BITS AND PIECES

Mention Dick and Dora, Nip and Fluff to anyone who went to school in the ’50s and ’60s and they will know exactly who you are talking about. We learnt to read with these friends and their stories in the Happy Venture Readers.

Written by Professor Fred Schonell (of Sir Fred Schonell Drive, St Lucia fame) when he was still in England, this reading program was used extensively throughout Australia and the UK, phasing out the Queensland School Readers Prep series in the early 1950s.

These days the class would be stifling giggles every time Dick’s name was mentioned.

The rest of the Queensland School Readers (or Red Readers as they were fondly known) were eventually replaced in the late 1960s but not before they had scarred countless young lives with their literary version of The Little Match Girl.

Extract from Pam Van Der Kooy’s Stuff We Had in the ’50s and ’60s available from all good bookstores. “Roger that” has been used in radio communication since 1941. Roger was used in the US military phonetic alphabet for the letter R, as in message “Received”.

To indicate a message had been heard and understood – received – the reply was roger, which was later expanded to “roger that”, for “received the message”.

“Roger Wilco” in military slang meant “received message and will comply”.

Broadcasts of the 1960s Apollo space missions saw the broader population begin using roger in the context of “I agree”.

There is no truth in the claim that roger is an acronym for Received Order Given, Expect Results.

The NATO phonetic alphabet, now the most widely used radiotelephone spelling alphabet, was introduced on January 1, 1956 and uses Romeo for R.

AND THE WINNER IS …

Thank you for the many entries received for our January Summer Reads competition. Congratulations to Ruth Volter of Taigum, the winner of the prize pack of Harlequin Books. The pack of three books by popular Australian authors valued at $89.97 is in the post from Harlequin Books.

IN THE GARDEN — with Penny

EVERYTHING has grown with the lovely rain recently. Prune plants that have overgrown pathways and other plants. Plenty of weeds around too, so pull them out while small and definitely don’t let them set seed.

Add compost and aged manure to the vegetable garden in readiness for autumn planting which includes cabbage, cauliflower, beans, corn, tomatoes, spring onions, peas, etc.

Prep an area for sweet peas in full sun with above with a dusting of lime.Fertilise roses and citrus, and plant begonias, zinnias, poppies and so on when the weather cools down.

Order bulbs. Some that grow well here include ranunculi, anemone, freesias, daffodils and jonquils.

Camellias are starting to bud. Use a fertiliser with extra potash.

Keep an eye open for grasshoppers and grubs and deal with them. Take cuttings of cordylines, coleus and crotons for year round colour.

Happy gardening.

Penny Hegarty

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