Tabla de contenidos para January 2023 en Readers Digest Australia

THIS YEAR’S ANNUAL CLASSICS COLLECTION is particularly special given it is the magazine’s 100th anniversary year. Peeling back the covers of the thousands of editions, published in numerous countries, and dating back to the first issue in February 1922, is always a task we enjoy doing. This collection offers a wide range of different subjects. Each one we hope will inform, delight, amuse and perhaps even confound our readers: from stepping inside the French artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s inner circle of friends (‘Renoir’s Invitation To A Party’, page 94), and then sharing the magic of the dawn of forensic science (‘How Test Tubes Solve Crimes’, page 122), to finding peace from depression in a solitary walk on the beach (‘The Day At The Beach’, page 114) and meeting a cat who…

THE GREAT BALLOON ESCAPE I love a good Cold War escape story, so naturally I was drawn to ‘The Great Balloon Escape’, which describes in terrifying detail how two East German families made a crazy plan to make their own hot-air balloon and fly to freedom. DIANE GODLEY, SENIOR EDITOR RENOIR’S INVITATION TO A PARTY Invitation to a party? Count me in! And especially if it’s a party on the banks of the River Seine in beautiful Paris. The Maison Fournaise of Chatou is where Pierre-Auguste Renoir painted his famous Luncheon of the Boating Party. It’s fascinating to discover who the bright young things depicted in this masterpiece actually were. HUGH HANSON, ART DIRECTOR A PRETTY GOOD TEACHER, FOR A CAT Anyone with a pet knows just how much joy…

GET EYE TESTS The eyes may be a window to the soul, but they can also be a window to our vascular health. “It’s one of the few places where you can look inside the body,” explains ophthalmologist Dr Colin Mann. For instance, since a branch of the carotid artery travels from the heart up each side of the neck and to the eyes, an optometrist can examine the blood vessels in the back of the eye to detect conditions that might not have manifested symptomatically. Narrow blood vessels in the retina could indicate high blood pressure; swelling of those same vessels might be a sign of diabetes. Left untreated, diabetes can lead to diabetic retinopathy, a condition in which high blood sugar levels damage blood vessels, eventually resulting in…

Gwyn, my youngest daughter, helped Tiger as we drove down the country road to the vet’s on what was to be his last Friday morning. Privately, both of us nursed a forlorn hope. We joked and laughed, trying to ignore the spectre that hovered over the cat sitting quietly in her arms. At 16, Tiger was old for a cat. In quiet dignity, he let Gwyn pet him, perhaps understanding that this was a special trip. I glanced at the two as I drove, and thought back to the day when Tiger first entered our lives. He had been a Christmas present to my second son. Brian, at six, wanted something that was his alone, something not handed down – as were his clothes and toys – from his older…

Seven people had just plunged to their deaths and 13 others huddled fearfully in crippled cable-cars suspended high above Singapore’s harbour. Any moment they could be torn loose from their frail hold on survival. As the afternoon drew towards a close on the resort island of Sentosa, hundreds of visitors began making their way to the cable-car station for the 1.75-kilometre trip back to Singapore. It was Saturday, January 29, 1983, and grey clouds were rolling in. Everyone hoped to beat the rain. At 5.50pm, seven members of a family from India boarded a brightred gondola and were lifted up over the South China Sea. From 54 metres above the jade-coloured waters of Singapore harbour, the view from the bubble-shaped car was breathtaking. Inside, Manmohan Kaur, 25, her mother-in-law, Pritam…

AUGUST 1931 ◆ Although not in the etiquette book, one must learn how to bow to the inevitable. BOSTON TRANSCRIPT ◆ A scientific expert says that fish kill mosquitoes. But who wants to keep fish on his pillow? PUNCH (LONDON) ◆ Golfer’s alibi for neglecting his business: “My doctor says I must take my iron every day.” BOSTON TRANSCRIPT Most of these love triangles turn into wrecktangles.BOSTON TRANSCRIPT MAY 1933 ◆ A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small package. ◆ About the only exercise some folks take is jumping at conclusions. ◆ Some men have a den in their home, while others just growl all over the house. NEW HAVEN REGISTER MAY 1938 ◆ The often-married movie star thinks that ‘a new groom sweeps clean’. LOS ANGELES…

Sorting through the mail one morning in the spring of 1987 in his comfortable home outside Austin, Texas, Duncan McNaughton spotted a letter from the wife of his old friend Bob Van Osdel. Pulling the note from the envelope, he began to read, and sadness crept over him. Bob, his friend for half a century, was dead at the age of 77. With the note was an obituary from the Los Angeles Times. As Duncan, then 76, read the headline – ‘Trojan Olympian Offered Costly Advice’ – his grief turned to anger. They’ve got it all wrong, he thought. As he sat down to write a note of condolence to Bob’s wife, his mind went back to the day when two young men took each other on in a heart-stopping high-jump…

