(Very) Old Memories

 A few people on Facebook have been enthusiastic about discussing the olden days of memory competitions - some of them even before my time! It's hard to find talk about the memory championships of the 1990s on the internet, but you can still find the Olympiad News from the early days of the MSO if you know where to look (use the Wayback Machine on msoworld.com), to give us the first I will have ever heard about the World Memory Championship - a few articles focusing almost entirely on Dominic O'Brien, mentioning Andi Bell too and not mentioning any of the other 18 competitors in 1997.

It didn't immediately excite me when I read about this event, but it did eventually penetrate my skull and become a lifelong obsession, so here is how it all began...

Tuesday 19 August 1997

MEMORY MAN

Dominic O'Brien, the current World Memory Champion, is hot favourite to retain his title this year. Here he talks to the Olympiad News production team.

What is your impression of the Mind Sports Olympiad?

It's a big event! It's also rather worrying - I feel as if I am being fattened up for the kill. But I hope to do the killing myself! Of course the Mind Sports Olympiad is an excellent event.

You're competing in the memory championship, any other events?

No. I am just concentrating on trying to retain the memory title (the competition is on Thursday and Friday) and am directing all my efforts in that direction.

In the future do you fancy your chances in other events?

Maybe the IQ or perhaps the speed reading. I am not fast at the moment but when I have some spare time I will devote my attention to it.

What other events interest you?

Mainly the chess and backgammon but I have spent most of my time doing interviews with national newspapers and television.

How long have you been preparing for the memory championships?

Six weeks. I have been dealing out lots of cards and flashing lots of numbers up on my computer screen. I have devised my own program to do this.

What other things have you been doing recently?

I have been writing a memory course, comprising four books and 12 audio tapes, which will be published in the autumn by Linguaphone, the language people. They want to get involved in memory and this should be a good vehicle for them. The series will be called Super Memory Power.

How do you see the future for memory competitions?

It seems to me that they could become very popular as they are completely egalitarian - something everyone can do. Anyone can scribble numbers down and try to remember them. You don't need a chessboard, or Scrabble set, or backgammon board. If you know the right techniques anyone can do it. By getting involved in this publishing work I am, in a sense, digging my own grave. I eventually see myself perhaps devoting all my time to teaching, becoming the David Leadbetter of memory.

What did you do before concentrating on memory?

I used to have a job extracting silver from photographic waste. Unfortunately the price of silver plummeted, so I had to do something else.

And what got you started on memory?

About ten years ago I saw Creighton Carvello on Record Breakers, memorising a pack of cards in 2 minutes 59 seconds. I though this was fascinating and looked into it. It took me three months to beat this time, and it was a further four years before it became a profession for me.

What are the practical applications?

If anything is good for the mind, it is memory training. Memory training develops all cortical skills and trains the whole of the brain, using both hemispheres. The techniques of using association, imagination and location employ all elements of the brain.

Are alternative techniques possible?

This is difficult, because the established methods are the most natural (the Greeks were using them 2,000 years ago). You can tinker with the details but the basic technique remains the same.

How has your memory work helped you in other areas?

I am generally more switched on and more focused and my concentration is much improved. Recently an EEG was taken on my brain, while I was memorising cards, and it reported that my brain went into the alpha state (7hz), which is the perfect learning state. It is also the state achieved when you meditate. I suppose this is logical, because if you are concentrating hard for 38 seconds, you can't afford to start wondering if you've left the cooker on.

The events in the 1997 World Memory Championship are:

1. Memorisation of a 4,000 digit number in one hour.
2. Memorisation of 100 names and faces in 15 minutes.
3. Memorisation of 500 random words in 15 minutes.
4. Memorisation of a 300 digit spoken number, one digit every two seconds. This is scored by sudden death. If you get the second digit wrong, you score 2.
5. Memorisation of as many packs of cards as possible in an hour.
6. Memorisation of a random number, five minutes allowed.
7. Memorisation of images on screen: 40 images are shown and memorised. 80 are then shown again and the previously seen ones then have to be identified.
8. Memorisation of a 1,000 digit binary number in half an hour.
9. Memorisation of a 500 word poem, with punctuation, in 15 minutes.
10. A surprise competition, 20 minutes.
11. Memorisation of one pack of cards, in the fastest time possible. The competition world record is held by Andy Bell (41.37 seconds). Dominic's world record (outside competition) is 38.29 seconds.

Friday 22 August 1997

MEMORY MATTERS

One of the media darlings of the MSO has been reigning World Memory Champion Dominic O'Brien. His amazing skills are readily accessible to the public - everyone can understand the magnitude of the feats performed in this event. O'Brien started today's championships with a record-breaking performance. At the same time, rival Andy Bell made it clear that this year's Memoriad will be a vicious battle.

