REMEMBER TO REMEMBER!

You have now completed your basic course and should havelearnt no fewer than twenty different systems for rememberingdifferent items!After being given a rough historical context within which towork,you were givenaninitialmemorytestdesignedtoestablishthe limits of your memory at that time.The first chapters (in an attempt to overcome as rapidly aspossible the deficiencies laid bare by the test!) dealt with thebasic principles of remembering, giving you practice in therules of exaggeration, movement, substitution and absurdity.The principles learnt in these systems were then applied tothe new memory system of Heinz Norden, Skipnum, and tothe Major System.From the Major System you were able to branch out intothe remembering of numbers, anniversaries, birthdays andhistorical dates, including the year, month and day.Apart from this you learnt systems for remembering namesand faces, speeches, jokes, narratives, articles, languages, andplaying cards.With the information you now possess you are ready to useyour memory in a far more adequate and comprehensive way.Apart from your business and social life many of the systemsmay be used to give 'memory demonstrations' ranging fromreeling off lists ofitems to picking out the 'missing cards' froma deck.Building a good memory is much like growing up. Youdevelop a little day by day but seldom notice the changes untilyou suddenly look back at yourself, often through otherpeople's eyes, writing or photographs. You may not evennow be fully aware of the strides you have made during yourreading of Speed Memory.To see just how far you have come, go back and look at the'photograph' ofyour memory as recorded in the initial memorytest. Things which at that time appeared (and were!) difficultwill now seem like child's play.We have come to the end of the course, but in a sense it isonly a beginning. At the moment you are using abstractsystems to remember items that have given you difficulty inthe past. By continuing to use these systems and activelyconcerning yourself with remembering to remember, you willfind that the systems themselves will become unnecessary, andthat through the process of consciously working to improveyour memory with 'artificial aids', you will have helped it tobecome vigorous and independent.

REMEMBERING FOR EXAMINATIONS

Few people hear the word 'examination' without a slightfeeling of fear or distaste. In Speed Reading, I have dealtcomprehensively with methods for studying three to ten timesmore effectively. Here I'm going to discuss examinations inrelation to memory systems.Typically, the person taking an examination dashes to hisseat in order to use all the available time and reads his exam-ination paper so nervously, quickly and confusedly that hehas to read it over again to find out just what it is he is beingasked.At this stage he usually becomes flustered, desperately tryingto co-ordinate all the information which he thinks might relateto the question he is trying to answer, but which is buried inthe mire of all his other disorganised knowledge. How oftenhave you yourself, or have you seen someone else write anexamination, spending as much as 15 minutes of an hour'stime jotting down notes, scratching his head, resting his chin onhis hand, and frowning as he frantically tries to recall all thathe knows and yet at this moment does not know?Such students often possess more knowledge about thesubject than others. I remember at least three students in myundergraduate years who knew more about certain subjectsthan virtually everyone in the class and who used to giveprivate tuition and coaching to those who were struggling.Extraordinarily and regularly, these students would fail toexcel at examination time, invariably complaining that theyhad not had time in the examination room to gather togetherthe knowledge they had.Problems such as theirs can be overcome by preparing forexaminations using the Major and Skipnum Memory Systems,in conjunction with the link system.Let us assume that the subject to be examined is psycho-logy. Reviewing your notes, you realise that in the year's studyyou have covered four major areas, and that each area had fouror five main theories, four or five major figures, and a numberof experiments.Applying this information to the memory system, you linkthe name of the first major area with the first word of thesystem, list the main theories on the following numbers, themain figures on the next numbers and after that the experi-ments. For the next major area you repeat this process untilyou have covered the major key words and ideas for thecontent of the year's course. Should any of these items havesmaller items which you think might be significant, they canbe linked to the key psychology words.It may surprise you to learn that in circumstances wheremy students have applied these systems, their memory listfor any given subject in a yearly exam seldom exceeds 70 items!In the examination room they are immediately far ahead oftheir erstwhile "peers. When considering their answers toquestions, they simply survey their organised knowledge inless than a minute, selecting those items that are relevant. Inaddition, the items selected are already in an 'essay' form.In the example we are using, the answer to any questioncould take the following form 'in considering the problem ofblank and blank I wish to discuss three of the major areas ofpsychology, citing the theories of blank from the second, andthe theories ofblank and blank from the third area. In connec-tion with these areas and theories I will also consider theimportance ofthe following major figures in the history oftheseideas, and shall discuss in relation to the entire question thefollowing experiments: ...'Without having said anything our imaginary studentalready sounds well on the way to a 1st class! Indeed he maywell be, for as his initial fact getting-down task has been madeso much more easy, the amount oftime left to him for creativediscussion and comment on what he has written will begreater.To carry this last point a little further—it is advisable to pegon to your memory system creative or original ideas that flashinto your mind concerning the subject of examination. Theseoften make the difference between a 1st and 2nd class, yetnormally they tend either to get mixed up in a generally con-fused presentation of knowledge and ideas or lost in the heatof the moment.Smaller details, including the titles of books, articles anddates, can obviously be co-ordinated with the system explainedabove.Examinations are not all that difficult. Explaining what youknow in an organised and coherent fashion to an examiner canbe—use your memory systems to help you!

