Hidden History

To 'The Others'

Wed, 20 Dec 2006 02:43:51 GMT

I do not know who you are but I know you are not the professor. Why? Because I have learned his current location! I now need your help urgently. If you wish to assist, follow these instructions.

Georgina

ATTENTION!

Wed, 20 Dec 2006 01:34:18 GMT

To The Puzzle Creator

Events have not transpired as you or I would have hoped. I have been abducted it would seem – you know by whom. Others seek to help you, should you wish to meet them. They await your suggestion.

Peer review

Tue, 19 Dec 2006 18:28:53 GMT

Since I began writing Hidden History, I have received hundreds of emails. My supporters see conspiracies everywhere – the Apollo Moon landings, the assassination of Kennedy, Roswell. My own beliefs are more mundane, but one day I’ll explain how governments and the media put ideas into people’s heads, if I am not silenced first.

Meanwhile, my peers shower scorn and derision on me. At best, I am described as a maverick and a voice in the wilderness. At worst, I am seen as a heretic or simply a joke. My colleagues simply don’t like controversy, and they have clearly lost their independence of thought. Academics are terrified by the prospect of rewriting the history books. These weaklings would rather preserve the fairy-tale view of history: it’s so much more comforting.

So I must be strong. I must deflect their cynicism and stand firm in my belief that in a world gone mad, at least one voice – my voice – will be a siren of truth.

Eyes in the back of my head

Tue, 19 Dec 2006 15:40:19 GMT

Today I worked on three of the puzzles in the library. Never again!

The library is a great help in finding solutions to the puzzles, but I spent the day preoccupied with the fear that someone would make off with my briefcase while my head was buried in a book. Several times I caught visitors staring in my direction: they would turn away as soon as I looked at them. At other times, I felt the presence of people standing too close behind me, as if they were looking over my shoulder, trying to see what I was working on or peeking into my briefcase. I will conduct further research from the safety and privacy of my own study.

No head for numbers

Tue, 19 Dec 2006 00:40:14 GMT

Historians are supposed to be concerned with dates, but I must admit that I’ve always been unable to remember strings of numbers. I overcome this handicap by finding ways of displaying numbers in my environment. For example, to remind myself of the combination to my briefcase, I have arranged the right-hand bookcase opposite my desk, so that the number of green volumes on each shelf corresponds to one of the digits in the combination. Now, when I want to open the case, all I need do is look straight ahead of me and there’s the combination sequence, hidden in plain sight.

Infinicorp AGM

Mon, 18 Dec 2006 18:50:25 GMT

Today I attended the annual general meeting of Infinicorp shareholders, of whom I am one. I was scheduled to address the meeting for three minutes. I had intended to voice my concerns regarding the corporation’s new policy of acting as government in all but name in some of the countries in which it operates. When my turn came, however, my microphone mysteriously failed, forcing me to restart my presentation several times. I was not given any time to make up for this technical hitch, so my three minutes were up before I had put forward a single argument. I was greatly disappointed but I will find other opportunities to challenge Infinicorp’s wisdom.

Bigfoot

Mon, 18 Dec 2006 08:57:53 GMT

The pest controller came this morning. His accent was so strong (although not as strong as the whiff of alcohol he also had about him) that I found him difficult to understand. He said he’d found no evidence of moles in the garden but he did find some rather large footprints in the hedges. I cannot help being somewhat unnerved by this development.

Rustling in the bushes

Sun, 17 Dec 2006 22:15:57 GMT

Earlier, while strolling through the garden, I heard a rustling from the leylandii. I saw no birds, so I suspect moles – of one sort or another. There’s a man in the village who has a reputation for dealing with such pests. He’s not on the telephone, so I have left a message for him at the Horse and Wagoner.

Checkmate

Sun, 17 Dec 2006 21:42:41 GMT

A colleague who shares my love of chess kindly sent me this link. It has an impressive database of great chess games. One can call up just about any game of note from the past hundred years and analyse it move by move. I can’t recommend it highly enough, so I’ve added the address to my links, for the benefit of any reader with an interest in the subject. I've found it particularly illuminating in my study of Tal's 1960 game against Botvinnik in which he triumphed in 72 moves. Tal, playing white, led with a Reti opening... inspired!