Thirty Years a' Growing: the Past, the Present and the Future of Irish Broadcasting

Way back in the early months of 1960, the then British Prime Minister, Harold · McMillan - whose most memorable phrase until then had been his salutation to the British public 'You've never had it so good' - made a six-weeks tour of the African continent. By the time Mr. McMillan arrived in Cape Town he was geared up for another phrase-making speech, this time to the assembled members of the South African Parliament: 'The wind of change is blowing through this continent, and, whether we like it or not, this growth of the national consciousness is a political fact. We must all accept it as a fact, and our national policies must take account of it (3 February 1960).' That speech itself is long forgotten, but the phrase 'the winds of change' is still remembered. They were, indeed, beginning to blow then in South Africa and, in more recent times, have reached hurricane-force on occasion.