MEMORY SYSTEMS FOR LANGUAGES

When hearing the word 'language', some tend to think only offoreign languages. Seldom do they stop to think that the termincludes their own tongue! The title of this chapter conse-quently refers to English as well as to other languages!As I mentioned in my book Speed Reading vocabulary isconsidered to be the most important single factor not only inthe development of efficient reading but also in academic andbusiness success. This is not surprising when one realises thatthe size of one's vocabulary is usually an indication of thedepth of one's knowledge.Since vocabulary is the basic building block of language, itit desirable and necessary to develop methods of learning andremembering words more easily. One of the better ways ofaccomplishing this aim is to learn the prefixes (letters, syllablesor words recurring before root words) the suffixes (letters,syllables or words recurring at the end of root words) and theroots (words from which others are derived) that occur mostfrequently in the language you are attempting to learn. Acomprehensive list of these appears in the vocabulary chaptersof my book Speed Reading.Here are some more tips on how to improve your wordmemory:1. Browse through a good dictionary, studying the ways inwhich the prefixes, suffixes and roots of the language are used.Whenever possible, use association to strengthen your recall.2. Introduce a fixed number of new words into yourvocabulary everyday. New words are retained only if theprinciple of repetitions as explained earlier, is practised. Useyour new words in context and as many times as possible afteryou have initially learned them.3. Consciously look for new words in the language. Thisdirecting of your attention, known as 'mental set', leaves the'hooks' of your memory more open to catch new linguisticfish!These are general learning aids to assist your memory inacquiring knowledge of a language. They may be applied toEnglish, as a means for improving your present vocabulary, orto any foreign languages you are beginning to learn.Having established a general foundation for learning words,let us be more specific in the remembering ofparticular words.As with other memory systems the key word is association. Inthe context of language-learning it is well to associate sounds,images and similarities, using the fact that certain languagesare grouped in 'families' and have words that are related.To give you an idea of this linking method, I shall considera few words from English, French, Latin and German.In English we want to remember the word 'vertigo' whichmeans dizziness or giddiness, and in which a person feels as ifhe or surrounding objects are turning around. To imprint thisword on the memory we associate the sound of it with thephrase 'where to go?' which is the kind of question you wouldask ifyou felt that all surrounding objects were rotating aboutyou! Two words which many people confuse in the Englishlanguage are: 'acrophobia', which is a morbid fear of heights,and 'agoraphobia' which is a morbid fear of open spaces. Thedistinction can be firmly established if you associate the 'aero'in acrophobia with acrobat (a person who performs at greatheight!) and the 'agora' from agoraphobia with agriculture,bringing to mind images of large flat fields (though the Greekword actually means marketplace!).Foreign languages are more 'approachable' when onerealises that they form groups. Virtually all European lan-guages (with the exception of Finnish, Hungarian and Basque)are part of the Indo-European group, and consequentlycontain a number of words which are similar in both soundand meaning. For example the words for father: German'vater', Latin 'pater', French 'pere', Italian and Spanish'padre'.A knowledge of Latin is of enormous help in understandingall the Romance languages, in which many of the words aresimilar. The Latin word for 'love' is 'amor'. Related to 'love'in the English language is the word 'amorous' which meansinclined to love; in love; and of or pertaining to love—thelinks are obvious. Similarly we have the Latin word for 'god':'Deus'. In English the words Deity and Deify mean respect-ively 'divine status; a god; the Creator' and 'to make a god of.French was derived from the vulgar speech of the Romanlegionaries, who called a head 'testa', a crockery shard, hence'tete', and the shoulder 'spatular', a small spade, hence'epaule', etc. About fifty per cent ofordinary English speech isderived either directly from Latin (+ Greek) or by way ofNorman French, leading to many direct analogies betweenFrench and English.As well as language similarities based on language grouping,foreign words can be remembered in a manner similar to thatexplained for remembering English words. As we are discuss-ing French, the following two examples are appropriate: InFrench the word for 'book' is 'livre'. This can be rememberedmore readily if you think of the first four letters of the word'Library' which is a place where books are classified andstudied. The-French word for 'pen' is 'plume' which inEnglish refers td a bird's feather, especially a large one used forornament. This immediately brings to mind the quill penused widely before the invention ofthe steel nib, fountain penand biro. The link-chain 'plume—feather—quill—pen' willmake the remembering of the French word a simple task.Apart from the Latin, Greek, and French, the rest ofEnglish is largely Anglo-Saxon, going back to German, givingrise to countless words that are virtually the same in Germanand English—glass, grass, will, hand, arm, bank, halt, wolf, etc.while others are closely related, light (licht), night (nacht),book (buch), stick (stock) and follow (folgen).Learning languages, both our own and those of otherpeople's, need not be the frustrating and depressing experienceit so often is. It is simply a matter of organising the informa-tion you have to learn in such a way as to enable your memoryto 'hook on' to every available scrap of information!The methods outlined in this chapter should give you a solidbasis for becoming more proficient in the various languages,and for enjoying the process of becoming more efficient.

