News

What you lose on the swings The electorate has grown six-fold since 1900 and the pattern of party conflict has been transformed. The diagram on this page shows how after the First World War the number of people entitled to vote has more than doubled, with women franchise and the automatic registration of electors. It grew further with the increase in popu- lation and received its final boost in 1970 with the voting age being lowered to 18.

The party scene has been changed since the beginning of the century. In 1900 there were 85

Irish Nationalist MPs standing outside the West- minster battle and there were only two Labour MPs. But after 1918 the Irish Nationalists virtually disappeared and Labour took over from the Lib- erals as the main altern- ative to the Conservatives. The Liberals suffered from the split between Asquith and Lloyd George, and in the course of 18 years their representation went from 375 seats in 1906 to 42 seats in 1924. Their downfall showed the danger of assuming that the British party system was fixed for all time.

Notice that in every election but one between 1900 and 1950 over 100 of the 600-plus seats changed hands. Landslides were the normal thing, not the

exception. Since 1950 there has never been an election in which more than 90 seats have chang- ed hands - and the average has never been under 50.

It is also notable that in each parliament from 1950 to 1970 the Conservative and Labour parties be- tween them supplied, on average, all but ten mem- bers. Last February, the numbers of Liberals and others changed to 37: most people expect that figure to grow this time, and in five of the last eight elections, 37 Liberals and others would have been enough to deny either of the big parties a clear majority.

DAVID BUTLiER

j^fawjimes BBCtv and Radio

5-11 October 1974 35 Marylebone High St, London W1M 4AA: Telephone 01-580 5577 Published by BBC Publications. Volume 205 Number 2656 C) BBC

This Week ONE OF THE casual ties of J\adlOjimeS the snap election is this

guide ever published in RADIO TIMES. And our pro- gramme pages, beginning on page 24, are fully accurate and up-to-date. Features about the General Election, and elections in general, start on page 13.

IN Preview, writers of substantial knowledge and ex-

perience of broadcasting take note of TV and Radio

programmes for the week ahead. One such writer, Jonathan Raban (below), this week begins a regular column, Review, to be found on page 82. Review will

explore the issues and ideas of TV and Radio after pro- grammes have been broadcast. This week Raban touches on a theme he intends to return to : the use of the television camera to convey a point of view.

PETE TOWNSHEND Of The

Who (article, page 74), in J\a(lw]imeS his private life, in no way l~.- w»nipin» m «g* f

v.1 +h fi A and ????

had seen 38 fatal accidents in his life. So I asked him how he could possibly be so specific. He said that he'd been on the road for so long doing concerts that he'd actually begun to count accidents.'

On this and the following five pages RADIO TIMES gives you a full guide to the country's 635 constituencies. It shows: (1) the name of the seat, (2) a panel shaded to indicate the

party currently holding the seat (from left to right the boxes represent Labour, Conserva-

tive, Liberal and other), (3) the name of the party if other, (4) the name of the former MP

(not necessarily a candidate this time), and (5) his or her majority in last February's election. On Thursday night you should cross the box of the winning party, for example:

This will give an at-a-glance picture of the state of the parties at the various stages through the

night and following day. The first result is expected around 11.15 pm, the last on Saturday morning

))))

0 �

An election in the making

For the average voter, a General Election means walk-

ing to the polling station, putting an ' X ' on a ballot

paper and watching the results come in on television. For the candidates and agents, it means three frenzied weeks of campaigning and a night of mounting tension as the shape of a new Parliament becomes clear. But the General Election extravaganza is made possible by a legion of officials working anonymously behind the scenes. Here we break down their election programme

Dissolution The election machinery moves into gear after the Prime Minister asks

the Queen to dissolve Parlia- ment - a request she can re-

fuse, but in practice never does. He must give at least three weeks' notice of an election, which is now traditionally held on a Thursday.

