[ Naomi Mitchison, Scottish author. ] Typed Letter Signed to 'Mrs. Magraw' [ children's author Beatrice Irene Magraw ], giving advice on how to approach the BBC with 'school broadcasts'.

Author: 
Naomi Mitchison [ Naomi Mary Margaret Mitchison, Baroness Mitchison; née Haldane ] (1897-1999), Scottish author [ Beatrice Irene Magraw [ B. I. Magraw, born Beatrice Irene May ] (c.1888-1970), author]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of River Court, Hammersmith Mall, London W.6. 24 October 1938.
£180.00
SKU: 19681

2pp., 4to. Forty-four lines of text. She thanks her 'for returning the plays, and thte nice things you say about them'. Mitchison's entry in the Oxford DNB has no reference to her working for the BBC, but from the context of the letter it is clear that she wrote scripts for radio broadcasts for children. Regarding the BBC she suggests that Magraw writes to 'Miss Edith MacQueen, and if I were you I think I should write out one or two synopses of broadcasts which you propose to do'. She continues with advice, commenting: 'I think myself that the tendency is rather to writet down for the broadcasts, but I suppose they have to make them intelligible to the stupidest children in any class.' She sees no harm in mentioning her name to MacQueen, with whom she 'always got on very well', but she 'didn't get on with Miss Begg, who would have been my immediate boss - she didn't seem to me to be any good as an historian and we always had different ideas. Of course, working with Eileen Power was a delight.' The advice continues, including 'One thing you will find is that the plays always take rather longer to broadcast than you think, and I usually had to cut mine, or rather to let them be cut.' The letter concludes: 'Yes I was with old Mrs. Johnson too. I don't think we got very much good out of our official teachers; things sound rather livelier now!'