MEMORY SYSTEM FOR IMPORTANTHISTORICAL DATES

The two systems you have just learnt enable you to rememberthe day for any date in this century. The next system willassist you in the memorisation of significant dates in history.In Chapter 1 the memory test included a list of 10 suchdates. They were:
1. 1666 — Fire of London.
2. 1770 — Beethoven's birthday.
3. 1215 — Signing of Magna Carta.
4. 1917 — Russian Revolution.
5. c.1454 — First Printing Press.
6. 1815 — Battle of Waterloo.
7. 1608 — Invention of the telescope.
8. 1905 — Einstein's theory of Relativity.
9. 1789 — French Revolution.
10. 1776 — Declaration of American Independence.
The method for remembering these or any other such datesis simple, and is similar to the method for remembering tele-phone numbers.All you have to do is to make a word or string ofwords fromthe letters which represent the numbers of the date. In mostcases there is no point in including the one representing thethousand, as you know the approximate date in any case. Letus try this system on the dates above.1. The Fire of London in 1666 virtually destroyed the cityleaving it a heap of ashes. Our memory phrase for the date1666 would thus be 'ashes, axAes, ashes!', or 'cAarred ashesgenerally'.2. Beethoven is famous for many musical accomplishments,but among his greatest and perhaps most controversial was the9th Symphony in which he included a choir. His style ofmusicmade full use of the percussion instruments. Knowing this,remembering his birthday in 1770 becomes easy: 'CrashingChoral Symphony'.3. The signing of the Magna Carta in 1215 marked a newage ofsense and reason. To remember this date we can use thephrase Wew Document—Liberalisation'.4. The Russian Revolution of 1917 was an uprising of thepeople against what they considered abnormal oppression.They demanded greater equality in the form of Communism.Our memory phrase: 'People Demand Communism'.5. Printing presses are often great rotating machines thatchurn out thousands ofpages a minute. We canimagine a smallversion of this as the first printing press, in approximately1454, which can be remembered by the word 'RoLleR'.6. The Battle of Waterloo in 1815 was triumphant forWellington but .can be considered fatal for Napoleon. Onceagain we use a memory word rather than a memory phrase toremember the date: 'FaTaL'.7. The invention of the telescope by Galileo in 1608changed the way in which man's eyes saw the sky. Ourmemory phrase: 'Changed Sky Focus'.8. In 1905 Einstein's theory of relativity shed new light onthe way in which matter and energy exist. His theory solved anumber of puzzles that had occupied man, but also gave riseto many more. Our key word 'PuZZLe'.9. In the French Revolution in 1789 the king was rangedagainst the people. Hence we remember the date by '.KingFights People'.10. The declaration of American Indepencence in 1776marked a new feeling of optimism and confidence in theAmerican way of life. This can be encapsulated in the oneword: 'CoCKSure'.As you can see, the system for remembering important datesin history is a simple one and should make a task which mostpeople find hard an enjoyable exercise in creative remembering.