Table of contents for January 2022 in Readers Digest Australia

EVERY YEAR, OUR JANUARY ISSUE takes a different approach. We step back and reflect on the writers and story-telling styles of the past that have helped make Reader’s Digest a unique publication. We revere and enjoy the mystery of the ‘old ways’ that are different to what we experience today. While Reader’s Digest still upholds genuine focus on detail-driven reporting and story-telling, there is a simple beauty and value found in the articles of past decades that are therapeutic to both readers and editors alike. The turn of phrase, the depth of reflection and semantic accuracy provides a wonderful lesson in the English language – while imperial measurements in some stories set the tone. My favourite article, ‘When Krakatoa Blew Up’ (page 80), features no human heroes. In this portrayal…

For quality products, book sales and more, call 1300 300 030 or head to Readersdigest.com.au/shop CONTRIBUTE READERSDIGESTAUSTRALIA Anecdotes and Jokes $50–$100 Send in your real-life laugh for Life’s Like That or All in a Day’s Work. Got a joke? Send it in for Laughter Is the Best Medicine! Smart Animals Up to $100 Share antics of unique pets or wildlife in up to 300 words. My Story $400 Got an inspiring or life-changing tale? Submissions must be true, original, unpublished and 800–1000 words. Letters to the Editor and Reader Submissions Online Follow the ‘Contribute’ link at readersdigest.com.au Email editor@readersdigest.com.au Mail Reader’s Digest Magazine, PO Box 6458, Frenchs Forest, NSW 2086 Please include your name, address, phone number and email. Letters: We may edit letters and use them in all print…

In the autumn of 1953, Annette Anselmo of Salt Lake City, Utah, travelled to a well-known neurological institute to seek help from Dr Jones (not his real name), a renowned brain surgeon. For 30 years, ever since the age of four, Annette had suffered epileptic seizures with devastating frequency. Anti-convulsant drugs and a brain operation had banished the severest seizures. But she still suffered smaller convulsions, sometimes as many as 65 an hour. Dr Jones studied her case history, made exhaustive neurological tests, took brain X-rays and electroencephalograms, then gave his decision. “We believe an operation will help you,” he said. “But I do not promise a complete cure. And you realise the risk: you may be paralysed.” For Annette, the possibility was worth the risk. Here is her account…

To have reached the age of 40 without ever handling a brush, to have regarded the painting of pictures as a mystery, and then suddenly to find oneself plunged in the middle of a new interest with paints and palettes and canvases, and not to be discouraged by results, is an astonishing and enriching experience. I hope it may be shared by others. For to be really happy and to avoid worry and mental overstrain we ought to have hobbies, and they must all be real. Best of all, and easiest to take up, are sketching and painting. They came to my rescue late in life, at a most trying time. When I left the Admiralty at the end of May 1915, I still remained a member of the Cabinet…

It was the morning of May 21, 1972, in St Peter’s Basilica in Rome. As always, worshippers and tourists crowded before the first chapel on the right and gazed at Michelangelo’s Pietà. For nearly 500 years this marble statue of Mary holding the dead Christ has been an object of intense devotion, and also prized as an artistic masterpiece. Generations have marvelled at its exquisite translucent finish, the delicate moulding of Christ’s body, the tender resignation of the Madonna’s upturned left palm, the beauty of her sorrowing youthful face. Suddenly there was uproar as a man carrying a small hammer leaped over the altar rail and inflicted 15 shattering blows on the statue before a fireman was able to overpower him. Police later identified the mentally disturbed man as Laszlo…

The world is awed by the might of the blasts that devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but there was an explosion once that was incomparably greater. Those atomic bombs flattened two cities, yet people a few dozen miles away were oblivious of the fact. When the East Indies island of Krakatoa blew up, on 27 August 1883, the whole world knew about it. The noise was heard 3000 miles [nearly 5000 kilometres] away. The great waves the explosion caused in the sea reached the shores of four continents and were recorded 8000 miles away. An air wave generated by the blast travelled clear round the world, not once but several times. And where had been a mountain half a mile high was now a hole a thousand feet deep and miles…

AUGUST 1934 ◆ One of the greatest tributes ever paid a dog was the place given to ‘Caesar’ in the funeral procession of King Edward VII of Great Britain in 1910. This little wire-haired terrier, the King’s favourite pet, was allowed to march behind his master’s casket, taking precedence over nine kings and nearly all the princes of the Earth. ◆ Among the thousands of war souvenirs in London’s Imperial War Museum, one of unusual interest is the ‘little cupboard from Le Cateau’. For almost four years an English soldier hid in this cupboard in a house occupied by German soldiers, his food being brought to him secretly by the Frenchwoman who lived there. ◆ The most stupendous deception in history was played on Catherine II of Russia in 1787…

