AUSTRALIA

NOVEMBER 2022
|

T R I BU T E
THE WORLD’S BEST LOVED MAGAZINE

Queen
Elizabeth II
1 9 2 6 -2
2022
|
readersdigest.com.au

NOVEMBER 2022 $6.50

 CONTENTS
NOVEMBER 2022

Features 44 60
drama in real life health
30 Trapped Down
A Well
Dementia
Warning Signals
queen elizabeth ii
(1926-2022) A father leaps into an Memory loss may not
The Queen’s Portrait icy cold well to save be the first indication
For her 60th birthday, his six year old. Now of Alzheimer’s disease.
a relaxed and friendly both are stuck MARK WITTEN
Queen Elizabeth II 20 metres down.
sat for a special ROBERT KIENER 72
painting. photo feature
52 Nothing But Sand
32 food for thought
Hamburgers
Wavy dunes or carved
sculptures, there is
When She
Was Princess The juicy history of beauty to be found in
As a young woman, how a meat patty was the grains of weathered
Princess Elizabeth sandwiched into a rock. DORIS KOCHANEK
was already bun, and then became
displaying a strong a fast-food classic. 78
DIANE GODLEY opinion
sense of duty – and
a will of her own.
Just Listen To Us!
WILLIAM W. WHITE
Young people from
40
LONDON; ILLUS TR ATION (BURNOUT) JAMES S TEINBERG

FROM LIFE around the world have

PHOTO: (COVER) © NATIONAL PORTR AIT GALLERY,

plenty to say on the

40 past, the present – and
health their futures.
Beyond Burnout
Ways to cope if you 88
are feeling stressed, humour
worried and I Got Organised
overwhelmed. The Chaotic Way
LESLIE FINLAY Sorting and tidying up
begins with disorder
ON THE COVER: THE QUEEN’S and large clumps of
PORTRAIT – PAGE 30
clutter. RICHARD GLOVER

readersdigest.com.au 1
 CONTENTS
NOVEMBER 2022 26
92 118
heroes how to Departments
The Movie Gets Learn A Language
A New Ending As An Adult the digest
A film producer You’re never too old 20 Pets
discovers the facts of to start speaking a 22 Health
a crime documentary foreign tongue. 28 News From The
World Of Medicine
don’t add up. EMILY GOODMAN
ADRIENNE FARR
141 RD Recommends

102 122 regulars

travel
culture Tempting Fate 4 Editor’s Note
Music Of The Heart At The Onbashira 6 Letters
Flamenco guitar is all Festival 12 My Story
about improvisation – Viewed as a test of 17 Smart Animals
and expressing the courage, this age-old 56 Look Twice
deepest emotions. festival in Japan is 98 Tell Me Why
LAVINIA SPALDING
one of its deadliest 100 Quotable Quotes
FROM AFAR
traditions.
112 PATRICK MURPHREY
FROM THE JAPAN TIMES
humour
50 Life’s Like That
quiz
A Very Special Juice 96 Laughter,
This vital fluid 130 The Best Medicine
110 All In A Day’s Work
carries nutrients to bonus read
the body. But how The Business Of Love
ILLUS TR ATION: GE T T Y IMAGES

The internet offers the genius section

much do you really
both romance and 146 Freeing Yourself
know about blood?
broken promises, as a 148 Puzzles
KIRSTIN VON ELM
widower searching 152 Trivia
for a new partner 154 Puzzle Answers
FOLLOW US
discovers to his cost. 155 Word Power
@ReadersDigestAustralia
HENNING SUSSEBACH

2 november 2022
R E A DER’S DIGE ST

EDITOR’S NOTE

A Global Impact
AMONG THE EXTRAORDINARY EVENTS OF 2022, the death of
Queen Elizabeth II sparked a global response. While any individual
born into royal privilege enjoys an opulent lifestyle, the Queen’s ability
to remain devoted to her family made her universally relatable. She, too,
withstood the constraints of lockdown, made harder by the loss of her
husband and family quarrels. While there is
criticism about the institution of monarchy,
even anti-monarchists declared themselves
impressed by the Queen herself.
Our tribute to Her Majesty is two-fold.
‘The Queen’s Portrait’ (page 30) offers details
into the story behind the Queen’s portrait
commissioned by Reader’s Digest in 1986.
‘When She Was Princess’ (page 32) portrays
the life of the then 19-year-old Princess
Elizabeth Windsor, first published in the
magazine in 1945. Both tributes offer unique
The then Princess Elizabeth
perspectives into this exceptional monarch. wearing her army uniform
We also visit a small village in the Japanese during WWII PHOTO: CAMER A PRESS (PHOTO BY CECIL BE ATON)
mountains to experience the Onbashira
Festival (‘Tempting Fate’, page 122), one of the world’s most
dangerous downhill celebrations; and try to persuade ‘grown-ups’
that it’s never too late to learn a foreign language (‘Learn A Language
As An Adult’, page 118).
These stories and much more in this month’s issue.
Happy reading,
LOUISE WATERSON
Editor-in-Chief

4 november 2022
 AUSTRALIA

AUSTRALIA

Vol. 203
No. 1210 T R I BU T E

November 2022
Queen
EDITORIAL
Elizabeth II
1 9 2 6-2
6 -20
-2 0 2 2
Editor-in-Chief Louise Waterson
Managing Editor Zoë Meunier
Chief Subeditor Melanie Egan
Art Director Hugh Hanson
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R E A DER’S DIGE ST

LETTERS
Reader’s Comments And Opinions

Budding Writer
My name is Lachlan Badowski and
I am nine years old. I like all the
Reader’s Digest magazines you
make. My mum has a subscription
and we read your magazines
together every month. My
favourite edition so far contained
‘I Survived!’ (July). It reminds me
of when I went to Tonga to visit my
aunty and we swam with the pen. I would like to win the prize
whales. Luckily we did not get so I can keep on writing letters to
eaten! I like writing letters and am my family around the world.
learning how to use a fountain LACHLAN BADOWSKI

Following A New Direction Celebrating With A Cycle Ride

‘Our Second Chance’ (My Story,
September) was a wonderful and
inspirational story. Mandy Poole
beautifully showed us how we can
change the direction of our lives
if we allow it. Often, adversity is
what motivates positive change.
We just have to be brave enough
to dive in and see where the new
direction leads us.
NAOMI MINTER
Reading ‘My Year of Playing
70 Sports’ (My Story, August)
reminded me of a somewhat similar
experience. I celebrated my 65th
birthday in February this year.
Leading up to the date, I regularly
rode my bicycle with the objective
of cycling 65 kilometres on my 65th
birthday.
When the day came, I started
early and rode 30km, after which

Let us know if you are moved – or provoked – by any item in the magazine,
share your thoughts. See page 8 to find how to join the discussion.

6 november 2022
 Letters

I took a short break and had a

light breakfast. Then I continued
and rode another 20km, which
completed my morning ride. My legs
were already sore but I managed to
ride 15km more in the afternoon to
achieve my objective.
I continue to ride my bicycle. I
am hoping to ride 70km on my 70th
birthday. BIRD BRAIN
DEMOSTHENES REDOBLE We asked you to think up a clever
caption to this photo.
Clever New Zealanders
On a wing and a hair. 
Trust the Kiwis to come up with the CHRIS RAMOS
brilliant idea of a courier pick-up One has to think a head when it
service for soft plastics (News Worth comes to nesting.
Sharing, August). I wonder what JULIET SCOBLE
else, other than fence posts, could I can tweet all day.
be manufactured with recycled soft KAVITHA SUKIRTHALINGAM

plastics? This is definitely the way of Dad told me this is the only way to
the future. WAYNE PICKERING pick up chicks.
CHRISTINA HATZIS

Congratulations to this month’s

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winner, Christina Hatzis.

FOUNTAIN PEN
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14K gold nib. Congratulations to Come up with the funniest caption
this month’s winner, for the above photo and you could win
Lachlan Badowski. $100. To enter, email
editor@readersdigest.com.au
or see details on page 8.

readersdigest.com.au 7
R E A DER’S DIGE ST
Concern During War
It was heartening to read about the
people who generously gave up their
time to assist the Ukrainian people
(‘Human Kindness Amid War’, July).
There is another notable person I’d
like to mention: Dmitry Muratov, a
Russian journalist, sold his Nobel
Peace Prize gold medal for a record
breaking A$150 million in June
this year. He gave the proceeds to
UNICEF to help children displaced
by the Ukraine war receive the
chance of a better future.
WENDY COOKSEY
Aid For Hearing Loss
We are so tired of shouting at our
grandfather. We have to repeat
ourselves again and again, and the
TV volume is turned so high that we
can’t hear our own voices. When I
read ‘New Help For Hearing Loss’
(August), it opened new possibilities.
The article is a problem-solver for me
and many others struggling with the
hearing problems of the elderly.
MALEEHA HARIS
Just My Luck
I read with interest ‘Can You Change
Your Luck?’ (August). I have always
tried to have a ‘half-full’ approach
to life but admit that sometimes the
day-to-day challenges can dim this
notion. Professor Wiseman’s advice,
that if you are relaxed, happy and
flexible, your world view becomes
bigger, is my new mantra. ELISE MILSON
8 november 2022
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 MY STORY
Shooting
Stars
Gazing up at the night
sky during a meteor shower
throws out more than
just light
BY Samantha Kent
I
get up in the dark hours of the
morning for three reasons only:
to attend ANZAC Day service,
to catch a cheap flight, or to
witness an astronomical event.
It was the last of these three that
prompted me to set my alarm for
3.30am on Sunday May 8 this year.
My success rate with astronomical
events has been low because of
rain, cloud cover and Sydney’s light
pollution – which renders the night
sky a dull, flat, grey surface against
which only a few stars manage
to shine. But the biggest obstacle
has been my dislike of waking up
in the dark and getting out of my
warm bed. This particular Sunday,
I surprised myself when I got up
when my alarm sounded.
12 november 2022
That they are elusive, erratic and
startlingly fleeting makes shooting
stars (actually meteor showers)
one of my favourite astronomical
phenomena. The last time I tried
to see some, I stood in a cold,
deserted street but instead of
shooting stars I spotted Elon Musk
satellites, moving in a slow, orderly
fashion across the sky like a string
of beads. They were eye-catching
but not magical.
A newspaper article had reported
that the annual Eta Aquarid meteor
shower was going to be at its peak
PHOTO: GE T T Y IMAGES
that weekend. But how could
something that shoots through
space and disappears in a split
second be predictable and annual?
My confusion prompted me to do

some research: shooting stars are
actually stationary objects set in
motion only when our atmosphere
smashes into them and burns
them up. Of the different clusters of
meteors, the Aquarids are the debris
left behind by Halley’s Comet. They
have been suspended in a particular
part of the Milky Way galaxy for the
last few hundred years. And every
time the Earth collides with them,
more of them are incinerated.
THE MILKY WAY
I was staying
at my boyfriend’s
property in the Blue WAS BLAZING IN A
Mountains, west
CLOUD-FREE SKY
AND WITHIN SECONDS
of Sydney. That
morning it was so
cold, I got out of bed A SHOOTING STAR
before I had time to SPED ACROSS MY
FIELD OF VIEW
change my mind. I
grabbed a jacket and
scarf and headed
outside, pausing at the corner of
the cottage to look up. The Milky
Way was blazing in a cloud-free
sky and within seconds a shooting
star sped across my field of view.
Figuring it could be the real thing
this time, I woke up my boyfriend
and promised him it would be worth
his while. He had been nowhere
near as keen as me and was yet to be
convinced that bed was not the best
Samantha Kent lives in Sydney’s inner west.
She is an editor in the book publishing
industry and her passions, besides star
gazing, are travel and ocean swimming.
My Story
place to be at that moment.
We were going to need camp
beds, pillows and blankets to stay
for the show. We picked a spot in
the middle of his block and lugged
our equipment over, with me
managing to jam my finger in the
bed in my haste to set up. I lay down
and pulled the blanket around
my face. The stand of gum trees
behind was sheltering us from the
wind but a stray chill breeze rushed
across my cheek.
The neighbour’s
house across the
way was dark.
From somewhere
in the trees came
the unfamiliar call
of a night bird. An
emptiness in the
air told me we were
alone.
Only a minute later I saw the
next shooting star. I interrupted my
boyfriend’s grumbling about the
cold to shout “There!”
“Where?”
“Over there!” I said, pointing (as
though pointing could help).
“There’s another!” (He was
starting to get excited.)
The rewards were coming from all
directions now; we notched up some
ten more stars within minutes, most
vanishing before one of us could
draw the other’s attention, some
leaving long, bright tails burning in
their wake.
readersdigest.com.au 13
R E A DER’S DIGE ST
I travel to the Blue Mountains
most weekends and make a habit
out of glancing up at the sky at
night – it’s so strikingly different
from the skies I see in Sydney –
but I had never spent more than a
minute gazing into it before, and
the shooting star
count was already a
personal record.
WITH SUCH A
We continued LARGE AREA TO
keeping score and SCAN, AND KEEN NOT
after a while I noticed
that the Milky Way –
TO MISS THE BEST
which had been lined STAR TRAILS,
up with us earlier I HAD TO STAY ALERT
– had shifted across
us at an angle. The
Earth is said to move relative to the
Milky Way at a rate of 210 kilometres
per second, but I’d never registered
this movement. That it had always
appeared fixed was testament only
to my failure to pay it any attention.
With such a large area to scan,
and keen not to miss the best star
trails, I had to stay alert. Looking
intently into the night sky for a
length of time instead of glancing at
it as I’m rushing from one moment
to the next was making me focus on
the thousands of visible pinpricks of
light in a way I never had before. My
appreciation of how many different
degrees of brightness there are
between stars, of how many slightly
different shapes they take, and of
how the black spaces in between
seem to be of varying depths was
14 november 2022
completely new. The idea that
the light I was seeing was many
billions of years old was suddenly
chillingly real.
An hour passed and I could
begin to understand how staring
into billions of years of evolution
preserved in one
single night sky –
suspended forever
over our daily
humdrum lives
and continuing
unaffected by the
events on our small
planet – might make
a person lose their
mind. The universe
is oblivious to us and most of us, in
turn, are oblivious to the history
of the tumultuous events the night
sky represents. But in just a single
hour we can perceive either the
infinite significance or the infinite
meaningless of existence – or both –
whichever way you choose to view it.
An hour and a half – and several
dozens of shooting stars – later, my
boyfriend and I were cold and
figured we had seen enough – if that
was even possible. Exhilarated at
what had felt like our own private
show, we picked up our pillows and
blankets and headed back to bed.
Do you have a tale to tell? We’ll pay
cash for any original and unpublished
story we print. See page 8 for details
on how to contribute.
 SMART ANIMALS
Some animals have a powerful presence
Fluffy, The Dog-Rider
CAROLE LAWRENCE
When I grew up, we had a beautiful,
long-haired, brown cat called Fluffy.
She was the most eccentric and
obsessive cat I have ever known.
When she had kittens, one of
them had fluffy ginger fur so I
named him Sandy. Fluffy had three
other kittens in the litter besides
Sandy, but she would spend more
time washing and grooming Sandy
ILLUS TR ATIONS: GE T T Y IMAGES
than the other kittens. So Sandy
turned into a real mummy’s boy, a
great big sook. If another cat even
dared to look in his direction, or
come close to Sandy, Fluffy would
go at it and fur would fly!
Fluffy never lost a fight; she was a
real champion fighter. One day a very
large dog, an Alsatian, came into the
backyard with its owner who’d come
to see my dad about some work.
Fluffy was sitting on the top of the
fence in a crouching position when
the man and his dog innocently
walked underneath her. She jumped
onto the Alsatian’s back and dug her
claws in. The poor dog didn’t know
what hit him. He took off back down
the path yelping, with Fluffy riding
on his back. His owner called him,
but the dog wouldn’t return. >>
You could earn cash by telling us
about the antics of unique pets or
wildlife. Turn to page 8 for details
on how to contribute.
readersdigest.com.au 17
R E A DER’S DIGE ST

>> Fluffy, however, waltzed

back up the driveway, her tail held
straight up in the air, with every bit
of fur in place as if she had just won
first prize at a cat show.
Run, Rabbit, Run!
CHRISTINA MAXWELL

My father retired in the spring of an unusual event occurred in

1981 to live in a house with a tiny
garden in the small British seaside
town of Birchington. Since he
always loved working with soil, he
was able to rent an allotment to
nurture from the local council.
Most days he would drive over
to his plot and tend to his carrots,
beans, tomatoes and radishes with
great enthusiasm. He had a small
shed situated on the edge of his
allotment and this contained his
well-worn garden tools and an old
wicker chair that he would sit on to
gaze at the results of his hard work.
Unfortunately, by the early 1990s,
his strength was diminishing.
Although the other gardeners
were sympathetic at first, they
complained to the council when his
previously immaculate allotment
began to show signs of decay, and he
received a notice to vacate the land. 
He brought all his tools back
home, left the shed and wicker chair
for the new gardener and never
returned to his allotment again. His
health deteriorated after that and he
sadly passed away not long after.
But at the time of his passing,
this coastal town. Birchington
had apparently never seen mass
sightings of rabbits or hares before.
However, on this particular evening,
several hundred rabbits arrived en
masse and ate their way through
every vegetable, flower and leaf in
the 50-plus allotments. 
When the gardeners arrived the
following day, there was nothing left
except stubble. The council decided
to close the allotments. Although
people searched for the rabbits to
euthanise them, none were ever
found.
Perhaps these rabbits
sympathised with my dad. Some
people believed that since he was
such an animal lover, he sent a
message from beyond the grave.
‘Run, Rabbit, Run’ was one of his
favourite wartime songs.

18 november 2022
R E A DER’S DIGE ST

PETS

Teaching Kids Pet Care

Children who have pets enjoy a special learning experience
BY Dr Katrina Warren

THERE IS OFTEN A VERY SPECIAL BOND between

children and pets. Growing up with a family pet can
be a wonderful experience for a child. Research has
even found that pets can be beneficial for childhood
development and health by teaching responsibility,
reducing the risk of allergies and encouraging exercise.
Veterinarian Dr Katrina Warren shares her top tips for
managing children and pets.

BEFORE BRINGING HOME A NEW PET, you should

Our regular pet discuss basic ground rules that the whole family agrees
columnist, on. Read some age-appropriate books about the type
Dr Katrina Warren,
of pet you are getting and ask your children to answer
is an established
and trusted
basic questions about what will be involved in looking
animal expert. after that pet.

ALWAYS SUPERVISE YOUNG CHILDREN AND

PETS, and if you can’t supervise then be sure to
separate them. Never leave a young child unsupervised
with any pet, even when it’s your own well-loved and
trusted dog. Dog bites to children are mostly inflicted
by their own dog or the dog of a friend or neighbour.

PETS WILL APPRECIATE A SAFE PLACE that is out

of bounds to children. For puppies and dogs, this could
be a crate or playpen, for kittens and cats, a climbing

20 november 2022
 Pets

tree or spare bedroom. Cats

should also have a bed, litter
tray and food and water bowls
in an area that is off limits to
the kids. Teach children to
respect the pet’s privacy and
to only interact when the pet
comes to them, not the other
way around. 
TEACH KIDS THAT PETS
AREN’T TOYS. Young
children should not be allowed to
pick up their pet, and older kids
from seven years of age should
only be allowed to pick up pets
under supervision. When patting or
playing with pets be sure children
are always sitting on the floor, not
wandering around holding the
pet. Teach kids to let go of a pet
instead of trying to force them to do
something they don’t want to do.  role of the vet in pet health and
KIDS CAN HELP IN EVERYDAY
PET CARE. Younger children can
help fill the water bowl and older
ones can take care of feeding and
grooming or changing the litter tray.
This is a great way to teach lessons
Children need to learn appropriate
behaviour around pets
in basic pet hygiene by reminding
your children to always wash their
hands after handling their pet.
TEACH CHILDREN ABOUT
ANIMAL HEALTH and the
responsibility of caring for a pet
by encouraging the whole family
to come on trips to the vet. This
also allows kids to understand the
the importance of regular check-
ups. Enrolling a new puppy into
puppy classes can provide a great
opportunity for children to learn
about the needs of their puppy and
understand that puppies also need
to learn good manners.

