Category: Uncategorized
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The mother of all kerfuffles
When Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Germany in 1770, I wonder how many people would have predicted he would grow up to be one of the most famous composers the world has known. I wonder, too, how many people would have predicted that one day he would cause a kerfuffle in my house? Not…
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Village boy becomes king of the castle
Jeremiah Spikehead could hardly believe it when he was selected to play volleyball at the Sydney Olympics. It was a dream come true: his chance to represent his country at his chosen sport. He got a big shock, however, the day he turned up at the venue marked down in his program for day one…
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More funny than you can poke a stick at
A work colleague has a friend who, being without a TV remote, changes channels with a stick. No kidding. He likes to watch telly in bed and wields the three-foot stick to change channels so he does not have to move too many muscles. Can you imagine that? Have we become that sad? Until today I never…
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On the cutting edge with the Swiss Army
I have a Swiss Army pocketknife so, um, I have to ask: what is it that the members of the Swiss Army actually do? Apparently, the Swiss Army knife was invented for the army more than a century ago to help soldiers assemble their rifles. I read on the web that the Swiss Army today…
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Cowboys, Indians, Friends, and Plovers
There were no American Indians in the vicinity of our new house in Newnham when I was six in 1964. I know this because I had a large Indian identification wall-chart hanging in my new bedroom. It had pictures of all kinds of Indians – including Sioux, Apache, Cherokee and Cheyenne – which came in…
JOHN MARTIN'S TALES 