It was nearly midnight by the time 19-year-old Amy Waldroop returned to her cramped Los Angeles apartment, and she was exhausted. After a full day’s work at a florist shop, she had put in another six hours waiting tables before heading home. Pushing the key into the lock, she quietly opened the door so as not to wake her younger siblings. She stepped into the front room, and froze. The apartment was a shambles: plates of half-eaten food were scattered in front of the TV; toys littered the floor; clothes, shoes and homework were strewn everywhere. Amy’s eyes welled with tears. This is just way too much for me, she thought. Her worst fears began to race through her mind. Soon she was sobbing. Would the court tell her she…

When Hollywood actress Katharine Hepburn arrived in New York for the rehearsals of the musical, Coco, she took a keen interest in every part of the production: choreography, casting, scenery, costumes, lighting and, of course, the theatre itself. Experienced professionals know that plays have failed because they were in the wrong theatre, one that was too large or too small, or simply not right. Kate has played virtually every size and shape of theatre, but was anxious to become acquainted with the one that had been booked for Coco. Producer Alan Jay Lerner and co-producer Freddie Brisson took Kate to see it a few days after she arrived in New York. After walking on the stage to study the auditorium and walking about the auditorium to study the stage, Kate…

Ten million people are planning to go fishing this summer. One million of them are already spending many hours over the selection of fancy lures, lines and rods, or exhausting themselves learning how to drop a fly lightly in the water so that it won’t sink. When they actually go fishing they will probably have no luck until they get a snarl on their line. While they are unsnarling it the fly will sink and a three-pound trout will grab the fly and catch himself. This will disconcert the angler, who thinks fish ought to play according to the rules. An additional five million anglers are pondering the colours of their casting plugs and arguing about the tints that fish like best. But fish are colour-blind. Millions of fishermen are…

1. What was the first superhero movie nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture? 1 point 2. What innovative comedy show did David Attenborough authorise to begin airing in 1969, when he was the BBC’s director of programmes? 1 point  3. What popular Reader’s Digest section did poet and publisher Wilfred Funk start in 1945? 1 point 4. What widely-used connectivity technology was named after tenth-century King Harald of Norway? 1 point 5. What historic first did UK man Walter Arnold achieve by driving 13 kilometres per hour in 1896? 1 point 6. What record did the Guinness Book of World Records earn in November 2004? 1 point 7. What is the logo for the Royal New Zealand Air Force? 1 point 1 8. In 2007, Allison Cirioli was…

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Wise Parents JUDITH CAINE While there are many birds that visit our leafy garden, it’s the pair of tawny frogmouths that have been returning for years to raise their young that bring the most excitement. It’s been wonderful to observe how both parents take on the serious duty of caring for their young. Last summer the frogmouth family, parents and two babies, was happily sitting in a gum tree close to our back deck enjoying the late afternoon sunshine. With little warning, dark clouds emerged, and light rain began to fall. At first the birds seemed to enjoy the rain and moved out along the branch, fluffing up their feathers to take advantage of the wet weather. But within minutes, day turned to night. Dark clouds unleashed a sudden ferocious…

In contrast to some of the rejuvenating skincare trends out there, topical vitamin A–based drugs called retinoids may reduce fine lines and wrinkles. Dermatologists consider tretinoin the gold standard for keeping skin smooth and glowing. Tretinoin is a vitamin A derivative called a retinoid. It was originally studied in the 1960s to treat keratotic disorders – conditions that cause the skin to become thick and painful. Researchers recognised that tretinoin also worked to fight acne and started prescribing it in the 1970s. By the 1980s, people were using it to treat fine lines, wrinkles and sun damage. Tretinoin is only available by prescription in topical creams and gels sold under brand names such as Retin-A, Renova and Avita. Dermatologist Dr Brooke Jackson says tretinoin works as an exfoliant, irritating skin…

One summer night in a seaside cottage, a small boy felt himself lifted from bed. Dazed with sleep, he heard his mother murmur about the lateness of the hour, heard his father laugh. Then, with the swiftness of a dream, he was borne in his father’s arms down the porch steps and out onto the beach. Overhead the sky blazed with stars. “Watch!” Incredibly, as his father spoke, one of the stars moved. In a streak of golden fire it flashed across the astonished heavens. And before the wonder of this could fade, another star leaped from its place, then another, plunging towards the restless sea. “What is it?” the child whispered. “Shooting stars. They come every year on a certain night in August. I thought you would like to…

