Reg, G4FGQ wrote:
"One old wife asserts it is obvious radiation occurs mainly from the
middle portion of a dipole because that is where the current is
strongest and the magnetic field is most concentrated."

All sections of a dipole are needed to establish the wave launcher /
grabber.

Seems to me the old wife quoted above is right. Radiation from a dipole
is concentrated in a doughnut pattern around the middle of the wire.

What influences are sensed at a distance point perpendicular to the
middle of the dipole?

There are electric fields, plus and minus, which cancel.

The current on one side of the dipole flows into the source while the
current on the other side of the source flows out. This places current
on both sides of the dipole in the same direction.

The magnetic fields from both sides of the dipole are additive because
the currents producing them are in-phase.

Never mind that an electromagnetic wave must have an electric field as
well as a magnetic field. The emerging magnetic field generates an
electric field which generates a magnetic field ad infinitum.

Best regards, Richard Harrison, KB5WZI