Public Performers

Few British Members of Parliament perform in public as entertainingly as nimble-witted James Henry Thomas, Lord Privy Seal, Minister in charge of Britain's knottiest problem, Unemployment. Parliament's best contract bridge player, the Rt. Hon. Lord Privy Seal is also a notable after-dinner speaker, with a fund of Rabelaisian anecdote that is the envy of many. Last week, just returned from Canada, he spoke long and wittily at the 40th anniversary banquet of the British Printers' Union, and to him listened a colleague -- Rt. Hon. Frederick Owen Roberts, Minister of Pensions. When it came time for Minister Roberts to match the earthy eloquence of the Lord Privy Seal, he arose, a somewhat pitiful sight, embarrassed, blushing, twitching at his jacket and ruffling his hair. Finally, he collapsed beneath the table, then suddenly uprose again and in his hand was a fiddle. Upon this fiddle he bent his bow and fiddled out such tunes as "Loch Lomon" and "My Old Kentucky Home." So finally the grinning printers' wives became a little teary and the printers were "Hear ! Hearing" as they never hear-heared before.

Next day the mighty U. S. press was busy reminding the public that other famed statesmen-fiddlers are Nicholas Longworth and Charles Gates Dawes; some others even going so far as to mention Benito Mussolini.