Gallery Gods

Britain's First Commissioner of Works approximates Sam Goldwyn's idea of the U. S. citizen's idea of a Member of Parliament. His name is Herwald Ramsbotham (pronounced Ramsbottom). He studied at Oxford, fought gallantly in the War. His frosty monocle magnifies a warm twinkle. He wears striped shirts, and talks as if he had some hot Yorkshire pudding in his mouth. His strength lies in his solid conservatism, his besetting weakness is for classical quotations.

Recently members of Parliament's Press Gallery, unable to believe their ears at foreign policy debates, suggested that perhaps there was something wrong with House of Commons acoustics. In Commissioner Ramsbotham's favorite language, Latin, they invited him to break Parliamentary rules,* come up and listen. His department could authorize repairs, if needed. Commissioner Ramsbotham accepted, listened for an hour. Said he (in letter-perfect Latin):

"Just as mortals suffer differently from the immortal gods, so you have a different view from me of Parliamentary debates. You hear too little, and I hear too much. ... If by microphone amplification we were able to make M. P.s' words more audible, it might be that you would overhear things which would destroy your ingenuousness. . . ."

* The gallery is ordinarily banned to members. Last Minister to listen from the gallery was Lord Russell, in 1850, investigating inaudibility complaints. Debates that year included woman suffrage.

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