TOP TIPS FOR SAFE PET PLAY

PHOTO: GE T T Y IMAGES

• Pets may be cuddly, • Young children can • Don’t allow rough play
but they can also cause accidentally injure an with puppies or dogs as
injury by biting and animal during playtime this will increase the
scratching if they are by dropping or chance of them nipping
not handled correctly. squeezing it too hard. and jumping.

readersdigest.com.au 21
 HEALTH

Easy
Ways
To Sleep
Better
Especially when stress
is keeping you up

BY Nicole Pajer
FROM THE A ARP BULLETIN

W
ith everything going
on in the world
these days, it’s no
wonder so many of
us are struggling to sleep. Almost
40 per cent of people surveyed in
13 countries have reported sleep
issues over the past two years,
according to research in the Journal
of Clinical Sleep Medicine. It’s normal
we tend to wake up more, snooze
for shorter periods, and get less
sleep than younger people. Simple
steps such as setting the thermostat
between 15.5 and 19.5 degrees
Celsius at night and turning off
screens 30 minutes before bedtime
can help, as can the following tips.
1. TEST YOUR PILLOW
PHOTOS: GE T T Y IMAGES

to wake up at night, especially as you If you bought your pillow in 2020,

age, but negative news can activate
your mind and make it hard to fall
back asleep.
Even if you’re not up late fretting,
sleeping can be a struggle. By age 60,
guess what? It’s already old. Sleep
experts recommend replacing
pillows every one to two years. A
pillow past its prime can cause neck
and shoulder pain – and restless

22 november 2022
R E A DER’S DIGE ST
sleep. “When your brain is sending
pain signals, it can’t also send sleep
signals,” says Dr Michael J. Breus,
a clinical psychologist and sleep
specialist.
To buy the right pillow, determine
your sleep style. If you sleep on your
back, look for a thinner pillow made
of supportive foam. If you sleep on
your side, a thicker pillow is better.
2. GET AN HOUR OF
SUNLIGHT EACH DAY
Morning sunlight is important
for good sleep. “It turns off the
melatonin tap in your brain, which
helps relieve the groggy morning
feeling,” Dr Breus says. It also sets a
mental timer to produce melatonin,
the so-called sleep hormone, that
evening.
To get more rays, aim for 15 to
30 minutes of direct light in the
morning. Next, take two 15-minute
outdoor breaks during the day.
The light cues your brain that it’s
time to be awake and prevents you
from producing melatonin before
bedtime. When you’re inside, open
the curtains.
3. SKIP SALTY SNACKS
BEFORE BED
Want to reduce those annoying
night-time trips to the bathroom?
Cut back on salty snacks, such as
potato chips. In a Japanese study,
researchers followed 321 patients
with high-salt diets and sleep issues
24 november 2022
for 12 weeks. When people cut down
on salt, their average bathroom trips
decreased from twice a night to once.
Those who consumed more salt
woke up more frequently to go to the
bathroom.
The urge to urinate late at night
(known as nocturia) can make it
harder to fall back to sleep, leading to
fatigue, increased napping and even
depression, says Dr Rafael Pelayo, a
clinical professor of psychiatry and
behavioural sciences and the author
of How to Sleep.
4. TACKLE YOUR TROUBLES
BEFORE DINNER
If you need an airing of grievances
with your spouse, don’t wait until
night-time. Tough discussions are
less likely to disrupt your slumber if
you initiate them earlier rather than
later.
“Right before dinner is a good
time to work things out,” says Ashley
Mason, an associate professor
of psychiatry at the University of
California, San Francisco. If you
start an argument after dinner,
your quarrelling can continue until
bedtime. That’s a problem because
arguments can activate your
sympathetic nervous system, which
can disturb sleep.
Some research even suggests that
going to bed angry may make you
surly the next morning.
FROM THE AARP BULLETIN (DECEMBER 2021) ©
2021 BY AARP
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HEALTH
7 Reasons
To Try
TAI CHI
BY The Editors
1 Tai chi is good for both body
and mind This gentle martial
art originated in China. It’s called
‘meditation in motion’ because it
involves slow movements with a focus
on breathing and on what your body
is doing in that moment. You can go at
your own pace.
2 It’s easy on the body Tai chi is
suitable for all ages and levels
of fitness. It is low impact, meaning
there is minimal risk of damage to
your joints. Muscles are relaxed and
there is no stretching or straining. It’s
an exercise that can be easily adapted
for less able people, including those in
wheelchairs.
3 It could prevent falls A 2019
review of studies suggested that
tai chi might reduce the risk of falls in
older people. Certainly, the emphasis
26 november 2022
is on balance, with sideways
and backwards movements
helping to strengthen
muscles required for good
stability. It also improves
flexibility and spatial
awareness.
4 It may reduce pain
A small body of
research indicates that doing
tai chi on a regular basis can
help alleviate knee osteoarthritis,
fibromyalgia and lower back pain.
5 Tai chi compares with brisk
walking and resistance training
This might be difficult to believe, as tai
chi is so slow and smooth, but it can
improve upper-body strength, thanks
to the unsupported arm movements
it involves, as well as lower-body
strength when practised regularly.
6 It may boost brain power
Benefits aren’t just physical.
Studies have found that regular tai chi
can improve cognitive functioning
in older people, including those with
dementia. Given that it’s considered
safe and suitable for the elderly, this is
a definite benefit.
ILLUS TR ATION: GE T T Y IMAGES
7 It has the feel-good factor A
reduction in stress and anxiety,
and increased confidence, are other
mental health benefits of tai chi,
according to research, although
further studies are needed.
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R E A DER’S DIGE ST
News From The
WORLD OF MEDICINE
EYE DROPS THAT REPLACE
READING GLASSES
The first prescription eye drops to
treat age-related far-sightedness,
also known as presbyopia, were
recently approved by the US Food
and Drug Administration. This
promising development could
potentially replace reading glasses
for up to 1.8 billion people globally.
The eye drops work by reducing
your pupil size and expanding your
depth of focus so you can see close-
up objects more clearly. They may be
best suited for people in their 40s and
50s, since they are less effective for
those with advanced presbyopia.
A DOLLOP OF YOGHURT
LOWERS BLOOD PRESSURE
A study at the University of South
Australia and the University of
Maine found that people with
elevated blood pressure
(greater than or equal
to 140/90 mmHg, the
normal level being
less than 120/80)
who regularly
consumed yoghurt
lowered their
readings by nearly
28 november 2022
seven points. The dairy product
may have this heart-healthy effect
because it contains bacteria that
promote the release of proteins that
lower blood pressure.
REDUCING STRESS MAY SLOW
DOWN AGEING
Scientists have begun tracking
changes in DNA as people get older
and found that this measurement of
‘biological age’ can predict a person’s
health and lifespan better than age
counted in years.
Researchers at Yale University used
a tool called GrimAge to investigate
whether chronic stress accelerates
ageing and if there are ways to slow
it down. The study found that
cumulative stress does indeed make
a healthy person’s biological clock
accelerate – and can even cause it to
move at a faster rate than other
risk factors, such as being
overweight. People who
experienced prolonged
stress but scored
IMAGE: VECTEEZ Y.COM
high in emotional
regulation and self-
control were more
resilient to stress’s
negative effects.
 Gut Health
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 QUEEN ELIZABETH II
(1926-2022)

THE QUEEN’S

Portrait
Looking back to a special Reader’s Digest moment

PHOTOS: RE ADER’S DIGES T, © NATIONAL PORTR AIT GALLERY, LONDON, W W W,NPG.ORG.UK.

T
he beautiful image of
Q ue en E l i z abet h I I
t hat features on t he
cover of this issue has
specia l sig nif ica nce
to our magazine, as
it was commissioned by Reader’s
Digest to celebrate Her Majesty’s
60th birthday on April 21, 1986.
Unlike most royal portrait paint-
er s, M ichael L eona rd took no
sketch-book or paintbrush w ith
him to Buckingham Palace. The
sittings took place in the summer
of 1985, and for his sittings with
the Queen in the Yellow Drawing
Room, Leonard was equipped with
only a camera.
“Photographs provide all the in- Reader’s Digest UK April 1986
formation I need,” he told Reader’s featuring the Queen’s Portrait

30 november 2022
 “I want to give the
viewer the feeling of
having a conversation
with the Queen
– to convey royalty
combined with
human warmth”
Digest at the time. “I have to take
them myself, though.”
During the 25-minute sittings,
Leonard took more than 100 pic-
tures as the Queen, rela xed and
friendly, sat on the sofa with her
eight-year-old corgi, Sparky. Later,
in Leonard’s west London studio, he
chose six of the photos to amalgam-
ate into his painting.
The 76-centimetre-high portrait
is in acrylic paint on canvas, a tech-
nique Leonard used throughout his
Her Majesty has graced the covers of
Reader’s Digest numerous times
Artist Michael Leonard with the
portrait in his studio
career, which established him, at 52,
in the forefront of Britain’s figura-
tive artists. His use of photographs
heightens the realism and immedi-
acy conveyed in the portrait.
At the time of painting Her Maj-
esty, Leonard said about his royal
portrait: “I want to give the viewer
the feeling of having a conversation
with the Queen – to convey royalty
combined with human warmth.”
T h is specia l ly com m issioned
Reader’s Digest portrait was pub-
lished on the cover of the April 1986
British edition. It was presented to
the National Portrait Gallery in 1986
by the Reader’s Digest Association,
where it remains to this day.
Accord i ng to t he Ga l ler y, t he
Queen was associated with 967 por-
traits in her lifetime. Some are icon-
ic, others abstract and some are
controversial. Our research con-
firms this is Sparky’s only official
portrait.
readersdigest.com.au 31
R E A DER’S DIGE ST

Princess Elizabeth
writing at her desk
in Windsor Castle in
May 1944. She had
just turned 18

32 november 2022
 QUEEN ELIZABETH II
(1926-2022)

When
She
Was
Princess
A 1945 perspective of the woman who
would become Queen Elizabeth II
BY William W. White

P U B L I S H E D I N R E A D E R ’ S D I G E S T I N N O V E M B E R 19 4 5
A S ‘ P R I N C E S S E L I Z A B E T H ’. C O N D E N S E D F R O M T H E PA G E S O F L I F E

readersdigest.com.au 33
O
On September 8, 2022, Queen Elizabeth II died peacefully at her
Scottish castle in Balmoral. The days and weeks that followed her
passing witnessed much regalia, tradition and tears. This year also
marked her Platinum Jubilee: 70 years since she ascended the throne
in 1952 at the age of 25 after the death of her father, George VI.
It was the start of the longest reign of any British monarch in history.
Hers was an extraordinary life and one that even she could never
have envisaged. This article was written in 1945, at the end of World
War II, two years before Elizabeth married Prince Philip.
PRINCESS ELIZABETH ALEXANDRA
MARY WINDSOR will someday claim
the allegiance of 489,000,000 of the
world’s population when she takes her
full title: Elizabeth II, by the Grace of
an over-presumptive minister, “I will
have here but one mistress and no
master” – that there is not much left.
What is left is the power of creating
peers, a never-used veto as head of the
God, of Great Britain, Ireland, and the Privy Council, and the rather dubious
British Dominions beyond the Seas, honour of naming a Prime Minister
Queen, Defender of the Faith and who has already been chosen by the
Empress of India. She recently saw British electorate.
her sceptred isle go through the tur- At present, as heiress presumptive
moil of sudden political change when (as long as her father lives it is pre-
Winston Churchill lost the election in sumed he may have a male heir) Prin-
July, just two months after he declared cess Elizabeth has no powers, no royal
VE Day. Her one recorded comment duties of state, and no constitutional
when she learned that her good friend functions. When she becomes Queen
had been snowed under an avalanche her most vital contribution will be that
of leftist votes was, “Oh, bother.” of a symbol of continuity. Govern-
This is not to say that the events of ments may fall, parties may dissolve,
the day were altogether lost on Eliza- but the Crown goes on forever. In that
beth. She has been educated to think fairly certain knowledge the British
very seriously while saying very little. find an unconscionable pleasure. The
At 19 she is already carefully Crown remains one of the few expens-
coached and acutely conscious of es the British bear without grumbling.
the duties, dignities and limitations So far, Elizabeth has shown every
of a throne – especially the limita- prospect of living up to a prediction
tions. The British have whittled away made recently by one of Britain’s el-
at the powers invested in the Crown der statesmen: “She has intelligence,
so diligently since four centuries ear- personality and charm. She will be a
lier – when Queen Elizabeth I said to good Queen. She may even be a great

34 november 2022
 one.” Good Queen or great, she
will be an attractive one. Man-
nequin height (5 feet 6½ inch-
es), Elizabeth has inherited from
her Hanoverian antecedents an
ample figure, a lovely rose-and-
cream complexion, good white
teeth, and a sturdy constitution.
Unfortunately, she is not photo-
genic because her chief attrac-
tion lies in her colouring. Her
regal bearing reminds old-tim-
ers of her grandmother, Queen
Mary.
Less lighthearted than her at-
tractive 15-year-old sister Mar-
garet Rose, whose superb mim-
icry of visiting dignitaries has
PHOTOS, PRE VIOUS SPRE AD AND THIS ONE: LISA SHERIDAN/S TUDIO LISA/GE T T Y IMAGES

more than once caused gales The two sisters outside Windsor Castle in April
of laughter at the royal dinner 1942: Elizabeth, left, 15; Margaret, 12
table, Princess Elizabeth has
already shown traits which indicate the women’s auxiliaries (known as
she has a mind of her own. A year the Auxiliary Territorial Service, or
ago when, like her subjects-to-be, she ATS). But Betts had other ideas, and
became due for national service, the not long afterwards the Palace made
King ruled after long deliberations a straight-faced announcement that
with his councillors that her training the King “had been pleased to grant
as a princess outweighed the nation’s an honorary commission as second
increasing manpower problems and subaltern in the ATS to Her Royal
that ‘Betts’ should not join any of Highness the Princess Elizabeth.”
Elizabeth passed her driving course
The King ruled in two days less than the prescribed
time, after attending lectures and get-
that she couldn’t ting her hands greasy dismantling en-
join the women’s gines. Most of the students finish this
auxiliaries. ‘Betts’ ATS driving course by driving to Lon-
don for the experience. It was ruled
had other ideas that Elizabeth should not, since the
risks of a smash involving the heiress

readersdigest.com.au 35
R E A DER’S DIGE ST
presumptive would be too great. But
while the wheels of government were
churning out that ponderous deci-
sion, Elizabeth was driving a cam-
ouflaged army vehicle up to London
from the country. She arrived at the
Palace after making two complete
circuits of Piccadilly Circus in the
rush hour “to get in as much traffic
as I could.”
When Elizabeth embarks on a ven-
ture it completely dominates her life.
Thus, while she was at the driving
school the royal dinner-table conver-
sation was centred around spark plugs
and engine performance. Currently
the major topic of conversation – as
far as Elizabeth can guide it – is horses. the Protestant faith. If and when she
She hopes to have her own stable in a
year or so and race against her father.
While in the women’s branch of the British
Army in 1945, young Elizabeth learned how
to service military vehicles
36 november 2022
At dances in Mayfair private hous-
es, which Elizabeth frequently at-
tends accompanied by her lone lady
in waiting – and from which she
has been known to return as late as
3am – she dances with many dif-
ferent young gallants and favours
no one in particular. But the names
of several young peers keep recur-
ring constantly. Handsome, blond,
29-year-old Lord Wyfold, the young
Earl of Euston, or the good-looking
Duke of Rutland are the usual three.
Elizabeth is bound by the provisions
of the Royal Succession Act to marry
only with the consent of her father
in council and not to marry outside
marries, her husband, on her acces-
sion to the throne, would not be king
but prince consort, like Victo-
ria’s Albert of Saxe-Cobourg.
The number of eligibles who
would care for this subordinate
role is problematical.
Elizabeth’s first official pub-
lic tour after her father became
king was in Wales. Instead of
appearing in the stately set-
ting of an evening Court at the
Palace, the Princess made her
debut in the orange glow of
furnace fires in a Welsh tin-
plate mill. Since then she has
made many appearances with
her family and by herself; she
has done two radio talks and
made a dozen speeches.
Elizabeth’s most important
 When She Was Princess

It was a cold,
grey day, but
Elizabeth confessed,
“I’m too nervous to
feel the cold”

engagement so far was the launching

of Britain’s newest and greatest bat-
tleship, H.M.S. Vanguard. Although it
was a cold, grey day and she confessed
to a nearby official, “I’m too nervous
to feel the cold,” she went through the
ceremony without a flaw. Only later
did she show she was more woman
than princess. She had been present-
ed with a beautiful diamond brooch
Princess Elizabeth playing tag with Navy
and while the chairman was labouring officers en route to South Africa with her
through a ponderous speech of wel- parents and sister in early 1947
come, Elizabeth sat quietly turning the
Rose-of-England-shaped brooch over of talking intelligently to the various
and over in her hands, admiring it for visitors at Court, and young Elizabeth
all she was worth. learned early her most difficult les-
Elizabeth’s training has been ardu- son – that she must appear to be en-
ous. ‘Grandmamma England’ – Queen joying the talk, however dull. So that
Mary – seems to have had a firm hand she might be well informed or curi-
with young Elizabeth, and she got in ous about many subjects, her grand-
return more respect from little Betts mother trotted little Elizabeth through
than from her other grandchildren. the Victoria and Albert Museum, the
PHOTO: BE T TMANN/GET T Y IMAGES

The two Lascelles boys, Gerald and
George, when very young, had a terri-
fying habit of rushing into a room and
attacking Queen Mary’s ankles. She
was often obliged to put up a spirit-
ed defence with her famous parasol.
Happily, Elizabeth was less boisterous.
Queen Mary taught the child the art
Royal Mint, the Bank of England, the
science museum in South Kensington,
the Tower of London, Westminster
Abbey and the National Gallery.
Since she was six, Elizabeth’s for-
mal education has been supervised
by an able young Scotswoman, Mar-
ion Crawford – ‘Crawfie’ to everyone

readersdigest.com.au 37

On honeymoon with Prince Philip
in late 1947
in the royal household. If young
Betts found it easier, as indeed she
did, to absorb history while lying on
her stomach on the floor of Crawfie’s
room, Crawfie had no objections. By
the time Elizabeth was 12 she had
shown a marked aptitude for history
and languages and a sublime distaste
for mathematics. At that point her ed-
ucation became a matter on which
the Cabinet had to be consulted.
Elizabeth’s mother wanted her
to go to a girls’ school so she could
meet more of her contemporaries,
but the choice of a school and the
specialised curriculum necessary
for a royal person were difficult, so it
was decided she should have a staff
of tutors as Queen Victoria had. Her
historical background includes the
study of constitutional changes from
Saxon times to the present as well as
the history of British land tenure and
agriculture. She is also well versed in
38 november 2022
American history, and speaks
French fluently. To what would
in Victorian days be called ‘the
accomplishments’ – she plays
the piano and sings agreeably
– Elizabeth added completely
20th-century arts. She swims,
drives a car, likes American
dance music, has t he ‘good
hands and pretty seat’ of an ac-
complished horsewoman, and is
a good shot.
When she was very young,
Elizabeth was asked what she
would like to be when she grew
up. Without a moment’s hesitation,
she answered, “I should like to be a
horse.” Time has served to modify
that ambition. Whether anyone would
genuinely like to lead the antiseptic
and rather empty life of a modern
queen may be a matter for doubt. But
Elizabeth will have that duty.
That being the case, her ambition
is to be a good queen. If she, like the
earlier Elizabeth, ref lects and en-
courages the contemporary spirit of
her people, she may occupy a posi-
PHOTO: TOPICAL PRESS AGENCY/GE T T Y IMAGES
tion in history of similar importance.
The first Elizabeth built the British
Empire. The second, by gent ler
means, may keep it together.
© THE PICTURE COLLECTION INC. ALL RIGHTS
RESERVED. REPRINTED/TRANSLATED FROM LIFE
AND PUBLISHED WITH PERMISSION OF THE PICTURE
COLLECTION INC. REPRODUCTION IN ANY MANNER
IN ANY LANGUAGE IN WHOLE OR IN PART WITHOUT
WRITTEN PERMISSION IS PROHIBITED. LIFE AND THE LIFE
LOGO ARE REGISTERED TRADEMARKS OF TI GOTHAM
INC., USED UNDER LICENCE.
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 HEALTH

Beyond Burnout
What to do
when, or
ideally before,
stress reaches
epic proportions
BY Leslie Finlay

W
e all get busy some-
times, but feeling con-
stantly and chronically
swamped, worried and
overwhelmed can lead to burnout,
which can have serious consequences.
Think of burnout as stress taken to
another level. “Typically, burnout is
ILLUS TR ATIONS: JAMES S TEINBERG

defined as an extreme state of psy-

chological strain,” says YoungAh Park,
an associate professor at the School
of Labor and Employment Relations
at the University of Illinois. It’s a re-
sponse to facing prolonged, chronic
stressors that go beyond your ability
or available resources to overcome.

40 november 2022
 Because so many of us frequently
feel stressed, it can be hard to recog-
nise when the line has been crossed.
True burnout is different from feeling
overextended. Michael Leiter, a pro-
fessor of psychology at Acadia Uni-
versity, explains. “Burnout combines
three key dimensions: overwhelming
exhaustion, feelings of cynicism, and
a sense of discouragement, inade-
quacy or low accomplishment.”
Feeling exhausted when you be-
gin working is a red flag. “This is a
sign that demands are building faster
than you can recover from them,” he
says. That fatigue evolves into feelings
such as pessimism and withdrawal,
“becoming grumpy and cynical about
work you used to love – especially
feeling that way towards people you’re
supposed to care about.”
That’s the end stage of burnout, but
it takes a while to get there. “At first,
we might find ourselves experienc-
ing hyperactivity, trying to manage
our stressors by frantically working
to reduce them, and juggling more
and more simultaneously,” says psy-
chology professor Dr Emily Balcetis.
Unfortunately, this desperation can
contribute to making mistakes, los-
ing concentration, or even starting
to feel emotionally unhinged – all of
which pave the way for more chronic
issues to develop.
Living at a burnout level of sus-
tained stress can lead to serious
healt h consequences, including
problematic sleep patterns, digestion
woes and a greater risk for depres-
sion, heart problems, diabetes and
weight gain, according to Dr Balcet-
is. Perhaps most frightening, a study
published in the Journal of Psycho-
somatic Research found that people
who experience chronic burnout
have up to a 35 per cent greater risk
of early mortality.
Before stress ramps up to that level,
try taking these proactive steps.
LOOK FOR MEANING
AT WORK
We can tolerate stress longer if we
believe we’re doing something pur-
poseful and worthwhile. Dr Balcetis
says we’re more likely to experience
chronic burnout-inducing stress when
something seems out of our control,
against our will, or totally meaning-
less. Try to identify ways in which
even the smallest of your daily tasks
contributes to the lives of others.
“If you can, cut or outsource one or
two of those things that don’t person-
ally give you meaning,” she says.
LOOK FOR MEANING
OUTSIDE OF WORK
If you’re struggling to make your
work meaningful, prioritising life
outside of work might be especial-
ly beneficial. Research published
in BMC Medicine shows that people
more likely to experience a greater
sense of engagement when on the job
are those with a hobby – the ultimate
burnout buffer.
readersdigest.com.au 41

SEPARATE WORK
AND HOME LIFE
“With boundaries blurring between
work and non-work these days, re-
search has suggested that there are
some tactics individuals can use,”
Professor Park says. These tactics
could include turning off work email
notifications on your phone, using
separate email accounts for work and
personal life, and setting up bounda-
ries between work and personal life.
DON’T NEGLECT YOURSELF
“Neglecting your diet or eating fast
or comfort foods can become a way
of dealing with stress, but it will rob
your body and brain of nutrients nec-
essary to facilitate energy and regulate
moods,” says family therapist Benja-
min Maxson. Physical activity is essen-
tial to shaking out stress hormones,
too. “Many individuals are less active
when under stress in order to rest,”
he says. But movement is the most
natural evolutionary response to our
body’s stress. Even light movement
helps reduce stress, flushing stress
hormones out of the bloodstream.
42 november 2022
RECOGNISE WHEN
IT’S TOO MUCH
Talk to your supervisors
when you feel your job
should be more man-
ageable, rewarding and
under your control. “It’s
very common for supe-
riors to continue to in-
crease tasks over time,”
Maxson says, adding that if we don’t
communicate our needs or limita-
tions, they may be overlooked. If you
don’t expect things will improve, con-
sider changing jobs or even careers.
For intensive care nurse Wendy
Reynolds, stress had always been
part of the job. Then the pandemic hit
and the stress ramped up to a whole
new level. “I wasn’t sleeping, always
had a headache, and was always anx-
ious and worried about everything,”
she says. “I knew I needed to leave.”
She solved her burnout problem
by transitioning into a health-care
administration role where she can
manage her work-life balance while
still having a career that aligns with
her passion for clinical health care.
“I love my new job,” she says. “I ac-
tually see my family now, and I can
use my clinical skills to help leaders
at other hospitals improve workflows
for their staff, so it’s very rewarding.”
If you feel burnt out, therapy can
help you process work-related stress
and learn coping strategies, and teach
you to communicate with your em-
ployer and set healthy boundaries.
 ALL HOLIDAY.
ALL HIGHLIGHTS.
YO U R B U C K E T L IS T B E G I NS H E R E
Get ready for a memory-making, sun-soaked getaway.
Take in 360 degree views in the North Star ® observation capsule, savour
delicious food and wine, and discover hidden gems as you explore ashore.

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RoyalCaribbean.com.au 1800 754 500 Visit your local travel advisor
 DRAMA IN REAL LIFE

TRAPPED
DOWN
A
WELL After his little boy fell into
the cold depths, Brandon Leseberg
leapt in to rescue him. Then
drama quickly engulfed the father and son

BY Robert Kiener

44 november 2022
Brandon Leseberg (front)
with his sons Louie and
Everett, along with the
neighbours who helped
save him and Louie

readersdigest.com.au 45
A
R E A DER’S DIGE ST

s the late afternoon sun beat down in May

2021, Brandon Leseberg finished feeding his
cows on his farm in Missouri in the midwest
US and decided to call it a day. As they often
did, his two sons, Louie, 6, and Everett, 3, had
tagged along with him as he worked in his
north pasture, and they were also anxious to go home.
On the way back to the house, the down the inside of the well, which
boys, rambunctious as always, ran helped slow his descent and keep
ahead of their father. As Brandon, a him from crushing his son.
farmer and cattle producer, stopped to Brandon hit the frigid water at the
close the pasture gate, Louie paused at bottom of the well. He popped his
a water tap atop an old well to quench soaked head out and grabbed Louie,
his thirst. Unknown to the Lesebergs, who was panicked, and tried to stay
the board covering the well opening afloat in water that was too deep for
had, over time, grown brittle. When either of them to stand in. Knowing
Louie stepped on it, it caved in. they could tread ice-cold water for
Brandon had just finished latching only so long, Brandon hoisted Louie
the gate when he turned around and onto his chest as he wedged his own
saw only his youngest son. legs and back against the well’s nar-

“Where’s Louie?” he shouted to
Everett.
Everett, his blue eyes wide with
fear, told him, “He fell in the hole!”
The 37 year old immediately re-
alised what had happened. Noooo!
he thought. Louie can barely swim!
Brandon raced over to the well and
when he heard Louie splashing and
gurgling far below, he instinctively
jumped in.
Plunging feet-first more than 20
metres down the 60-centimetre-wide
brick-lined well, Brandon could hear
Louie screaming. Somehow Brandon
managed to grab onto a pipe that ran
PHOTO: (PRE VIOUS SPRE AD) T YNE MORGAN WITH US FARM REPORT
row walls for support, his body still
partly submerged.
“All right, Dad, you can pull us out
now,” said the child as his father held
him tightly.
If only it were that easy. Brandon
knew there was no way he could
climb out; 20 metres is a very long
way. The pipe that he had grabbed
onto during his fall was too slippery
to be of any use. There was only one
way they could be saved.
As he clutched his terrified six-
year-old son in the frigid waters, he
told him, “Your brother is going to
have to help us.”

