

Expecting the skies to fall at any moment with a Nazi invasion, the British Government last fortnight began to tell English moppets how the war was shaping up. Aired over all BBC stations were brief news bulletins addressed to children from 10 to 15. Interspersed with mild little jokes and jingles (Making jam, preserving fruits, takes your mind off parachutes), the BBC bulletins were full of hearty father’s-knee reassurance. Discussing the death of Italo Balbo, a BBC announcer chattily inquired of his juvenile audience: “What happened to him? Was it an accident? Well, Mussolini and Balbo didn’t agree about Italy’s friendship with Germany; that’s why Balbo was sent away to Libya. So if it was an accident, was it perhaps the sort of accident that happened to the German Field Marshal von Fritsch who disagreed with Hitler? You can’t tell with dictators.”

Equally informal was BBC’s flash to the children on the fate of the French Fleet. Said the announcer: “It’s not a thing about which one likes to say very much. The French Fleet had to be taken under our control to prevent it falling into German hands or else we had to trust Hitler’s word that it wouldn’t be used against us—and who could do that nowadays?”

Reactions to the BBC broadcasts to date indicate that English small fry are not much interested in military strategy, are not morbidly appalled by fearful human slaughter. They like to hear reports of exciting sea battles, are intense in their concern for young refugees. Most overwhelming response to any broadcast was the profound shock that greeted the news that all German dogs were to be immediately destroyed.