Reading Evening Post from Reading, Berkshire, England • 5

Exit Bob, the fireside friend "It's so easy at the television centre building to think that the whole world revolves around it. But out on the reed bts of Suffolk watching a marsh harrier gliding low in search of his prey, there's a timelessness about the scene that makes present troubles seem remote and less important." He was born in Croydon, his father, who was a City financier came from Glasgow and all his life Robert Dougall says he has got on specially well with Scots and feels strangely at home when he crosses the border. 1111.: NEWS is that. Robert Dougall is retiring and when he reads that last bulletin on BBC TV on the last day of December, he admits it ill be an emotional moment for BY FRANCES HORSBURGH autobiography where their quirks and foibles are lovingly chronicled. Currently in command is Quince, the independent-minded Cairn, and two cats called Mildred and Joseph.

Grief still lingers around the fire-side for Iloilo the much-loved Pointer who was killed recently in a road accident. When Robert Dougall steps out of the box to meet the people Nan usually goes with him. "It helps him if there is someone to share the spotlight," she explains, "and I've always been very interested in radio and television." In fact, they met when he auditioned her for a job with the BBC's European service. At 17 he joined his father in the City working for a famous firm of chartered accountants as an audit clerk. One of the firm's audits was at the BBC and the young man accepted a new job there in the accounts department at 30 shillings a week.

Already he had hopes of transferring into more exciting broadcasting activities. Meeting the dependable Mr Dougall is a hit like shaking hands with the Albert Hall or striking up a nodding acquaintanceship with Big Ben. A long ca radio followed by 16 years reading the news on television have conferred on him almost the same institutional status. He's not a star or a celebrity, though at firesides all over Britain he's much more like a family friend reassuring and reliable. As Robert Dougall recounts in his book a small daughter of an old friend when introduced to him as Mr Dougall, the man you see at home in the box riposted with penetrating question Daddy how does he get out of the box? 1::30 Actually he didn't get out very much while thd book was under way.

Mr Dougall chuckles the way you've never seen him do on the news. After much badgering of the Facing the public at the side of one of the best known faces in Britain can have its problems. "Holidays do get spoilt" admits Nan, "there is just no escape from people coming up to speak; it even happens if we go abroad and of course its not very restful." But don't get me or the Dougalls wrong. They are more than happy to grin and bear the situation. The newsreader himself is acutely aware of the unique rapport he has with the public and refers to himself simply as their servant.

For 40 years he has answered all their letters to him by hand. "People," he says quietly, "are usually so damn ice." And when the lonely pour their misery out to him he writes back advising them to try and take an interest in something or someone other than themselves. establishments officer, one day a memo dropped into his "in" tray in the accounts department. "Will you please attend at studio 4A at 3.15 this afternoon for an announcer's microphone test." "All social life simply stopped. I wrote every word myself with a pen.

No help at all except from my wife, Nan. My kind of writingis very much talk stuff. Being a broadcaster it all had to sound natural. The books is for all the people in whose homes I've been appearing for so long." Television he is sure could do much more. Be stimulating not soporific.

"I'd like to see it more suited to peoples' real lives less to offering them a diet of fantasy and entertainment." Out of the box the Dougalls have another home in Suffolk where Robert can indulge himself in his favourite hobby of bird-watching. For the last three years he has served as president of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. In his book he explains the satisfaction of his hobby, this way. The big man clad in striped shirt and smart brown slacks who greeted me at the door of his pretty Hampstead. London.

cottage looked fit and fresh and nut the least bit "institutional. There's just a hint of olde woride formality in his style, however a touch of reticence more habitual to a senior diplomat or lawyer than a television man The rest. as they say in the movies is history and you'll find it all in the book a fly on the wall view of forty years of British broadcasting as the author terms it in his unassuming way. Out of the box away from they television lights and the late news flashes, home is terribly important to him and you can see why. Nan Dougall has been keeping it running smoothly around his irregular work schedule for 26 years.

And the future now that he's right outside the box? "Prison governors and BBC men get pensioned off at 60" he smiles just a mite ruefully. "But I'm feeling fit as a flea. Just letting everyone know I'm available and waiting to see what turns up. I'd like to write more and travel more. Reading the news was a bit of a strait-jacket.

If nothing comes along well we won't He became the youngest staff the BBC has ever had in 1934 and now to mark his departure at the age of 60 he's written his autobiography In And Out Of The Box (Collins. £2 55). Son Alastair still lives with them although during he is at Oxford and there are the animals. They pop up all through the This contact with wild-life and the countryside has been tremendously important to me over the years. It has helped me not only to keep reasonably fit but alsb to keep things in perspective.