MEMORY SYSTEM FOR SPEECHES, JOKES,NARRATIVES, DRAMATIC PARTS AND POEMS, ARTICLES

The problems and embarrassments with the items listed in thetitle of this chapter are almost endless!The speech maker, terrified that he will make a blunder infront of his audience, usually reverts to reading word-for-word from a prepared text, the result of which is inevitably amonotonous and de-personalised presentation. The slightlymore courageous speech-maker will often commit his speechto memory, falling into the trap of scrambling through it asfast as possible in order to get to the end before he forgetssomething! In most cases he does forget something and themost awkward silences ensue as he gropes for the lostthread.Similar, although not so important, situations arise in thetelling of jokes. These are not so much embarrassing to thestory teller as annoying to the person to whom the joke is beingtold. How familiar is the situation in which, after ages ofbuildup, the story teller suddenly looks at you with a slack jaw andthe exclamation 'Damn! I've forgotten the punch line, butanyway it was a really funny story'.Dramatic parts present a different problem in that they areusually to be memorised by actors who have continual practisesessions with the same material. Their task is nevertheless stilldifficult, and each member of the group must make sure thathis familiarity with the material is at least on a par with that ofthe other members. In more lengthy and difficult works,soliloquies and poems are among the items that have to beremembered, and the task becomes even more difficult.Remembering articles is often necessary in an academic orbusiness situation, embarrassment usually arising during examtime when the student 'knowsthatheknows'but justcan'tgettheinformation off the tip of his tongue or his mind; and in thebusiness situation where one is asked to discuss a report thateveryone else has read, and either goes completely blank orcannot recall a major point.These are the problems. How can they be solved? Un-fortunately there is no simple system such as the Link and Pegsystems discussed previously, but there are methods andtechniques that make the remembering ofthis kind of materialmuch easier. As the techniques vary slightly in different cases,I shall consider each individually.SpeechesIfyou wish to make a good speech one of the cardinal rulesis never to memorise it word for word. Another is never to readit.1. Generally research the topic about which you are goingto speak, making recordings ofideas, quotations and referenceswhich you think" might prove relevant.2. Having completed your basic research sit down and planout the basic structure of your presentation. Do not start towrite your speech before you have completed your basicdesign. I have known people who have written the 'same'speech seven times before arriving at their final draft. If theyhad organised themselves a little more adequately to beginwith, weeks could have been saved!3. With your basic structure in front ofyou fill in the detailsin note form so that you complete an outline which needs onlygrammatical and sentence structure changes to become acoherent presentation.4. Practise making your speech from this completed out-line! You will find that, having completed the research andhaving thought about the structure of the material, you willalready have nearly memorised your speech! Initially, ofcourse, there will be points at which you hesitate, but with alittle practice you will find that not only do you know yourspeech, you also know what you are talking about !This point is especially important, for it means that whenyou finally do speak to your audience you need have no fear offorgetting the word-order or what you are presenting. Yousimply say what you have to say, using the appropriate voca-bulary and not a rigid succession of sentence structures. Inother words, you become a creative rather than a static speaker.This is Always preferably.5. As a precautionary step it is advisable to jot down on asmall card, or to remember on one of your smaller memorysystems, the key words in the basic outline ofyour speech. Thisgreatly reduces the possibility of forgetting.The only problem you may consider still unsolved is thatof not being able, immediately, to find the right word at theright time. Don't worry about this. When the audience sensesthat a speaker knows what he is talking about, an effectivepause makes it obvious that he is creating on the platform.This adds rather than subtracts from the enjoyment of listen-ing, for it makes the presentation less formal and morespontaneous.Jokes and NarrativesJokes and narratives are far easier to deal with than arespeeches, because most of the creative work has already beendone for you! The problem is nevertheless a two-fold one:first, you must remember the joke or narrative to begin