If World War II had never occurred, no one would have heard of Julia Child. I would have undoubtedly married some nice businessman and probably become an alcoholic. Instead, I met Paul Child. It happened, of all places, in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) on the verandah of a tea planter’s residence. The year was 1944, and the plantation served as headquarters for the OSS, America’s first spy agency. I was, I’m sorry to say, not a spy, just a humdrum office worker. Paul, a gifted artist, was an exhibits officer who made charts and maps for Lord Mountbatten, Supreme Commander for Southeast Asia. While we worked in palm-thatched huts, elephants wandered on the premises. It was all very exotic. And no one was more exotic to me than Paul, a…

Do you remember the little girl who asked if it didn’t feel queer for a few days after you grew up? I think of her when people ask me how I feel about being middle-aged. The answer is, “You don’t feel anything sensational. You just go on living.” Of course I realise that I am no exception to the laws which make all women around 50 very different from what they were at 20. To take first the most obvious change, and one that has always provided a theme for melancholy poems – the inexorable passing of the smooth-skinned, bright-haired radiance of youth. Why have I been so little troubled by this change? The war taught me a lesson on that point. I spent much time in France, in contact…

SEPTEMBER 1945 ◆ Planes pigeoning home. ◆ A conscience as clear as good-flying weather. ◆ That ceaseless reconnaissance known as childhood. ◆ A woodpecker, telegrapher of the forest. ◆ Eschewing meat is not so tough as chewing it. ◆ I’m about as fit as a fizzle. ◆ As the evening wore on her face wore off. ◆ He’s strong in the courage of his connections. ◆ He fell into her eyes up to his heart. ◆ The pretzel-posture of day coach slumber. ◆ Mahogany-faced sea captains. ◆ Fanning his interest with her long eye-lashes. ◆ I’m half Scotch and half soda. ◆ As naked as a concert solo. ◆ He wore his pants patched with flesh. My interest is in the future because I’m going to spend the rest of…

1. Actors Dolph Lundgren, Ken Jeong, Mayim Bialik and Rowan Atkinson share what educational background? 2 points 2. What bird is the national symbol of Bolivia, Chile, Colombia and Ecuador, yet is vulnerable to extinction? 2 points 3. Aiming to make fashion more inclusive, Aille Design uses Swarovski crystal pearls to create what design element for T-shirts and masks? 2 points 4. Approximately how many islands does the Philippines comprise? a) less than 1000; b) more than 10,000; c) around 7500? 1 point 5. What country has the most vending machines per capita? 1 point 6. Which were invented first: skis or wheels? 1 point 7. Lonar Lake in India, Kenya’s Lake Nakuru and Lake Van in Turkey are all what kind of lake? 2 points 8. In 1844, Samuel…

The Joy Of Reading I read October’s My Story (‘A Child Reader’ by Jenny Canty) with a sense of wonder. Her experiences of reading as a child closely mirrored my own, even though I lived on a different continent. Just like Jenny, one of my most treasured childhood memories was also the Reader’s Digest Junior Treasury which I inherited from an older cousin. To this day, my dog-eared copy of the Treasury brings recollections of a happy childhood spent growing up with its stories. My own children are now reading the same book, tenderly turning the now yellowed, fragile pages and finding the same joys I found three decades ago. MICHELE CHOO Living With Face Blindness I can relate to the article ‘Do I Know You?’ (October). I too suffer…

OUR FELINE FRIENDS are spending less time roaming outside and more time indoors as owners increasingly recognise the benefits of keeping cats contained. This, however, leads to one of the biggest issues faced by cat owners – litter box problems. Many cats are surrendered to animal shelters because of undesirable toileting habits – either cats refusing to use their trays or owners who don’t want to deal with the smelly litter. Either way, kitty litters and their associated problems are a reality of cat ownership. CHECK FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS FIRST If your cat has started going to the toilet outside their litter box it is a sign that something is bothering them. Be sure to rule out underlying medical conditions first. Take your cat to your veterinarian for a check-up…

FREQUENT INTERNET USE: NOT ALWAYS BAD Spending chunks of your day on the internet can be helpful or detrimental for your mental health, depending upon what you do there. A 2020 Canadian review linked social media use to mental distress among teens, in part because it can bring a feeling that others look or live better than you do. On the other hand, in a 2021 British study, seniors who went online at least once a day during the lockdown tended to feel less depressed compared to those who accessed the internet only once a week or less. Benefits included communicating with family and friends, finding inspiration for offline activities, and enjoying a quick, feel-good distraction on a rough day. (Cat video, anyone?) EATING OUT A LOT IS A HEALTH…