The first of the 12 challenges is the memorisation of a multiple digit number in an hour. This year the test number totalled 4,000 digits since the customary 2,000 was considered too low(!). O'Brien shattered his own world record of 1,392 by raising the mark to 1,512. Incredibly, Bell took an early lead in the competition by toppling Dominic from this list for the first time - the world record is now 1,620 digits!

O'Brien then resumed his customary spot at the head of the leader table by winning the 100 names and faces event, as well as the 500 random words (with another world record). Bell moved closer by winning the 300 spoken numbers - another O'Brien speciality - and another double world record, Andy raising the bar in this competition to 228.

The tension escalated as these titans continued to vault over earlier mental landmarks. In the one hour recall of packs of playing cards another double world record ended in a new theft of an O'Brien speciality. Bell managed an astonishing 1,170, eclipsing Dominic by over 200 cards. Nevertheless, O'Brien managed to extend his slender lead with an unmatched world record in the speed numbers.

After the seventh event, the recall of screen images, the first day of competition ended, and the warriors could retire to tend to their aching brains. O'Brien took another first, and must still be the overall favourite. Nevertheless, with Bell scoring remarkable successes in some of O'Brien's favourite events, tomorrow should provide further drama. As O'Brien remarked somewhat shakily early today: 'I'm a good each-way bet, but I wouldn't put any money on the nose.'

'I memorise ten packs of cards a day. When it's over, I usually have a headache.' - Dominic O'Brien,

Saturday 23 August 1997

THE £1 MILLION BRAIN

'Yes, I was worried - I was worried before the event and I was worried after the first round. But when I went home after the first day, after Andy (Bell) had crashed out, I knew I was safe. Andy knew he couldn't win then. You just can't crash out and still win.' - Dominic O'Brien

Dominic O'Brien retained his title as World Memory Champion yesterday after a tough battle. His win was celebrated in great style when the sponsors, Skandia, presented him with a certificate insuring his brain against accident for a year, to the tune of £1,000,000. Dominic accepted the award in evening dress and a blue crash helmet, demonstrating both elegance and due care for his valuable equipment.

This year O'Brien had to fend off a determined challenge from Andy Bell, who set three new world memory records before stumbling in the sixth event, speed numbers. Until this moment Bell and O'Brien had been neck and neck, but when O'Brien set another record here and Bell crashed out, the duel was effectively over.

Bell explained that he had lost his rhythm in the speed numbers (five minutes to recall as many digits as possible), having accomplished after three minutes what he felt he should have managed in one. Andy refused to post a low score: 'On the spur of the moment I walked out. I was very disappointed.' He added that he felt he would have moved ahead of O'Brien here.

Asked if he had concentrated his training on his rival's specialities, Bell offered a flat 'no'. 'That's just the way the cards fell. I think I could have done even better; there is huge room for improvement. It wouldn't surprise me if someone new came out of the blue next year and won this event at their first attempt. All it takes is a good technique.'

Watching the final event, speed cards (one deck, best of two attempts), it was clear that the rivals were both straining to set a new world record but, sadly for the spectators, both fell short.

This event illustrated a clear contrast in style between these two great memorisers. O'Brien speeds through the deck methodically, rarely pausing. When finished, Dominic sits with his eyes closed as he burns the sequence into his brain. Bell does bursts of several cards at a time, repeating this after a brief delay. He appears to fix his images while staring into space.

'Yes, I do them three at a time, Dominic does two,' Bell explained. 'I form an image like a kangaroo through a pineapple, and then assign a location to it.'

Record-Breakers

Six new records were set at the MSO:

One hour random numbers
A. Bell 1,620 digits; D. O'Brien 1,512 (Old Record: 1,392 D. O'Brien)

500 words
D. O'Brien 155 words

Spoken number
A. Bell 228 digits; D. O'Brien 207 (OR: 200 D. O'Brien)

One hour multiple decks of cards
A. Bell 1,170 cards; D. O'Brien 936 (OR: 780 D. O'Brien)

Speed numbers
D. O'Brien 240 digits (OR: 200 D. O'Brien)

Binary number
D. O'Brien 2,385 digits; A. Bell 2,058 (OR: 1,926 D. O'Brien)

Podcast away

 Check out this interview with me on The Human Podcast - brand new, hot off the presses, recorded last weekend!