with,and second, you must remember its details.The first ofthese problems is easily solved by using a sectionof the major system as a permanent library for the stories youwish to file. I need go into this point no further, as it is simplya matter ofselecting a key word and associating it with the keyword of the System.The second problem is slightly more difficult to overcome,and involves once again our use ofthe link system. Let us take,for example, the joke about the man who went to the puband bought a pint of beer. Having bought this beer, he sud-denly realised he had to make a telephone call, but knew thatsome of the 'characters' in the bar might well swipe his pintbefore he returned. In order to prevent this he wrote on hisglass 'I am the World's Karate Champion.' and went tomake his telephone call, securely thinking that his beer wassafe.When he returned he saw immediately that his glass wasempty and noticed more scribbling underneath his own. Itread 'I am the World's fastest runner—thanks!'To remember this joke we consciously select key words fromit, joining them into the basic narrative.All we need from this full paragraph of narration are thewords 'pint', 'phone', 'write', 'karate champion', and 'runner'.With these few words, which can be linked in whatever waywe please, the whole sequence and essence of the joke willreturn immediately, and those horrible silences as one runs outof steam in the middle of a story need never recur!ArticlesArticles may need to be remembered on a very short-termbasis or on a long-term basis, and the systems for rememberingeach are different.Ifyou have to attend a meeting or to make a briefresume ofan article you have only recently read, you can remember italmost totally, and at the same time can astound your listenersby remembering the pages you are referring to! The method issimple: take one,two or three ideas from each page ofthe articleand slot them on to one of your peg memory systems. Ifthere isonly ono idea per page, you will know that when you are downto memory word 5 in your basic system, you are referring tothe 5th page, whereas if there are two ideas per page and youare at memory word 5 you will know you are the top of page 3!When an article has to be remembered over a longer periodof time, we once again revert to the link system, taking keywords from the article and linking them in such a way as tomake them most memorable. This method of rememberingwill enable you not only to recall the sequence of the eventsand ideas but also to retain a more adequate general impressionofwhat the article was about. The act ofconsciously attemptingto remember is itselfa part oflearning.Dramatic Parts and PoemsThe last section of this chapter deals with those two itemsthat have been in the past, and are still unfortunately today,the bane of the schoolchild.The method usually employed (and recommended) is toread a line over and over again, 'get it'; read the next line,'get it'; join the two together; 'get them'; read the next lineand so on ad nausum until the first lines have been forgotten!A system recommended and used successfully by well-known actors and actresses is almost the reverse. In this systemthe material to be remembered is read and re-read quickly butwith understanding over a period offour days, approximately 5times a day. In this manner the reader becomes far morefamiliar with the material than he realises and at the end of his20th reading tries to recall, without looking at the text, thematerial to be remembered. Almost withoutfail the mind willhave absorbed 90% or more totally, and remembering willhave been a natural outgrowth of reading!As I have said, this system has been found far more success-ful than the line-by-line repeating system, but even it can beimproved considerably.Once again the link system and key words come into play.If the material to be remembered is poetry, a few major keywords will help the mind to 'fill in' the remaining words whichwill almost automatically fall into place between the key words.If the material to be remembered is part of a script, onceagain key words and linking images can prove essential. Thebasic content ofa long speech can be strung together with ease,and the cues from speaker to speaker can also be handled farmore effectively. It is these cues that often cause chaos on thestage because ofthe silences and breaks in continuity that mayoccur when one performer forgets his last word or anotherforgets his first. Ifthese last words (or even actions) are linkedin the way that we link objects in our memory system, breaksand confusion can be completely avoided.In summary, the remembering of speeches, narratives,jokes, articles, dramatic parts and poems involves a numberof slightly differing techniques. In all cases, however, the useof some form of link, key words, and repetition is necessary.

