Champion Pinner

Loud plaudits, transient fame, and sometimes lasting wealth are deemed the typical rewards of champions. Men honor perhaps too often and too eagerly their strong, enduring or dexterous brethren. Yet this is not always so. Last week, during one sweltering London afternoon, a little man of 61, whose brown beard is turning white, set what is believed to be a world's record, yet reaped no plaudits and no pelf.

He had assumed the task of pinning safety pins upon stiff cloth. A ribbon was fastened to each safety pin. That made the task harder, but the little man's fingers flew. He pinned, and he pinned, faster, faster. Each pin must lie exactly straight. Each ribbon must hang just so. Faster, faster, FASTER. . . .

His Most Excellent Majesty, George the Fifth, by the Grace of God King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas, Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India, finally attained and held for 50 minutes a pinning speed of one decoration every six seconds.

Among the 500 Britons decorated in six seconds each, last week, was Captain Arthur Rostron, until recently commander of the Mauretania, famed "fastest liner in the world" (29 m. p. h.).