LIBERTY BODISS by geoffrey dickinson Dangers of venereal disease I FEEL a word of advice should be given to those young folk who consider that catching VD is like catching a cold and just as easily cured. During my eight years abroad in the Army it was the procedure that if a soldier went into hospital with VD his pay would be stopped for his period in hospital, his name would be published in Regimental Orfiers stating that he had been admitted with VD. and any guard duties missed would have to he made up on return to duty. Due to this some soldiers would instead of reporting sick, try to get cured through private treatment. GonorcAcea is very contagious and the seriousness of this disorder is that too frequently proper medical advice is not obtained.

Syphilis in its advanced stages has to be seen to be believed. Even insanity may occur. In women miscarriage and abortion are common. A particularly sad form is seen in infants when one or other parent has the disease. In its primary stages it can be eradicated by proper treatment.

which may last as long as two years. I was an orderly in the veneral disease ward of a military hospital for 12 months, and am aware of the ragedies VD brings. I would urge parents to give teenage children sound. healthy teaching in matters pertaining to sex and to stress the danger of promiscuous intercourse. C.

FORD Churches Newtown IT MAY help Mr W. Dibly to be reminded of some facts about his parish churches and school. The 180 children of the school need a new building. It is dark, cramped and old. Families living in our parish should have a school building at least as good as those in other areas.

For many years we have been asking the Reading Education Committee to provide us with a site for a replacement school. When we renewed our request in 1969 we were told that since an area with a high proportion of "unfit" houses was soon to be cleared around Orts Road a site might be provided for us. We cannot interpret the mind of the Planning Committee, but it was our understanding that the decision to clear the area was made a number of years before they told us (in November 1972) which site they may in time convey to us. Of course the school will use a lot more lqnd than it does at the moment. On the other hand our church council's decision to replace St John's Church, St Stephen's Church and the two halls of the parish with a Parish Centre will result in our using only two fifths of the land we were using for such purposes.

(Rev JOHN McKECHNIE, JOHN MICKLETIME R. N. FISHER JACK POLLARD (Vicar and Churchwardens of St John's and St Stephen's) London Road, Reading. 0P 4 School caretakers REGARDING YOUR report (November 1) on the shortage of school caretakers, I must write in support of these 'slaves to school A house may be the answer. I read.

I am sure it is not the main one. Caretakers pay rent. even if only a tenth of their great wage of 123.40 for a 40-hour week, with no overtime this for two schools. The job is a sure, quick way to the churchyard in many schools. I have first-hand experience of the wife of a caretaker who has almost killed himself through the amount of work required.

ANOTHER ONE Name and address received The Drive, Earley. mom THE MOST cursory examination of the facts will show that the suggestion of Mr D. Rose (Post, November 5) that the increase in venereal disease in Reading during 1972 can be attributed to the council's free family planning service is complete nonsense. The free family planning service was not introduced until April 1, 1973! The fact that more people have been using the service since charges were abolished demonstrates that in the past there were those in the town who were deterred from getting family planning uniplies because of the cost. (Coun C.

J. GOODALL Town Hall, Reading. 'Peasants' IN SUPPORT of 'Peasant's letter (November 11, he could have added that when Mr Healey has bled us white, he would have us all eating out of a communal trough, with a number on our backs, and when we die we shall have OHMS' stamped on our coffins subject, of course, to Willie Hamilton's appro val. K. FISHER Springwell Cottages, Heckfield.

Remember CAN ANY of your readers help me? Atter the First World War but before the Second there was, I believe, a tank and field gun mounted as memorials somewhere along the 1 hamesside Promenade and a field gun in the Forbury Gardens. I wonder if any readers would be kind enougi: to furnish me with any details, or even photographs, of these military. curiosities. My hobby is collecting and making military models and I would like to know what those relics were. P.

R. PHILLIPS South View Cottage. Beech Lane, Woodcote. Road plans at Earley AS A resident in Church Road, Earley, I wish to protest against the proposed plan to make Church Road a dual carriageway and to put in an intersection of the A 329 relief road. Surely this area has already suffered enough with the construction of the A 329 relief road itself? The savage destruction of many houses and the callous method of allowing a few to survive, perched on the edge of concrete cliffs, in Anderson Avenueiklays Lane area is a lasting memorial to this victimisation.

This sight has drawn gasps of horror from all my visitors. They cannot believe that a local authority could do such a thing. Now Church Road is to be further victimised. Why cannot there be a new road further out towards Woodley. with no house building permitted? Even motorways, when properly landscaped, do not cause too much damage to a rural landscape.

