The Germans claimed they buzz-bombed Manchester last week (see FOREIGN NEWS), but they didn't hit John Barbirolli. Conductor Barbirolli and Manchester's famed Halle Orchestra had pulled a surprise maneuver. Despite military hell and the English Channel's high water, they were touring Belgium right under Hitler's nose. Britain's ENSA (roughly the British equivalent of the U.S.O.) considered the tour quite a triumph. It was the first time a British symphony orchestra had visited liberated Europe, and it was also probably the most strenuous trip in the peaceable annals of symphonic music.
The orchestra arrived at the Channel to find a hurricane raging....