4 New Statesman 1 April 1944: 'Columbus and The Rescue make claims of radio serious and impressive.' Punch (17 May 1944) said that 'the play could stand on its poetry alone'. In The Spectator (22 April 1944), however, Henry Reed described the play as 'rather disappointing'. Columbus, he went on, 'convinces one that some of the advantages which the radio writer thinks he enjoys are really handicaps'. See also The Times, 4 Sept. 1963, for a later assessment.
(p. 585)
The problem being, there was no Spectator for April 22, 1944. The Spectator was published on Fridays, and April 22 was a Saturday. A look at the issues for the first half of that year shows no book reviews for Columbus. The 1963 article in The Times turns out out to be MacNeice's obituary.
There was, however, a New Statesman on April 22. We'll have to have a look at that.