46 november 2022

Looking up to see Everett peering
down at them from the top of the
well, Brandon shouted to the boy.
“Everett, you’re going to have to be a
big boy and save us. Run to the road
and stand by the mailbox until some-
one stops. Tell them we need help.
And, Everett, stay off the road!”
Everett did as he was told.
But Brandon worried that there
would be few cars on the little-trav-
elled road that ran next to the farm.
And even if someone did stop, would
his three-year-old son be able to ex-
plain what had happened? Looking
up the shaft, Brandon clutched Louie,
who was shivering from the cold wa-
ter, tighter to his chest. And he prayed.
Minutes passed like hours as Bran-
don continued to arch
and brace his shoul-
ders and strong legs
against the brick walls.
Five minutes. Ten min-
utes. There was no sign
of Everett. Where is he?
Brandon wondered. Are THERE WAS
we going to make it?
Finally, Everett’s face NO TIME TO
appeared. His voice WASTE.
trembling, he shouted, THE RISK OF
“Daddy, are you still
down that hole?” HYPOTHERMIA
“Yes, Everet t. Did GREW WITH
you get some help?” EVERY
Brandon shouted back.
“ N o , t h e y ’r e n o t PASSING
coming.” SECOND
Brandon’s heart sank.
Trapped Down A Well
But he tried not to sound scared as he
shouted up to his son, “That’s OK,
honey. But you have to go back out to
the road and get someone to stop. OK,
Everett?”
“OK, Daddy,” the three year old re-
plied, then turned and dashed back
out to the roadside.
Brandon began thinking of how
he and Louie could possibly survive
through the night if they were not
rescued soon, and what would hap-
pen to Everett if... He quickly decided
to shut off these dark thoughts. I have
to be strong for Louie and Everett, he
told himself.
But when Everett didn’t return af-
ter another long ten minutes, Bran-
don broke down for a moment and
cried. Louie immediate-
ly asked him, “Are you
crying, Dad?”
“No, this is my happy
laugh,” Brandon told his
son, hugging the boy
even tighter.
About 15 minutes after
Everett ran to the road for
the second time, Chris-
ti and Mark McKenney,
neighbouring farmers,
were driving past the
Leseberg farm when they
noticed the three year
old alone by the side of
the road, waving.
They pulled over and
asked if he was all right.
Choking back tears, he
readersdigest.com.au 47
R E A DER’S DIGE ST
told them, “My daddy’s in a hole.”
The couple put Everett in their truck
and drove onto the farm, and the boy
pointed to the well. Mark immediate-
ly dialled emergency services, telling
the dispatcher, “This is Mark McK-
enney. I need some help. A guy and
a boy fell in the well.” Meanwhile,
Christi called another neighbour,
Dan Athen.
After hearing that Brandon Lese-
berg was in trouble, 45-year-old
Dan swung into action. The farmer
grabbed a thick 25-metre rope from
his shed and he and his son Ryan,
13, sped to the Leseberg farm. Once
there, the pair sprinted to the well.
“Brandon,” Dan shouted down, “It’s
Dan Athen. We’re going to send a rope
down to you.”
Brandon shouted
back, “OK, I’ll send Louie
up first.”
Athen felt his heart
sink; he had no idea that
little Louie was also in
the well. He imagined
how he would be feeling THE FIVE
if his son, who was now
helping him, had been NEIGHBOURS
trapped in similar cir- GRABBED
cumstances. THE ROPE TIED
There was no time to
waste. Although Athen AROUND
and the others didn’t BRANDON
know exactly how long AND BEGAN
Brandon and Louie had
been in the well, they TO PULL
were aware that the risk
48 november 2022
of hy pothermia grew w ith ever y
passing second.
After a call from Mark, Eric Dun-
can, who works on Brandon’s farm,
and his friend Jacob McKenney ar-
rived to help. They tied the end of
the rope into a loop and Dan tossed it
down the well. Brandon put the loop
around Louie, but concerned that the
knot holding it in place would come
undone, he told the boy to hold on
tight. Finally, Brandon shouted, “OK,
we’re ready!”
The neighbours started hauling
up Louie but were puzzled by how
heav y the six year old was. Dan
sensed something was wrong. They
gave another hard tug and suddenly
something seemed to break free; af-
ter that, the men easily
hoisted Louie up and
out of the well. When
he emerged, they were
shocked to see that he
had w i res w rapped
around his arm. They
rea l i s e d t he ‘e x t r a
weight’ was because
Louie had somehow
b e c om e e n t a n g l e d
w ith the well pump
and its wiring.
But now he was
safe. “You’re out, bud-
dy! You’re out!” said
Eric. “We’ll get you in
the truck and get you
warmed up.” He sat
Louie on his knee as
 Trapped Down A Well

others carefully unwrapped the tan-
gled wires from his arm. Louie was
shivering and terrified as Eric rushed
him to his truck, where he bundled
him in several hoodies and turned
the heater up full blast.
The neighbours now turned their
attention to Brandon. Although they
could have waited for the emergency
rescue team to arrive, they didn’t hes-
itate. Their friend was in trouble – of
course they had to try to get him out.
But there was a problem. Brandon
was a big man and would likely be too
heavy to pull out of the well using just
the rope as they had done with Louie.
They decided to use the foundation of
the old windmill that still stood over
the well as a hoist to help pull Bran-
don up. They tossed down the loop at
the end of the rope and Brandon tight-
ened it around his torso.
After looping their end of the rope
over the old windmill frame, Dan
shouted to Brandon, “Can you help
pull yourself up by using the well’s
pipe?”
“Yeah,” he yelled back. “I’m ready
to go!”
Each of the five neighbours grabbed
a portion of rope and began to pull.
Brandon helped by gripping the well’s
pipe as best he could as he ascended
towards the circle of blue sky and sun-
light at the top of the well.
“Keep it going, Brandon!” the team
shouted as they hoisted him up.
“We’ve got you. Hang on!”
A bout 4 0 m i nutes a f ter he’d
jumped into the well to save his son,
Brandon finally emerged, cold and
wet. Just as his neighbours’ strong
arms reached out to grab him he col-
lapsed to the ground, exhausted by
his ordeal. A minute later, emergency
services arrived.
Other than some nasty scratches,
Brandon was fine. Louie, though,
suffered hypothermia as well as deep
bruising from the wires that had en-
tangled him. He also had a punctured
lung, which doctors told Brandon was
likely a result of the rope around his
chest. Still, he was healthy enough to
return to school a week later.
While all the rescuers have been
hailed as heroes, Dan Athen isn’t hav-
ing it. “We are just neighbours helping
neighbours,” he said. “It’s just what we
do.” He pauses then adds, “If there is a
hero in this story, it’s three-year-old
Everett. He’s a real lifesaver.”

Whose Dog Is This?

A US couple was recently stunned to find a strange big dog curled up
next to them in bed. The Johnsons’ three large hounds usually share
their king-sized bed with them. The mystery mutt had escaped its
owner and found a new warm place to sleep. HUFFPOST

readersdigest.com.au 49
R E A DER’S DIGE ST

LIFE’S LIKE THAT

Seeing The Funny Side

CARTOON: FR ANK MEL ANSON. OPPOSITE PAGE: VECTEEZ Y.COM

Not In The Cards
My birthday was coming up so I
went to the card shop and asked my
daughter (aged four) if she wanted
to select a card for me. I tried not to
look but I couldn’t help but notice
she was looking at one after the
other and making a mess of the
display.
When I asked her what she was
doing, she replied, “I’m looking
for one with money in it for you,
Mummy.”
SUBMITTED BY LEONIE SCOTT
Show Stopper
We invited another couple to be our
guests at an opera performance of
Othello. Since they were unfamiliar
with the opera, I spent the taxi ride
to the theatre unravelling the plot for
them. The taxi’s arrival at the theatre
coincided with my recounting of the
climax. Before finishing, I handed
over the fare to the driver and
prepared to get out.
“Stop!” demanded the driver. “No
one is leaving until I hear the end.”
VERN SCHR AMM IN THE NEW YORK TIMES

50 november 2022
 Life’s Like That

Fitting End
My late Aunt Sally was a big fan
of the singer Gracie Fields and
my uncle had chosen to have her
namesake song ‘Sally’ played at
the end of her funeral in the local THE GREAT TWEET OFF:
crematorium. BROTHERLY LOVE
We had given the staff a CD EDITION
The siblings of Twitter celebrate
to play but unfortunately they
a very special bond.
didn’t select the right track, so as
the curtains closed around Aunt
Sally’s coffin, the quiet sadness Me: My brother is so annoying.
was broken by howls of laughter as Someone else: Your brother is
annoying.
Gracie sang: Wish me luck as you Me: Erm. Excuse me?!?! He is not!
wave me goodbye, cheerio, here I go @JAZZYBUMBLEE
on my way!
Aunt Sally would have loved it! Once I said to my brother, “It’s nice
SUBMITTED BY R ACHEL HOWLETT how we’re not just siblings, we’re
best friends.” And he said, “Nah,
All Fun And Games we’re siblings.” @BANANAFITZ
Watching soccer with my 11-year- Having a brother builds character.
old daughter is fun. When I get @1AYESHAAA
frustrated with my team, she’ll ask
calming questions like, “Daddy, do Sibling rivalry, or as my parents
called it, “Stop choking your
you really think you can do better
brother, he’s turning blue.”
than the players?” @UNFITZ
@DAD_ AT_LAW
Having brothers is stressful. Why do
Slow Motion they eat everything?!?!?
@INAYAHH_
My five year old wanted to learn
more about the tai chi classes I
was taking, so I showed her some
moves. At first she was totally
taken aback.
But later she hugged me and
whispered, “It’s OK, Mum, keep
practising. One day you’ll be able to
do it quickly.”
SUBMIT TED BY CHRISTINE SIMARD

readersdigest.com.au 51
R E A DER’S DIGE ST

FOOD FOR
THOUGHT

Hamburgers
A simple idea of a meat patty in a bun has morphed
into a multi-billion dollar fast-food business
BY Diane Godley

Y
ou don’t need to stretch your one is really quite sure how it came
PHOTOS: GE T T Y IMAGES

imagination too far to gather
that the humble hamburger
most probably came from,
well Hamburg. Although there are
many people who like to regale stories
about the origins of the hamburger, no
about. But I like the tale I used to give
to my students as a comprehension
lesson when working as an English
teacher in Germany. It went some-
thing like this.
In the early 19th century, sailors

52 november 2022

from the busy northern German ship-
ping port of Hamburg were often
docked in New York, where they
would be seen eating meat patties
(frikadellen) comprising minced beef
from Hamburg, garlic, onions and
spices. “Eventually someone threw a
frikadelle in a bun and voilà, the rest
is history!” says Kimberly Killebrew,
food writer at daringgourmet.com.
Although the simple meal was
catching on in t he US, t he dish
d id n’t act ua l ly have a
name unt il, according AMERICANS
to kidzworld.com in its LOVE THEIR
BURGERS,
‘History Of Hamburgers’
blog, “some rowdy sailors
from Hamburg named the DEVOURING
meat on a bun after them- 4500 EVERY
MINUTE
selves years later”.
Given t he pr ice a nd
quality of Hamburg beef
back then, these meat patties were
considered gourmet and often the
most expensive item on a restaurant
menu. But as cheaper cuts of meat
started to get used, the price came
down, and they were sold not just in
restaurants but also by street vendors.
A lthough our North American
friends like to take all the credit for
the invention, to my ears the Ger-
man story holds more weight. It is
true, however, that would-be restau-
rateurs and owners of street carts in
the US took the idea and ran with it.
Today, thousands of iterations of the
original hamburger are offered all
over the world, including chicken,
Food For Thought
schnitzel, pulled pork, lentil, tofu and
everything in between.
Like the pizza, hamburgers are
indelibly linked to American cui-
sine and enjoyed all around the
world. But have you ever wondered
which of the two meals is more pop-
ular globally? The folk at food blog
richeelicious.com did and earli-
er this year tapped into Google’s
Keyword Planner to find the most
searched word. The results were
even. Then they looked
at Google Trends over the
past 18 years. Here pizzas
far outpaced burgers and
are still climbing in pop-
ularity. However, wheth-
er doing a word search on
Google equates to popu-
larity is a subject out for
debate.
What is not debatable is that Amer-
icans love their burgers, devouring
4500 every minute – that’s 277,000
thousand burgers per hour, nearly six
million a day and over two billion a
year. The US also spends more mon-
ey on fast food than any other coun-
try, with 50 per cent of their fast-food
spend going on burgers.
Although hamburgers are eaten in
Germany, traditional frikadellen are
more commonly served on a plate
with a side of creamy potato salad, a
crusty roll and a slathering of mus-
tard, says daringgourmet.com. 
One of my pet hates with today’s
beef burgers is that they are a bit
readersdigest.com.au 53
R E A DER’S DIGE ST

tasteless (at least compared to the
f lavoursome frikadellen I used to
buy from the butchers in Germany)
and this is compensated for through
lashings of tomato and barbecue
sauce. And what’s going on with the
burger bun? Fluffy white bread that
falls apart before you’re even halfway
through eating!
But don’t worry, by using the recipe
below for your meat patty and put-
ting it in a crusty or sourdough roll,
your homemade burger will go from
dull to absolutely delicious.

FRIKADELLE HAMBURGERS
The origins of frikadellen are
unknown, but are attributed to
northern Germany and Denmark and
can be traced back as far as the
18th century. The seasoned meat
patties can be eaten hot or cold, on
their own or in a burger. 
Ingredients Method
•1 slice day-old bread, 1. Break the bread
broken into pieces into small pieces and
•1 ½ tbls warm milk place in a bowl. Pour
•1 small onion, finely over milk and let soak at least 30 minutes.
chopped for 15 minutes. 6. Meanwhile, prepare
•1 clove garlic, minced 2. Heat half the oil in a salad vegetables (eg,
•250g minced  beef  frying pan and sauté the tomato, lettuce,
•250g minced pork onions until soft and cucumber, beetroot,
•1 egg translucent. Add the carrot).
•2 tbls parsley, chopped garlic and cook for 7. Heat the rest of the
•1 tsp salt another minute. oil in frying pan to
•½ tsp pepper 3. Squeeze excess medium-hot and fry
•1 tsp mustard liquid out of bread. frikadellen on both sides
•1 tsp dried marjoram 4. Place all ingredients until browned. Lower
•1 tsp paprika (except oil) in a large the heat and continue
•¼ tsp ground ginger bowl. Using your hands, to cook until cooked
•⅛ tsp mace or nutmeg mix thoroughly until through.
•⅛ tsp ground meat is smooth. 8. Serve on a bread
coriander 5. Form into balls and roll with a dash of sauce
•2 tbls olive oil slightly flatten. Cover and salad vegetables of
•4 bread rolls and chill in fridge for your choice.

54 november 2022
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R E A DER’S DIGE ST

56 november 2022
SEE THE WORLD...
Turn the page ››

readersdigest.com.au 57
 ...DIFFERENTLY

Commuter Chaos
Hundreds of small boats
called dinghy noukas are
moored in the river port of
Dhaka, the capital of
Bangladesh. In them, ferrymen
transport workers, goods and
tourists across the Buriganga
River every day. It’s the lifeline
of the metropolis, which has a
population of around 22 million
and is one of the most densely
populated cities in
the world.
PHOTOS: ACTION PRESS/ZUMA PRESS,
WIRE/ZUMA PRESS

58 november 2022
readersdigest.com.au 59
 HEALTH

DEMENTIA

60 november 2022
WARNING

SIGNS
A guide to
13 symptoms
you should
never ignore
BY Mark Witten

readersdigest.com.au 61
S
R E A DER’S DIGE ST
TEPHEN CHOW KNEW SOMETHING WAS OFF
WHEN, IN 2010, HE STARTED MAKING MORE
SPELLING ERRORS AND TYPOS IN HIS WORK EMAILS.
The 51-year-old IT specialist tried to
ignore the mistakes, but the situation
became more obvious when attempts
to punch in his password kept failing.
Gradually, he found it harder to focus
and perform simple, familiar tasks,
such as calculating numbers or sign-
ing a document.
“Everything was all messed up,
and I didn’t know what to do about
it,” he says. Not wanting his wife, Eva,
and two adult sons to worry, he kept
it a secret, hoping he could just mud-
dle through.
Instead, over the next few years,
more alarming symptoms appeared.
As Chow made the daily 90-minute
drive to and from work, he had trou-
ble seeing the centre line on the road
and the cars beside him. In early
2014, his patchy vision almost killed
him when he slid into a ditch during
bad weather. He was unharmed but
his anxiety mounted, and he decided
to talk to his family doctor.
When Chow described his difficul-
ties with typing and driving – both
related to motor skills – his physi-
cian referred him to a specialist in
Parkinson’s disease. That condition
was ruled out. In May 2014, Chow
62 november 2022
met with Dr Carmela Tartaglia, a
cognitive neurologist specialising in
early-onset dementia.
Tartaglia suspected Chow’s symp-
toms were visual-spatial processing
problems, a warning sign of Alzheim-
er’s disease. Weeks later, an MRI
showed a shrinkage of cortical tissue
in the back of his brain – the region in-
volved in processing what and how we
see. Biomarkers identified in his cere-
brospinal fluid 18 months later finally
confirmed – six years after Chow first
noticed his symptoms – that he had
early-onset Alzheimer’s disease.
Globally, every year, an estimated
350,000 individuals under 65 devel-
op early-onset dementia. As report-
ed at the Alzheimer’s Association
International Conference 2021, it is PHOTO (PRE VIOUS SPRE AD): SE AN PRIOR/AL AMY
also forecasted that the prevalence
of dementia will increase from an
estimated 57.4 million cases globally
in 2019 to an estimated 152.8 million
cases in 2050, largely due to popula-
tion growth and ageing.
Early detection of dementia is im-
portant so that the person diagnosed,
and their family members, can take
steps to slow and mitigate the ef-
fects of the disease through lifestyle
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R E A DER’S DIGE ST
changes. Ideally, that would mean
seeing a family doctor, undergoing
specialised testing and receiving a for-
mal diagnosis within six to 12 months
after noticing symptoms. But accord-
ing to an Australian study, on average,
it took two years for people to set a
medical appointment and more than
three years to get a firm diagnosis.
Dementia is frequently associat-
ed with memory loss, but often that
isn’t the first sign. Dementia can af-
fect many different areas of the brain,
and scientists now understand that
symptoms differ based on where in
the brain changes occur. That’s why
doctors currently use advanced tools,
such as brain scans and protein bio-
markers, to make earlier, more specif-
ic diagnoses. But getting to that stage
requires noticing that something is
wrong – and telling somebody.
“The first time I knew Steve had a
problem was when he called me from
Dr Tartaglia’s office,” says his wife Eva.
Once the diagnosis was made, she re-
alised there had been clues. She just
hadn’t been aware of what to look for.
To make sure you are aware of the
clues, here are 13 signs that mean you
(or someone you love) should be as-
sessed for dementia.
350,000
64 november 2022
1 YOUR PERSONALITY
CHANGES
Inappropriate behaviour is an early
symptom of damage to the brain’s
frontal lobes, which regulate our so-
cial judgment.
“People might undress in pub-
lic, talk about private parts, or say,
‘That person is stupid,’” explains
DrRobin Hsiung, neurologist and
associate professor at the University
of British Columbia Hospital Clinic
for Alzheimer Disease and Related
Disorders in Vancouver. “They lose
social graces and forget that what
they’re saying or doing isn’t right.”
These symptoms are often seen in
frontotemporal dementia ( FTD), but
also when Alzheimer’s or vascular
dementia affect the frontal lobes.
2
YOU SEE THINGS
THAT AREN’T THERE
Recurring visual hallucinations may
be an early symptom of Lewy body
or Parkinson’s disease dementia, al-
though people with Alzheimer’s dis-
ease can experience them, too. These
can be as simple as seeing flashing
lights or as elaborate as encountering
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R E A DER’S DIGE ST
animals and people that aren’t real.
“Sometimes the hallucinations are
quite frightening, like seeing a wolf
or a bear trying to break through
the window,” says Dr Hsiung. “Oth-
er times they’re more positive, like
a grandmother who looks out the
window and sees her grandchildren
playing, but no one is there.”
Researchers believe that visual
hallucinations may be caused by
damage to the brain’s visual-pro-
cessing system, in combination with
the disease’s disruption of the sleep
cycle. The visions might be dreams
breaking into waking consciousness.
3
YOU STRUGGLE
WITH VOCABULARY
A common early sign of dementia
is having trouble finding the right
words during conversations or when
naming objects, sometimes substi-
tuting the wrong term. People affect-
ed in this way pause while speaking,
use filler words and frequently rely
on ‘it’ or ‘them’ instead of specific
names for things. Researchers at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison
found that these word-finding prob-
lems increased significantly in the
span of just two years for people de-
veloping dementia.
Language can even be affected
before memory problems emerge.
An Arizona State University study
analysed former US President Ron-
ald Reagan’s press conferences and
66 november 2022
found speech changes more than a
decade before he was diagnosed with
Alzheimer’s.
To assess whether your word-find-
ing challenges are related to a shrink-
age in the language areas of your
brain, pay attention to when and how
often this happens. It could simply be
a result of being tired or stressed and
can be caused by anxiety, depression,
stroke and delirium.
4Y
OUR VISION IS PATCHY
Problems with spatial awareness
can be caused by cataracts or glau-
coma, but they are also an early
sign of dementia. This was the case
with Chow, whose first Alzheimer’s
symptoms were caused by a shrink-
age of the area of the brain crucial
to his ability to accurately perceive
the world three-dimensionally. Dr
Tartaglia notes that visual-spatial
processing problems are especial-
ly prevalent as a sign of Lewy body
dementia, which can affect a similar
area of the brain.
“A patient with posterior cortical
atrophy may see the world in a patchy
visual field,” explains Dr Hsiung. “If
the person is focusing in front while
driving, he can’t see things off to the
side. And if he’s changing lanes, he
can’t see other cars beside him.” For
his part, when Chow made mistakes
typing, he was having trouble seeing
the whole keyboard.
 Stephen and Eva
Chow at their home

5 YOU FIND IT DIFFICULT

TO STAY FOCUSED
focus can also be caused by anxiety,
depression and medication.

