Judy Parkinson takes a nostalgic look back at the many quirky ways people were taught to remember things in days of old. Her book is a collection of mnemonics, rhymes, acronyms and curious phrases such as 'there's a little RED PORT LEFT in the bottle' – learning devices for subjects ranging from basic language and spelling (A was an apple pie, B bit it, C cut it, etc) to the periodic table sung to the tune of Gilbert and Sullivan's 'I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major- General'.