Here's a card 'trick'taught me many years ago by my father. It's guaranteed to intrigue. I haven't been able to work out the mathematics involved in its compilation but I've always been impressed. LEARNING to SPELL ... A STORY with PLAYING CARDS Prior to telling the story, take a single suit ( or an ordered set) of 13 cards from a standard pack of playing cards, and arrange them in the following order - face up from the bottom: 3 … 8 … 7 … A … Q … 6 … 4 … 2 … J … K … 10 … 9 … 5 Then turn this set of 13 cards face down and tell the following story - showing the cards in order as the story unfolds. As each card number is called place it face up on top of the previous card. "In the year 3 8 7 one (ACE) old lady (QUEEN), aged 6 4, had 2 sons, one called JACK and the other called KING, aged 10 and 9. She sent them to school for 5 years to learn how to spell." Having told this story, then take these cards, turn the pack over so that they are now face down, and proceed to spell, turning one card at a time, the numbers from "O - N - E" to "K - I - N - G" rejecting a card as its name has been spelt out and carrying on the spelling with the remaining cards only. When done correctly, all the numbers from Ace to King will appear in order.

LOTTERY TICKETS Do you realise that you are statistically more likely to die this week than to win the jackpot? Once I realised that I gave up buying them. Yes, sadly it's only too true. On average you're much more likely to die between the time of buying your ticket and the day of the lottery draw than you are to win the jackpot. Even if you wait until the last day before buying your ticket, you cannot mitigate the effect more than a little. Even with just an hour to wait, you are still rather more likely to kick the bucket than to win the jackpot. Of course. if you don't ever buy a ticket, you'll definitely never win the jackpot … and you're bound to die someday anyway!

BATTLE WITH BARDEN It wasn't scintillating chess, and it wasn't a victory, but I did once draw a game with Leonard Barden, still chess correspondent for the London 'Evening Standard'. It was in a simultaneous match at Kingston Chess Club in 1975 when he was playing 16 others as well as me. Not a big deal, but I did gain some satisfaction from not being beaten by the former British champion and member of the Olympic team. I give the game below in traditional notation:-

... and my favourite chess cartoon - (Courtesy of Matt & The Daily Telegraph):

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

WHITE N-KB3 P-KN3 B-N2 0-0 N-K1 P-Q3 N-QB3 PxP NxN P-KB3 K-R1 PxP QxQ B-N5 R-Q1 P-B3 N-B2 N-K3 B-B4 BxN RxR R-Q1 NxR BxP         Draw

BLACK P-QN3 B-N2 P-K4 P-K5 P-KB4 N-KB3 P-Q4 NxP BPxN B-B4ch 0-0 PxP RxQ R-K1 B-Q3 N-Q2 N-K4 P-KR3 QR-Q1 BxB RxR RxR B-R3 BxKP agreed!

Rote Learning If it's back in fashion, then why not resurrect this old memory training verse for remembering our Kings and Queens - as well as the order in which they reigned?

KINGS and QUEENS This has to be read out loud to stick in the memory and, ideally, done as a rhythmic chant. Willy, Willy, Harry, Ste[ve], Harry, Dick, John, Harry 3. Edward 1 2 3, Dick 2, Henry 4 5 6, then who? Edward 4 5, Dick the Bad, Harrys twain, then Ned the Lad. Mary, Lizzie, James the Vain, Charlie, Charlie, James again. William & Mary, Anne O'Gloria, 4 Georges, William and Victoria. Edward 7 and George 5, Edward, George and Liz alive!

MELTEX ... Optical Illusion Click on the link below and see if this works for you. It has been described as "one of the best illusions we've ever seen". Stare at the centre of the spinning wheels for 20-30 seconds. (Don't look if you are allergic to spinning spirals !!!) Then look at something ... your hand or a face work well. The effect should be "astounding" (??!!), though it may take a few tries to get there! If, after clicking, you get a 'File Download' warning screen, you can either open it directly or save it to your own hard disk. It has been thoroughly tested and should be perfectly safe to 'Open'.		PICK UP STICKS! Click on the link below to play this traditional game. It is not taxing. In fact, it is VERY simple. but it can be played at 3 different skill levels - Beginners, Intermediate and Advanced. The object is to pick up all of the rectangular sticks by clicking on them - as quickly as possible! You can only pick up sticks that aren't overlapped by others. The mouse cursor becomes a cross when it is over a stick that can be picked up. If, after clicking, you get a 'File Download' warning screen, you can either open it directly or save it to your own hard disk. It has been thoroughly tested and should be perfectly safe to 'Open'.
Try ... MELTEX		Play ... STICKS