Chow’s trouble with concentration

was due to shrinkage in his frontal
lobe. “That made writing, reading,
6 YOU FORGET WHERE
YOU’VE PUT THINGS
and driving difficult and affected his It’s not unusual to occasionally forget
PHOTO: JAIME HOGGE

ability to do high-level tasks as an IT
specialist,” says Dr Tartaglia.
Beyond Alzheimer’s, any other
dementia can affect this area of the
brain – but note that an inability to
where you left your keys. But if you’re
doing this regularly, or frequently
leaving the stove on or forgetting re-
cent events and conversations, this
could be a warning sign. Commonly,

readersdigest.com.au 67
R E A DER’S DIGE ST
says Dr Hsiung, people with this type
of memory loss will ask loved ones the
same questions over and over again.
“Families can help a lot in recognising
these early symptoms,” he says.
Short-term memor y loss is the
most common symptom of Alzheim-
er’s disease, which may affect the
hippocampus – the brain area in-
volved in forming, storing and re-
trieving memories. It’s less often an
early sign in vascular dementia and
Lewy body dementia, and rarely in
FTD. That said, medications and
depression can also affect memory,
so your doctor might recommend
screening.
7
YOU’RE SUDDENLY
BAD WITH MONEY
A pattern of uncharacteristical-
ly poor financial decisions should
set off alarm bells. “When you have
frontal-lobe damage, you lose judg-
ment and can make rash, impulsive
financial decisions,” says Tartaglia.
“A frugal person starts giving away
more money or buying things they
don’t need.” She’s seen patients who
did significant damage to their fami-
lies’ finances, as well as CEOs of com-
panies who lost millions.
OF DEMENTIA CASES
70% ARE DIAGNOSED AS ALZHEIMER’S
DISEASE
68 november 2022
A combination of declining deci-
sion-making skills and memory loss
can also lead to financial lapses. A
study published in 2020 in JAMA
Internal Medicine found that people
with dementia started missing bill
payments up to six years before they
were diagnosed.
8
YOU’RE
EMOTIONALLY FLAT
According to a 2020 University of
Cambridge study, a lack of interest
or motivation can predict the onset
of dementia many years before other
cognitive symptoms do, especially
in people with FTD, who may be di-
agnosed as early as age 45.
Dr Hsiung cautions, however, that
apathy can sometimes be confused
with depression; a psychiatric assess-
ment is often required to tell them
apart.
The key difference is how much
a person’s mood shifts. If someone
becomes tearful when they hear a
sad story, this could be depression,
but it’s apathy if the person shows no
emotional response – which, Dr Hsi-
ung says, could be the beginning of
Alzheimer’s disease, FTD, or vascu-
lar dementia.
 Dementia Warning Signs

3. Lewy body
dementia is caused by
abnormal deposits of a
protein called alpha-
synuclein inside the
brain’s nerve cells. This
protein, which destroys
brain cells, is also found
in people with
Parkinson’s. Brain areas
involved in thinking,
movement and visual
processing are most

DEMENTIA, affected.

But What Kind? 4. Frontotemporal

dementia (FTD) mainly
Dementia describes a WHO. Generally, affects the frontal and
group of symptoms Alzheimer’s affects temporal brain areas
caused by disorders most areas of the brain and accounts for about
affecting the brain. and can involve 20 per cent of cases of
There are more than a changes in memory, early-onset dementia.
dozen types, including language, problem Changes in personality
rare conditions and solving, mood and and behaviour are more
those that may develop behaviour. apparent in the early
from other brain stage, while memory
disorders, like 2. Vascular dementia, decline often doesn’t
Parkinson’s disease. the second most com- occur until later.
Here are the five most- mon type, happens with
PHOTO: SCIENCE PHOTO LIBR ARY/AL AMY

diagnosed forms: a blockage to the brain’s 5. Mixed dementia

blood supply, which occurs when a person
1. Alzheimer’s causes brain cells to be has at least two types of
disease is the most deprived of oxygen and dementia, most often
common type of die. Strokes and blood- Alzheimer’s and
dementia, accounting vessel disease are vascular dementia.
for up to 70 per cent of common causes and Studies reveal it’s much
all diagnoses, can affect different more common than
according to the brain areas. previously thought.

readersdigest.com.au 69
R E A DER’S DIGE ST
9 YOU’RE NOT MOVING
AS WELL AS USUAL
Difficulty performing physical activ-
ities in the right sequence can be an
early sign of damage to the parietal
lobe, which is related to motor skills.
It’s a sign that Eva thinks she over-
looked in her husband. Three years
before Chow’s diagnosis, the couple
began to participate in dragon-boat
racing. Chow had always been a
well-coordinated athlete and handy-
man, but during training he struggled
to learn the basic stroke technique.
Motor problems are also common
with Lewy body dementia, but other
neurodegenerative conditions, such
as Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis,
should also be considered.
10
YOU’VE BECOME
INSENSITIVE
According to a 2016 Neuroscience
Research Australia report, loss of
empathy is a core symptom in some
people diagnosed with FTD. It’s relat-
ed to loss of grey matter in the “social
brain” (the parts involved in social
behaviour). These patients are una-
ware of how their behaviour impacts
IS THE AGE AT WHICH FRONTOTEMPORAL
45 DISORDER CAN BE DIAGNOSED, OFTEN
FOLLOWING PERSONALITY CHANGES
70 november 2022
others, and they lose both the ability
to understand people’s emotions and
to share in their feelings.
“You may not care about your fam-
ily anymore,” says Dr Tartaglia. “Or
a family member is crying, but you
don’t recognise they are sad.”
11
YOU NO LONGER GRASP
FAMILIAR CONCEPTS
Problems with tasks that require ab-
stract thinking, such as understand-
ing numbers or reading a house plan
– especially if that was a strength be-
fore – are an early symptom that can
be caused by damage in the frontal
and parietal lobes. For Chow, this
presented as an inability to make
simple calculations, but it also im-
peded his long-held role as manager
of his family’s finances.
12 YOU’RE MORE ANXIOUS
Mood changes, such as depression
and anxiety, can be early signs of de-
mentia that start well before people
begin to experience memory loss,
according to a 2015 Neurology study.
Tartaglia notes that, especially with
 Dementia Warning Signs

Lewy body dementia, non-anxious running track in their backyard. That

people can become anxious. They
may exhibit persistent worry, fear
or agitation, commonly triggered
by leaving home or being separated
from a family member.
way, “Steve could jog safely every day
without getting lost,” says Eva.
Once Chow was properly diag-
nosed, his anxiety about his health
decreased.

13
YOU GET LOST
MORE OFTEN
Losing navigational skills and the
ability to create a mental map of
your environment can be one of the
earliest dementia symptoms. In fact,
in 2019, University of Cambridge re-
searchers developed a virtual-reality
navigation test that has proven to be
better at identifying early Alzheim-
er’s disease than some of the neu-
ropsychological tests currently con-
sidered the best for early diagnosis.
To better cope with this symp-
tom in particular, the Chows built a
“Eva is the model caregiver be-
cause she wants to do what’s best for
Stephen and encourages him to do
things,” says Dr Tartaglia. This has
included joining support groups for
people with early-onset dementia,
practising daily meditation, and get-
ting regular aerobic exercise.
But perhaps most importantly, with
Eva’s encouragement, Chow began to
share his diagnosis. “I felt better after
I told my family and friends,” he says.
“They were very supportive and it took
a load off my shoulders. I learned that
you should tell people what you’re no-
ticing sooner rather than later and not
keep it to yourself.”

Not Seal Mates

A New Zealand cat was not flippin’ happy after an uninvited fur
seal entered her home through the cat flap. Mount Maunganui
marine biologist, Phil Ross, said the fur seal was inside their
house, exploring different rooms and lounging on the couch
when the family got home. It’s not clear why the seal ventured
inside, but Ross suspects that his cat, Coco, attempted to
‘defend’ the home turf against the creature but when the
seal wasn’t intimidated, Coco bolted around the side of the
house into the catflap, and the seal followed. A Department of
Conservation ranger caught the seal, which was unharmed,
and released it back into the sea. HUFFPOST

readersdigest.com.au 71
 PHOTO FEATURE

Nothing
But
SAND
Whether on the beach or inside our very walls –
sand is omnipresent and indispensable
BY Doris Kochanek

72 november 2022
A haboob – what the Arabic-speaking inhabitants of this Sahara
region call a sandstorm – sweeps across the Niger River in
Ségou, Mali. Haboobs can reach speeds of up to 80 kilometres
an hour and whirl sand up to heights of 1000 metres.

readersdigest.com.au 73
 Lightning releases all its
energy in just a few
milliseconds. If it strikes
loose sediments such as
sand, the heat –
followed by rapid
cooling – can fuse it into
hollow tubes called

PHOTOS: (PRE VIOUS SPRE AD) GE T T Y IMAGES/SA SCHA GR ABOW. (THIS SPRE AD) PICTURE ALLIANCE/ZB/MAT THIA S TÖDT;
fulgurites, also known
as lightning tubes or
fossilised lightning.

Palm Jumeirah, an artificial archipelago in Dubai, United Arab Emirates,

is shaped like a palm tree. The four-kilometre trunk plus the 17 fronds
and the crescent moon surrounding it took seven years to build. The
huge quantities of sand required for this came largely from the seabed
and were stabilised thanks to a special compacting process. It’s home to
glitzy hotels, posh apartments and five-star restaurants.

AFP VIA GE T T Y IMAGES/ML ADEN ANTONOV; GE T T Y IMAGES

74 november 2022
 Nothing But Sand

Made of white sand, this mythical creature resembles an ice

sculpture at first glance. On display at the Frost Magical Ice
of Siam amusement park near Pattaya, Thailand, it is
designed to teach visitors about Thai culture.

readersdigest.com.au 75
R E A DER’S DIGE ST

There can be no concrete

without sand. The
construction industry
is one of the major
consumers of this raw
material, which is in
danger of becoming
scarce. This is because fine
desert sand is not suitable
for construction and the
global rate of sand use,
which has tripled over
the last 20 years, exceeds
the rate sand is being
replenished by the
weathering of rocks by
wind and water. Concrete
is made from water,
cement, gravel and sand.

Pink Beach is a beautiful feature on the Indonesian island of Komodo.

The beach, known as Pantai Merah by locals, owes its hue to
Foraminifera. These organisms, which settle in the waters off the
beach, form red calcareous shells, which are then ground into tiny
pieces by the surf, giving the sand its distinct colour.

76 november 2022
 Nothing But Sand

The Sandman has its origin in

European legends. In his lovable
form, he brings sweet dreams to
children. In 1959, East German
state television adapted this
character into an iconic TV show.
On the evening of November 22,
Unser Sandmännchen made its
first appearance on GDR TV. As an
export hit, it later sweetened the
bedtime routine for children in
other countries as well.
PICTURE-ALLIANCE/ZB/HUBERT LINK; PICTURE ALLIANCE/DPA/DPA-ZENTR ALBILD/PATRICK PLEUL
PHOTOS: GE T T Y IMAGES/500PX/JONNE SEIJDEL; GE T T Y IMAGES/RICHARD HE ATHCOTE;

In the long jump, the winner is the

one who jumps the furthest into
the pit. To ensure that the athletes
land softly in each of their three
attempts, the pit is filled with
sand. At the same time, the
imprint they leave in it allows the
judges to measure the distance of
the jump to the centimetre.

readersdigest.com.au 77
R E A DER’S DIGE ST

Youri
Calmeyn,
FRANCE Mónica
Alcaraz
Loman,
MEXICO

Laura Antti
Fernández, Ahonen,
SPAIN FINLAND

78 november 2022
 OPINION

Just
LISTEN
To Us!
What would young
people like to say to their
Aadya
Morone,
INDIA

elders? Reader’s Digest

editorial offices around
the world have asked…

Ben
Tooher,
Esmerelda AUSTRALIA
Chou,
TAIWAN

readersdigest.com.au 79
I
R E A DER’S DIGE ST

t’s the way the world has always been: one generation
follows the next, and each has its own ideas about how
it wants to shape its own life. Some of the wishes and
dreams, worries and fears of today’s young people are
similar to those of their elders. Others differ quite clearly
from their parents’ and grandparents’. Reader’s Digest
asked young people all over the world: What do you think
about the world you’ll be left with? What are the most pressing
problems? What are your expectations? Where do older
generations serve as a role model, where as a cautionary tale?

I am grateful… “...for their personal history. Knowing

“...to my parents because they are
loving and supportive. I’m grateful
for the many opportunities I have for
my sport.”
Paloma McKenzie, 13, New Zealand
“...to my parents for always supporting
me and being there for me. Whatever
happens, I can turn to them.”
Nicole Lewen, 21, Germany
what has shaped their behaviour and
values means that I can better under-
stand the decisions they’ve made and
their beliefs.” Ben Tooher, 22, Australia
We don’t really like…
“Please stop telling us what we
should never do – only to then turn
around and do just that!”
Louise, 17, Austria

“...that you have made marriage
no longer a requirement for living
together.” Lucas Perrault, 19, France
“...to my family because they never
left my dreams aside and they always
supported and motivated me. With-
out them I couldn’t be where I am.”
Emiliano Toledo Mares, 21, México
“...that you taught me to be kind to
people from an early age. I find this
to be very important as an adult.”
Esmeralda Chou, 23, Taiwan
“I wish you had given a more positive
example of what healthy relationships
are in a marriage or in love.”
Camila Baraya Almeida, 21, Ecuador
“I wish you could have been more tol-
erant of more than just hair styles.”
Antti Ahonen, 22, Finland
“I wish you could have improved
Dutch cuisine. For years I had to eat
bland cooked potatoes, meatballs
and cooked vegetables.”
Boris van Diemen, 25, The Netherlands

80 november 2022

We are hoping for…
“What I would like to see from the
older generations is that, before cast-
ing their votes they think about not
only which party has the best policy
for themselves, but more important-
ly, who is offering the best policies for
the generations to come.
“The decisions made by politicians
and policy makers have much more
serious implications for our future
than theirs.” Anna, 22, Germany
“Please stop looking at social media
and modern technology as some-
thing exclusively negative. They
make a lot of things in of our lives
easier.” Louise, 17, Austria
“We need drastic change, and urgent-
ly. We need new laws and politics that
regulate exploitation and the produc-
tion of big companies. And we need
that now, today. We can’t wait for my
generation, or others closer to mine,
Just Listen To Us!
to do it when they reach positions of
power, because by then it will be too
late. We don’t have that much time.”
Mónica Alcaraz Loman, 24, México
“I wish you had not been so focused
on overdevelopment that eroded the
natural environment.“
Esmeralda Chou, 23, Taiwan
“You have done your time, let us take
over now. Enjoy the rest of your life!”
Zacharie Moroni, 19, France
“This is what I’d like you to do while
you are still there: I’d like you to work
on the problem of our waste, both do-
mestic and industrial, polluting the
Earth’s natural resources.”  
Aadya Morone, 17, India
“It’s true that we inherit a lot of prob-
lems, especially when it comes to the
environment. On the other hand, my
generation – at least here in Germany
“I HOPE YOU WILL
RESPECT MY LIFE’S
PLAN, AND DON’T
PRESSURE ME TO GET
MARRIED AND START
HAVING CHILDREN”
SAM CHEN, 25, TAIWAN
readersdigest.com.au 81
R E A DER’S DIGE ST
– was born into material prosperity
that many people elsewhere can only
dream of. I’m afraid one has to do with
the other. And frankly, I’m not sure the
majority of young people is prepared
to cut back in favour of a healthier
world for everyone.
“So it doesn’t seem fair to me to
blame the older people.”
Thomas Kurz, 25, Germany
“I wish you had started taking care of
the environment earlier.”  Siya Jumani, 19, India
Laura Fernández, 16, Spain
Where we intend to be like
you…
“I intend to follow your career choice
to support trade unions.”
Ben Tooher, 22, Australia
“I will give my children the same
freedom to try everything they want.
Success is important, but so is failure.”
Pauliina Räsänen, 23, Finland
82 november 2022
“I intend to think carefully, and do
well in what I’ve decided to do. It
doesn’t matter if I make a mistake and
take a wrong path. I’ll appreciate and
learn from what I see on the way.”
Sam Chen, 25, Taiwan
Where we intend to do
things differently…
“What I aim to handle differently is to
delegate day to day routine work in or-
der to save time for better efficiency.”
“It is time for the people to finally
speak directly, and not only through
their representatives. We must
follow the Swiss example with the ref-
erendum.” Youri Calmeyn, 19, France
“When I think about how many older
people suffer from health problems, it
motivates me to eat healthier and ex-
ercise more. I hope to keep this up in
my working life as well. I also think it’s
“IT IS UP TO
THE YOUNGER
GENERATION
TO CLEAN
THINGS UP”
BORIS VAN DIEMEN, 25,
THE NETHERLANDS

important to talk more about mental
health and pay more attention to it.”
Geraldine Guth, 23, Germany
We know you had good as
well as hard times...
“Grandma worked as a seamstress
in her younger days, to provide food
and housing for my mother and her
siblings. It must not have been easy,
so I admire her for that.”
Lucas Ng, 14, Singapore
“When I hear from some 50 and 60
year olds how easy their study time
was, I get quite envious. I have to work
up to 20 hours a week in addition to
my studies to make ends meet. Going
out and partying are very rare.”
Anna, 22, Germany
We are happy that…
“It’s nice that you are healthy and
look a lot younger than your age, and
we can do a lot of activities together.”
Paloma Mckenzie, 13, New Zealand
Just Listen To Us!
“AT LEAST TODAY,
YOU ARE NOT STUCK
IN THE SAME JOB ALL
YOUR LIFE, YOU CAN
CHANGE JOBS WHEN
YOU WANT TO”
LOU JOLY, 18, FRANCE
“Different opinions and ‘freedom of
speech’ have increased among the
youth. I like that, because we ques-
tion everything now. Part of that
progress is thanks to the internet and
social media.”
Diego Alejandro Rodríguez Rangel, 25 México
What we are facing…
“When I think about the avalanche of
costs that we young people are facing,
I feel anxious. Of course I’m happy
that my grandparents are receiving a
good pension, but how that will con-
tinue in the future is not clear to me. I
have the feeling that we young people
have lost out. I don’t see any alterna-
tive to the intergenerational contract,
but I just didn’t sign it either.”
Thomas Kurz, 25, Germany
“I wish older generations had shown
more care for the environment – not
left younger generations to fix up
their mess.”
Paloma Mckenzie, 13, New Zealand
readersdigest.com.au 83

“A system has evolved of continuous
small adaptations that widen the gap
between rich and poor. Propaganda
and empty promises made the system
look good, but as time goes on, more
and more people will be hurt by it.”
Boris van Diemen, 25, The Netherlands
What you should not be
What you can be proud of… proud of…
“The older generations’ greatest
achievements: The second wave of
feminism and civil rights.”
Ben Tooher, 22, Australia
“The older generations’ greatest
achievement is building Singapore
into what it is today from a small
fishing village. Singapore would not
be what it is today without the hard
work and sacrifices of the older gen-
erations. We do not have many nat-
ural resources, yet we were able to
develop into a modern city that is
safe and convenient to live in.”
Lucas Ng, 14, Singapore
84 november 2022
“SEEING YOUR
ILL-HEALTH MAKES
ME DETERMINED
TO EAT WELL AND
STAY ACTIVE”
BEN TOOHER, 22, AUSTRALIA
“The unification of European regions
with the EU, the common currency
and freedom to travel is, in my opin-
ion, one of the greatest achievements
of the older generations.”
Antti Ahonen, 22, Finland
“The older generations don’t have
any achievements. They failed in
Afghanistan, invaded and bombed
Iraq, allowed the invasion of Rus-
sian troops to Ukraine to happen,
massive shootings in the USA, and
trafficking of people who are dying
locked in the trucks.”
Paloma McKenzie, 13, New Zealand
“I hope my generation will under-
stand the problems that exist and
not turn our backs on them as gen-
erations before us have done, and
instead make a serious effort to solve
them.” Pauliina Räsänen, 23, Finland
 READ
EXCLUS ERS DIGEST
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R E A DER’S DIGE ST

“SINGAPORE WOULD
NOT BE WHAT IT IS
TODAY WITHOUT THE
HARD WORK AND
SACRIFICES OF THE
OLDER GENERATIONS”
LUCAS NG, 14, SINGAPORE

“You have too much of a ‘wait-and- Looking to the future...

see’ attitude. You revolted in May
1968, but you could have revolted
earlier, for example to defend wom-
en’s rights.
“It wasn’t until 2013 that the French
law prohibiting women from wearing
pants was repealed.”
Lucas Perrault, 19, France
“What I think about the distribution
of wealth that you are leaving behind:
there is no equitable distribution of
wealth, which my generation will have
to address because otherwise there
will be more social violence and more
migration to affluent countries.”
Camila Baraya Almeida, 21, Ecuador

Spanish Stonehenge Re-emerges

A brutal summer has caused havoc for many in rural Spain,
but one unexpected side-effect of the country’s worst drought
in decades has delighted archaeologists – the emergence of a
prehistoric stone circle in a dam whose waterline has receded.
Officially known as the Dolmen of Guadalperal but dubbed the
Spanish Stonehenge, the circle of dozens of megalithic stones
is believed to date back to 5000 BC.
Discovered by German archaeologist Hugo Obermaier in 1926,
the area was flooded in 1963 in a rural development project
under the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, and has only been
fully visible four times since.
REUTERS

86 november 2022
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 HUMOUR

I Got Organised The

CHAOTIC WAY
BY Richard Glover

D
ILLUS TR ATION: SAM ISL AND

uring the pandemic, as one became rearranging. I pulled all the

lockdown led to another, I books off the shelves and stacked
had far too much time on them on my bedroom floor.
my hands. The books were But what system should I use to re-
first to suffer from over-attention. arrange them? Alphabetical would be
It started with dusting, but then too easy, given the amount of time I

88 november 2022
 Humour

was trying to use up. So instead I research, you are finally in a position
went for a geographic system, where- to place the Larsson on the top shelf,
by they would be organised first by with the Høeg to its right, and then
continent, then according to latitude. finally the Tolstoy.
The books on the top shelf will I now have three books on the shelf,
come from authors who lived further with a further 400 stacked around the
north which, to me, is only sensible. room at my feet. At this point I give up,
If a European author is from, say, fearful of the effect of self-isolation on
Crete, you’ll find their work in the my joie de vivre. Better, perhaps, to
sunny climes on lower shelves. tackle the filing cabinet.
Book rearranging is a perfect activ- First to go are the bank statements,
ity for lockdown, as it requires exten- which sends me into a funk of despair
sive research every time you attempt after I realise how many years it’s
to put a single volume been since the bank
back on the shelf. Is I DECIDED TO paid me even a cent of
L eo Tolstoy closer RETREAT TO THE interest. I seethe with
to the North Pole, or rage. I then uncover a
does the top spot go
KITCHEN AND file of car insurance
to the beaten-up pa- REARRANGE papers, which – fol-
perback by Sweden’s THE HERBS low ing ten minutes
Stieg Larsson? Throw
in Miss Smilla’s Feel- AND SPICES of work with a calcu-
lator – prove that if I’d
ing for Snow by Dan- ‘self-insured’ back in
ish author Peter Høeg and, within 1983 and just banked the money each
minutes, you’ll be sitting on your year, I’d now be driving a Maserati. I
bedroom floor, surrounded by books also uncover three gift cards, all past
and entirely stumped about what their expiry date.
your next move should be. By now I have the contents of the
I decided that I’d organise them filing cabinet all over my bedroom
according to where each writer died f loor, fighting for space with the
– so, the Astapovo railway station books. The whole thing is too de-
in Russia for Tolstoy, Stockholm for pressing to continue, so I decide to
Larsson and, well, Peter Høeg’s not retreat to the kitchen where I will re-
yet dead, but we’ll mark him down arrange the herbs and spices.
as Copenhagen. I take out ever y packet and jar
Then you check your latitudes – from various drawers and pile them
53.2098° N for Tolstoy, 59.3345° N on the kitchen table. What’s needed
for Larsson and 55.6761° N for Høeg is a method. I could divide them into
– and after a good ten minutes of ‘commonly used’ and ‘rarely used’,

readersdigest.com.au 89
R E A DER’S DIGE ST

or into ‘India’ and ‘Mexico’, but that various sizes’. And then I discover
would involve too many closely de- a parcel full of pencils that need
bated decisions and I don’t want to sharpening, marked ‘Pencils that
involve my wife, Jocasta, as she is need sharpening’. I’m almost ex-
restacking the DVDs according to pect ing a jar labelled ‘Pieces of
how the productions were funded. string too short to use’.
I decide to go alphabetical with my It’s the most useless box of stuff
own work, but I end up ever col lected a nd
constantly chanting the I SPOT A makes me wonder what
alphabet like a six year BOX MARKED the miserable tight-wad
old – it’s the only way I ‘STUFF fool who inscribed it as
can remember the or-
der. Really, it is easier
WORTH ‘Stuff worth keeping’,
using handwriting that
to just leave everything KEEPING’. is so clearly mine, was
splayed a l l over t he I HAVEN’T thinking.
kitchen table. That way
Jocasta can sort them
OPENED IT I tip everything from
the box onto the floor,
out when she’s finished FOR 20 YEARS filling the small space
with the DVDs. that isn’t already littered
A las, hav ing abandoned three with books or discarded files. That’s
task s, I a m st i l l at a loose end when I find them, right at the bottom
when my eye alights on a box in of the box. There are two envelopes
the laundry cupboard marked – in marked ‘Tooth From Tooth Fairy”
large handwritten letters – ‘STUFF – each containing a tiny tooth, one
WORTH KEEPING’. It’s a box that I each from our now grown-up sons.
haven’t opened for 20 years. I open the envelopes in turn, al-
Oh boy. I open it up. The f irst lowing each tiny tooth to tumble into
thing I find is an envelope full of my hand. I find myself transported
old keys, marked ‘Old keys, unclear to another time and place. Which is
what they are for’. I then pull out an just as well. Because someone has
envelope full of envelopes, all with turned my home into a complete
dried up seals, marked ‘Envelopes, mess.