Most of my life has been spent in getting to know animals. When I was five or six the animal was an ol’ houn’-dawg – one of the wisest persons in the world I thought at the time. I may have been right. Later it was rabbits, guinea pigs, white mice. Then in my adult life as a naturalist it has been deer, raccoons, skunks, foxes and a long parade of other wild animals observed in close intimacy outdoors. If I live to be 80 and still greet the mornings with a praise like prayer, it will be because I knew animals. They are very close, said Saint Francis, to the paternal heart of God. I think they must be. By instinct, an animal puts infinite trust in life. This…

Donna Ream glanced at the clock on the wall of the convenience store where she worked in Eugene, Oregon. It was 10.30pm on Sunday, April 10, 1994. Only half an hour more and I can close, she thought. As she wiped down the counter, Ream overheard her workmate, Fran Wall, talking to her husband on the public phone in an alcove. The two women, both 28 years old, were friends and neighbours in a nearby housing estate. “I’ll be home soon,” Wall told her husband. “I love you.” She hung up and went around the corner to the rear of the alcove, where the toilet, stockroom and walk-in cool room were located. Just then, Ream saw a young man outside the entrance. He was dressed in black, his long blond hair…

When my husband, Jerry, died of a brain tumour, I became angry. Life wasn’t fair. I hated being alone. By my third year of widowhood, my face had become a stiff mask. One day, driving down a busy road in my town, I noticed a new fence being built round a home I’d always admired. The house, well over a hundred years old, faded white with a large front verandah, had once sat back from a quiet street. Then the road was widened, traffic lights went up, and the town began to look like a city. Now the house had hardly any front garden at all. Still, that dirt garden was always swept clean and flowers burst forth from the hard ground. I began to notice a small, aproned woman…

APRIL 1958 ◆ There are only two ways to be unprejudiced and impartial. One is to be completely ignorant. The other is to be completely indifferent. Bias and prejudice are attitudes to be kept in hand, not attitudes to be avoided. CHARLES P. CURTIS IN A COMMONPLACE BOOK ◆ It’s hard to decide which are the most exasperating to be with – stupid people who never talk, or the bright people who never listen. SYDNEY J. HARRIS IN MAJORITY OF ONE JULY 1965 ◆ The world is a looking glass and gives back to every man the reflection of his own face. Frown at it, and it will in turn look sourly upon you; laugh at it and with it, and it is a jolly, kind companion. WILLIAM THACKERAY IN…

MONEY + LIFESTYLE 10 ways to upcycle old clothes Here’s how to take something old and repurpose it. You don’t need to be a sewing expert to give a garment a second life. WORK + HOME 9 simple tweaks to make your work space healthier From desks to lighting, tips to work in a more ergonomic way. TRAVEL 7 BREATHTAKING RIVER CRUISES AROUND THE WORLD Float down the Amazon or gaze at romantic castles; river cruises combine sight-seeing with leisure. ReadersDigestAustralia PLUS SIGN UP TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER FOR MORE HOT OFFERS, TOP STORIES AND PRIZES!…

Not long ago I entered one of those bleak periods that many of us encounter from time to time, a sudden drastic dip in the graph of living when everything goes stale and flat, energy wanes, enthusiasm dies. The effect on my work was frightening. Every morning I would clench my teeth and mutter: “Today life will take on some of its old meaning. You’ve got to break through this thing. You’ve got to!” But the barren days went by, and the paralysis grew worse. The time came when I knew I had to get help. The man I turned to was a doctor. Not a psychiatrist, just a regular doctor. He was older than I, and under his gruffness lay great wisdom and compassion. “I don’t know what’s wrong,”…

Wherever people are caged, some will always make a break for freedom. Over the years thousands risked death and imprisonment to flee the oppressive conditions of communist East Germany. They climbed the hated Berlin Wall, tunnelled beneath border barriers, and dived underwater at night to swim to asylum in the West. Many of them never made it. Some paid the ultimate penalty and died in the minefields or strung out on the wires of the ‘death strip’ along the border. But still they tried. This is the remarkable story of two East German families who, ten years before the Wall would come down, built a hot-air balloon – and dared to ride the wind to freedom. Settled among cornfields and green valleys with pine forests marching towards the horizon, the…

1. exposé – A: low neckline. B: camera lens. C: public disclosure. 2. pied-à-terre – A: second home. B: leisurely walk. C: small garden. 3. doppelgänger – A: mobster. B: cyclone. C: double. 4. née – A: unmarried. B: formerly known as… C: born-again. 5. soupçon – A: small amount. B: folk song. C: large kettle. 6. piñata – A: birthday party. B: decorated container. C: green salsa. 7. coup de grâce – A: rebellion. B: ballet step. C: final blow. 8. flambé – A: drench and ignite. B: top with custard. C: bring to a boil. 9. tête-à-tête – A: fistfight. B: private talk. C: drum solo. 10. mañana – A: immediately. B: long past. C: in the future. 11. maître d’ – A: dinner jacket. B: serving tray.…