REMEMBERING BIRTHDAYS, ANNIVERSARIES AND DAYS AND MONTHS OF HISTORICAL DATES

This next system will be easy for you because it makes use ofsystems you have already learned. It is also easier than mostother systems suggested for remembering such items, becausethe two large memory systems you have learned—Skipnumand the Major System—may be used together as 'keys' for themonths and days (other systems usually require code namesthat have to be especially devised for the months).The system works as follows: months are assigned theappropriate key word from the Major System.
January— Tea
February— Noah
March— Ma
April— Ray
May— Law
June— Jaw
July— Key-
August— Poe
September — Pa
October— Toes
November — Tate
December — Tan
The days from 1 to 31 are assigned the appropriate word fromthe Skipnum system.To remember a birthday, anniversary or historical date, allthat is necessary is to form a linked image between the month-and day-words and the date you wish to remember.For example, your girl-friend's birthday falls on November1st. The key word from the Major System for November is'tate'; and the key word from Skipnum for 'one' is 'up'. Youimagine that your girl-friend is framed or hung up in the TateGallery.The anniversary you wish to remember is your parent'sWedding Anniversary which falls on February 25th. TheMajor System key word for February is 'Noah'; the Skipnumkey word for 25 is 'try'. Imagine Noah, who 'married' thepairs of animals, trying to marry your parents at the sametime.Historical dates are just as easy to remember. For examplethe date when the United Nations came into formal existencewas October 24th. The Major System key word for October is'toes', and the Skipnum key word for 24 is 'trot'. We imaginethe different shaped and coloured toes ofrepresentatives oftheworld's nations hurrying (trotting) to meet because of theurgency created by the end of the Second World War.There is one small danger in this system, and this is epitom-ised by those people who don't forget the date—they forget toremember it! This can be overcome by making a habit ofchecking through, on a regular basis, your memory links forthe coming one or two weeks.The memory system outlined in this chapter can be effect-ively linked with the previous system for rememberinghistorical dates by year. In this way you will have providedyourself with a complete date-remembering system.

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.

