Magyar Hírek, 1984 (37. évfolyam, 2-26. szám)

1984-05-12 / 10. szám

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TWINS BALL IN THE HILTON

Chronicle

The number of young people with degrees has doubled. According to recently released figures, the number of people under 35 holding a degree has doubled in Hungary since 1970. More then 50 per cent, considerably more than earlier are women. Some fields, such as education, where the proportion of women is 77 per cent among the young graduates, have become women’s jobs. About one-fifth of the young graduates are working in executive positions. The proportion of executives is 32 per cent among the males, but only 10 per cent of the women have executive positions. There is practically no unemployment among young graduates: their major problem is housing. Only 69 per cent of them have their own homes, the rest live in lodgings, or with their parents.

The genetic study of twins started in Hungary by Dr Endre Czeizel, led to the foundation of the Club of Twins in 1982. Social functions organized by the club have been frequent. The most interesting and successful of these was the Second Hungarian Twins Ball, held in the rooms of the Hilton Hotel.

Older members of the club were not surprised that many people came from far-away places—from Boba, Dunaföldvár, Békéscsaba, or Szolnok. But this ball turned out to be an international event: there were twenty-seven guests from Austria. four each from Switzerland, the GDB, and the US and there were also Yugoslav twins in the banquetting hall of the fashionable hotel.

There were real attractions among the invited guests, for instance triplets, two of whom were girls, and one boy. The Csordás quads did not have to dress alike to underline their striking similarity. The young Hungarian quintuplets, due to their tender age, could not be at the ball, but the others present sent them a greeting telegram for their first birthday.

Some of the unbelievable similarities almost caused embarrassement. Girl twins came in identical outfits almost without exception, and perhaps only the oldest club members were able to distinguish them. Dr Julia Mélneki, a colleague of Professor Czeizel in the genetic study of twins, and her sister Eszter, who came from Salgótarján, where she is employed by the school dental service, were but one of the couples of such striking resemblence.

Visitors

Julie and Judy in their forties, almost perfect clones of one-another have been the secretaries of the international Twins’ Club of the US, established thirty years ago, for the past fifteen years. Lou and Lee, who came with them, have been joint presidents of the club, re-elected for the fourth time. Zurich guests, Hans and Peter Rahm of giant stature, moving like bears, told me that a club for twins has been operating there since 1976, and although their studies took them as far as the US, this was the first time they had come to Hungary. The leaders of the delegation of twins from Germany, Hans and Gerhard

Fischer received presents from the hosts and the Skála-Coop, which is the patron of the club not only in that capacity of theirs, as leaders of the other foreign delegations did, but also because they had their fifty-fifth birthday on that very Sunday!

Mária and Melinda Kiss, twins from Yugoslavia, told me that their grandmother, who lived in Hungary put them up for the time the Twins Ball. Twins from Klagenfurt in folkcostumes, were a great success.

A programme by twins

The highlight of the show was a spectacular can-can, followed by acrobatic dancing by the Váradi girl twins. The Szabó Duo performed as illusionists, the Jeszenszky Trio danced jazz-ballet, and the Katelli Duo entertained as musical clowns. The Swiss twins, Giannina and Angela sang to their fellow twins to their own guitar accompaniment.

After some funny indoor games, the programme continued with disco dancing interrupted only to draw the raffle. But for all of the participants, the opportunity of meeting and making friends with fellow twins will be the most memorable part of the ball. Names and addresses were exchanged. There was a competition for the proud title of most alike twin won, by the decision of the international panel, by US twins in both the male and female sections.

