The talk is introduced by the director of the National Broadcasting Service, Professor James Shelley. This is a personal account by Thomas Matthews, formerly leader of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, who was a passenger arriving in Honolulu on the Dutch liner Jagersfontein on the morning of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour [07 Dec 1941].
He describes how the passengers observed what they thought was a military exercise and only realised it was an actual battle when they were informed by the pilot launch shortly before reaching the harbour.