NOVEMBER 1984 ◆ After my 20-year marriage ended in divorce, I went to live with my daughter and son-in-law. They encouraged me to start dating and, after a few months, I accepted a dinner engagement with an attractive man I had met at a party. Nervous about my ‘first date’, I told my daughter I would be home no later than midnight. When I tiptoed in at 3am, this note was on my bedroom door: “Mum, in the future if you’re going to be late, I expect you to let us know where you are, who you’re with and a phone number where you can be reached. P.S. You’re grounded until further notice!” PHYLLIS J. PATTERSON ◆ My husband’s office was being relocated and he had to spend long hours…

Cradling his hard hat and bag of sandwiches, Mario Cockrell sprinted for the lift and shoved his way among the miners jammed inside. Many of them grumbled at him: “Late again!” The doors slammed shut, signal bells rang, and the cramped, two-level cage began a 16-minute, 1.6 kilometre-long descent into the President Steyn gold mine in Welkom, South Africa. It was 8.15pm on March 23, 1993. Known as the ‘Mary Ann’, the passenger lift carried 21 men this trip, its bare aluminium interior lit only by their cap lamps. For nearly ten minutes the ride went smoothly. Then, suddenly, the lift cage lurched and stopped dead. Rassie Erasmus, the Mary Ann’s silver-haired attendant, was unworried. “Hold still,” Mario heard him say. “She’ll move in a minute.” Mario wasn’t so sure.…

OCTOBER 1975 ◆ A pre-season bather who found the ocean intolerably chilly stopped at a beachside cafe for hot coffee. “Cream? Sugar?” asked the waitress. “It doesn’t matter,” shuddered the bather. “I’m going to pour it on my feet.” NICK MORGAN ◆ The salesman mentioned that he had got three orders so far that day: “Get out. Stay out. And don’t come back.” CHARLES CARDEN ◆ A reporter asked the centenarian the inevitable question: “To what do you attribute your long life?” “Not sure yet,” the old-timer replied. “I’m still negotiating with a mattress company and two breakfast-food firms.” M.M. ◆ Teenage girl to friend: “It was so strange the way we met – we were introduced.” MELISSE ◆ I ran into a former neighbour and asked how our old…

JANUARY 1935 ◆ “Her ladyship makes a lovely corpse,” said the undertaker. “Lovely in life, lovely in death, is what I always say. It’s astonishing, the beauty that death brings out. My old grandfather, who was in the same line of business, told me that, and for 50 years I’ve confirmed the truth of his words. ‘Beauty in life,’ he used to say, ‘may come from good dressing and what-not, but for beauty in death you have to fall back on character.’ If I want to size a person up, I look at them and picture them dead.” V. SACKVILLE WEST, ALL PASSION SPENT ◆ Every educated person should know what his or her insides look like. It was not until I had attended a few post-mortems that I realised…

Mental health, like dandruff, crops up when you least expect it. There was the day, for instance, that I ducked into the supermarket with a scarf tied over my curlers, trying to look inconspicuous. I never go out with my hair in curlers. But visitors were arriving at short notice, and my emergency shelf was pared down to one jar of pickled onions and two tins of liver-flavoured dog food. Anyway, I wouldn’t meet anyone I knew. Please, not anyone neat I knew. But there was Helen, before the low-fat yoghurt display, immaculate in a coral linen pants suit. I slammed the shopping trolley into reverse and wheeled round, only to be greeted with “Hello there!” from my neighbour Liz, exquisitely slender in a turquoise shift. “Hi,” I returned feebly,…

I have ploughed, planted, cut harvests, pickled tea leaves and chopped wood in the isolated but beautiful countryside of Kuanhsi in Taiwan. But of all the chores that are a farmer’s lot here, crawling in a paddy field to rid it of weeds is, in my experience, the task that trains one best to develop a Spartan spirit. Nowadays, of course, the farmer need only use chemicals to kill weeds. It was not so when I was a boy some three decades ago. From the age of eight or so, I had to contribute my share of labour along with my father and two elder brothers, Yuh-hsien and Yuh-tang. Our family was too poor to afford paid labourers. Kneeling in a paddy field with a hat, a shirt and a pair…

