THE INFORMATION PROVIDER

The annual Drama Festival at Welwyn Garden City provided me with my first sighting of Lionel McColvin. In the spring of 1931 I walked over from Knebworth to see McColvin stage his play To kill the Queen, acted by a group of players from Ipswich. He was a tall dark young man, and although his play did not win a prize it was well received. McColvin had an instinctive knack for dramatising situations, and years later I was reminded of his gift for this when he staged some scenes in aid of Westminster's post‐World War II civil defence training sessions. The same flair was there.