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Calls have been coming in from all round the world on Barry Fox’s report
of the computer analysis which backs actor Norman Shelley’s claim that he
recorded some of Winston Churchill’s speeches (Technology, 18 May). The
whole business began when Shelley made passing reference to his impersonation
of Churchill on a TV chat show in the 1970s. Shelley then told the story
in full to Fox when he rang the actor for confirmation before writing an
article in a hi-fi magazine in June 1977.

The BBC’s sound archives later countered Shelley’s claim with reassurances
that after the war Churchill rerecorded Shelley’s speeches. The BBC had
documentation to prove that Churchill made private recordings at Chartwell
in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Now it turns out that the BBC has been
basing its reassurance on quite different recordings from those released
by Decca – now sold by EMI and soon to be issued on compact disc – which
may include speeches actually recorded by Shelley.

In 1985, the BBC issued a compact disc dealing generally with the war
years. This includes excerpts from some of Churchill’s speeches. Sensimetrics,
the research company which analysed the speeches sold to the public by Decca
and EMI, has now compared the Decca versions with the BBC’s versions. At
least two speeches (‘The Finest Hour’ of 18 June 1940 and ‘The First Year’
of 20 August 1940 ) are entirely different. The BBC’s versions are almost
certainly Churchill’s later rerecordings. So the BBC’s reassurances on the
pedigree of the Decca/EMI releases lose credibility.

Fox first raised the question of pedigree with Decca in 1984, and more
recently with EMI and distributor Thames Distributors. But in each case
all he got was a brush-off. Surely the time has now come for EMI to burrow
in Decca’s files and looks for dates and authentication.

* * *

If you love listening to Neil Kinnock, and if you want to keep your
computer files secret, Peter Wayner has what you need. Wayner is a student
of computer science at Cornell University in New York. He has written a
computer program that encodes text, turning it into a jumbled version of
one of Kinnock’s speeches.

Wayner’s labours were inspired by another politician, US Senator Joseph
Biden, who once was caught using portions of Kinnock’s speeches as his own.
Biden wants Congress to pass a law asking the telephone company to provide
the ‘plain text’ of electronic transmissions to the FBI on request (see
‘FBI demands right to snoop electronically’, This Week, 11 May). Computer
scientists hate the proposal because it seems to outlaw encryption, which
is the bedrock on which security of computer data is based. So if Biden
wants the plain text, says Wayner, he can have what looks like plain text.
And let the words be Kinnock’s since Biden likes them so much.

According to Wayner, the program turns the message ‘Here are the plans
to the Overthruster, Sergei’ into something like this: ‘Why were my ancestors
shut out of life? My people who could dream dreams and recite poetry and
dance and make wonderful things with their hands and dream dreams? . . .
Were they too weak? Those people who worked underground for eight hours
and came up to play football?’

* * *

Who needs CFC substitutes? All you need is one of the new portable stereos
that protect you from holes in the ozone layer. Aiwa has announced the ‘radical
concept’ personal stereo. Costing around £70, and looking like a
Sony Walkman, the Radical has a shock-proof casing designed for life on
the beach, in the desert or on a ski slope. With this in mind Aiwa has helpfully
included an ultraviolet light sensor into the case. As soon as it detects
dangerous levels of UV radiation, the sensor changes colour as a warning
to go home, cover up or find some shade. Just as long as you haven’t closed
your eyes and gone to sleep.

* * *

The European Community does not have an environment agency, despite
having approved one last year, because France won’t let the Community decide
on any locations for its agencies until it promises to keep the European
Parliament in Strasbourg. But the Parliament would like to abandon Strasbourg,
since almost everything else the Community does is in Brussels.

But for how long? Eurocrats at the Commission know through their staff
union that their main building, the many-winged Berlaymont, is chock-full
of asbestos. Now rumour has it that it would be cheaper to tear down the
Berlaymont, whose lease to the Community expires shortly, than to replace
the asbestos. Maybe it would be cheaper to move the whole lot elsewhere?

Perhaps the French, who have long viewed the Community as Napoleon by
other means, have reasons for holding fast to Strasbourg. The seat of Euro-government
would be a nice present to France from Jacques Delors, Commission president
and long-time French presidential hopeful, whose term in Brussels happens
to expire in time for the next French presidential election. But surely
no one in politics would be that cynical.

* * *

In the US even medical specialities are ranked by comparative glamour,
with neurology and haematology heading the list and proctology bringing
up the rear, so to speak. But visceral disdain notwithstanding, no one can
fault the urologists for lack of wit and charm. The American Society of
Genitourinary Surgeons has presented the prestigious Barringer Medal to
California urologist Donald G. Skinner ‘particularly because of his landmark
work in continent urinary diversion – developing the Kock pouch’. Is there
a doktor in the house?