THE CENTRAL IDEA behind this new series is to bring various speakers to the microphone who each have had some different reason for going abroad. It will be found as the series goes on how very varied and interesting these reasons may be. Helen Simpson , the well-known novelist, who is to open the series this morning, had an extremely unusual one. She went to study witchcraft.
She must be one of the few women in England who has actuallv had letters from witches and he-witches. Magic and witches are still to be found in the country districts of France, Germany, and Austria, and Miss Simpson has made more than one interesting journey in search of information. Last summer she was staying in a wonderful old castle, said to have been built by the devil in a night, in one of the mountain districts of France, and here she came across a wizard who could find water, not by the usual hazel twig, but by consulting the stars. He actually found a spring in California by casting a horoscope. The whole matter was dealt with by post. This is surely magic up to date.
This morning Helen Simpson will tell listeners something about her journey to the Valley of the Witches.