The Returning Officer As the candidates, agents and PR men launch the hectic round

of public meetings and house- to-house calls in the constituen-

cies, the local Returning Officer and his staff - in charge of the administrative side of the elec- tion - begin the build-up for the big day. The Returning Officer in a borough constitu-

ency is the mayor or chairman of the district council; in a

county seat, the sheriff. In

reality, he is merely the titular head of the election staff. The actual work is carried out by his Acting Returning Officer, helped by the officials respon- sible for preparing the elector- al register.

V he Writ His official signal of a General Election is a writ from the Court in

Chancery in London. The Re-

turning Officer receives the writ - usually from the local

postmaster-and a proclama- tion announcing the election is then pinned to the official notice-board.

Nominations The proclamation in- vites nominations and the names - backed

by a proposer, seconder and

eight assentors - must be sub- mitted to the Returning Officer within eight days.

The Cost To guard against frivo- lous candidates every- one seeking election

must deposit £150 with the

Returning Officer. Those who fail to attract one-eighth of the vote lose their deposit.

Lost deposits go to the Trea-

sury, which bears the cost of a General Election. Last Febru-

ary's bill has yet to be deter-

mined, but administrative costs in 1970 were about 12,700,000.

Disqualifications Not everyone can be- come a candidate.

People ineligible to vote are excluded as are un-

discharged bankrupts, clergy of certain churches and those

holding office under the Crown.

Campaign Expenses The money candidates can spend on their elec- tion campaigns is strict-

ly controlled - and declarations of expenses must be submitted to the Returning Officer within 35 days of polling day. Each candidate is permitted a basic £1,075 for campaign costs, with an additional allowance for the number of voters in his con-

stituency. In boroughs this is 6p for every eight names on the electoral register, in counties

8p for every eight. The candi- date is not allowed to offer

gifts of any kind to voters- even a drink - as this falls under the offence of ' treating

The Agent The legal responsibility for campaign cash is borne by the candi-

date's agent. His job is a statu- tory position (he must be named as publisher on all material issued on the N � 23

21-�-« candidates behalf) and ends when results are de- clared. The agent is responsible for organising the campaign.

The Voters British citizens and citizens of Common- wealth countries who

are resident in Britain are allowed to vote once they are 18. There are exceptions - peers, people in jail, certified mental patients and anyone v.lio, in the previous five years, has been convicted of illegal practices at elections. To put an ' 'X' on the ballot-paper, a voter must be named on the electoral register for his con-

stituency. The register, which is published during February, contains names of people living or ' normally resident' in the

constituency on 10 October.

Postal Votes Application for postal votes - from the sick, people working away

from home or those who have moved but remain on the elec- toral register - must be sub- mitted to the Returning Officer within 12 days of the election. Hij office draws up a list of

postal voters, which is supplied to the candidates.

The Presiding Officer The Returning Officer

appoints a Presiding Officer and clerks for

each polling station in his con-

stituency. They ensure voting is carried out according to the rules.

Polling Before the doors of the

polling station open at 7.0 am the sealed ballot

box is opened and a witness asked to declare it empty. Ballot-papers are officially per- forated by the Presiding Officer to prevent anyone slipping in

duplicates. As voters file in, their electoral register num- bers are ticked off the Presid-

ing Officer's list, and written on the counterfoil of the ballot-

paper issued. The doors are closed at 10.0 pm as a check

against fraud. But this has not occurred since 1923.

The Count In borough constituen- cies the count is carried out the same night, but

the counties usually wait until the following day. If the count is postponed overnight, ballot

boxes are taken under police direction to a place of safe

keeping. Each candidate is allowed to nominate a certain, number of agents to supervise the count. Everyone present' must sign a declaration of secrecy; press and public are present at the discretion of the Returning Officer. Ballot-papers are mixed together to ensure no one polling station's returns are discernible from another's, and the ballots then sorted ac-

cording to candidate. They are counted into bundles of 100; agents verify each bundle.