MEMORY SYSTEM FOR DATES IN OUR CENTURY

When you have finished this chapter you will be able to givethe correct day ofthe week for any date between the years 1900to the present!Two systems may be used, the first of which is faster andsimpler and applies to only one given year while the secondspans many years and is a little harder. These systems owemuch to Harry Lorayne, a well-known North Americanmemory expert.Using the first of these systems, let us assume that we wishto know the day for any given date in the year 1971. In orderto accomplish what may sound like a rather considerable feat,all that is necessary is to remember (or jot down), the followingnumber:377426415375'Rubbish!' you might say, but when this system is explainedyou will see that it is in fact very clear and easy to operate. Theindividual digits of the 12-digit number represent the firstSunday for each month of the year 1971. The first Sunday inApril, for example falls on the 4th day of the month, the firstSunday in December falls on the 5th day of the month, andso on.Once you have remembered this number, and I recommendthat you remember it in the way that was explained in the LongNumber memory system chapter, you will rapidly be able tocalculate the day of the week for any date in the year.It is best to explain this concept with examples, so let usassume that your birthday fell on April 28th, and that youwished to know what day the date represented. Taking the 4thdigit from your memory number you would realise that thefirst Sunday fell on the 4th. By the process ofadding sevens tothis initial Sunday date you rapidly calculate that the secondSunday of the month fell on the nth (4 + 7 = 11); the thirdSunday of the month fell on the 18th (11 + 7 = 18) and thatthe last Sunday of the month fell on the 25th. Knowing thisyou recite the remaining dates and the days of the week untilyou arrive at the date in question: April 26th = Monday;April 27th = Tuesday; April 28th = Wednesday. In otherwords your birthday falls on a Wednesday in the year 1971!Suppose you wish to know the final day of the year. Theprocess is similar. Knowing that the 1st Sunday of the lastmonth falls on the 5th day you add the three sevens represent-ing the following Sundays to arrive at Sunday 26th. Recitingthe next few dates and days we get: 27th Monday; 28thTuesday; 29th Wednesday; 30th Thursday; 31st (the last dayof the year!) a Friday.As you can see this system can be applied to any year forwhich you may especially need to know days for dates. All youhave to do is to make up a memory number for the first Sunday,or for that matter the first Monday, Tuesday, etc. of eachmonth of the year, add sevens where appropriate to bring younear to the day in question, and recite to that day.An interesting and quick way to make use of the memorynumber of one year with relation to surrounding years is torealise that with each year the first date for-the days at thebeginning of the month goes down one, with the exception ofleap years when the extra day produces a jump of two for thefollowing year. In the years 1969, 1970, 1971 for instance thefirst Sunday for January in each ofthose years fell respectivelyon the 5th, 4th, and 3rd days of the month.The second of the two systems to be introduced in thischapter is for calculating the day for any date from 1900 to thepresent. It is necessary in this system to ascribe to each montha number which will always remain the same. The numbersfor the months are as follows:
January— 1
February— 4
March— 4
April— 0
May— 2
June— 5
July— 0
August— 3
September — 6
October— 1
November — 4
December — 6
Some people suggest that these be remembered using asso-ciations such as January is the first month, the fourth letter inFebruary is r which represents 4, and so on but I think that itis better to use the number:144025036146making the words drawer, snail, smash and tired. These canthen be linked by imagining a drawer on which a snail with avery hard shell is eventually smashed after an effort whichmade you tired. In this way the key numbers for the monthscan be remembered.In addition to the key numbers for the months the yearsthemselves have key numbers and I have listed them from1900 to 1984, after which date, according to George Orwell,memory will be 'taken care of!'.
0
1900
1906
1917
1923
1928
1934
1945
1951
1956
1962
1973
1979
1984

I
1901
1907
1912
1918
1929
1935
1940
1946
1957
1963
1968
1974

2
1902
1913
1919
1924
1930
I94I
1947
1952
1958
I969
1975
I98O

3
1903
1908
1914
1925
1931
1936
1942
1953
1959
1964
1970
1976
1981

4
1909
1915
1920
1926
1937
1943
1948
1954
1965
1971
1982
5190
4191

0
1921
1927
1932
1938
1949
1955
i960
1966
1977
1983

6
1905
1911
1916
1922
1933
1939
1944
1950
1961
1967
1972
1978

How does this system work? Well, for once the answer isthat it is not completely easy although with a little practice itcan become almost second nature. The method is as follows,given the month, numerical date, and the year, you add thenumber represented by the month key to the number of thedate, and add this total to the key number representing theyear in question. From the total you subtract all the sevens,and the remaining number represents the day in the week,taking Sunday as day i.In order to check this system, we will take a couple ofexamples, one from a recent year, and one which if you havebought this book before the end of 1972, will be a day in thefuture.The day we will try to hunt down is the 19th March, 1969.Our key number for March is 4 which we must then add to thedate in question which is 19, 19 + 4 = 23. To this total wemust add the key number for the year 1969. Referring to thelist we find that this is 2. Adding 2 to our previous total wearrive at 23 + 2 = 25. Subtracting all the sevens from this(3 X 7 — 21) we arrive at 25 — 21 = 4. The day in questionis consequently the 4th day ofthe week which is a Wednesday!The date in the future we shall be concerned with is August23rd 1972. Our key number for August is 3 which we add to23 giving 26. The key number for the year 1972 is 6 whichadded to 26 gives us a total of 32. Subtracting all the sevens( 4 x 7 = 28) from 32 we arrive at 4. The 4th day of the weekis a Wednesday which is the day for August 23rd, 1972!The only exception to this rule occurs in leap years, andthen only in the months of January and February. Your cal-culations will be identical but for these two months only theday of the week will be one day earlier than the day you cal-culate.As with other systems the best way to gain confidence withthose discussed in this chapter is to practise them. I suggestthat you start with the easier of the two first, become skilledin it, and then graduate to the more advanced. Both of thesesystems are excellent for entertaining your friends and socialacquaintances.