TES downloads

Resources on the Times Education Supplement website. Free to download

233 sales for Brevity series

Ebay report 233 sales for the Brevity series.

All the feedback has been positive.

Woohoo!

Tom Lehrer

Tom Lehrer claimed he was a victim of "nominal determinism". Lehrer means "teacher" and for many years he was a teacher of 'applications of mathematics to the social sciences" and other topics.

 
However, he had another talent, in the 1960s and 1970s he produced a number of quirky or satirical songs. Initially, he self-published but gradually won a mass audience.

His songs are a crash course in irony. This was underscored by his use of "Gilbertian" rhymes. In other words, he tortured words in order to make them fit the song whether they liked it or not.

Tom Lehrer was a white liberal rather than a Socialist but Socialists will enjoy many of his songs.

An example is his hymn to "universal bereavement".

"When you attend a funeral
It is sad to think that sooner or l-
ater those you love will do the same for you.

And you may have thought it tragic
Not to mention other adjec-
tives to think of all the weeping they will do

But don't you worry,
No more ashes
No more sackcloth
And an armband made of black cloth
will someday never more adorn a sleeve

For if the bomb that drops on you
Gets your friends and neighbours too,
There'll be nobody left behind to grieve

And we will all go together when we go
All suffused with an incandescent glow
Universal bereavement
An inspiring achievement
Yes, we all will go together when we go.

He followed this up with "So long mom, I'm off to drop the bomb" and a song about Werner Von Braun, the Nazi employed by American imperialism to develop nuclear missiles. 

Another song is about America's number one instrument of diplomacy

When someone makes a move
Of which we don't approve
Who is it who always intervenes?
UN and OAS
They have their place I guess
But first
Send the Marines
For might makes right
Until they've seen the light
They've got to be protected
All their rights respected
Till somebody we like can be elected!

His song about vivisection, based on a true story, "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park" was released as a popular single in the UK and the flip side was a parody of the passionate or fiery variety of  love song "The Masochism Tango".

He never claimed that his songs would change minds about the bomb or cruelty to animals but they bolstered the beliefs of those who were already opposed. 

And they were great fun, albeit the humour was rather dark as I have attempted to show. 

Spoiler Alert, answers to the old money quiz

What follows is the answers to the old money quiz.

These are my answers anyway.

They might all be wrong!

 

 

1) Sun moon and a star are three far things = 3/4d

2) A gorilla's leg joint would be an ape knee 1/2d

3) Penny 1d

4) A penny farthing 1 1/4 d

5) A baby kangaroo and a three penny bit were both called a Joey 3d

6) The largest Maundy coin is a fourpenny bit 4d

7) Dutch money is a Euro now but used to be a florin 2/-

8) Bob 1/-

9 A tanner 6d

10) A tiara could be a crown but Glenda suggested half a crown 2/6

11) A dollar was 5 shillings 5/-

12) A snow leopard is called an ounce (it just is) so eight would be half a pound 10/-

13) Guinea £1 1s

14) Oh dear this is the worst. Sick squid £6

15) Tenor £10 

Old money quiz

I was given this at Quiz Club today. I do not know all the answers yet. However they are all amounts of old money: pounds, shillings and pence and of course farthings.

1) Sun, moon and a star.

2) A gorilla's leg joint

3) A girl's name.

4) A bicycle

5) A baby kangaroo

6) The largest Maundy coin

7) Dutch money

8) A boy's name

9) A leather worker

10) A tiara

11) A dollar

12) Eight snow leopards

13) A pig

14) A poorly sea creature

15) Male singer

Fiction Books

 Total fiction books = 12

The latest is the audiobook "Brev"

 

 
The most recent Durrington Detective Agency book is Darkness in Durrington

The best thing about this series is that people who buy one, tend to buy them all.

My fiction books are as follows:

The Mirror of Eternity Series

The Mirror of Eternity

Salt Wars 

The Miranda Revolution

Defending the Sangreal

Domain of Dreams

Space Dog Alfred Series

Space Dog Alfred

Planet of the Dogs

Durrington Detective Agency series

Durrington Detective Agency

Death in Durrington

And a collection of short stories

Pot Pourri

Proverb Quiz

The good news is that all my quizzes are going to be published this year in "The Evil Quizmaster"

Amazon are funny (in fact they are hilarious) about anything in a book being published on a blog so I have removed any quizzes which will be in the upcoming book from this blog. The one which remains will not be in the book.

The Evil Quizmaster

 

 

Word Quiz

The good news is that all my quizzes are going to be published this year in "The Evil Quizmaster"

Amazon are funny (in fact they are hilarious) about anything in a book being published on a blog so I have removed any quizzes which will be in the upcoming book from this blog. The one which remains will not be in the book.

The Evil Quizmaster

 

 

A proverb