Meanwhile, two of the papers founded by Brandes, Politiken and Extrabladet, had begun to treat the visitors seriously, sometimes with a sly humour but sometimes respectfully and at considerable length.

In addition to the public meetings, Buchman was holding meetings of his team each morning to which more and more Danes came. Besides the Bishop and Dean Brodersen of Copenhagen, an amazing cross-section of the population would turn up. Often these meetings were thick with smoke from short Danish cigars. At one of them Buchman called for a time of listening to God. Then he laughed and said, There have never been any rules in the Oxford Group up to now, but I think we will have to make our first one here in Denmark. That will be that all ladies must put down their cigars when we decide to have a quiet time together!'

From Copenhagen Buchman went to spend Easter, with all who wanted to come, at Haslev, an educational centre some thirty miles away. Every school was filled to the brim - adults often sleeping in children's beds* - and as farmers, the unemployed, whole villages flocked in, people slept in cars and even in the local prison. 'Last Friday,' Buchman wrote, 'they had to take to the fields in one village because there was no longer room in the church. '46

(* Mrs Fog-Petersen, wife of the Dean of Odense, had such a cot. Asked by Buchman if she had slept well, she replied politely, 'Thank you, I slept many times.')

Berlingske Tidende sent a young woman called Gudrun Egebjerg to cover the event. She now recalls her first impressions of Buchman: 'Certainly not a "spiritual leader", whatever that was. A quietly well-dressed man with a long pointed nose in a round face, an incongruity. (Years later, when somebody mentioned it I noticed that he did not like that! I was surprised. At the time I thought he was way above human vanity; but somehow I liked him for it....) But what you felt, first of all, right away, was that he was interested in the person he met, in this case me, in a friendly, open way. A journalist is so used to being met with caution, "Now be careful what you say" - not Dr Buchman. He knew what he wanted to say and how, and then he had that wonderful sense of humour and that wise, kind, untroubled way of looking at you. I also felt, without I think registering it consciously, a natural authority in him.'

After Haslev, Buchman's team spread out through Själland and Fyn. The most notable occasion was a meeting in Odense, the capital of Fyn and Hans Andersen's birth-place. It took place on Norway's national day, and the last speaker was Fredrik Ramm. He described how his hatred of Denmark had been cured, and then he asked the audience to sing the Danish national anthem. There was a hush, and then, without a word of prompting, 3,000 Danes broke into the Norwegian anthem, so that the walls and room vibrated with the sound. Ramm stood in tears, seeing unity born where he had caused division.

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