Oral Answers to Questions — Royal Air Force – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 18 May 1960.
Mr Tom Driberg
, Barking
12:00,
18 May 1960
asked the Secretary of State for Air what will be the size of the three large balls which are to form part of the Fylingdales early-warning station.
Mr George Ward
, Worcester
They will be 140 ft. in diameter.
Mr Tom Driberg
, Barking
Was the right hon. Gentleman entirely serious when he seemed to think it possible to landscape such gigantic balls so that they would harmonise with their natural surroundings? Would it not be better to leave them stark and white, as an interesting example, perhaps, of functional architecture, with a certain macabre beauty of their own, and as an appropriate symbol of the general insanity in which we are involved?
Mr George Ward
, Worcester
As I told the hon. Gentleman last week, we are, of course, taking the advice in this matter of an expert landscape consultant.
Mr George Chetwynd
, Stockton-on-Tees
Would the Secretary of State deny that the erection of these three brass balls is a visible sign that we are in pawn to Uncle Sam in this part of the National Park?
Mr George Ward
, Worcester
I know that some hon. Gentlemen on the opposite side would like to blackball the whole project, but personally I think it is a very useful one.
Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
