Along comes Nikola Tesla, father of radio, forefather of robots and Mix Masters, and a cocktail of my own surname.
See, that was the plan. Reviewing a novel based on Tesla’s madcap life – The Invention of Everything Else by Samantha Hunt – I first toyed with the Tesla/Astle conceit.
Be fun, I thought. Slowly picking through [...]
His Mum a teacher, his Dad a teacher, Lindsay Thompson had little choice but to enter the blackboard jungle. Until his early 30s when the man relinquished his chalk for a calling in politics, winning a seat in State Parliament in 1955.
Tenacious, loyal, Thompson stuck to the Spring Street ruckus for 27 years, winning the [...]
As promised, the prayer for pisspots. I first heard the mockery in Tom Holloway’s grim drama, Don’t Say The Words, and wasn’t sure if the parody was original.
Turns out a jokey T-shirt company, and 500 other places around the net, carry the spoof. Minor variations exist around the traps but Tom nails the best draft [...]
Agamemnon is a warrior out of luck. The poor sap goes 15 rounds with the Trojans, only to return to his native Greece to learn his wife Clytaemnestra has been sleeping around.
Mind you, the warrior has returned with a tasty Trojan morsel by his side. A fair-skinned prophetess named Cassandra, whom nobody believes. Much like [...]
Like I say, addictive.
Where I should be finalising a book proposal, preparing for a freelance seminar, polishing a script, making puzzles and every other task known to a beleaguered writer, I’m Googling EQUIP and ALOFT to register 613 hits.
And then LITHE and KORMA for 558.
FETED and PRAWN gives you 505.
Just a few more than VELDT [...]
Warning – this can get addictive.
Just enter two familiar five-letter words into your local Google engine, and see if you can register a minimum of hits. (Yes, I may have too much time on my hands this afternoon”¦.)
But leaving aside Welsh violins, Inuit snow and Pashtu sweetmeats, just opt for common vocab, and only [...]