Out Of This World

The photons (particles which transmit light) hitting your retina
right now were passing the planet Mercury about five minutes ago.
THE TEAM BEHIND THE QI TV SERIES

90 november 2022
TIME OUTSIDE MEANS FUN TIME!
2
KEEP THE FUN GOING WITH 202
PROTECTION YOU CAN TRUST
BANANA BOAT SUNSCREEN LASTS
AS LONG AS THE FUN DOES. S u n s c re e n

Always read the label and follow the directions for use. Wear protective clothing, a hat and
sunglasses in addition to sunscreen. Reapply frequently. Avoid prolonged high-risk sun exposure.
 HEROES

The Movie
Gets A
NEW ENDING
A producer discovers that the bad guy in his
real-life crime drama is innocent
BY Adrienne Farr

T
imot hy Muccia nte was
a n execut ive producer
working on a film called
Lucky when something in
the script struck him as
odd. The film was based on the 1999
memoir of the same title by Alice
Sebold, author of The Lovely Bones.
It recounts her sexual assault in 1981
while in her first year at Syracuse
University.
It was late at night when Sebold
been murdered in that tunnel. By
comparison, the officer told Sebold,
she’d been lucky.
In October of that year, Sebold said
a man on a Syracuse street called
out, “Hey girl, don’t I know you from
somewhere?” Sebold mistakenly
assumed that the man, Anthony
Broadwater, then 20, was speaking
to her. She became alarmed. Broad-
water looked vaguely like her attack-
er – both were African American and
PHOTO: MARVIN SHAOUNI

was walking alone back to her dormi-
tory. As she entered a tunnel, a man
brandishing a knife grabbed her,
threw her to the ground and raped
her. The book’s title came from a po-
lice officer who said a girl had once
around the same size and age. Sebold
called the police and Broadwater was
arrested. Although he steadfastly
proclaimed his innocence, he was
convicted of eight felony counts, in-
cluding first-degree rape.

92 november 2022
 Timothy Mucciante
was sceptical that
the right man was
convicted

readersdigest.com.au 93
R E A DER’S DIGE ST

Timothy Mucciante was sceptical distinguishing features like a scar on

that the convicted man had a fair trial. Broadwater’s face and his chipped
He would spend 16 years in prison. tooth were never mentioned and did
Released in 1998, he had to register as not appear in the police sketch; and
a sex offender. Broadwater passed two polygraph
The crime was brutal. But was tests. And then there was the police
Broadwater guilty? After comparing crime lab analyst who testified that
the script to news accounts of the tri- hair found at the scene had charac-
al, Mucciante wasn’t sure. During a teristics that were consistent with
police line-up, Sebold initially picked Broadwater’s – but the hair compar-
out a different man before ison method he used was
eventually changing her “SOMETHING deemed unreliable in later
mind. Not only that, Sebold WAS cases, leading to several
later said she and the men defendants being set free.
stood less than a metre VERY Convinced they had
apart. “I knew that is not WRONG enough to acquit Broadwa-
how line-ups work,” says WITH THIS ter, the team brought their
Mucciante, who was no findings before a judge.
stranger to them. He was
STORY” On November 22, 2021,
in a line-up in the 1980s Anthony Broadwater, then
when he was arrested and ultimate- 61, sat in the courtroom, awaiting the
ly served time for investment fraud. judge’s ruling. When he heard it, he
Victims and suspects are never that let out a gasp and wept. He’d been ex-
close. Was she lying? Confused? Who onerated. His name would no longer
knows, but convinced “something was be tainted by the words ‘sex offender’.
very wrong with this story,” Mucciante Sebold regrets her mistake, saying she
withdrew the $5 million he put up to struggles with the role she played in
finance Lucky. sending “an innocent man to jail”.
It was not a decision he made light- Mucciante was almost as happy as
ly. Mucciante, who had been a law- Broadwater. “Watching Anthony get
yer and journalist, had just formed his life back is the biggest benefit,” he
his own film company a year earlier. says. As for his film career, Mucciante
Lucky was to be his big break. Using is producing a documentary about the
his own money, Mucciante hired a case, called Unlucky. In it, Broadwater,
private investigator and contacted two overcome by all that Mucciante and
lawyers who found numerous discrep- the others did for him, struggles to
ancies in the case: a partial fingerprint find the right words. “This is amazing,”
on the pocketknife used in the rape he says. “It’s just like, you can’t fathom
could not be linked to Broadwater; it, man.”

94 november 2022
 CALL FOR MANUSCRIPTS

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RECENT TITLES…
R E A DER’S DIGE ST
LAUGHTER
The Best Medicine
Out Of Step
Jim, Scott and Alex are tired after
travelling all day and check into a
high-rise hotel. When they get to
reception, they find out they’ll have to
walk 75 flights of stairs to get to their
room because the lift is out of order.
Jim suggests that they do
something interesting to pass time
while they walk the 75 flights. They
decide that Jim will tell jokes, Scott
will sing songs and Alex will tell sad
stories.
96 november 2022
CARTOON: BOB ECKS TEIN; ILLUS TR ATION: GE T T Y IMAGES
So Jim tells jokes for 25 flights,
Scott sings songs for 25 flights and
Alex tells sad stories for 24 flights.
When they reach the 75th floor, Alex
tells his saddest story of all, “Guys,
I left our room key at reception.”
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Why not confuse future
archaeologists by burying your
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uniforms? SEEN ON TWIT TER

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For the exercise-averse, good news!
Researchers say that a mere three
seconds of resistance training a day
could boost our biceps by 12 per
cent. Meanwhile, The Week asked its
readers to name a workout regime
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Meant To Bee
A man dining at a restaurant flagged
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The waiter replied, “Yes, sir. Didn’t
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Weddings should also have a worst
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How many art gallery visitors would it
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arrested in the middle of a heist say?
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readersdigest.com.au 97
 TELL ME WHY...
So Many Logos Are Red
BY Jen McCaffery
T
here’s a reason you can’t re-
sist the siren call of the Mc-
Donald’s or Coca-Cola logo.
What is it about these signs
that make people stop in their tracks?
They share a common colour: red.
That’s not by accident. People
make judgements within a minute
and a half of seeing a person or an ob-
ject, according to the digital market-
ing firm WebpageFX. And as much
as 90 per cent of that impression is
based on the colour alone. Market-
ers use certain colours in their logos
or advertisements to evoke emotions
and feelings that encourage people to
buy, says Emily Carter, a web market-
ing analyst for WebpageFX.
“Red is associated with increased
98 november 2022
heart rate, and it’s used to create a
sense of urgency,” she says. “This
is why you’ll often see red tags for
clearance sales.”
The photo receptors in your eyes
are particularly sensitive to long
wavelength light, which we see as
red. “There’s an incentive to make
logos red because red is the most vis-
ible colour,” says neuroscientist Bev-
il Conway. “Of all of the colours, we
communicate red most efficiently.”
The colour red is also said to stim-
PHOTOS: PUBLIC DOMAIN
ulate appetite, hence the number of
food and beverage companies that
use it on their logos, and can be asso-
ciated with both positive (Valentine’s
hearts) and negative (stop signs)
emotions.
R E A DER’S DIGE ST

QUOTABLE QUOTES

I can’t change
the direction of
FOCUS ON
the wind, but I ONE GOOD
can adjust my THING
sails to always
reach my
EVERY
destination. DAY.
JEANETTE AW,
JIMMY DEAN, SINGER
ACTRESS

The lesson I’ve EMPTY POCKETS NEVER HELD

learned the most ANYONE BACK. ONLY EMPTY HEADS
often in life is that AND EMPTY HEARTS CAN DO THAT.
you’re always NORMAN VINCENT PEALE, AUTHOR
going to know
more in the future
than you know Spend 30
now. minutes a day
TAYLOR SWIFT,
MUSICIAN doing something
to help you
become the
person you
secretly would
PHOTOS: GET T Y IMAGES; (AW) AL AMY

love to be, to Intelligence is

do the job you nothing if it’s not
would secretly accompanied with
love to do. kindness.
TOMI ADEYEMI, CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN,
NOVELIST DESIGNER

100 november 2022

 enjoy

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102 november 2022
 CULTURE

The author
with her father
at age eight

MUSIC
PHOTOS: (GUITAR) ©SHUT TERS TOCK. (INSE T) COURTESY OF L AVINIA SPALDING

Of The
HEART
When I was young my father taught
me flamenco guitar. Now I yearn to be part
of that world again

BY Lavinia Spalding F R O M A F A R

readersdigest.com.au 103
I
R E A DER’S DIGE ST

’ve been in Spain only two when I was five. Every afternoon at
days, and already my fingers home, I practised while my father
hurt. It’s a prickly sting like instructed and critiqued. I played
when a fallen-asleep limb scales till my fingertips stung and
returns to life. The sensation peeled and became callused, and
delights me. It means I’m by age seven, I was called a child
doing something right. prodigy. I attended master classes
Yesterday, after arriv ing – always the youngest student by a
in Madrid, I took the Metro to the decade. Sometimes I performed with
Delicias neighbourhood, walked to a my father.
nondescript apartment building and Then, at 11, I quit. Heartbroken, my
knocked on a stranger’s father distanced him-
door. A thin, softly spo- self. Guiltily, I followed
ken woman invited me suit. Soon we spoke only
i n a nd ha nded me a when necessary. Most-
$3000 guitar. “Can you ly we bickered – about
play something?” she chores, rules, perceived
asked. injustices. Our relation-
This was the reason I’d ship didn’t fully rebound
come to Spain. Because until, in my early 20s,
I once believed I was Lavinia Spalding I found myself pulled
destined to be a tocaora. MY FATHER back to guitar, and we
Forty-five years ago, resumed lessons. Our
when I was two, my fa-
BEQUEATHED closeness returned, and
ther also came to Ma- ME HIS he started teaching me
drid and k nocked on GUITAR. flamenco. Then, when I
st ra ngers’ doors. A BUT AFTER was in my early 30s, he
renowned classical gui- HE DIED, got sick.
tarist, he was enamoured I COULDN'T Before he died a few
with f lamenco, and in years later, my father
PHOTO COURTESY OF L AVINIA SPALDING

Spain he learned from

BEAR TO told me there were al-
anyone willing to teach PLAY IT most no tocaoras – fe-
him. He approached performers in male f lamenco guitarists – in the
bars, befriended buskers on footpaths, world. If I kept practising, I could be
and somehow – no one in my family one of the first. I promised, and he
knows how – managed to study with bequeathed me his guitar. But after
Paco de Lucía, the greatest flamenco he died, I couldn’t bear to play it. He’d
guitarist of our time. spent so much time with his arms
I started playing classical guitar around that instrument, it seemed

104 november 2022


Despite her parents' objections, Antonia Jiménez decided at an early
age to take up flamenco guitar
an extension of his own body. Hold-
ing it gave my grief an unbearable
tangibility.
So for 13 years it sat mostly un-
touched, coming out only when my
toddler begged to see it. Ellis was
careful with his grandfather’s instru-
ment in a way that made me want to
pass it down to him – both the guitar
and the music. The problem was, I
couldn’t really play anymore.
One night, I googled ‘female fla-
menco guitarists’. Were they still
scarce? I landed on a website that
insisted tocaoras were on the rise;
Antonia Jiménez was the most im-
portant name in Spain. On a whim,
I wrote to her. “If I travel to Madrid,”
I asked, “will you give me lessons?”
Music Of The Heart
A few months later, in September
2017, I was sitting with Antonia in her
living room, who was politely endur-
ing my defilement – on her alarming-
ly high-end guitar – of music I once
played well.
And this was only the beginning;
I’d contacted two other prominent
tocaoras, one in Granada, another
in Barcelona. I would spend the next
three weeks in Spain immersing my-
self in the world of female flamenco
guitar – a world so new it didn’t exist
while my father was alive. A world I
now yearned to be part of.
Flamenco has mysterious origins,
but people agree somewhat upon the
following: its roots lie in the mingling
of gitano (gypsy) music with Moorish
readersdigest.com.au 105
R E A DER’S DIGE ST

and Jewish traditions. In time, fla- We’re almost the same age. Our fa-
menco emerged as an outlet for the thers died the same year. We both
poor and oppressed. It consists of began playing at five. But I stopped,
cante (song), baile (dance), toque and she couldn’t be stopped.
(guitar), and percussive elements Before my father died, he was
that include clapping, finger snap- teaching me soleares, a standard fla-
ping, and shouts of encouragement menco form. Determined to relearn
(like ‘olé!’), plus a more esoteric layer this in Spain, I came prepared, carry-
known as duende, the dark emotion ing a thick folder of sheet music, plus
at the heart of everything. a photocopy of a soleares arranged by
The rest of the backstory is mostly Paco de Lucía and transcribed by my
the stuff of late-night, sherry-fuelled dad in 1972.
debates. There’s just one final point Antonia is reverent of the tran-
of consensus: women scription but baulks at
can sing and dance fla- ANTONIA'S my folder. “Flamenco is
menco, but guitar pretty HANDS 90 per cent improvisa-
much belongs to men. EXPLODE tional,” she explains. She
It’s a good old-fashioned ACROSS suggests I follow along
boys’ club. while she plays falsetas,
Antonia spent her life
THE STRINGS or soleares melodies.
crashing that club. She LIKE Then her hands explode
began play ing at age FIREWORKS, across the strings like
five, despite her parents’ AND ALL fireworks, and all I can
objections. At 14 she I CAN DO IS do is stare. And panic.
found a teacher and by STARE And realise how unpre-
15 was earning money pared I actually am.
accompanying singers and dancers. She suggests I record a video of
When I met her, she’d spent 30 years her playing slowly. Back in my rent-
studying with masters, composing ed apartment, I watch the video and
and touring the globe, and was fi- practise fanatically until I memorise
nally recording her first album. But the falsetas. W hen my fingertips
her father died 13 years ago without start tingling, I’m euphoric. I run my
accepting her vocation. “He never thumb over them like they’re a row of
once said ‘Good’,” she confides. “He tiny talismans.
never said, ‘Olé’. I had to do this for Heading into our second lesson,
myself. I fought for my career, and I’m slightly more confident. As An-
it was very, very hard to grow in this tonia tunes her guitar for me, I’m re-
atmosphere.” minded of my dad – the way he cra-
I can’t help but compare our lives. dled his guitar like a favourite child.

106 november 2022

He wasn’t the most affectionate
parent, and the tenderness he
showed his instruments was
likely why I was drawn to guitar:
to be closer to him by proxy.
I fumble my way through the
falsetas. But Antonia says she’s
impressed, and I decide to be-
lieve her.
On my last night in Madrid, she
performs at Casa Patas, a vaunt-
ed tablao (flamenco stage). This
being my first flamenco show in
Spain, and my understanding of
duende being even flimsier than
my grasp of the music, I’m ex-
pecting something gloomy and
maudlin. Like sad opera with
stomping. Instead, the show is Pilar Alonso performs with the all-female
celebratory, sexy, fiery. Duende, flamenco Arabic quartet Mujeres Mediterráneas
it turns out, isn’t about suffering;
it’s about transforming suffering into Among the earliest female grad-
joy and passion. I try to give Antonia uates of the lauded Conservatorio
all the ‘olés’ her father never did. Superior de Música Rafael Orozco in
Córdoba, Pilar holds degrees in both
IN 1922, GRANADA – the Alhambra classical and f lamenco guitar and
palace, specifically – was the site of now teaches at the Conservatorio Pro-
the first flamenco competition, Con- fesional de Música de Ángel Barrios in
curso de Cante Jondo, which brought Granada, while also performing in
f lamenco to the world’s attention. Mujeres Mediterráneas, a flamenco
Flamenco remains a constant pres- Arabic quartet of women from dif-
ence here. ferent parts of the world.
My first impression of Pilar Alon- When I notice a framed photo of
so, when she opens the door to her Paco de Lucía in her study, she says
apartment, is that she’s the happiest she considers him her teacher. At
person I’ve ever met. Her face is an age 11, she taught herself f lamen-
endless warm smile. She’s so bubbly, co by listening to his cassette tapes.
one might not take her seriously – if I’ve learned this was the customary
one didn’t know better. method of studying with him. By all

readersdigest.com.au 107
 me. A delicate, lively string of
single notes, it’s as familiar as
a lullaby. “That!” I shout. Tears
blur my eyes, and then my fin-
gers are plucking along as fast
as hers. It’s as if a missing piece
of me is back.

YOU DON’T REALLY go to Bar-

celona for flamenco. You go for
Gaudí’s architecture, tapas, ab-
sinthe. But a flamenco guitar-
ist has brought me here. Marta
Robles began playing at age
seven in Seville, has earned
four degrees in classical and
flamenco guitar, and has trav-
Marta Robles has been playing flamenco elled the world performing.
guitar since she was seven years old When I watched her online, I
imagined we’d be instant best
accounts, he almost never took on friends. But no. She’s tall, glamorous
students. and intense, and she intimidates me.
I show Pilar my dad’s transcription. Even my precious transcription fails
“It’s glorious,” she says, poring over it. to impress her. She skims it, nods,
“Magnífico.” returns to her beer.
Leafing through my sheet music, Nor is Marta moved to provide
however, she acts like I’ve thrust rot- reassuring answers to my hopeful
ten chicken under her nose. She’ll questions. “No,” she says, “the situa-
instruct me, but this?! No. When she tion isn’t improving for tocaoras.”
demonstrates the rhythm she intends I remind her that two nights ago
to teach me, her hands become birds she and another female guitarist
– darting and fluttering, dipping and played a private concert for the Roll-
swooping, graceful, furious. ing Stones. And days before that, her
“OK,” she says. “Now follow along.” all-women group, Las Migas, got a
To be clear, there is no chance I can Latin Grammy nomination for Best
do this. Flamenco Album.
But during our second lesson, “Doesn’t this say something about
something happens. Pilar begins the future of the tocaora?” I ask.
playing a melody my father taught “OK, maybe,” she concedes.

108 november 2022


My final lesson in Spain is sched-
uled on the last morning before I
leave for home, and coincides with
a strike in Barcelona. Taxis are non-
existent and the Metro has stopped
running. I walk to Marta’s apartment,
arriving late, worried there’s no time
for a lesson. I need to check out of my
accommodation in an hour.
“Tranquila,” she says. She’ll take me.
Marta doesn’t feel like teaching
me soleares; instead, she’ll show me
a rumba. “It’s like this,” she says, her
hands a dizzying blur of knuckles
and skin.
“OK? Follow along.”
This joke never gets old.
But she shows me again in slow
motion. And as I study her hands,
I notice how her fingers form per-
fect squares above the frets and her
thumb never creeps over the neck of
the guitar. And I hear my dad’s voice,
forever correcting my form, holding
my wrist between his long, slender
fingers and jiggling it gently. “Let it
relax,” he’d say.
So I relax my wrist and follow Mar-
ta’s lead, and a few dozen tries later,
I get it. Not just the rhythm of the
rumba but golpe, too, the trademark
tapping of finger against guitar.
“That’s it!” she exclaims, and we
tamp our strings and play faster and
faster until we’re strumming in uni-
son and grinning widely at each oth-
er. And just like that, I’m no longer
intimidated. I’m exhilarated and
inspired and want to stay in Spain
Music Of The Heart
and spend every minute with these
remarkable, revolutionary women.
Do I? No. But I do remember, fi-
nally, what it means to be musical.
To practise until something beauti-
ful emerges. To live for the moment
when it all connects and you are
elevated. And mostly, to share that
magic with someone else.
I wonder if this is duende – an old
suffering transformed into passion.
I know holding a guitar doesn’t hurt
anymore. It feels like a rekindling,
like the redemption of a broken
promise. It feels like joy.
Marta drives me back to my apart-
ment on her motorcycle, and as we
zip through the streets, I experience
a rare moment of pure freedom. The
sense of something heavy being lift-
ed away.
I’ve long carried guilt and remorse
for quitting guitar and missing my
chance to be one of the first tocao-
ras. Those feelings are gone. Now I
see how lucky I am.
Antonia, Pilar and Marta had zero
female role models. I have three.
They had countless obstacles. I have
zero. I’m suddenly impatient to get
home, tune my guitar and practise
all they’ve shared with me.
And I intend to share it, too. I want
to teach my son to play soleares
someday. But I’ve ditched all my
sheet music now. W hen the time
comes, I’ll make him follow along.
FROM AFAR (JULY/AUGUST 2019)
© 2019 BY LAVINIA SPALDING
readersdigest.com.au 109
R E A DER’S DIGE ST

ALL IN A DAY’S WORK

Humour On The Job

CARTOON: A SHER PERLMAN. OPPOSITE: VECTEEZ Y.COM

“Do you have any true-crime podcasts?”

