No. 270 Brock St, Peterborough, Ontario was Sandford Fleming’s first home in Canada, between 1845 and 1847. It belonged to the town’s first medical doctor, John Hutchison. Hutchison was cousin to Sandford’s father Arthur, and had trained at Glasgow University Medical Faculty before emigrating to North America in 1818 and fetching up in Peterborough sometime before 1830. This substantial stone residence, built in 1837, was the townspeople’s way of holding onto their wandering physician.
THE Canadian government had cheerfully bankrolled Fleming’s meticulous engineering in the populous east, but felt less generous towards the empty lands in the west. Sandford refused to cut corners, and for four years he was out in the cold, though back in favour in time for the line’s opening ceremony in 1885.
Meanwhile, he successfully lobbied for an undersea Pacific telegraph cable from Vancouver to Australia and New Zealand, completed in 1902, and after turning up for a train in Ireland marked ‘pm’ only to find it had left in the morning, put forward the first detailed proposal for a worldwide time standard using one-hour time-zones and a twenty-four hour clock.
Amidst all this, Sandford brought up seven children with his wife Jeanie, started a cotton factory, co-founded the Royal Canadian Institute, served in the Canadian militia, and was for thirty-five years Chancellor of Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.* He was knighted in 1897 for his astonishing contribution to Canada and the British Empire.
Today, the Royal Canadian Institute is Canada’s oldest scientific society. Kingston’s Queen’s University specializes in business, health sciences and applied arts.
Précis
During a brief period out of favour with the Canadian government, Fleming played a key part in establishing a telegraph link across the Pacific to Australia, and took the first steps towards modern-day time-zones and the twenty-four hour clock. For this and for his role in Canada’s development as a modern nation he was knighted in 1897. (57 / 60 words)
During a brief period out of favour with the Canadian government, Fleming played a key part in establishing a telegraph link across the Pacific to Australia, and took the first steps towards modern-day time-zones and the twenty-four hour clock. For this and for his role in Canada’s development as a modern nation he was knighted in 1897.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 60 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 50 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: about, despite, may, must, not, unless, until, whereas.
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Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Spinners Find in Think and Speak
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Astonish. Join. Up.
2 Chancellor. Down. Northern.
3 Form. Four. Morning.
Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
High Tiles Find in Think and Speak
Make words (three letters or more) from the seven letters showing below, using any letter once only. Each letter carries a score. What is the highest-scoring word you can make?
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