The Blog
Updates from across the site
25
16 May
‘The Gloria Scott’ is a short story in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In that tale, James Armitage received the following letter, which threw him into a pitiable state of anxiety. See if you can spot the hidden message.
The supply of game for London is going steadily up. Head-keeper Hudson, we believe, has been now told to receive all orders for fly paper and for preservation of your hen pheasant’s life.
Now see if you can compose another letter, using the same system, for the cable received by Carruthers in ‘The Solitary Cyclist’ (a story in The Return of Sherlock Holmes).
The old man is dead.
26
15 May
In 1722 the Duke of Marlborough died, the most celebrated English general of the War of the Spanish Succession, during which he never suffered a defeat. The splendour of the ceremonies, the national mourning, the monuments in his honour, the wealth he had accumulated, Daniel Defoe described them all; and then he reminded us: he is dead.
27
15 May
N. gives a verb and names one of the three kinds of sentence, viz. Statement, Question, Command. M. uses the word in that kind of sentence. For example:
1 Disappear, in a Question.
2 Bring, in a Command.
3 Keep, in a Statement.
More verbs: IAdmit. IIFry. IIILook. IVPlay. VScrub.
Since commands can be as short as a single word, let’s say that sentences should be seven words or more in length.
Based on an exercise in Think and Speak (1929) by NL Clay.
28
14 May
Below are three sentences taken from Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope. The words have been jumbled up: see if you can restore them to the original order.
1 thinking married he’s getting of
2 hair to blushed the of up eleanor her roots.
3 unhappy harding this mr very all made
Sentences from Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope.
29
14 May
Rewrite the following sentences, keeping the same idea but avoiding the word ‘unless’.
1I don’t know how she managed, unless by good sense and good humour.
2I don’t mean to believe it unless I have it fairly proved before witnesses.
3Unless a nation is ruled by its best elements it must wither and decay.
For Example
“I won’t go unless you all go too,” Alice said.
“If you all don’t go too,” said Alice, “I won’t go.”
“You’ve all got to come along,” Alice said, “otherwise I won’t go.”
“I’m not going without you, all of you” said Alice.”
30
13 May
On Saturday afternoon, May 31st, 1533, Henry VIII’s second wife, Anne Boleyn, was taken from the Tower of London to Westminster Hall, to be crowned in the Abbey next morning. The wider public was disgusted by the way Henry had jilted Catherine, by a two-year affair, a secret marriage, and a controversial divorce (in that order); yet crowded streets were hung with bunting, and the cavalcade was magnificent.