No Protection Aim For The Mouth

I opened an envelope from one
of our customers regarding an
accidental death insurance policy
on her spouse. The request was
simple and to the point. Handwritten
boldly across the invoice in red ink,
it read: “Please cancel this policy.
My husband is dead, and it was no
accident.”
SUBMITTED BY KATHLEEN JOHNSON SIMMONS
While volunteering at a hospital
during university, I was tasked with
feeding an elderly patient who didn’t
have the strength to do it himself.
When his tray arrived, I picked up
the utensils and asked, “Would you
like me to use a spoon or a fork?”
He replied, “That depends on
your aim.”
SUBMITTED BY SANDY SPEER

110 november 2022


All The Same
A young boy I was caring for was
staring intently at a neighbour’s
newborn when he announced, “We
have a baby just like that at our
house! He just has a different head.”
SUBMITTED BY MARY SHIPLEY BENTLEYVILLE
Proceed With Caution
We have plumbers working in our
house. I just heard one of them say
“Lefty loosey, righty tighty.” I know
we’re in good hands.
@ROLLININTHESEAT
OFF THE WALL
I create wall art and murals. I am
talking to a client about doing the
outside wall of their kindergarten.
CLIENT: Oh, and I want a big
painting with Moana, the sisters
from Frozen, and that Encanto girl
who wears the glasses.
ME: I don’t think that would be a
good idea. Those are copyrighted
characters.
CLIENT: Oh, they’ll never notice a
small kindergarten like ours!
ME: Are you kidding? This is
Disney. They probably have their
lawyers on their way to our
houses right now.
NOTALWAYSRIGHT.COM
All In A Day’s Work
MOST BORING JOBS EVER?
A recent UK survey listed the top five
most boring jobs as data analysis,
accounting, tax/insurance work,
cleaning and banking. But what
about these?
I literally used to watch cement
dry when I worked for a
building company which had a
job at a university. The students
were far too absorbed in their
phones to notice traffic cones
and caution tape, so my job was
to yell at them if they were
about to step into the wet
cement. SNW_23, VIA REDDIT
I was the printer-paper refill
guy at a large multinational
bank with about 12 huge
printers constantly printing
jobs. I took those jobs, stapled
them, and put them in little
boxes according to their
coversheets. And I opened
reams of paper and put
them into the printers.
And died from a thousand
paper cuts.
INTENSELY_HUMAN, VIA REDDIT
readersdigest.com.au 111
 QUIZ

A VERY SPECIAL
JUICE
Ten questions
about the
liquid that
keeps
us alive

ILLUS TR ATION: GE T T Y IMAGES/IS TOCKPHOTO/EK ATERINA VAKHR AMEE VA

BY Kirstin von Elm

112 november 2022

 QUESTIONS
1
Biologist Karl Landsteiner was
born on June 14, 1868. “Millions
of people owe their lives and
healing to Karl Landsteiner,” says his
plaque at the University of Vienna.
The Austrian discovered that:
a) there are several blood groups
b) when broken down into
its components, blood can be
stored for longer
c) when blended with saline
solution, blood can stretch further
d) blood transfusions could
save lives
readersdigest.com.au 113
R E A DER’S DIGE ST
2 5
About five to six litres of blood
circulate in the adult human
body. How far would all the ar-
teries, veins and capillaries reach, if
they were lined up one after the other?
a) from Singapore to Johor Bahru,
Malaysia – around 23km
b) from Calais, France, to Dover,
England – around 45km
c) from Reykjavik to Sydney –
around 16,600km
d) more than twice around the
equator – around 100,000km
3
Blood carries nutrients and ox-
ygen. It contains billions of cells
that continually fight bacteria,
viruses and other foreign invaders in
the body. What are these cells called?
a) haemoglobins
b) leucoplasts
c) leukocytes
d) plasma
4
When measuring suitability for
a blood transfusion, blood type
group as well as the rhetoric fac-
tor is considered. This is either pos-
itive or negative. Like blood types,
Rhesus (Rh) factors are not evenly
distributed. Most people worldwide
are Rh positive. In which part of the
world is the proportion of the pop-
ulation with a negative Rh factor
particularly low?
a) Africa
b) Asia
c) Europe
d) Saudi Arabia
114 november 2022
Nanorobots that can remove
deposits in the bloodstream or
fight cancer cells is still wish-
ful thinking today, but in the 1966
film Fantastic Voyage, it was a form
of treatment. A team of scientists in
a submarine is shrunk and then in-
jected into the patient’s bloodstream
for brain surgery. The operation suc-
ceeds, but then antibodies attack the
submarine. The heroes escape by...
a) entering the trachea and being
coughed up
b) swimming in a tear from
the eye
c) piercing the eardrum and
escaping out the ear canal
d) being urinated out the body
6
About 45 per cent of our blood
consists of solid components
such as platelets. With their
help, the body stops bleeding when
we are wounded. However, platelets
also play a role in the development of
some conditions. Which one of these
four conditions causes this response?
a) athlete’s foot
b) heart attack
c) lung infection
d) diabetes
7
The European aristocracy – espe-
cially in the 19th century – were
afflicted by haemophilia more
often than the rest of the population.
This is because aristocratic families
mostly intermarried, chiefly to protect
their own privileges, but it also meant
 A Very Special Juice

the genetic defect responsible for the
disease remained within their own
ranks. How is haemophilia inherited?
a) from mothers to sons and
daughters
b) from fathers to daughters
c) from fathers to sons
d) from maternal grandmothers
to grandsons
energy supplies. Fortunately, blood
supply to the brain is continuously
replenished. Do pollutants and path-
ogens pose a risk to the brain?
a) No. The blood-brain barrier is
a roadblock to microorganisms
and regulates what can enter into
the brain tissue
b) No. The kidneys eliminate
them before the blood flows to

8
The aristocracy are often de- the brain
sc r ibed a s ‘blue-blooded’. c) Yes. They accumulate in the
This term is based on an op- brain and hasten the ageing
tical illusion: as the gentlemen did process
not work outdoors they had an el- d) Yes. They can bring on a stroke
egantly pale complexion that re-
>> Turn to page 116 for quiz answers
vealed the blue-colour of their veins.
However, blueblood really does exist.
Who has it?
a) anaemia patients
b) horseshoe crabs
c) walruses
d) sea cucumbers

9
Accident victims are just as
dependent on blood donations
ILLUS TR ATION: GE T T Y IMAGES/FS TOP/MALTE MUELLER

as cancer patients and women

after complicated births. How much
blood is donated around the world
every year?
a) 60 million litres
b) 120 million litres
c) 180 million litres
d) 600 million litres

10
The brain accounts for just
two per cent of an adult’s
body mass, but consumes Donating blood saves lives
as much as 20 per cent of our body’s

readersdigest.com.au 115
 ANSWERS: A VERY SPECIAL JUICE QUIZ
1 a) Karl Landsteiner discovered the
existence of different blood groups
and in 1930 was awarded the Nobel
Prize in Physiology/Medicine. With-
out his findings on the compatibility
of blood groups, blood transfusions
would remain a life-threatening
procedure.
2 d) All the blood vessels in an adult
body, if joined together, would
measure an impressive 100,000km
– ie. more than twice around the
equator.
3 c) Leukocytes form one of the pil-
lars of the immune system. Un-
like the red blood cells that transport
oxygen, leukocytes do not contain a
red pigment and are referred to as
white blood cells.
4 b) Less than two per cent of the
population of Asia is Rh negative.
In Africa it is around ten per cent, in
Europe around 17 per cent, while in
Saudi Arabia it is 14.2 per cent.
5 b) The heroes in the film Fantastic
Voyage escape from their disabled
submarine and then swim out of the
patient in a tear drop.
6 b) The platelets are involved
in t he for mat ion of vascu la r
closures that are experienced during
a heart attack.
116 november 2022
a) + b) Women are responsible for
7 passing the haemophilia genetic
defect to sons and daughters, while
men are responsible only for remitting
the defect to their daughters. The de-
fect is located on the X chromosome.
Both parents pass one of them on to
their daughters. Sons, on the other
hand, receive a Y chromosome from
their father. The disease is inherit-
ed in a recessive manner: a healthy
X chromosome can more or less com-
pensate for a defective one. Men are
therefore affected more frequently.
8 b) The horseshoe crab’s light blue
blood is a coveted raw material in
the pharmaceutical industry because
it reacts directly to toxins. It is there-
fore used in drug studies.
9 a) According to the World Health
Organization almost 120 million
units of blood are donated every year,
which translates to around 60 million
litres. However, the WHO warns that
access to safe blood products is not
guaranteed in some regions of the
world.
10 a) The blood-brain barrier
serves as a filter and allows
only a few selected substances to en-
ter the brain tissue. However it is not
insurmountable as alcohol, nicotine
and some pathogens can make it
through the blood-brain barrier.
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R E A DER’S DIGE ST

118 november 2022

 HOW TO
Learn A
LANGUAGE
As An Adult
Contrary to conventional thinking, it isn’t too late
BY Emily Goodman
F
or more than t wo years,
Dulcie Shoener has done
daily German lessons on her
phone. To some, that might
sound like self-imposed homework,
but Shoener – a language lover and
sub-editor – doesn’t see it that way.
“I enjoy it so much,” she says. “It’s a
delight to be able to read a short story
in German.”
To be able to read, write or carry on
a conversation in another language
is a feat few native English speakers
PHOTO: TMB S TUDIO
attempt, let alone achieve.
Of her school German, Shoener
says, “I remembered very little.”
Yet the rewards for those who do
learn a second (or third, or fourth...)
language are profound: increased
travel opportunities, of course, but
also improved memory, focus and
the ability to multi-task. Bilingual
brains are better shielded against
cognitive disorders such as Alzheim-
er’s disease. And, according to a poll
conducted by the language app Bab-
bel, knowing multiple languages can
make you seem more attractive.
So, why aren’t more of us multi-
lingual? There are dozens of decent
answers to that question, but one
common retort doesn’t have much
merit at all: the idea that adults, es-
pecially older ones, just can’t learn
languages as easily as children can.
Linguists have long debated how
readersdigest.com.au 119
R E A DER’S DIGE ST
old is too old to acquire a language,
but newer research is refuting the
idea wholesale. “There is no magical
point at which it becomes impossible
to learn a new language,” says Profes-
sor Alison Gabriele, of the University
of Kansas, who led a study published
last year showing that adult learners
– even as beginners – could process
sentence structures in new languages
much like native speakers. Separate
research at Cambridge University
recently found that language instruc-
tion affects adults and
children the same way.
While it’s true that
children tend to pick
up ne w l a n g u a ge s
quickly and easily, this
has more to do with
how they learn than
how old they are when
they do.
Kids absorb and in-
fer lots of information about language
simply by listening: to family, friends,
teachers and the media around them.
It happens without much thought or
effort on their part and, when they
do put in effort, it’s because they
want to understand the story, joke
or game that’s going on. By contrast,
adults tend to learn in rigid academic
settings where they have little say in
what they study and where the stakes
are also higher.
What Shoener can recall from her
German classes is the pressure to
maintain her grade point average. “I
120 november 2022
was horrified of making mistakes,”
she says. “Now I’m not afraid, and I
know I’m doing better than I did at
school.”
If you dream of being bilingual,
your age does not disqualify you.
Make the process more fun – and, by
extension, more successful – with the
following tips.
FIND YOUR MOTIVATION
Wish you had paid more attention in
high school French? Consider why
you didn’t. Perhaps all
you wanted out of the
class was a good grade,
or to fulfil a gradua-
tion requirement.
Linguists call these
incentives ‘extrinsic
motivators’, but the
most successful lan-
g uage st udents a re
‘intrinsically’ motivat-
ed, sincerely invested in their own
learning.
So pick a language you are excited
to use, whether on a grand holiday
in France or on your couch watching
French TV dramas.
PICK YOUR TOOLS
It might take trial and error, but you’ll
figure out which resources work best
for you. Mobile apps such as Duolin-
go and Babbel gamify your learning,
so if you could easily spend hours
playing on your phone, you’ll likely
find these similarly addictive. Others

such as Rosetta Stone and Pimsleur
are less gimmicky but more rigorous-
ly researched.
Consider a conversation-based
class on Italki or Idlewild. And don’t
neglect books. McGraw Hill and Bar-
ron’s offer excellent textbooks, gram-
mar guides and workbooks with an-
swer keys to let you see how you’re
doing.
But you may enjoy children’s sto-
ries more, with their simple vocab-
ulary and easy-to-understand nar-
ratives.
DIVE IN
Immerse yourself in your chosen
language as much as you can. Watch
movies or listen to songs, even if they
are just on in the background. Peri-
odically look around you and see
how many things you can name in
the language you’re studying.
Better yet, label items around your
home with those words. You’ll have
no choice but to see them and, in very
little time, learn them.
GET SOCIAL
Practising with other people helps
solidify what you’ve already learned
and makes you more aware of which
ideas you’re able to express. These
need not be native speakers you chat
with, though various websites and
apps such as languageexchange.com,
HelloTalk and TalkAbroad can con-
nect you with some, either free or for
a small fee.
Learn A Language As An Adult
DON’T SWEAT
YOUR MISTAKES
Kids get it wrong all the time. They’ll
say, for instance, that they ‘goed’ to
school and played with other ‘childs’.
But inherent in these errors is an un-
derstanding of the general rules: we
use ‘-ed’ as a suffix to put an action
in the past, we add ‘-s’ to make things
plural, and so on. Although kids often
misapply these rules, they pick up on
the patterns and use them in novel
situations. This is what successful lan-
guage learners do. Sometimes you’ll
miss the mark as you unknowingly
stumble on an irregular verb or an
exception to the rule. But more often
you’ll be right.
TRY LESS
It seems counter-intuitive, but you’re
more re c e pt i v e to pic k up on
language patterns when you aren’t
hyper-focused on learning them. So
rather than stare intently at a vocab-
ular y list, glance over the words
while you listen to instrumental mu-
sic. Or enjoy a glass of wine ahead of
conversation practice. As research at
t he Universit y of Liver pool has
shown, our ability to speak a second
language improves after a bit of al-
cohol. Or turn on subtitles in the
language you’re learning even as you
watch TV in English. But don’t de-
vote your full attention to them – just
enjoy the show and absorb what you
can. The less you stress, the more
you’ll be able to learn.
readersdigest.com.au 121
TRAVEL

readersdigest.com.au 123
A
R E A DER’S DIGE ST

t the crest of a steep

s lop e, doz en s of
men clamber atop
a felled tree. Once
a mighty fir reaching tens of me-
tres high, the stripped, multi-tonne
log perched on the hill is draped in
as many sacred, woven shimenawa
ropes as young norite (riders), who
dare to mount it down its rapid fall to
level ground.
On either side of the slope, onlook-
ers chant ritual songs while, behind
the massive pillar of timber, a man
with an axe severs the only rope an-
choring the tree – and its norite, clad
in bright orange and navy garb – from
a death-defying descent.
This is the kiotoshi (tree falling)
Norite riding a kiotoshi,
stage of t he Onbashira fest iva l,
or felled tree, down a
perhaps the deadliest tradition in mountainside
Japan.
Viewed by the tow nspeople of
Suwa in central Nagano Prefecture
as a test of courage and braver y, THE ROOTS OF LOG RIDING
the kiotoshi and larger Onbashira The origins of the Onbashira festival
Festival has resulted in fatalities as date back at least as far as the Heian
recently as 2016. period (794-1185), though historians
Still, the threat of death – either at the Suwa City Museum claim res-
PHOTOS: GE T T Y IMAGES

from drowning as logs are dragged
across the river-strewn countryside
or from being crushed by a tree hur-
tling down a hill – has done little to
dull locals’ enthusiasm for this truly
unique festival.
idents even further back in the Nara
period (710-794) were performing
similar hazardous activities in the
name of tradition.
In a ceremony akin to the famous
razing and rebuilding of the Grand

124 november 2022


Shrines of Ise every two decades,
Suwa symbolically renews its own
local shrines every six years (the next
Onbashira festival will take place in
2028) in keeping with Shinto princi-
ples of purity. First, shrine officials
scour the countryside for 16 full-
grown fir trees sufficiently majestic
enough to embody the essence of
the gods and poetically referred to
as hashira (pillars). These trees will
Tempting Fate
eventually be erected on the sacred
grounds of shrines around town as
vessels for the deities.
The only issue? Transporting them
from inaccessible slopes through-
out Nagano’s impressive Yatsuga-
take mountain range to the shrines
themselves.
At some point in the late Edo (1603-
1867 or early Meiji era (1868-1912),
the locals decided that dragging these
readersdigest.com.au 125
R E A DER’S DIGE ST
monumental trees to their destina-
tions by only the safest routes wasn’t
worth the effort. Instead, they opted to
launch the logs down the mountain-
side – thus, the kiotoshi was born.
ORGANISING ONBASHIRA
While the rough, rowdy and poten-
tially fatal kiotoshi might be the most
eye-catching phase of the Onbashira
Festival, it is far from the only ele-
ment worth taking in.
In fact, the kiotoshi is just one stage
of the overall yamadashi (coming out
of the mountains) event, which sees
the festival’s massive trees felled with
specialty tools and decorated in Shin-
to’s sacred colours of red and white
before they embark on their peril-
ous, five-kilometre journey through
the countryside. Occasionally, this
means rivers must be ceremoniously
forded through kawaogoshi, a ritual
river crossing by which selected trees
are fitted out with V-shaped branches
to help with waterborne travel.
Land or waves, it doesn’t seem to
matter when it comes to the Onbashi-
ra’s health and safety record. Deaths
have occurred in both the kiotoshi
and kawaogoshi.
One month later in early May, the
satobiki phase kicks off, which sees
the logs hauled through Suwa’s usu-
ally quiet neighbourhoods and to
their respective shrines. When the
timber arrives at its final destina-
tion, the participants then haul it
upright and insert it into the ground
126 november 2022
with nothing but their own com-
bined strength.
Perhaps it would be easier if it was
not for the lone resident strapped to
the top of each log. Once sufficient-
ly airborne, this individual throws
lollies, snacks and other trinkets
from his lofty perch. Unsurprisingly,
whichever man is chosen to play this
high-altitude role every six years has
come to suffer his fair share of inju-
ries over the years.
While the yamadashi and satobiki
stages comprise the bulk of the On-
bashira Festival in April and May,
somewhat more subdued celebra-
tions continue throughout summer
and autumn at shrines across the
region. At least some elements of the
festivities extend until October, mak-
ing this not only Japan’s most danger-
ous festival but perhaps its longest.
FAMILY TREES
It might seem unusual that Suwa and
its surrounding towns, an area with
a population of just over 172,000,
has become the site of Japan’s most
hazardous festival. Like most of
Nagano Prefecture’s cities, Suwa is
tucked away in a narrow valley with
a modestly sized lake to its north.
In festival years however, the rural
town buzzes with an undeniable en-
ergy. Once a month, neighbourhood
shrines hold classes to teach young
children the kiyari (ritual chants of
encouragement sung as the trees
are transported). As the first day of

The monumental logs are erected in shrine grounds for the festival
yamadashi draws nearer, these class-
es are held nightly.
For all the idiosyncrasies of the On-
bashira Festival, the atmosphere sur-
rounding it is representative of small
communities intensely proud of their
local traditions.
PHOTO: GE T T Y IMAGES
“I bring my young daughters to
watch the Onbashira Festival so that
one day they will have a great ap-
preciation for it,” says Suwa resident
Kumiko Oguchi. “Hopefully, one day,
Tempting Fate
they will become active in the festi-
val themselves.” Just five years old,
Oguchi’s daughter can already sense
something special about the parade
of timber from Suwa’s mountainsides
to shrine grounds. “The logs seem
like ghosts,” she says.
Getting the younger generation
interested in the Onbashira Festi-
val may be the only way to preserve
it. Unlike many other such events
across Japan, official participation
readersdigest.com.au 127
R E A DER’S DIGE ST
in the proceedings, including riding
the logs, is limited to residents with
demonstrated and extended family
histories in the Suwa area.
Outside observers might be forgiven
for questioning the utility of a tradition
like the Onbashira Festival. Danger
and injury, after all, seem to form its
foundation. But any authority looking
to soften its harder edges would have
to contend first with the residents of
Suwa who show no signs of reticence
when it comes time to ride the 16-me-
tre logs down a precipice.
Even this year’s festival falling
in the middle of a pandemic didn’t
completely halt the proceedings.
The more dangerous elements of the
kiotoshi were suspended, and social
distancing requirements meant only
a fraction of the normal crowd could
pull each log along its route. None-
theless, the townspeople still showed
up in force to chant and cheer, as if
to say their six-year wait for the fes-
tival to get underway could not last
another day.
For reasons of public safety, the
Onbashira Festival might be difficult
to defend. But by putting a stop to
this dangerous yet undeniably fasci-
nating tradition, any intervening cru-
sader might also be digging up the
soul of Suwa root and stem.
FIRST PUBLISHED IN THE JAPAN TIMES
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 BONUS READ

THE BU$INESS OF

LOVE
Mr K was a widower and in his 70s when he met a young
woman on the internet. At the time, he could hardly
believe his luck – until this chance encounter led him
into the clutches of a global industry worth billions

BY Henning Sussebach

M
r K has bought a strawber-
ry cake for us to share as he
talks about his new, yet com-
plicated love. He’s excited and
nervous at the same time. His slice of
cake falls right off his plate, which an-
noys him. “See, I told you,” he says. “I
can’t do things alone. I need a wife!”
Mr K is 79 years old, retired and
lives alone in the Rhineland, Germa-
Mr K lives in a house that became
too big for him after his wife died of
breast cancer in 2013. The couple had
been together for 37 years. His wife’s
crochet blankets are still scattered
over the couches. The good crockery
and the marriage bed are the same.
The television now does the talking
instead of her, while Mr K smokes and
eats his cake.
PHOTO: GE T T Y IMAGES

ny. His full name is nobody’s business.
What’s important is to understand his
story, a story that’s difficult enough,
even for Mr K himself. “It’s very com-
plex,” he admits.
In 1976, Mr K had found his wife
through a personal ad in the Rhein-
ische Post. She was Czech, and much
younger than him. He explained the
West and the world to her. The two

130 november 2022

 The Business Of Love

readersdigest.com.au 131
R E A DER’S DIGE ST
drove from New York to San Francis-
co. They travelled through Canada,
sleeping in a tent. When they returned
home, they moved into their house in
the Rhineland. They had a child and
made a life together.
When his wife died, Mr K was not
a member of any club, had lost regu-
lar contact with his former work col-
leagues, and his son had grown up.
Mr K can’t stand the
silence. Instead of love
there is emptiness. IT WOULD BE
For years after his WRONG TO TRY TO
wife’s death, Mr K be-
lieved this emptiness
RATIONALLY
could only be filled JUSTIFY HIS
with new love. So he ACTIONS, IT’S
registered on Finya, an
online dating portal.
ABOUT FEELINGS
“It’s free, but very seri-
ous,” he says. For his profile, he used
a 20-year-old photo taken while on a
holiday in Spain. He cut his wife out.
Although in his early 70s, he gives his
age as 66 and states he is looking for
a girlfriend aged between 45 and 55.
The rejections are sobering. But
there are also women from abroad
on Finya, many of them. “They write
to you on their own,” says Mr K. This
makes it seems familiar, like it used to
be, when he first answered the adver-
tisement in the Rheinische Post, only
more modern and with photos.
“I’M A VERY OPEN and easygoing
woman,” writes someone named An-
toinette to Mr K, in German. “I like
132 november 2022
art and culture and photography. I
am looking for a mature man with a
young soul and good heart. My heart
is very big, but it only has room for the
right man with a huge bucket of love!
Email me here.”
They start emailing each other.
“Good morning, how was your night?
I couldn’t sleep well because it was
so hot and I was sweating all over my
body. I think of you,”
writes Antoinette.
“In Germany you
don’t need air condi-
tioning in the house,
but you do need heat-
ing in winter. My house
is very large and has
central wood heating
on the first floor and
gas heating on the sec-
ond floor,” replies Mr K.
They exchange photos. Antoinette
has long hair, a mischievous smile and
a bust size that impresses Mr K.
“When I look at your photos I want
to ‘cuddle’, kiss and love you. I need
you,” he emails.
“Honey, you’re pretty and sweet
smile always looks up at me,” she
emails.
Mr K can hardly believe his luck,
and decides to pursue Antoinette. He
prints out all the messages so none of
their exchanges are lost. The vows of
love are piled up on the table on A4
paper. That makes everything seem
official.
Unfortunately, there is a problem.