Portrait Of A Queen The portrait of Queen Elizabeth II with Sparky on the front cover of Reader’s Digest (November 2022), by Michael Leonard, instantly reminded me of Leonardo da Vinci’s portrait of ‘The Mona Lisa’. Queen Elizabeth was a modest soul and receptive to the common person. When the Princess of Wales died, I composed a poem and sent it to the Queen. She thanked me through her Senior Correspondence Officer, which I proudly treasure. RIFAQUAT ALI We All Love The Digest When I was 15 my mother was given a subscription to Reader’s Digest by a pen friend. I loved reading it and consequently 12 months later when the subscription was up for renewal, I took over the payment. When I left home and settled in my own…

DISCOVER WHAT REALLY MATTERS I gave up working as a freelance researcher to stay with my old dog, Shira, until she dies. My priorities have changed. The time I spend with my dog now has become the most intense time of my life so far. As dog owners, we get a sudden fright when we realise that our pet is getting old. How much time do we have left? We don’t know when the end is coming. What we can do, though, is live and love to the full. And make every moment with our pets the most precious moment of our lives. Because that is all that matters. YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE PERFECT We humans sacrifice precious time and a great deal of money altering our appearance in our constant…

A CANCER-DETECTION BREAKTHROUGH A new magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique that makes cancerous tissue glow red could help doctors more accurately monitor cancer progression. Developed by Canadian researchers at the University of Waterloo, this technology – ‘synthetic correlated diffusion imaging’ – more accurately identified cancerous tissue in 200 prostate-cancer patients than a standard MRI could. The technique analyses differences in the way water molecules move in cancerous tissue compared to healthy tissue, and it has the potential to help detect prostate, breast and other types of cancer earlier. CLIMATE CHANGE WILL WORSEN ALLERGIES According to a US study, rising temperatures and increasing carbon dioxide levels resulting from climate change causes trees, grasses and weeds to begin producing pollen earlier, leading to longer and more intense allergy seasons. University of Michigan…

I was scratched by scrub and knee-deep in mud when we found it. Cleverly secreted in a bowl of tufted rushes and surrounded by dense tangle fern was the finely woven nest of a rare fernbird. Ornithologist Graeme Elliott used both hands to part the vegetation as we craned our necks to look inside the nest, little bigger than an eggcup. Neatly arranged within, partially obscured by a necklace of tiny feathers, were three speckled pinkish eggs, each no bigger than my thumbnail. “What a find!” Elliott whispered excitedly. “Incubation for fernbirds is only 12 and a half days and they nest only in swamps. There are not many left, because yours is one of the last undrained wetlands left in coastal Golden Bay.” I gazed at the little eggs,…

In the summer of 1880, guests assemble at the Restaurant Fournaise on an island in the Seine outside Paris. They will be immortalised by Impressionist painter Pierre Auguste Renoir. And his Luncheon of the Boating Party will become one of the world’s most popular works of art. I am convinced that one reason this painting compels our attention is that many of the people in it were Renoir’s friends. Today, over 100 years later, scholars still argue about the identities of some of the models. But the stories of the boating party invite us into the painter’s life. The muscular, bearded man on the left is Alphonse Fournaise, who was responsible for boat rentals at Restaurant Fournaise. His father opened the restaurant on Chatou Island (part of which is now…

The day my son Laurie started kindergarten he renounced corduroy overalls with bibs and began wearing blue jeans with a belt; I watched him go off the first morning with the older girl next door, seeing clearly that an era of my life was ended, my sweet-voiced nursery-school tot replaced by a long-trousered, swaggering character who forgot to stop at the corner and wave goodbye to me. He came home the same way, the front door slamming open, his cap on the floor, and the voice suddenly becoming raucous shouting, “Isn’t anybody here?” At lunch he spoke insolently to his father, spilled his baby sister’s milk, and remarked that his teacher said we were not to take the name of the Lord in vain. “How was school today?” I asked,…

FROM POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY Two men, good friends for years, had quarrelled. One night one of them, stepping out of his home, saw a man rise from a stooping position near the front porch and disappear. Under the porch he found a bundle of oil-soaked rags with a lighted piece of oil-soaked string to act as a fuse. The former friend was suspected, but he offered a good alibi, and the case seemed baulked. Twenty years ago it might have been. The oil-soaked string was taken to a chemist at Police Headquarters in New York, where recently has been installed one of the strangest laboratories in the world, a bureau of criminal science. High-powered microscopes, X-ray apparatus, ultraviolet light machines, remarkable photographic equipment and delicate instruments to identify mere specks,…