It is when people and their environment are sacrificed that the trouble starts. A road behind the woods of Bulmershe College, with house-building strictly forbidden would solve the problem allow residents of Church Road a little peace. (Mrs M. ELIZABETH ARPE Church Road, Earley. EVENING POST Thursday.

November 8 1913 EYES AND EARS Penny per pup "PUPPIES, definitely not pedigree. Expected to be spaniel size. Very intelligent mother. Maximum charge. one penny per puppy," read The Times advert.

I rang the Henley number it gave, suspecting a story. Mrs Elisabeth Patten, who answered, was a trifle embarrassed about it all. The tale that emerged was touching About a year ago last August, It seems. Mrs Patten went into her garden at Church Lane, liemenham. to find a puppy on the garden swing.

"We're sure she was dumped." says Mrs Patten, "and we called her Swinger." Unfortunately, Swinger lived up to her name In another way. When she came on heat earlier this year, she consorted with "Butch," a dog whom Mrs Patten describes as "a little brown mongrel that's been running around." Mrs Patten, pregnant at the time, "forgot to put Swinger on the Pill." Swinger duly delivered a litter of seven pups six weeks of them very mongrel. "You can't get anyone to pay for a mongrel," says Mrs Patten. "but we thought it would be better advertising at 1p each. We've sold five already.

and given the money to the children." Butch, the culprit, is still around. Was Mrs Patten going into the cheap dog breeding "Oh, no," she says. think we'll bare Swinger spayed." Hurry while stocks last am unrepeatable offer. "Hello. David," it started brightly.

"My name is Sara. I am single. I keep myself fairly fit and am very attractive. I am 22. 5 feet 6, with fair hair.

I am a company director and could be considered an enthusiastic, lively person." Underneath was a checklist showing where her enthusiasm was located: Folk music, camping, sport, motoring, jazz, tennis and good food all loomed large in Sara's life. Pop. social sciences. bridge, TV, acting and gambling left her bored. So, surprisingly for a 'company director," did business and commerce.

For my own part, folk music. sport, motoring and tennis make me curl up at the edges. Pop music, acting and the social sciences tickle my palate. But alas if Dateline, of Abingdon Road. London.

WB, had found my perfect partner, they weren't telling me where to find her. That costs £ll, with another five little lovelies thrown in who might be "even better for you." If Sara can recognise her "personality profile" from the 60,000 that Dateline has in stock, and if she reads this column. would she please give me a call. Romance, by computer I RECENTLY decided, as a foot-loose bachelor, to take advantage of a free "perfect partner" offer from a computer dating company. your perfect partner.

Underneath was the usual probing questionnaire and 16 hideous photos your three Fighting back an impulse to choose male photos (on the whole, better looking than the female). I sent it off. This week I received the computer's reply. "Wanted. 1.000 unmarried readers!" trumpeted the advert.

'Free computer test to find Just good friends! A LITTLE case of mistaken identity resulted In an embarrassing moment for your columnist last week. I went up to cover the 100th birthday of the amazing Mrs Louisa Chapman, at the Edward Hughes Home, Granville Road. Reading. and found her faculties undimmed by age. "Are you married?" she inquired with a twinkle.

"No," I replied. "I've got a chance, then," she chuckled. Fair enough. But a little later I found myself standing next to Malcolm Harrison, my colleague on the Reading Chronicle, who sports a fine head of long. blond hair.

Mrs Chapman beamed delightedly at us. peered through her specs and observed: "What a lovely couple I can always tell the ones that are courting." am prepared to accept her explanation that her eyes are sot what they were. I fully allow that it wasn't a ease of sarcasm on the part of a scorned woman. Let me repeat the tired cliche. however.

Malcolm and I are just friends. No more than that. david snelling 44.4,, 1 44 '44 IV' a 1:,.. IW 1 SEX! SEX EVER HE GONE WAKE UP! WHOt SEX! -THAT' THINK OF, TO SLEEP! THE OTHER HER BEASTS! WOMAN il 4141. Ltir dt centra iv 41 1artw ells OM Limited 319 Wokingham Road, Earley, Telephone Reading one Department ir to eels BP BP heat ft.

4 rill 4 ikr i. lek 'Tr. i od i 4 74 i 4 a 4,.:, kr" lit ft 1 I 1 1 7 0 ON FRIDAY, SATURDAY MONDAY 4 r. ONLY NOVEMBER 9th, 10th and 12th anything you like from any department in the store and take the receipt to our cash desk on the first floor and you'll get CASH REFUND on each and every purchase i Edmonds THE BUTTS CENTRE, READING YOUR DEPARTMENT STORE FOR SIX DAY SHOPPING TEL. 582337 AA THE AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION READING is pleased to announce that communications systems are fully restored.

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