Ⓓ 'Fencing and Duelling through the Centuries' by C. D. Dimsdale
'The sword
Clanging imperious
Forth from Time's battlements
His ancient and triumphing song
Production by John Richmond
(Empire Programme)
Briefly in this dramatic feature will be described the different types of swords used through the centuries up to the modern fencing foil, now of world-wide popularity with both sexes. The interludes will present the medieval ' battel ' or judicial duel, as described by Shakespeare in Richard II. and the skilled fencing with foils which he represented inHamlet.
Belonging to the age of duelling is D'Artagnan's maiden fight in 'The
Three Musketeers', which will be dramatised ; and further dramatic interludes reproduce the ferocious combat in 1712 between James Miller and Timothy Buck ; and one of the last duels with side-arms in this country, that in which one of the protagonists was Lord Byron, grand-uncle of the poet.