IDEA FOR SCENE: A ‘press conference’ in 1919. Keith and Ross Smith, W. H. Shiers and J. M. Bennett have just won ten thousand pounds in prize money for being the first to fly from England to Australia in under 30 days. Reporters are asking the aviators to describe their journey.

SAMPLE SCRIPT:

Reporter: How was the flight?

Ross: Well the conditions for flying were very bad indeed.

Keith: Yes – the journey to Basra was extremely perilous.

Ross: That’s right – so we had to make up time on the next leg of the trip as we headed towards Delhi.

Keith: Then there was the torrential rain at Singora …

Ross: … and that dreadful landing strip …

Keith: … so we nearly didn’t make it!

Ross: Then the plane got bogged at Sourabaya ….

Keith: …and we had to make an airstrip out of bamboo mats!

(Smithy, Ginger and Felix enter from behind the reporters and the scene freezes except for Keith Smith.)