I still don't like podcasts, but I can tolerate the ones that come with videos. I don't think anything with ME in it is worth watching, and certainly not this one, but there are other interviews with much more interesting people on his channel, so please remember to like and subscribe, like all YouTube people are very keen for you to do!

A question of chronology

 Here's another Nicholas Fisk I've acquired - Leadfoot!

Like Space Hostages, this wasn't the edition I read when I was young, but unlike Space Hostages, this one is (according to the small print at the start of the book) a "revised edition". Revised in what way?

Leadfoot (another favourite of mine) wasn't one of the earliest Fisk books I read; I can't really fix a date when I did read it, but I'm sure it must have been before 1992. And I would have got it from the library, so it probably wouldn't have been a brand new copy - I really must have read the original 1980 text.

So what's changed? Well, all I can see is that first page, and the line "built in 1926: so it was about six times Rob's age." Rob, as we're told a couple of pages later, is "aged about eleven", and to quote Sherlock Holmes, the calculation is a simple one - the current year is 1992.

This one isn't a futuristic science-fiction story, it's set in the present day and grounded in reality, but there aren't any precise references to what year it is. The plot, a camping trip in the Highlands, could happen in any year in the latter half of the twentieth century. I don't remember the book word for word, obviously, but I remember all the best scenes and cleverest lines, and those are all exactly as I remember them. Does the 'revised edition' really consist of a single change to how many times older than Rob the Alvis is, on the first page? Or have I missed something? I'll have to track down a first edition now...

Space Hostages!

I decided to splash out and buy a pile of old books on Wob (which used to be World of Books, but seems to have decided "wob" sounds somehow cooler). It's mainly the fault of my brother, for buying a complete DVD of the BBC Tripods series, which just reminded me how long it is since I read the books - and having got into the children's science-fiction mindset I just had to do what I've been talking about for many many years, and stock up on Nicholas Fisk books.

 Space Hostages was the first Nicholas Fisk I ever read, and as it turns out it was the earliest of his works that I ever read, first published in 1967. I found it in Horncastle library nearly twenty years later - I must have been around eight years old the first time I read it, which is a bit below the recommended reading age of 10 that this edition comes with, and even if I didn't entirely get the more subtle aspects of the plot it still absolutely hooked me. I think it took a couple of years to develop into a full fixation, but I was soon eagerly searching any library or second-hand book stall for anything with the Fisk name on it, and enjoying every one!

The Fisk name, incidentally, was a cool pen-name. Stephen King once said that the ideal name for a writer of sensational fiction is one with seven or eight letters in the first name and four letters in the surname, allowing the book to print the first name in a smaller font and the surname below it, twice the size. "Nicholas Fisk" follows that rule, and sounds somehow very cool and edgy with it. His real name, David Higginbottom, was obviously completely unsuitable to put on the covers of children's books...

The story of Space Hostages is simple enough - it's a 1967 perception of the near future (a moon base has been established within the last year or so, but everything else feels very contemporary. The Beatles are mentioned in passing as something you'd turn on a radio to hear) and a huge flying saucer lands unexpectedly on the cricket pitch of a small village, population around 170 people. So quite the metropolis compared to the place I grew up, but still the kind of setting I could easily identify with! It turns out not to be aliens, but a British military construction, designed to evacuate the privileged people of the country in the event of a global nuclear war (international tensions are running high, but seem to consist entirely of endless talks that the average people of the world are bored with). The ship is manned by a single Flight Lieutenant, who has found out about it, been outraged and decided to take matters into his own hands. Unfortunately, he exposed himself to the nuclear engines in the process of stealing it, and is rapidly dying of radiation poisoning. He invites a group of village children to come and see inside the ship, and then takes off with them on board as part of an incoherent plan to either hold them hostage and demand world peace, or failing that have them rebuild the human race after its destruction. His mind is essentially gone already, and he dies shortly after, leaving the children adrift in space with no idea how to fly the ship.

That's the set-up for what turns out to be not at all an exciting outer space adventure, but a fascinating character study of the conflict between Brylo (the clever one) and Tony (the self-proclaimed leader). We see things mainly from Brylo's perspective, but it becomes clear that Tony is deeply insecure, and others don't recognise how surprisingly sharp and intelligent he really is precisely because he's so desperate to make everyone think he's the best. He's a wonderful character, and the way the story develops is absolutely gripping - especially if you've never read anything quite like it before! You should all go and read it if you can find a copy (Wob might have another one, maybe? Open Library have a few Fisks, but not that one, sadly - or you could find it in a charity shop, perhaps? It's worth hunting for, anyway!)

I'm well and truly back in the Nicholas Fisk mood, it's great!