Recounts If the result is close, a candidate can request one or more recounts.

And with a particularly slender

majority - like the Conserva- tive margin of three in Peter-

borough in 1966 - the ballots

may be counted many times. The Returning Officer uses his discretion in allowing recounts to continue.

The Declaration When the count is final-

ised, the result is pub- licly declared by the

Returning Officer, who an- nounces the candidates in al-

phabetical order, with their share of the votes.

Appeals A candidate dissatisfied with the result can

challenge it in the High Court. It's a step rarely taken because of the time and ex-

pense involved. In deciding a challenge, the

court examine all relevant elec- tion documents - which must be kept for one year by the Returning Officer - and report their findings to the Speaker,

Severance Pay Former MPs who do not win re-election can apply for severance pay

of £1,125. This represents a quarter of the basic annual

salary for an MP, currently E4,500 a year. Members who have reached the age of 65 and served at least four years - but who do not seek re-election- are entitled to a pension from the House of Commons.

The New Parliament After the election, Par- liament re-assembles at the call of the Premier.

Members are sworn in at the first meeting..

.This Week's Films

by Philip

Jenkinson

SATURDAY

Don't Go Near The Water 1957 (3.0 pm BBC2 Colour) Two of the inhabitants of that Metro fantasy-land Forbidden Planet - namely Anne Francis and Earl Holliman - also populate this little faraway isle, Tulura, on which the non-dancing Russ Tam- blyn and the walnut-faced Fred Clark add sub-tropical lustre. Co-scenarist Dorothy Kingsley was once Bob Hope's gag-writer but she came rather abruptly to her over-delayed senses by the ex- treme measure of adapting Valley of the Dolls for the screen.

SATURDAY

Submarine X-l 1967 (6.35 BBC1 Colour) Director William Graham came from television (for which, one suspects, this underwater yarn was intended). The claustrophobia of the mini-subs is well depicted and the action sequences are neatly staged. But methinks the scriptwriter should have let a bit of ballast out of his tanks.

SATURDAY

Stopover Tokyo 1957 (11.20 pm BBC2 Colour) Producer Walter Reisch and dir- ector Richard L. Breen made their names writing such ever- greens as Ninotchka, The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing and Pete Kelly's Blues. This espionage thriller based on the Marquand best-seller was shot almost en- tirely in Japan and was 27-year- old Robert Wagner's 17th film. Busy lad.

SUNDAY

Torrid Zone 1940 (2.10 pm BBC1) The Macaulay/Wald script, plus Mark (Roaring Twenties) Hellin- ger's hand at the helm, makes for a wisecracking yarn with good production values. The neat direc- tion by William Keighley is typi- cal of this Warner period, mar- red only by the obstinacy of the front office bosses to see a blos- soming (and fruitful) partnership in the Sheridan/Cagney tie-up. They spark like Bogart and Bacall and it's a mystery why they only made one other movie together.

SUNDAY

Isadora 1968 (8.15 pm BBC1 Colour) Ken Russell was going to make this at one stage, but withdrew and did one for television instead. The good things about Karel Reisz's direction are the nice

period feel, some superb moments of bravura camerawork and a pervading sense of fate. The Max Factor-caked flashbacks are mis- judged both physically and verb- ally and the dancing is ... well, a bit odd, even for Isadora. But the scarf climax is superbly done.

MONDAY

Decline and Fall 1968 (9.35 pm BBC2 Colour) Director John Krish was not very happy at some post-production changes made against his will, but generally speaking the biting satire of the Waugh original beacons through. In particular, the art direction is quite excep- tional and the screenplay by Ivan Foxwell retains most of the essen- tially vintage flavour despite a rather arbitrary updating.

