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went on。 〃We celebrated Easter on board and when we arrived at
Alexandria some of us were sent on to Cairo and others went to India。 My
brother and I presented ourselves at the offices of the Press Department of
the British Embassy in the Garden City。 We were received by the well…
known Byzantine scholar Stephen Runciman who was in charge of all
foreign language broadcasts directed to Europe； that is； the Balkans；
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Yugoslavia； Romania； Bulgaria； Albania； Poland and several others。 One
of our colleagues was Lawrence Durrell who later became the famous
author of many successful books like the banned 'Black Book'； 'Bitter
Lemons'； 'The Alexandria Quartet'； 'Prospero's Cell' and others。 But at that
time； he used to entertain us daily with a fresh episode about his Aunt
Agatha with the wooden leg。〃
Eliascos continued： 〃My brother Patroclos and I were told that we
would be attached to the section producing the broadcasts in Greek
directed towards occupied Greece； acting as translators； editors and
newsreaders。 The Head of this section was George Haniotis the sports
editor of the Athens newspaper 'Elefthero Vima' who used to sign his
sporting articles 'GEO'。 Under him was the well…known literary figure of
Dimitri Fotiadis； who died in October 1988。
〃When the broadcasts began early in May 1941 I was the principal
newsreader。 Later when Haniotis was posted to the Greek Embassy in
Washington D。C。 as Press Attache； my brother was appointed Section
Head。 At that time the Prime Minister of the Greek government in exile
was Emmanouil Tsouderos； a former Director of the Bank of Greece。 The
foreign language broadcasts from Radio Cairo were under the over…all
control of the Political Warfare Executive （P。W。E。） of the British Ministry
of Information。 Later； in conjunction with the Americans； the title of the
unit was changed to Psychological Warfare Branch （P。W。B。）
〃Every evening we had two broadcasts； at 7。30 and 10。30 pm； which
went out on the medium wave transmitter of Radio Cairo at Abu Zabal；
run by the E。S。B。 （Egyptian State Broadcasting）。 The transmissions in
eleven foreign languages were also relayed by three short wave
transmitters； two belonging to the telegraph company Cable & Wireless
（callsigns SUV & SUW）； and an experimental transmitter of 7。5 kilowatts
belonging to a British army signals unit； with the odd callsign JCJC；
operated by young corporal Rowley Shears G8KW； a radio amateur friend
of Norman Joly。
〃The Greek broadcasts began in May 1941 and went on to the end of
January 1945。
〃During this period many important personalities broadcast from
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The dawn of amateur radio in the U。K。 and Greece ： a personal view
Studio 3； which was also used by well…known war correspondents of the
B。B。C。； the N。B。C。 and many other news organisations。 The people of
occupied Greece were addressed by Mr Tsouderos； Crown Prince Paul of
Greece； Sofoclis Venizelos； son of the famous Cretan politician Eleftherios
Venizelos who had played a leading role in the political fortunes of
modern Greece； and Panayiotis Kanellopoulos Minister for War。 After the
naval mutiny in the port of Alexandria Admiral Voulgaris spoke to the
officers and naval ratings of the Greek Royal Navy。〃
Eliascos described in detail the negotiations of the Lebanon
Conference which resulted in the appointment of George Papandreou
（father of Andreas Papandreou who was recently Prime Minister）； as the
new Prime Minister of the Coalition government in exile。 He can be seen
at the famous R。C。A velocity microphone type 44BX which was used
throughout World War II and many years after。 This ribbon type
microphone had a very large and heavy permanent magnet embodied in
the design and must have weighed about 1；000 times more than a modern
electret lapel microphone。
〃I must explain that these war…time broadcasts were carried out in the
presence of a Switch Censor who sat on the other side of the news reader's
desk and was able to turn off the microphone in a split second if it ever
became necessary。 During the three and a half years of the broadcasts this
was done only on one special occasion and certainly not because the
newsreader had gone berserk or something like that。 The Chief Censor
was Professor Eric Sloman who had been the first Director of the Police
Academy in Kerkyra （Corfu）。 Then there were censors for the eleven
languages used in these broadcasts。 The censor for the Polish broadcasts
was the Countess Walevska； grand…daughter of Napoleon's lady friend。
The Countess was a rather large lumbering woman who always came into
the studio carrying lots of parcels。 One evening she came in and sat in an
armchair on the other side of the studio to wait her turn for the Polish
broadcast which followed the Greek。 As I was reading the news bulletin I
suddenly became conscious of a regular ticking noise in the headphones I
was wearing。 I made a sign to Mr Joly who was acting as switch censor at
the time； and he got up and walked over to the Countess。 He whispered in
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her ear and asked her what was in her hand bag。 The Countess blushed and
replied that she had just collected her alarm clock from the watchmaker。 I
don't know if any sharp…eared listener had heard the ticking and thought
that we had a time bomb in the studio。
〃Having mentioned my good friend Mr Norman Joly I must record
that he was the technical supervisor for the foreign language broadcasts；
handling such things as wavelengths for the short wave relays； training the
newsreaders （of whom there must have been over 30） and acting as studio
manager and switch censor for some of the languages which he knew。
〃A regular broadcaster in our studio was Francis Noel…Baker who
later became a Labour member of Parliament in the British House of
Commons； like his father。 The Noel…Baker family are well…known in
Greece because for several generations they have owned a large property
on the island of Euboea （Evia in Greek）。 Francis speaks fluent Greek； and
his mother was related to Lord Byron。 In recent years he has switched his
allegiance to the Conservative Party led by his personal friend Margaret
Thatcher。
〃Major Patrick Leigh…Fermor the writer who had kidnapped Major…
General Heinrich Kreipe in Crete and spirited him away to Allied
headquarters in Cairo； came to our studio and described how this
audacious operation had been carried out by him and Captain William
Stanley Moss； ex…Coldstream Guards； with the considerable assistance of
the Cretan resistance movement partisans。
〃Purely