FERENC VÁRKONY

The Federation of Hungarian Blind People helps thirty two thousand people with a sight disability. As was reported on “International White Stick Day” more than thirty two thousand blind, or seriously sight-disabled people live in Hungary. Since mobility is one of the major problems of the blind, and of those with defective eyesight, the National Federation of the Blind and Sight Disabled established a centre for the training of seeingeye dogs. It provides trained dogs for those who can handle them. Opportunities of employment for all the blind and near-blind able and willing to work are considered very important. Most of them work as telephone switchboard operators, but many do other jobs as well. Meaningful leisure is another major aim of the Federation. Sports facilities for the blind are available at the Wesselényi Miklós Sports Club. Journals and books in braille can be borrowed from the library of the Federation, as can “talkie-books” on tape. Extension of the lending service is hampered by the high cost of equipment. The Federation has for that reason found it difficult to buy modern equipment that allows blind people to read ordinary printed texts.

Environment protection at the universities. At the request of Unesco and the International Association of Universities, the Eötvös Lóránd University of Sciences organized an international conference on “The Role of Universities in Environment Protection Education.” It was also attended by R. Dias, the Director of the Department of Higher Education, Unesco, and Douglas J. Aitken, the General Secretary of IAU. In his address to the conference, György Gonda, the current President of the National Bureau for the Protection of the Environment and Nature emphasised that the Hungarian government insisted that protection of the environment education must start in schools. Adequate knowledge and training on the protection of the environment on the part of future teachers acquired at the universities is therefore very important. The designers of the curricula of Hungarian institutes of higher learning are paying close attention to this requirement in the course of the current revision.

“OUR NATIVE COUNTRY”

Radio programmes in English

The programmes are beamed on Tuesdays and repeated on other days as presented below. PROGRAMME SCHEDULE FOR THE SERIAL The Origins and Development of the Hungarian People Over Six Thousand Years

On June 5th we begin to repeat some of the instalments broadcast between September 6th 1983 and June 4th, 1984. Each programme to be repeated is about 27 minutes and is broadcast five times a week in English as given in the schedule below.

June 5th to June 11th

Sándor Korda, the Hungarian born film director who rose to world fame. Korda’s role in making Britain’s film independent of Hollywood and the American film studios, and a review of some of his major pictures. (Repeat of the programme beamed on October 4th, 1983.)

June 12th to June 18th

Ferenc Deák, the Minister of Justice in the first Hungarian Cabinet in 1848 and representative of the ideas of the middle nobility.

June l!)th to June 25th

Lázár Mészáros, Minister of Defence in the first Hungarian Government in 1848. His role in the 1848—49 Independence War. His studies of warfare and membership of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in recognition of his research work. (Repeat of the programme beamed on November 18th, 1983.)

June 26th to July 2nd

The beginnings of freemasonry in this country and Hungarian freemasons in the late 18th century. The formation of the lodge of Hungarian freemasons named after Ignác Martinovics, leader of the abortive anti-Habsburg conspiracy of the early 1790’s, in 1908 and its leader Oszkár Jászi. Freemasonry, in Hungary in the 20th century.

The programmes will be repeated according to the following sequence:

— every Tuesday at 18.00 Greenwich Mean Time (2 p. m. North American Eastern Standard Time);

— every Wednesday at 00.30 GMT (Tuesday, 8.30 p. m. North American Eastern Standard Time);

— every Friday at 18.00 GMT (2 p. m. North American Eastern Standard Time);

— every Saturday at 00.30 GMT (Friday,' 8.30 p. m. North American Eastern Standard Time);

— everv Monday at 03.00 GMT (or Sunday 11 p. m. North American Eastern Standard Time).

The programmes are transmitted on short wave on the 25, 31, 41 and 49 metre bands, that is, on 11910, 9655, 9585, and 6110 kHz, respectively.

We wish to remind our regular listeners that the change in the usual schedule is attributable to Hungary adopting daylight savings time throughout the thirteen weeks of summer programming. Thus the programmes are beamed an hour earlier than in the autumn, winter and spring months.

In the hope that you will continue to be interested in the programmes and will listen to them regularly theeditors, Judit Cservenka for the Hungarian and István Butykai for the English programmes invite you to send in your comments and observations on the serial as a whole and on the individual instalments. Suggestions are welcome and appreciated. For further information or details please write to

The Editors of Hungary’s History Serial c/o Szülőföldünk Magyar Rádió, Budapest, 1800 Hungary

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