MONDAY

Invitation 1952 (2.35 pm BBC1) Son of Max, Gottfried Reinhardt pulled out all the stops for this weepie about an invalid and her ' one year ' of happiness. It's light years ahead of the current Sun- shine, which probes similar themes; it also rejoices in some solid playing from Ruth Roman, Van Johnson and the often under- valued Dorothy McGuire, a Selz- nick discovery who never found her true metier when her con- tract with him ended. Louis Cal- hern (real name Carl Vogt!) is terrific, as usual.

WEDNESDAY

Carry On Cleo 1965 (6.40 pm BBC1 Colour) The Carry On people did such a marvellous lampoon of the Bur- ton-Taylor epic, some Wardour Street executives were not amused, especially when the poster for Cleo went out of its way to look like the$30,000,000 model. But it was all in good fun really, though some mordant pun- dits at Fox reckoned that the sendup grossed more than the original!

THURSDAY

Two For the Road 1967 (11.0 pm BBC2 Colour) Director Stanley Donen was at his most charming in this con- trived, Frederic Raphael-scripted piece of whimsy about an ' incom- patible ' couple on a hiking holi- day. Unfortunately, Miss Hepburn primps and squeaks too much for her own good, but the lugubrious Mr Finney brings her and the film firmly back to terra firma.

FRIDAY

Shoeshine 1946 (9.25 pm BBC2) De Sica got a special Academy Award for this neo-realist study of two urchins who got involved in the post-war black market and wind up in a reformatory. Superb- ly photographed by Anchise Brizzi and hauntingly scored by Alessandro Cicognini, whose lin- gering refrains are now superb- ly pastiched by Fellini for his ' nostalgia' movies. Someone should re-issue these atmos- pheric scores on an LP.

Thursday; BBC1

As the polls close the team accelerates into the night-long, comprehensive coverage of Election 74: 10.0

9.0 pm Colour Nine O'Clock News with Richard Baker and Peter Whitmore; Weather

9.30 Colour Steptoe and Son by RAY GALTON and ALAN SIMPSON

starring Harry H. Corbett as Harold and Wilfrid Brambell as Albert Seance in Wet Rag and Bone Yard Incidental music by DENNIS WILSON from an original theme by RON GRAINER Designer PAUL ALLEN Producer DOUGLAS ARGENT

10.0 Colour Election 74

Were is the Result ... Mastair Burnet eads into night-long iction again the

team wno were first with the right prediction (and fastest with the results) of the February election. David Butler explaining the detail behind each result. Graham Pyatt interrogating the computer as it instantly relates each vote to the national trend Robert McKenzie keeping the score. and Robin Day interviewing the winners - and the losers. Together, they present from the Election 74 studio the most com- prehensive coverage to this most unpredictable election ... the fullest results service ... analysis

. , . prediction ... and explana- tion of what it's going to mean to Britain - and to you. Who will be the next Prime Minister? Within minutes of the polls closing, BBCtv's national how-did-you-vote survey will be the earliest guide to the decisive question, Labour or Conservative for the next five years - or what? Who will be your MP? The first declaration is expected from New- castle Central, Guildford, Chelten- ham or Salford. Whichever it is, Election 74 cameras will be there - and at the rest of the most im- portant declarations through the night ... inside the party head- quarters in London ... and with the crowds watching the result on the BBC's giant TV screen in Trafalgar Square. Nobody will be watching the de- velopments more than the party leaders: The Prime Minister Rt Hon Harold Wilson in his constituency, Huyton With MICHAEL CHARLTON Rt Hon Edward Heath in Sidcup With DAVID DIMBLEBY Rt Hon Jeremy Thorpe in Devon North With DAVID LOMAX Area reports from the BBC's local TV Newsrooms at 10.55; 11.55; 12.55; 1.55; 2.55; 3.55 Designers KEITH HARRIS and COLIN LOWREY Graphics ALAN JEAPES Coordination MARY KEENE and ROSEMARY M. HILL Producer TAM FRY Director KEITH CLEMENT Deputy editor JOHN MORRELL Editor MIKE TOWNSON

4.0* am Closedown