Elocution Lessons with Miss Ngaio Marsh

On 30 July 1924 readers of The Press would have found this advertisement on page 15. Fred Reade Wauchop and William Simon Wauchop were a multi-talented pair; both having studied dance abroad and William going on to serve as Paliamentary Librarian for which work he received an OBE in 1964. In July 1914 Ngaio and William, along with Ngaio's mother and father, had appeared in Preserving Mr Panmure, a farce by English playright Arthur Wing Pinero that had first been staged in London in January 1911. The play was then performed on Broadway, New York in the following year. I don't suppose that a 102 year old newspaper ad can really be described as news but encountering an invitation to 'learn to dance [and speak] correctly' was a charming event for this researcher on a Friday afternoon in July.