Page 211 - Use Your Memory

17 Memory System for
Important Historical Dates

The two systems you have just learned enable you to remember
the day for any date in this century. The next system will assist you
in the memorisation of significant dates in history. In chapter 2
one of the memory tests included a list of ten such dates. They
were:
1 1666 Great Fire of London
2 1770 Beethoven's birthday
3 1215 Signing of Magna Carta
4 1917 Russian Revolution
5 1454 First printing press
6 1815 Battle of Waterloo
7 1608 Invention of the telescope
8 1905 Einstein's theory of relativity
9 1789 French Revolution
10 1776 American Declaration of Independence
The method for remembering these or any other such dates is
simple; it is similar to the method for remembering telephone
numbers. All you have to do is to make a word or string of words
from the letters that represent the numbers of the date. In most
cases, there is no point in including the 1 representing the
thousand, since you know the approximate date in any case. Let us
try this system on the dates above:
1 The Great Fire of London in 1666 practically destroyed the
city, leaving it a heap of ashes. Our memory phrase for the date
1666 would thus be: aSHes, aSHes, aSHes! or CHarred aSHes
Generally.
2 Beethoven is famous for many musical accomplishments, but
perhaps his greatest achievement was the Ninth Symphony, in
which he included a choir. His style of music made full use of the
percussion instruments. Knowing this, remembering his birthday
in 1770 becomes easy: Crashing CHoral Symphony.
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