Although Antoinette is American, she
is stuck in Ghana for some reason. Mr
K suggests getting her a visa and book-
ing her a flight to Germany. “I want to
hold you in my arms at Düsseldorf
Airport,” he writes. Antoinette would
rather have a few bucks to take care of
herself.
But Mr K doesn’t want to send
her money. Instead, he organises an
appointment for Antoinette at the
German Embassy in Accra, Ghana’s
capital. She doesn’t make the ap-
pointment. Mr K emails her: “Hello
my darling Antoinette, I am very dis-
appointed in you. You made a fool of
me at the embassy.” He never hears
from Antoinette again.
SOME 5000 KILOMETRES south of
Ghana’s capital is Offinso, a town of
some 137,000 people. The town is full
of bare concrete houses, free-roaming
goats, and red-earth paths. A young
man is sitting on a sofa behind drawn
curtains in an unoccupied house. He
suggested this meeting place. The
house is on the outskirts, and nobody
knows him in the neighbourhood. He
wants to remain anonymous.
The young man calls himself Vin-
cent, but even that is a lie. He’s hold-
ing a phone in his hands and shows
me what he’s sending: “I know there’s
an ocean between us ... I have never
held you in my arms, but in my heart,
I have done it a thousand times.”
To an 81-year-old widower in the
US, Vincent is ‘Juliette’.
The Business Of Love
I mention an elderly German man
called Mr K, Vincent says that doesn’t
tell him anything, and denies being
‘Antoinette’. But maybe it’s his neigh-
bour. Or some other person in Ghana.
Because thousands of people in West
Africa do what he does. They are glob-
al marriage swindlers, modern-day
con artists, committing a 21st century
crime. They are scammers.
Vincent prefers to use the word
‘Sakawa’, which means ‘to make
money’. He calls his victims ‘clients’.
He lies to people who want to be lied
to. That’s how he sees it. The business
model is amazingly simple: “White
people have no one around. The white
people are lonely. And loneliness is
the best seductress,” he says.
Vincent has ready-made text mod-
ules on his phone: “My honey”; “My
heart”; and “My love”. He has folders
containing photos of different wom-
en. All the photos have been copied
from the internet. According to Vin-
cent, photos and video snippets from
accounts of little-known porn actress-
es work best. He finds everything he
needs there, from the everyday to the
frivolous, from clothed to naked.
According to Vincent, 90 per cent of
the men on the portals respond to his
first query, with 80 per cent asking for
nude photos soon after. “Sometimes I
feel disgusted.”
Back in Germany, more than a year
passes after Mr K lost contact with
Antoinette. He watches television,
smokes, writes to other women.
readersdigest.com.au 133
R E A DER’S DIGE ST
Suddenly there is an email from a
women he last heard from in Febru-
ary 2016. The beautiful American is
writing again. “Hello my dear friend
...” she says. “I haven’t seen you for
a long time, it would be nice if you
could send me new photos, I’ll send
you some too.”
In the new pictures, the old ac-
quaintance wears a bikini. Oddly
enough, her name is no longer An-
toinette Nivon but Earlie Thomas and
she lives in Texas. When I timidly say
that I don’t understand, Mr K raises
his voice in the quiet of his dining
room and shouts: “Neither do I!”
It would be wrong to try to rationally
justify his actions, it’s about feelings.
She writes to him. He writes to her.
She wants to come to Germany again.
Three years after the death of his wife,
Mr K sends money for the first time –
€380 (A$560). What does Earlie need
the money for – a visa? A passport? He
says he can’t remember.
Mr K transfers the money via West-
ern Union. It offers cash deposits,
cash withdrawals, anywhere in the
world, often without presentation of
ID. The receipt is still there, one of 100
slips of paper on his desk. The paper
says under payee: EARLIE THOMAS,
Waco, Texas. No passport number, no
address, nothing.
WHEN THE CLOCKS strike 6pm in
West Africa, it is already 8pm in Cen-
tral Europe. Over on the east coast of
the US, it is approaching afternoon. In
134 november 2022
Offinso, the core working time begins.
“We work the night shift here,” says
Vincent.
Well over a billion dollars are
scammed every year. The FBI alone
receives around 20,000 reports a year.
And these are just the known cases.
Ghana is connected to a deep-sea
communications cable between Cape
Town and London, the most powerful
internet connection between Africa
and Europe. Phone coverage in the
country is over 80 per cent.
Ghana is one of West Africa’s
most developed nations, yet global-
ly speaking is still poor. According
to the Human Development Index,
the country ranks 138th in a glob-
al comparison, behind Bangladesh.
A school-leaving certificate does
not guarantee a job. Relatively few
workers are needed to mine mineral
resources. There are hardly any in-
dustries outside the two main cities
of Accra and Kumasi.
While a full-time liar like Vincent
probably shouldn’t be trusted, you
can still hear his story. He claims his
mother died young. He is 34 years
old, has a wife, two sons and a daugh-
ter.
His wife is training to be a medi-
cal assistant, but to do this, he has to
pay for books, uniforms and this is on
top of his children’s school fees, who
attend a private school. “I’m a good
father,” says Vincent. He recently
earned US$22,000 (A$32,000), work-
ing as a Sakawa.

FOR MONTHS MR K has been plan-
ning for his girlfriend, who he believes
lives in the US, to move to Germany.
Earlie emails him a scanned copy of
her passport. Earlie floods his inbox:
“If I could describe the love I have for
you...”; “If only I could put my love for
you into words...”.
Unlike Antoinette, Earlie does not
want Mr K to send her money for the
flight. Instead, she suggests he trans-
fer money into the ac-
count of a travel agen-
cy in Texas where she EARLIE PROMISES
can book a ticket.
Delays persist. Ear-
TO SETTLE ALL
lie emails Mr K that DEBTS WITH HIM.
her stepfather, in SHE’S AN HEIRESS
Ghana, has died. She
has to go to Africa,
NOW
where she will be able
to collect an inheritance. Mr K pays
about €500 (A$750) for a new plane
ticket. Earlie promises to settle all
debts with him. She’s an heiress now.
It’s the last days of 2016. Mr K
doesn’t hear from his girlfriend for a
while. Then, in January 2017, he re-
ceives an email from a Dr Frimpong
from Accra: “Hello, Mr K, Earlie asked
for me to contact you.” It seems that
after arriving in Africa, Earlie was in-
volved in a car accident. The driver
was killed. “But your partner has sur-
vived, which is the most important
thing.” Dr Frimpong says he is Earlie’s
treating doctor.
Mr K also receives new photos: a
car wreck, Earlie in the hospital bed,
The Business Of Love
her face behind an oxygen mask, with
pleading eyes. Dr Frimpong also at-
taches an invoice for €950 (A$1400).
Unfortunately, the patient lacks insur-
ance, but he would like to continue
with the medical treatment.
FROM GHANA, VINCENT is able to or-
ganise emotional kidnappings of his
victims via his phone. So he doesn’t
accidentally lose sight of the small
developments im-
pacting each of these
‘women’, his phone
constantly vibrates
and flashes, report-
ing incoming emails
to inboxes across sev-
eral email accounts.
Vincent plays many
roles – women, doc-
tors, lawyers.
Like every successful business,
scamming has also become insti-
tutionalised. Only a few operators
work for themselves. A love mafia has
grown, organised in groups. Experts
for image processing exist within
these criminal networks, each one
skilled in Photoshop and Illustrator
and able to create fake passports,
degree certificates and just about
any type of photo. For them, putting
a woman in a hospital bed is no big
deal. Nor is making a passport for her.
When Earlie is released from the
hospital after her accident, she sends
Mr K an email thanking him for his
help and for the “wonderful support
readersdigest.com.au 135
R E A DER’S DIGE ST

given to me all day and night”. Dis- during which Earlie waves to Mr K,
charged from hospital, she now has but unfortunately the audio doesn’t
time to take care of her deceased step- work.
father’s sizeable inheritance. Earlie reports from Accra that
To keep Mr K in the know, Earlie Ghana’s tax laws require inheritances
sends him a copy of her stepfather’s to be taxed, and that she has received
will, which according to the letterhead a bill of €1,015,000 (A$1.5million) to
has been filed with the High Court of access and export the inheritance.
Justice in Accra. The deceased, Wilson Luckily, the boss of the security com-
Bernard Thomas, traded commodities pany, a Mr Saw, was able to negotiate
for a living. According with the tax office
to the will, he has be- and has managed
queathed Earlie, his MR K BEGINS TO to have the tax re-
step-daughter, exact- SCRAPE TOGETHER duced to €26,500
ly 7631 kilograms of
gold and diamonds
HIS ASSETS. HIS (A$40,000). In Africa,
it’s all about con-
and US$800 million SUPPORT OF EARLIE tacts, and Earlie is
in cash. This impres- HAS NOW REACHED grateful that Mr Saw
sive bequest is safely
locked in vaults owned
FIVE FIGURES was able to do this
on her behalf. If Mr
by security company K pays her the sum,
PMS Logistics. The inheritance will Earlie commits to giving him part of
only be handed over to Earlie if she is the inheritance. But she doesn’t want
married. to open the safes in Ghana, for fear of
Mr K marries Earlie in absentia and it being stolen from her.
pays a fee of €3000 (A$4500) to a reg- From then on, Mr K began receiv-
istrar named Esther Acquah. Payment ing emails from the boss of the se-
requests from Ghana are always for curity company, Mr Saw. His emails
Western currencies. Mr K’s payments have an urgent tone as he urges Mr K
to Earlie have now reached four-digit to act quickly as he can’t be expected
figures. He receives an email with a to bribe the authorities at the tax of-
receipt and marriage certificate at- fice forever. Given the large amount
tached. of money, Mr K tells Earlie that he
Now newlyweds, Earlie and Mr K wants to speak with the authorities
email almost every day. They also himself. Earlie intervenes and asks
speak on the phone once, says Mr him: “I don’t want you to call them, I
K, and during the call he spoke with was told that people want to scam us
a woman. Another time he manages because they know how much money
to establish a short video connection is involved.”

136 november 2022


A few days later, Mr K’s doorbell
rings. He opens the door to find a
DHL delivery guy standing there. He
hands over a yellow express envelope
from Ghana. It is heavy, bulging, and
rattles. It is from Earlie and contains
the safe deposit keys. After all, he’s the
only one she trusts.
Mr K begins to scrape together his
assets. His support of Earlie has now
reached five figures. To raise more
money, he sells an inherited house of
a deceased relative.
A year passes, then another. Earlie’s
calls for money continues unrelent-
ingly because she’s now under pres-
sure after telling some Africans about
the gold and now she has to bribe
them. Her emails to Mr K are now
headed: “It’s urgent, my dear.”
It is not easy to look into Mr K’s soul.
At times he sounds as if his love for
Earlie has cooled off a bit: she’s stupid,
trusts the wrong people and always
causes him new problems.
Today Mr K puts it like this: over
time he decided to remain loyal to
her, primarily for financial reasons. “I
had to pay if I ever wanted to realise
my claims,” he says, seemingly to hold
onto her like a stock that continues to
fall, but with the hope that it will rise
again, eventually.
IN GHANA , there are many theories
on why these scams work so effec-
tively. One theory comes from Joe,
a haulage contractor who owns ten
luxury coaches, each one equipped
The Business Of Love
w ith reclining chairs, telev ision
screens, and air conditioning. His
best clients include scammers, the
‘Sakawa boys’.
He has heard them talking dis-
missively about these old men in the
West: how can these old people im-
agine that a young woman is interest-
ed in them? Where is their humility?
Revenge for Africa also forms part
of their motive: Sakawa bring back
what was once stolen. The forts from
which the colonial rulers conquered
the continent, where they loaded gold
and forced slaves onto ships, still
stand on Ghana’s coast.
To this day, whites are called ‘obro-
ni’ in Ghana. The words ob ‘bad’ and
roni ‘human’ form the meaning of the
compound word.
IN AUGUST 2019 – six years after the
death of his wife, five years after An-
toinette and three years after she
turned into Earlie – Mr K found hope
again. Earlie emails him that she’ll be
boarding the plane in a few days in
the company of Mr Saw, the security
company owner. He is accompanying
her to ensure the safes, with the gold,
diamonds and cash, make it into, and
out of, the plane’s fuselage.
“Baby, here is the information about
my flights, my dear. Kotoka Interna-
tional Airport Accra – London Heath-
row – Dusseldorf.”
Earlie and Mr Saw don’t make it to
Dusseldorf. She is arrested in London
because of problems with the safe’s
readersdigest.com.au 137
R E A DER’S DIGE ST
shipping documents. So that Mr K
doesn’t lose faith, Earlie sends him
her British Airways boarding pass. A
Mr Rodgers from Heathrow Intelli-
gence then sends Mr K an email at-
taching a photo showing Earlie in a
Heathrow Airport Police holding cell.
Mr K buys Earlie’s ‘freedom’,
which breaks through the €100,000
(A$150,000) mark of his ‘assistance’.
During this latest ordeal, he prints out
more receipts and puts them in a new
transparent folder.
Earlie is then deported to the US.
There, she entrusts her inheritance
to a lawyer named Lance Grover, who
bills Mr K for storage costs, collects
administration fees, and sends a copy
of his passport. It shows a man with
grey hair, parted on the side, wearing
a white-collared shirt and tie.
Grover sends friendly emails while
Earlie begins to get nasty. Mr K final-
ly has to fetch her, and pay one last
time, so that the treasure and the key
can be found together, she insists. But
Mr K has no more money, a total of
€150,000 (A$220,000) is gone.
“If we don’t trust each other, it’s not
true love,” writes Earlie.
Soon the lawyer can no longer pay
the storage costs and the safes are tak-
en to New York, and delivered to Ear-
lie’s apartment. She calls him several
times, but whenever Mr K answers,
the connection breaks off.
“Thieves have been tampering
with my window,” reports Earlie. “I
can no longer protect our property,
138 november 2022
someday someone will come and
kill me.”
Mr K puts his household items on
eBay, sells furniture and car parts. His
adult son tries in vain to make him re-
alise Earlie is a fraudster, but eventual-
ly gives up. Mr K then refuses to listen
to his last friends, who also try to in-
tervene. But he has made attempts to
work out the true story himself. Over
the years, he’s contacted the German
Embassy in Ghana twice, went to his
local police station and sent emails
to American authorities. In some cor-
respondence, he expressed doubts
about the whole story. Mostly though,
he asked them to help him and his
wife transfer the contents of the in-
heritance, stored in the vaults.
The response from the German
Embassy was clear: he should break
off contact. He gets no response at all
from the American authorities. Now
Mr K hopes the media could help. A
reporter begins to investigate.
IN AUTUMN 2021, at Accra’s Achimota
Hospital, the chief administrator ex-
amines the death certificate of Earlie
Thomas’s stepfather, which along with
other formal documents, was filed at
the High Court of Justice together with
his will. A fan circulates the air above
the chief administrator’s head. Finally
she says: “Our coat of arms looks dif-
ferent.” She calls the hospital. A Wilson
Bernard Thomas was never a patient
in this hospital. The name of the sign-
ing doctor is unknown.

At the capital’s Central Registry Of-
fice, the director says marriage certif-
icates were stolen some time ago. The
document is genuine and at the same
time invalid, because a marriage in
absentia is not legal.
At the High Court, a registrar takes
the will bequeathing the gold-dia-
mond-dollar inheritance. He has it
appraised and writes a letter stating
that it was not issued by the court, as
the paper is different.
British Airways ex-
amines the boarding
pass Earlie Thomas “IF WE DON’T
claims to have used TRUST EACH OTHER,
to fly to London and
writes: “This is not a
IT’S NOT TRUE
BA document.” LOVE,” WRITES
The passpor t of EARLIE
Lance Grover, with
the photo of the grey-
haired, side-parted lawyer, is in fact a
photo of a former Navy Admiral James
A. Winnefeld. He once commanded
an aircraft carrier, now he’s powerless
against identity thieves.
The photo, which is said to show
Earlie in the cell at Heathrow Airport’s
Police Station, is from the prison tele-
vision series Orange is the New Black.
Earlie’s face was mounted on the lead-
ing lady’s head.
All the pictures in which Mr K’s
young, complicated love smiles,
winks and stretches out in bed were
stolen from a Californian woman’s
Myspace account. Umpteen fraud-
sters have created false profiles from
The Business Of Love
this woman’s photos. Each one is the
fantasy women of an innocent victim.
The one face has been called Anita
Johnson, Ashelly Cole, Shakira Dale,
Rachel Aasomani. And Earlie Thomas.
“It can never be a man,” Mr K says
after hearing all the findings, doubting
the information. To Mr K, Earlie may
have only wanted his money from
the start, but her greed and naivety
proved that she existed. A fictitious
woman would only have been nice to
him. “I’m convinced
by the honesty of the
intention to cheat.”
Back in Offinso,
Vincent recently
bought a third car, a
Toyota. He’s build-
ing a house. “When
we move in, I’ll stop,”
he insists, then dis-
appears into the dusty streets of his
town.
In Germany, Mr K failed to get his
car through its registration check. He
couldn’t afford the repairs it needed
to be roadworthy. He sits in his house
and smokes. He recently wrote a mes-
sage to Earlie Thomas: “Today I had
a breakfast of three small pieces of
toast with butter and jam because I
had nothing else at home ...”
Earlie doesn’t reply like she once
did. Instead, Mr K receives an email
from a new woman. Her name is Cath-
erine Morin and she is French. It is the
name of an actress who first appeared
in films 50 years ago.
readersdigest.com.au 139
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Seriously Red
R
eal estate valuer Raylene
‘Red’ Delaney (Krew Boylan)
busts out a rendition of Dolly
Parton’s ‘Nine To Five’ at an office
PHOTO: COURTESY OF ROADSHOW FILMS
party, resplendent in blonde wig
and spangled jumpsuit. Sadly, her
performance doesn’t go down well
with her manager and she finds
herself without a job. However, the
vivacious redhead catches the eye
of a celebrity-impersonation agency
talent scout – a deadringer for Neil
Diamond – and soon finds herself
COMPILED BY DIANE GODLEY
Movies
Drama Comedy
doing her Dolly Parton act alongside
Kenny Rogers and Elvis lookalikes.
Written by the main star, Krew
Boylan, the Aussie comedy is an
affectionate celebration of fandom,
identity and performance, stuffed with
sing-along classics. With an all-star
cast, including celebrated comedians
Celeste Barber, Bob Downe and Jean
Kittson, and directed by Gracie Otto,
who channels the exuberant camp of
P.J. Hogan (Muriel’s Wedding), this film
is seriously good fun.
readersdigest.com.au 141
R E A DER’S DIGE ST

Amsterdam Historical Drama

A
n intricate tale weaving historical fact with fiction, Amsterdam follows the

PHOTOS: (AMS TERDAM) ©20TH CENTURY FOX; (SHE SAID) ©UNIVERSAL S TUDIOS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
lives of three close friends, two soldiers and a nurse, who find themselves
in the Dutch city at the centre of a shocking secret plot. Set in the 1930s,
the trio (Christian Bale, Margot Robbie and John David Washington) discover
a “dead white man in a box – not even a casket” and are framed for his murder.
Desperate to find the truth behind the crime, they are led on a dangerous game
in a whodunit-style thriller that sees them at the centre of one of the most
shocking secret plots in American history.

She Said Drama

N
ew York Times investigative
reporters Megan Twohey and Jodi
Kantor broke the Harvey Weinstein
story and helped launch the #MeToo
movement and shatter decades of
silence around the subject of sexual
assault in Hollywood. Based on the New
York Times bestseller of the same name,
the film follows the journalists while they
try to uncover the sordid affair. However,
persuading the women to testify proves
to be a massive stumbling block. What
they do discover while going after the
now-disgraced director, is that the story
is bigger than a single man.

142 november 2022

 RD Recommends

Fiction Sincerely Me
Julietta Henderson
PENGUIN RANDOM
HOUSE
Danny Mulberry, 39,
is jobless, often drunk
and lives in his best
friend’s garden shed.
While being driven
away by the police
one evening after
graffitiing the footpath
outside his residence,
his neighbour takes
All The Broken a photo of him and
sends it to the local The Cutting
Places Richard McHugh
press – which is a
John Boyne catalyst that changes PENGUIN RANDOM
DOUBLEDAY his life. Not only does HOUSE
A novel about guilt, his niece (who he didn’t The Cutting is a
complicity and grief, know existed) track contemporary novel
John Boyne revisits one him down, but the that takes a dig at
of the characters from paper’s readers decide Australia’s so-called
his international best- he is some kind of classless society.
selling story The Boy messiah and ask for his Acclaimed novelist
in the Striped Pyjamas. help. Often hilarious, Richard McHugh’s day
Gretel, the older sister, sometimes emotional, job is a silk representing
is now 91 and living in this is a story out of the corporate clients at
London. All The Broken ordinary. the ‘big end of town’,
PHOTOS: DOUBLEDAY; PENGUIN R ANDOM HOUSE

Places dips in and out so he has a good

of the different phases understanding of how
of her life – escaping the wealthy win their
with her mother to Paris money and power
after the war and hitting and hang on to it. This
rock bottom, to Sydney darkly hilarious satire
and then London – and has all the ingredients
her lifelong habit of for an explosive story:
hiding her identity. old money, iron-ore
Beautifully written, the heir, left-wing charity
words flow off the page. organiser, bankrupt
I found this book very mineworker and a
hard to put down. shonky payday lender.

readersdigest.com.au 143
 Non
Fiction Concussion
Michael & Frankie
Lipman
ALLEN & UNWIN
Concussion is a major
issue of contact sport,
and in the past decade
science has started
catching up with the
consequences caused
by repeated knocks
to the head. It is now
known that a form of
dementia is caused by
More Fish, repeated concussion Photography In
More Veg and can strike people
in their 30s. Former
Cambodia
Tom Wolton England rugby player Nicholas Coffill
MURDOCH BOOKS Michael Lipman received TUTTLE PUBLISHING
Renowned for his low- a diagnosis of early This hardcover,
fuss, family-friendly onset dementia in 2020. coffee-table tome
food, award-winning In Concussion, Michael covers the period of
chef Tom Walton has and his wife Frankie tell Cambodia from 1866
produced a collection their personal story with to the present day and
of his favourite go-to the hope it will provide a includes imagery of

PHOTOS: MURDOCH BOOKS; ALLEN & UNWIN; TUT TLE PUBLISHING

recipes. By providing wake-up call to parents royal dancers, food
simple step-by-step of children playing hawkers, sports people,
instructions on cooking contact sports. religious ceremonies,
fish – such as pan- rural scenes – and
frying fillets, searing, a soldier standing
crumbing, barbecuing guard over the body of
– even the most basic dictator Pol Pot. If you
seafood cook will have an interest in this
be able to turn out part of the world, this
something wonderful. book will be a source
He has also divided of fascination and
his Middle Eastern- surprising revelations.
inspired cookbook into But be warned, the
the four seasons so you collection of photos are
can produce fabulous not the precise digital
food using in-season imagery of today (as
vegetables. can be expected).

144 november 2022

 RD Recommends

Podcasts
Snake Attack
Without warning, the giant anaconda – the
world’s largest snake species – shot out of the
water and wrapped its powerful body around
an eight-year-old boy. This is a terrifying story
about a grandfather’s desperate battle to save his
grandson from an anaconda’s deadly clutches.

Who Killed Dr Bogle & Mrs Chandler?

