Two tags go to war...

I've been tagged for two different memes, so I'm combining...

(Local churchyard)

Birthday Meme: tagged by That Frolicsome Kid

Instructions to follow:
"Basically you have to type in the day and month of your birthday in Wikipedia and then list 3 events that happened on that day, 2 other birthdays on that day and 1 death. And then you have to tag 5 other bloggers. "

3 events:

1521: Martin Luther excommunicated by Roman Catholic Church
1924: The sarcophagus of Tutankhamen is discovered by Howard Carter
1959: Alaska becomes the 49th United State, bought from Russia



Three birthdays
(you're only supposed to do two, but I liked all three of these for different reasons!! :-)

1892: J.R Tolkien, English author
1909: Victor Borge, Danish comedian and musician
1956: Mel Gibson, Australian actor

1 death
(narrowing it down from the huge list on Wikipedia was hard,
but my choice was because I had an ancestor who was also a potter, but in Scotland):

1795 - Josiah Wedgwood, English potter (b. 1730)

I'll be tagging:

no-one, I'm too tired (only had a couple of hours sleep last night) and can't think who, and also there's an awful lot of memes going round at the moment, so I don't know how dosed up on them everyone is . Instead, I would highly recommend this to everyone... it was an interesting activity, which I enjoyed doing, and I think you might too. Leave a comment here if you've done it, and I will try and come see!

Education Meme: tagged by Kilroy

(click to enlarge...it's really quite good!)

What was the name of the teacher that was most influential in your life from grades K through 6?

Hmmm, I'm not absolutely sure what grade 6 is, but I'm going to cheat (don't I always! :-D) and say that I have two very influential teachers in my childhood.

The first was Mr Wilcox, in the last class of Primary school. He seemed ancient to me, but he wasn't as old as I'd thought (I found out many years later). Physically, he stood out because he had polio, and used crutches and leg supports to walk, but that wasn't what made him stand out in my memory. He loved life. He loved travel. He could mesmerise the class with his weaving of humour and action in his travel stories. He made learning something you didn't think about, but did because you just wanted to 'find out more'. He would explore ideas, and wouldn't treat children as stupid because they didn't know, or didn't 'get' something. I loved that man!

The second teacher was our class teacher in the first year of secondary school - Miss Anne Whitford. I think she was just out of training, and she had lots of enthusiasm and kindness to give. She would spend hours marking our work, writing long, helpful and encouraging words at the end of each and every piece. She was the one who encouraged me most in my writing.

Unfortunately, because she was so darned nice, we horrible little brat kids took advantage. I regularly took practical joke tricks into her class (like stink bomb, nail-through-the-finger and fake blood, pepper sweets and tongue-colour-change sweets... you know the kind of thing. I stood in front of the Head's door more times that year than any other time in my childhood!! :-S ).

The long and short of it was that she suffered from a breakdown half-way through the year (yes, I do believe we were the primary cause... and I was one of the good ones of the class!). We were all really upset when she left, and I believe tears were shed. We sent her some flowers and hoped she'd come back, but she never did.

What subject did you favor in high school?

The subject I liked best was art, but those teachers (who always know best) decided I should do German instead, because I was good at it, and it would be a better O level... looked better on the school too no doubt. I didn't like German all that much. Probably because it had usurped my favourite subject. I did go back to do my Art whilst I did my A levels, but it wasn't the same, and I didn't follow it on to A level, or even college, like I'd like to have done.

But the subject I favoured, in that I was 'good at it', was probably Maths, physics or Biology. I was good at all three, though I didn't do as well as I should have in them, because, like that Frolicsome Kid, I had difficulty finding the enthusiasm to study. And, also like FK, everyone always expected so much of me (I was top of the class for many things) that I often set myself up to fail. But I enjoyed biology and physics best out of the academic subjects, I guess.

Did you attend a university and if so did you attain a degree?

I went to Stirling University, Scotland. It was a lovely scenic spot, with the university campus set into the side of the Ochil Hills. I lived in many farm buildings / cottages while I was there. My degree major was in Psychology, and there was some biology and linguistics thrown in. Again, I didn't do as well as I could (probably explained by the all-night dancing and drinking, and sleeping through the lectures...if I got up for them!), but I got my degree, much good it did me.

Do you learn best through books, by watching or hands-on?

Oh, definitely books, books, books!! Although, when I started a teacher training course when the kids were little, I found at the college that 'hands on' was equally good. My preference is still, and always will be, for books.

Has education been an ongoing process for you? How do you feel about that?

Of course! Is this a trick question? Does anyone believe they know everything by the time they come out of school education? I still do courses, when I can. Sometimes for the sheer hell of it, sometimes because I think it might help me get a job. I've done such things as stained-glass window making; Danish (even though mum's Danish, she never taught us); spreadsheets/ book-keeping; writing; selling perfumes; computer studies.... etc. At present, I'm not trying very hard to learn Spanish, and next year I hope to do the Astronomy class at school.
Stopping learning's like stopping breathing...

What seven people are you tagging to do this?

Again, anyone who wants to, who feels they have something to say on this, or who just wants to do it so they can tag someone else!! :-D

And now...

...for the entertainment of of Mother of Invention, who keeps asking me what I look like now my hair's growing back (this is me in December), here's a couple of photos...

My hair's sticking up, and I've been sorely tempted to shave it off again for the last month, but I want some hair back again, so I'm persevering:

And Julia's hair's coming back now after chemo... (they had to stop because her blood had taken too much of a battering, and at present she's having radiotherapy to try and reduce the pain), and here she is last week, looking very glam:




A toast to my friend Julia - she's a brave, brave woman - and to all my blogging friends, who've stuck by me, even though I've been conspicuous by my absence!!

Hope you've all had / are having a great weekend! Cheers!

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