It is the morning of December 6, 1983. The Grosvenor gallery of Sotheby’s auction house in London’s New Bond Street is packed. The air is stifling, the atmosphere tense. Fifteen camera teams have set up their equipment. About to be auctioned off before an international audience of 300 bibliophiles is “the most important treasure of the Middle Ages ever to be offered in the open market”: Henry the Lion’s Book of Gospels. Shining in gold, silver and purple, the book measures 34 by 26 centimetres and is more than 800 years old. It contains the four gospels in Latin, written by hand and illuminated in a labour that took many years to complete. Experts have estimated its value at between £2million-£4 million. About 11.45am, auctioneer Richard Came brings down his…

FROM THE BOOK BROKE THROUGH BRITAIN A powerful voice inside me whispered that I was being idiotic, that a man of 54 should have more sense. If I wanted to try walking 500 miles [800 kilometres] from Plymouth to Edinburgh without the security of a wallet, I should have done it years ago. I told the voice to shut up. The idea took root. As far as I knew, no one had done this before. A friend offered me Sam, her seven-year-old King Charles spaniel. “He’ll walk forever,” she said, “and people will like you.” Sam looked cuddly. Also, he would give me solace in hours of loneliness and I could snuggle up to him in the cold. I welcomed Sam as my companion. For practical tips on wandering destitute I…

1. calx – A: medical symbol that features two snakes and a staff. B: pivotal point in an argument. C: powder formed when a metal is heated. 2. gaze – A: break a promise. B: disagree using strong words. C: look steadily and intently. 3. razz – A: tease. B: add sparkle or glitter. C: bulldoze an entire area. 4. cyan – A: wistful yearning. B: greenish-blue colour. C: reddish-brown colour. 5. ankh – A: feeling of anxiety and depression. B: Egyptian symbol of life. C: abscess in a molar. 6. silt – A: fine dirt sediment. B: funnel for pouring cement. C: slippery undergarment. 7. quay – A: visible repair. B: thickened buttermilk. C: hard surface beside water. 8. apse – A: recess in a church. B: iron frame…

What a laugh! They expect us to give our seal of approval to their half-baked conservation plan! DAVID STEVENS Mum, can we go to the dive-in movie? RAJ SANEJA Seal of disapproval. CYNTHIA BRINKMAN Let’s seal it with a kiss! ROB WALKER Oh no, darling, not garlic prawns again last night? RUTH FELLOWS Congratulations to this month’s winner, Rob Walker. CAPTION CONTEST Come up with the funniest caption for the above photo and you could win $100. To enter, email editor@readersdigest.com.au or see details on page 8.…

‘DODIE’S DARLING DALMATIANS’ Like many of us, I grew up loving the Disney film 101 Dalmatians and its various off-shoots, but knew little about the book that inspired the film, and even less about the story behind it. It was fascinating to get a glimpse into the life of author and playwright Dodie Smith and her own beloved Dalmatians who provided the inspiration for this heartwarming tale.  ZOË MEUNIER, MANAGING EDITOR ‘MY ADVENTURES WITH A PAINT BRUSH’ is Winston Churchill’s account of how taking up painting enriched his life. It sharpened his focus and made him aware of colours and details in the landscape he would previously have not seen. His story opened my eyes to the wonders of nature, and the different hues of light and shade in plain sight that…

In a farmhouse at the foot of steep, green hills behind Gisbourne on North Island’s balmy east coast, an alarm clock shatters the 4.30am stillness. Murray Ball slides from his bed in the pitch black and brews a cup of tea before heading out back to his office, a barn-like building besieged by a Noah’s Ark of livestock. There, he sits at an inclined drawing-board to create another daily slice of mirth and mayhem for millions of New Zealand and Australian newspaper readers. By daybreak, the zany characters of Footrot Flats – Wal, Cooch, The Dog, a cat named Horse and all the others – will have sprung to life beneath the skilful pen of our best-known cartoonist. From a modest beginning ten years ago, Footrot Flats had rocketed into…

When I first encountered Minnie she had been dead ten years. Minnie’s husband, Tracy Garrett simply would not permit her to stay dead; so, in the most amazing way, she remained alive – a power in the community. Garrett was the Mr Fixit of a village in which I lived for two years. His shop-window housed a dust-covered collection of old locks, parts of clocks, bearings, gears and other odds and ends. He sharpened lawn mowers, repaired bicycles, did odd jobs of carpentering and plumbing. He was a wiry man of 55 with gnarled red hands, eyes as bright as a fox’s, and a stoop resulting from his years over work benches. There was an air of secret merriment about him not quite in keeping with the legend of his…