This five-part podcast series explores the baffling
cold case of brilliant physicist Dr Gilbert Bogle and
Mrs Margaret Chandler, the wife of a colleague,
who were found dead beside the Lane Cove River
in Sydney on January 1, 1963. The cause of death
wasn’t established.

All There Is With Anderson Cooper

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on a personal exploration of grief. While packing up
the apartment of his late mother Gloria Vanderbilt,
he finds keepsakes left behind by his late father and
brother. Cooper converses with guests about the
people we lose, and how to move on.

Persuasion
This much-loved novel was Jane
Austen’s final finished work. In this
audio version, available on BBC Radio
4 Extra, Juliet Stevenson plays Anne
Elliot, conveying the pain of being
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persuaded out of an engagement to the love

of her life, Captain Wentworth.

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‘All There Is’, for example, and click on the play button. To download: Download an
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TO LISTEN TO RD TALKS GO TO
www.readersdigest.com.au/podcasts and click on the play button.

readersdigest.com.au 145
 I
t’s often said that the three most
THE powerful words in the English

GENIUS
language are ‘I love you’. But I
think there are another three
SECTION words that give them a good run
for their money: ‘I forgive you’.
Sharpen Your Sure, forgiveness doesn’t have the
Mind same rush of electric charge in it that
love does. It doesn’t evoke the same
frisson of excitement. It might not be
the subject of as many films or have
as many songs written about it as love

Freeing does. But it is no less powerful. For-

giveness is such an underrated virtue,

Yourself
yet it holds the key to happiness in life.
There is a tendency to blame oth-
ers for our faults and difficulties, but
Practising forgiveness this sense of grievance helps no one
and actually stunts and restricts the
is essential for a direction of our lives. I have met so
happier life many people who hold a grudge and
it dominates their life. Lots of people
BY Dr Max Pemberton blame their parents for their prob-
lems, for example. It is an excuse – an
easy pass to flash when life gets tough
or difficult or things don’t go how we
want them to. These people wallow in
self-pity, holding on to their grievance
like a talisman.
But as I often say to my patients,
one of the scary things about being
an adult is that you’re responsible
for your own life. It’s also one of the
greatest things because, while your
PHOTO: GE T T Y IMAGES

mistakes are no one’s fault but your

own, so are your achievements.
The first step in this is forgiving your
parents for the mistakes they made
and accepting that, from now on, the

146 november 2022


ups and downs of life are your respon-
sibility. Forgiving someone frees you
from the shackles of the past. It liber-
ates you.
One of the amazing things about
forgiveness is that it doesn’t actually
involve the other person. When you
forgive someone, they lose their con-
trol over you. Your emotions are no
longer in their grip, your feelings no
longer at their mercy.
I think one of the reasons we are
so reluctant to forgive people is that
WHEN YOU
what has happened is no
longer affecting you, or no
longer matters. That’s not FORGIVE
true. At the heart of for- SOMEONE,
THEY LOSE
giveness is tranquillity and
peace. That’s not weakness
– it’s what we are all striving THEIR
for in life. In fact, forgive- CONTROL
OVER YOU
ness puts the person who
is doing it in a position of
incredible power. It neuters
the perpetrator.
I do a lot of work around forgive-
ness with my patients. I think most
of therapy has forgiveness at its core
– forgiving yourself and forgiving oth-
ers. Understanding that people are
complex and are capable of hurting
you either intentionally or uninten-
tionally and how you deal with that
and move on can take years, but is
ultimately incredibly rewarding. Most
of us can console ourselves with the
idea that the person we are forgiving
is sorry. But that’s not always the case.
Sometimes people die before they can
The Genius Section
apologise. Sometimes people aren’t
sorry. This sometimes torments peo-
ple as they think they need to hear the
word ‘sorry’ before they can forgive.
This isn’t true.
I remember one woman I saw for
several years in outpatients who wrote
to her father who was in prison, for-
giving him for sexually abusing her
and murdering her mother. I was as-
tonished that she felt able to do that,
especially as he had never shown
any remorse for his actions. She had
battled for years in therapy
trying to accept and under-
stand what had happened,
had written to him several
times and tried to see him
in the futile hope he would
apologise, which he nev-
er did. But ultimately she
found peace in forgiving
him unconditionally.
“The day I decided to for-
give him, I felt a weight lift off me,” she
explained. “It didn’t matter that he
wasn’t sorry. I realised that until I for-
gave him, he would always have pow-
er over me. I was always his victim.”
She showed me that forgiveness is
about freeing yourself. It is a display
of power – of asserting your authority
and taking back control. Forgiving
someone and moving on is one of
life’s true joys.
Dr Max Pemberton is a hospital
doctor, author and columnist and
currently works in mental health.
readersdigest.com.au 147
R E A DER’S DIGE ST

PUZZLES
Challenge yourself by solving these puzzles and mind
stretchers, then check your answers on page 154.

Crossword
Test your general
knowledge.

DOWN
1 Sad (7)
2 Dapper (6)
3 Patron (8)
4 Make more intense (6)
5 Military aircraft (8)

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6 Red wine (6)
7 In these times (8)
8 Most feeble (7)
15 Magnificent (8)
16 Infinite time (8)
17 Fine weather (8)
ACROSS 15 Witches (11)
18 Make dim by
9 Roman sea-god (7) 20 To give birth to a cow (5) comparison (7)
10 Nothing left (3,4) 22 Peculiar (9) 19 Performer of
11 Mature (5) 25 Lack of gymnastic feats (7)
12 Cheap book edition (9) knowledge (9) 21 Second smallest
13 Inflammation of the 26 Greeting (5) continent (6)
lungs (9) 27 Fragment (7) 23 Roman general (6)
14 Snares (5) 28 Loss of memory (7) 24 Condiment (6)

148 november 2022

 BRAIN POWER
Puzzle brought to you by
Answers
PAGES 154

3 7 5
9 4 8 1 6
6
4 3 2
5 6 9 8 7
7 4 9
6
5 8 2 9 3
2 4 9
Sudoku
HOW TO PLAY: To win, you have to put a number
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• Every horizontal row and vertical column
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"Write, Erase, Rewrite"
R E A DER’S DIGE ST

Puzzle
FAMILY FUN Answers
PAGE 154

Spot The Difference

There are ten differences. Can you find them?

Colour
Pathways
In this puzzle the aim
is to draw lines
linking the circles of
the same colours.
Sounds easy? The
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difficult part is
making sure that
none of the lines
cross any other.

150 november 2022

R E A DER’S DIGE ST

TRIVIA
Test Your General Knowledge

1. Who recently wrote, “Political 7. Which of these is not a common

life no longer has to do with healthy migraine trigger: cheese, broccoli,
debates ... but only with slick red wine? 1 point
marketing techniques aimed at 8. The United Nations University
discrediting others”? 1 point runs institutes around the world.
2. The average resident of low- Where is its headquarters? 1 point
income countries uses roughly two 9. Of all books published in the US,
tonnes of natural resources each translations from foreign languages
year. How much do people in high- make up only three per cent. True or
income countries use? 2 points false? 1 point
3. The New York Times received 10. Do walruses sleep in the water,
2500 complaints in 2015 after on land, or both? 1 point
dropping its long-standing column 11. Haloumi cheese comes from
about what game? 1 point what island? 1 point
4. In the 1930s, Pearl Kendrick 12. Name the secret
and Grace Eldering led intelligence service James
development of a vaccine for Bond 007 works for. 1 point
what deadly childhood 13. What was so special
disease? 2 points about the invertebrate
5. How many planets have a nine-year-old New
astronomers found in our Zealander recently found
galaxy: at least 50; 500; or in his Christchurch
5000? 2 points backyard? 2 points
15. According to
6. Which famous legend, what animal 14. Geographically,
Canadian singer lent her killed the Ancient Greek how many countries
music to a 2019 Broadway playwright Aeschylus? comprise Southeast Asia?
show? 1 point 1 point 2 points
PHOTO: GE T T Y IMAGES

16-20 Gold medal 11-15 Silver medal 6-10 Bronze medal 0-5 Wooden spoon
shell on his head.
Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. 15. An eagle, when it dropped a tortoise
measured about one metre. 14. Eleven: Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Timor-Leste,
6. Alanis Morissette. 7. Broccoli. 8. Tokyo. 9. True. 10. Both. 11. Cyprus. 12. MI6. 13. The worm
Answers: 1. Pope Francis. 2. 26 tonnes. 3. Bridge. 4. Pertussis (whooping cough). 5. At least 5000.

152 november 2022

 ONLINE
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R E A DER’S DIGE ST

PUZZLE ANSWERS
From Page 148

Sudoku Spot The Difference

3 1 6 9 7 2 8 4 5
7 9 5 4 8 1 3 6 2
8 2 4 5 3 6 9 7 1
9 4 3 7 1 8 5 2 6
5 6 2 3 9 4 1 8 7

CROSSWORD: CROSSWORDSITE.COM; SUDOKU: SUDOKUPUZZLER.COM ; ILLUS TR ATION: VECTEEZ Y.COM

1 7 8 2 6 5 4 9 3
4 3 9 6 5 7 2 1 8
6 5 1 8 2 9 7 3 4
2 8 7 1 4 3 6 5 9

Crossword Colour Pathways

This is one possible solution:

154 november 2022

 The Genius Section

WORD POWER
Making Cents

The centrepiece of this quiz is cent, from the Latin

centum – think centimetre, century or centipede –
which often means ‘one hundred’. Turn to the
next page for answers.
BY Sarah Chassé

1. beneficent – A: charitable. 10. licentious – A: disputed.

B: all-powerful. C: blissful.
2. centaur – A: ancient sculpture.
B: king’s adviser. C: mythological
creature.
3. accentuate – A: make shorter.
B: highlight. C: mispronounce.
4. centigrade – A: Fahrenheit.
B: Kelvin. C: Celsius.
5. nascent – A: emerging.
B: having a sweet or pleasant smell.
C: bankrupt.
6. epicentre – A: brain stem.
B: exact opposite. C: focal point.
7. effervescent – A: unimportant.
B: acidic. C: high-spirited.
8. incentivise – A: enrage.
B: motivate. C: sell for profit.
9. acquiescent – A: obedient.
B: greedy. C: shimmering.
B: lewd. C: infested with lice
or mites.
11. docent – A: midwife.
B: Venetian nobleman.
C: tour guide.
12. eccentric. – A: offbeat.
B: selfish. C: assorted.
13. florescent – A: feminine.
B: flowering. C: fermented.
14. centrifuge – A: spinning
machine. B: bomb shelter.
C: hurricane’s eye.
15. reticent – A: penny-pinching.
B: virtuous. C: silent.
16. centurion – A: person aged
100 years. B: Roman army
commander. C: middle of a graph.
17. reminiscent – A: stimulating
memories. B: getting hotter.
C: generous.

readersdigest.com.au 155
R E A DER’S DIGE ST
Answers
1. beneficent – (A) charitable. A
beneficent person might volunteer
at a homeless shelter.
2. centaur – (C) mythological
creature. According to ancient
Greek lore, the centaur was half-
man, half-horse.
3. accentuate – (B) highlight. Does
this dress accentuate my waist?
4. centigrade – (C) Celsius. Using
the centigrade temperature scale,
water boils at 100 degrees.
5. nascent – (A) emerging. The
nascent tech company put three
major competitors out of business
in its first year.
6. epicentre – (C) focal point.
Last month’s earthquake was so
massive, it shook towns more than
100 kilometres from its epicentre.
7. effervescent – (C) high-spirited.
With his effervescent personality,
Greg is always the life of the party.
8. incentivise – (B) motivate. After
months of remote work during the
pandemic, how will employers
incentivise people to return to the
office?
9. acquiescent – (A) obedient. We’re
hoping a good dog trainer can turn
Fido into a more acquiescent pup.
156 november 2022
10. licentious – (B) lewd. “I like the
play, but it’s a bit too licentious
for high school actors,” the drama
teacher said.
11. docent – (C) tour guide. “This
painting is from Picasso’s famous
blue period,” the docent said.
12. eccentric – (A) offbeat. Clara’s
outfits are an eccentric mix of neon
patterns and lacy headbands.
13. florescent – (B) flowering.
Luisa’s garden is so florescent, you
can barely see her house.
14. centrifuge – (A) spinning
machine. Many beekeepers use
a centrifuge to extract honey from
honeycombs.
15. reticent – (C) silent. Milo is a
chatterbox, but his wife is more
reticent.
16. centurion – (B) Roman army
commander. In the Roman army,
a century was a group of 100 men
commanded by a centurion.
17. reminiscent – (A) stimulating
memories. The movie’s style is
reminiscent of old westerns.
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10–14: Good
15–17: Word Power Wizard
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Hang them
anywhere!
$2
Postage
Offer ends
Only $2 Postage! - Quote code RM229S when ordering 30/11/22

4 30
DVDs DVDs
HALLMARK
CHRISTMAS MOVIES
Christmas at Castle Hart (2021): Brooke
goes to Ireland for Christmas and meets
charming Aiden Hart, Earl of Glaslough.
Follow the story of Claire Randall, a married Open by Christmas (2021): Nicky finds
combat nurse from 1945. Mysteriously an unopened Christmas card from a high
swept back in time to 1743, Claire is school secret admirer
immediately thrown into an unknown world and searches for the
where her life is threatened. Forced to marry anonymous author.
Jamie, a romantic young Scottish warrior,
A Kiss Before Christmas
Claire’s heart is torn. Season 6: Clair and
(2021): When nice-guy
Jamie must defend their home from external
Ethan wishes his life had
forces and increasing conflict in the
taken a different course,
community. 4 DVDs, 507 mins. SUBTITLES
he wakes up the next day
Season 6 (2022) • MOUTLO to find nothing is
$44.95 or $22.48 x 2 mths the same. 3 DVDs, 3
DVDs
Collection: Seasons 1-6 (30 DVDs, 70 hrs) 258 mins.
• MOUTLP $169 or $42.25 x 4 mths • MXMEG $34.95

CALL 1300 303 303 OR ORDER ONLINE AT WWW.INNOVATIONS.COM.AU 161

 Belle-Fleur Serviettes
– 8 sets of lovely floral designs
These pretty paper serviettes are decorated
with floral designs in contrasting styles
that are also cleverly complementary.
From bold irises to a bowl of roses, garden
lavender to sprigs of dainty pink blooms,
they capture the essence and variety of
summer. Each of the 8 sets contain
20 paper serviettes measuring 33 x 33 cm
and featuring one of the designs. All are
3 ply and printed with safe, water-based
inks to capture the subtlety of their colours.
Props not included.
Belle-Fleur Serviettes • BELLES $22.95
8 sets of 20 Serviettes

4 mesh cup holders to securely hold your 160

drinks and two tiers for extra space Serviettes!

Fold-Up Picnic Outdoor

Table – a picnic in a bag!
Unzip this easy-to-carry bag and, amazingly,
you’ll find a 72 cm diameter outdoor table
complete with a storage shelf! Made from
tough polyester with a
Fits in an strong steel frame, the
easy-to
-carry bag table is 60 cm tall with
plenty of room for food
and four holders to
keep cans, bottles and
glasses secure. Folded,
it measures just 72L x
38W x 8D cm so you 8 Set of 20
can easily pop it in the
car. Props not included.
Outdoor Picnic Table
• PICTBL $49 or
$24.50 x 2 mths

Perfect for picnics,

camping, sporting
events and BBQs

162 ONLY $2 POSTAGE. USE CODE RM229S WHEN ORDERING Offer ends 30/11/22
 Feast Bamboo Cheese Board Set – complete with speciality cutters!
Here’s a cheese board with
E
SAV
!
everything you need for the

$20
Entertain your
guests in style! perfect platter. It measures
34.5 x 29.5 cm so there’s
plenty of room for a generous
Drawer selection as well as crackers.
closes Made from bamboo – attractive,
neatly environmentally friendly and
practically maintenance free –
and, though the board is just
4 cm deep, there’s a drawer
holding four stainless steel
tools to slice and serve
everything from a firm cheddar
to the runniest Camembert.
Feast Bamboo Cheese Board
Speciality
Pretty way to serve • FBCB Was $59
knives included
your fruit & cheese platter NOW $39 SAVE $20!

Only $2 Postage! - Quote code RM229S when ordering

$2
Postage
Offer ends
30/11/22
Puzzle Sorting
Trays
Six interconnecting stackable sorting
trays which are perfect for sorting
puzzles up to 1000 pieces. Sort your
puzzles by colour, then link the trays for
easy viewing. 20 x 20 cm.
• 61781 $18.95

Balmoral Castle
Jigsaw Puzzle
1000 pieces 69 x 49 cm.
• 67888 $34.95

CALL 1300 303 303 OR ORDER ONLINE AT WWW.INNOVATIONS.COM.AU 163

Exclusive Italian Furniture Protectors Italian Furniture
Here’s a beautiful way to protect your furniture from dirt, pet hair and Protectors • IFPRT
wear – 3D textured covers with a lovely scrolled design in versatile slate Armchair ..…$39.95
2 Seater.…..….. $69
blue. They’re woven from a washable mix of polyester and elastane 3 Seater.…..….. $99
in three sizes to fit an armchair or a two or three-seater sofa. Special L-Shaped ..….. $49
wedges are included to hold the cover Arm Covers (pair)
Measurements: $29.95
in place. You can also add a longer 4 mths payment terms available
• Armchair Cover - fits back width 50-210 cm
• 2 Seater Cover - fits back width 120-210 cm cover for an L-shaped lounge.
• 3 Seater Cover - fits back width 170-210 cm Arm covers sold separately.
• L-shape Cover - fits back width 65 x 280 cm
• Arm Covers 48 x 70 cm
Choose from
Blue or Taupe

3 seater
and Arm Covers

L-shape

2 Seater Cover, Armchair Taupe

Blue
Arm Covers and L-shape shown here and Arm Covers

Portable Storage Cases – safe Set of 2

keeping for your CDs, DVDs & magazines
Here’s a practical, space-saving way to keep approx 100 CDs,
64 DVDs or 25 magazines clean and organised. You can see the
titles clearly through the transparent PVC, and the edges are
reinforced with the same tough Oxford fabric used for the Magazine
comfortable handles. Supplied in sets of two.13H x 14W x Storage
53D cm (CDs), 18H x 31W x 13D cm (DVDs) and 30L x 25W x Cases Keep your DVDs
clean, safe and
18D cm (magazines). Contents not included. portable
Portable Storage
Set of 2
Cases
DVD • MSCSE
Magazine • MSCSF
CD • MSCSG
$24.95 each
set of 2 cases
DVD SAVE $15
Storage Buy any 3 sets for Set of 2
Cases $59.85 or $29.93 x 2 mths CD Storage Cases

164 ONLY $2 POSTAGE. USE CODE RM229S WHEN ORDERING Offer ends 30/11/22
Super-Supportive Bra – unbelievable comfort! Designed
for lift,
Now you can have the extra support you need with the comfort
SAVE $10 comfort you crave. This flattering bra has adjustable and
Buy two sets
for $49.90 or
straps that cross over at the front to lift and cradle support
$24.95 x 2 mths without underwires. The fabric is wonderfully soft and
breathable, there are mesh panels to help you stay cool
and the wide shoulder straps won’t cut or chafe. Nude
It looks pretty, too, and comes in a pack with Pretty
lace trim
one white and one nude, with a dainty lace design
trim. Available in S, M, L, XL and XXL.
Extra Supportive Bras
• ESBR $29.95
Set of 2
Lacy straps wrap
over to provide
support
1 nude & 1
White white in set
CRISS CROSS
COMFORT
$2
Postage
Only $2 Postage! - Quote code RM229S when ordering Offer ends
30/11/22
STARRING
Kevin Costner

A YELLOWSTONE ORIGIN STORY

Starring Kevin Costner, this brilliant
Western series revolves around the Dutton
family, led by John Dutton, who controls
the largest ranch in the U.S. that is under
constant attack by those it borders: land
developers, an Indian reservation and
America’s first National Park.
5 DVDs, 703 mins.
17
SUBTITLES DVDs
Season 4 (2021) • MYELS
$39.95 or $19.98 x 2 mths
SEASON 1 (2021) 4
DVDs
The prequel to much-loved series,
Yellowstone, 1883 follows the original
Dutton family as they embark on a journey
west through the Great Plains toward the
last bastion of untamed America. It’s a stark
retelling of Western expansion, as a family
flees poverty to seek a better future in
Montana. 4 DVDs, 560 mins. SUBTITLES
• MYELA $39.95 or $19.98 x 2 mths
5
DVDs

Collection: Seasons 1-4 (17 DVDs, 34 hrs)

• MYELT $109 or $27.25 x 4 mths

CALL 1300 303 303 OR ORDER ONLINE AT WWW.INNOVATIONS.COM.AU 165

Poinsettia Pot With Fairy Lights – what a stunning effect!
Standing an impressive
97 cm tall in its ornate gold-
coloured pot, this Poinsettia
will look spectacular next
to your door or in your
sitting room. The 7 bright
red flowers nestled amongst
green leaves measure 18 cm
across and are velvety soft
to the touch. 20 LED fairy
A stunning lights add an extra touch
festive display of festive magic. They’re
to welcome
your guests powered by 3 AA batteries
(not supplied) and you can
choose from 8 settings,
including a steady glow,
flickering and flashing.
Fairy Light Poinsettia
• FAIRP $99ea or
$24.75 x
4 mths SAVE $20
Buy two for $178 or
Includes LED lights with 8 different settings $44.50 x 4 mths

4 Cute Perching
Santas
These Santas have fabric
legs that will dangle, cross
or bend, so they’re happy to
perch on a mantel or shelf.
17 cm tall overall, they’ve
been crafted from polyresin
then painted to capture all of
the festive details including
a fur-trimmed coat and hat
and the signature bushy white
beard, not to mention an
armful of presents.
Colourful Santa Position them
Perching Santas set to brighten to suit your
• PSNST $24.95 your mantel at space
The Set Set of 4
Christmas

166 ONLY $2 POSTAGE. USE CODE RM229S WHEN ORDERING Offer ends 30/11/22
 Magnificent Cathedral Revolving
LED Lights Musical
These lights look like slender, gold-coloured Christmas
candles, each topped with a warm white Tree
LED – much safer than a flame. And, Decorate this
with no less than 33 arranged in two rows, cute festive
the effect is stunning. 34H x 32.5W x 27 cm musical
8D cm and revolving
Striking powered
centrepiece Christmas
by 3 x AA tree with the
batteries 24 miniature
(not ornaments
supplied). supplied, wind
Magnificent it up and it
Cathedral will begin to
LED Lights turn, playing a
• CALGT Christmas tune.
$39.95 Plays a Christmas tune SPINT $29.95
while it spins around

Only $2 Postage! - Quote code RM229S when ordering

$2
Postage
Offer ends
Senior Moments 30/11/22

You can’t remember the last time you had fun

playing a board game like this! Improve your
memory with this game that will keep you Splendid
laughing, but first remember to collect your Fairy
keys. Includes game board, 8 pawns, dice, Wren
memory cards, zany lists, game booklets and
Easy, relaxing
instructions.
and super
2-8 players.
fast, tiny
• 67967 $54.95 or “diamonds”
$27.48 x are placed on
2 months a pre-printed
fabric with
adhesive surface, using a special stylus.
Your Diamond Dotz kit includes
quality colour printed fabric, round
acrylic facets sorted by colour, stylus,
wax caddy, craft tray and instructions.
27 x 35 cm.
• 68565 $49.95 or $24.98 x 2 months

CALL 1300 303 303 OR ORDER ONLINE AT WWW.INNOVATIONS.COM.AU 167

Battery
power.
By STIHL.
2
202

Law
n M o w ers