The Henson Journals
Tue 18 June 1929
Volume 48, Pages 155 to 156
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Tuesday, June 18th, 1929.
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A very hot night prefaced a very hot day. I spent most of the day in the Assembly where Finance engaged our attention. Nothing could have been more wearisome. The ̭(̭mountebank̭)̭ Bishop of S. Alban's spoke many times, & always badly. His attack on the dioceses which fail to pay their full quotas to the central fund was excellently answered by the Bishop of Birmingham. It is a remarkable indication of the involuntary homage paid to intellectual distinction that, in spite of the resentments which he certainly provokes, he commands the respectful, if reluctant attention of the Assembly. I lunched in the Jerusalem Chamber, and, before the Assembly rose, made a short speech against the tendency to create an official press. I moved the reduction of the vote on Press & Publications.
I went to the Athenæum, where I found Lord Sumner, and had some talk with him about the political situation. I dined with Baddeley at 5 Barton Street, & went in to Sir John Reith to hear the broad–casting of the Tattoo.
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Sir John Reith is a tall, spare man, with a high forehead, dark hair receding at the temples, a prominent forehead & dark eyes. He is evidently an enthusiastic champion of broadcasting to which he ascribes beneficent potencies far greater than in my belief it really possesses. He objected energetically to my opinion that, on the whole, Religion stood to lose rather than gain by Broadcasting, and seemed surprised that I should hold it. Evidently he is accustomed to large compliments from the clergy. His mother, a little rather frail–looking Scotch woman, obviously a son–worshipper, reminded me that I had taken her in to the Moderator's breakfast in 1914. The portrait of her husband, the U. F. Moderator, hung over the mantelpiece. Sir John asked me to write an article for his paper (which, he said, had a circulation of 1½ millions) expounding my view of the risks & drawbacks of broadcasting, but I declined, having as many irons in the fire just now as it is safe and prudent to have. Baddeley walked with me to the corner of Victoria Street, and then we parted.