DECEMBER 1939 ◆ Child’s definition: an adult is one who has stopped growing except in the middle. ◆ It’s not how old you are but how you are old. MARIE DRESSLER ◆ Some men grow under responsibility, others only swell. ◆ Our barber looked at a young man’s sleek hair and asked if he wanted it cut, or just the oil changed. ◆ Our doctor calls them his ‘Impatients.’ WALTER WINCHELL ◆ Why is it that they always speak of a doctor ‘practising’? HERBERT SPENCER ◆ If you think politics is easy, try standing on a fence while keeping one ear to the ground. JUDGE ◆ An old saying: fish and visitors spoil after the third day. Nothing makes a toy more educational for a child than having his father…

Author Dodie Smith sat down nervously in the London cinema. It was Christmas 1960, and this was a special preview of Walt Disney’s animated film, 101 Dalmatians. What would Disney’s artists have made of her distinctively English story, The Hundred and One Dalmatians, written for English children, about dogs in England? From her time screenwriting in Hollywood, she knew how stories were adjusted in translation to the big screen. Dodie’s nervousness increased when she saw that instead of her young couple, Mr and Mrs Dearly, setting up home with their dogs Pongo and Missis Pongo, Disney had created a pipe-smoking, song-writing bachelor looking for a wife. But at least he lived in Regent’s Park, the very specific setting for the book and Dodie’s favourite place in London. And his dog…

Pete Richards was the loneliest man in town on the day Jean Grace opened his door. You may have seen something in the newspapers about the incident at the time it happened, although neither his name nor hers was published, nor was the full story told as I tell it here. Pete’s shop had come down to him from his grandfather. The little front window was strewn with a disarray of old-fashioned things: bracelets and lockets worn a century ago, gold rings and silver boxes, images of jade and ivory, porcelain figurines. On this winter’s afternoon a child was standing there, her forehead against the glass, earnest and enormous eyes studying each discarded treasure, as if she were looking for something quite special. Finally she straightened up with a satisfied…

Clive Wearing stares into space. But the moment his wife, Deborah, enters the room, his face lights up, and he springs to his feet. He pulls Deborah to him, then whirls her around, sending her strawberry-blonde curls flying. “You’re gorgeous. I adore you.” It is exactly what he says each time he sees her. “Isn’t she lovely?” he asks, kissing Deborah’s hands as she giggles. Minutes later, when Deborah steps away, the light goes out of Clive’s blue eyes. “Somebody told me my wife is here,” he says worriedly, “but I’ve never seen her. I’ve never seen a human being for 20 years. I’ve never seen anything, heard anything. Days and nights are exactly the same. Precisely like death. I’d like to be alive.” When Deborah first met Clive she…

AUGUST 1992 ◆ Arriving at my first job as an office temp, I sat down at the computer terminal and turned it on. Fortunately it was menu-driven, making it easy for me to use the software. The menu gave me three choices: 1. Go to Microsoft Word2. Go to DOS3. Go to the Bahamas Admitting the creative humour of the programmer. I smiled and, curious, chose the third option, the Bahamas. The computer screen responded: “Don’t you wish!” JEANNINE M. FERTIG ◆ As a real-estate agent, I often advise my clients how to make their houses more marketable. Two weeks after suggesting that one client do some repairs, I received a call from him. “I fixed the leaking roof, replaced the gutters and painted inside and out,” he told me.…

The title of ‘the most expensive book ever sold in the world’ is no longer held by Henry the Lion’s Book of Gospels. Today, that text is estimated to be worth US$30.73 million (inflation adjusted price), making it the world’s third-most-expensive book. The ‘most expensive book’ title is now held by Leonardo da Vinci’s Codex Leicester. The 72-page linen manuscript includes Leonardo’s theories and observations of the world, such as the movement of water, fossils and the luminosity of the moon. Estimated to be worth $54.4 million (IAP), the codex was sold for $30.8 million in 1994 to Bill Gates. He released some of its images as screen savers and wallpapers for Windows 98 Plus. The world’s second most expensive book is considered to be The Book of Mormon (Printer’s…

Movies King Richard Biopic Richard Williams (Will Smith) is father of tennis greats Serena (Demi Singleton) and Venus (Saniyya Sidney). The movie follows his dream and unwavering plan for his daughters to play tennis on the world stage (or court) – and leave the gang violence of the LA suburb the family of seven live in behind. Richard believes fiercely in his daughters’ talents and uses unconventional methods to get them there. This movie will make you laugh and cry (happy tears) in equal measure. A feel-good film. The Matrix Resurrections Sci-fi/Action The Matrix returns – 20 years after the first film was released – with the fourth instalment in the movie franchise. Neo (Keanu Reeves) and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) venture back into the Matrix and even deeper down the rabbit…