Photographic memory: 1 (Singapore / London)

My second sister did Chemistry at the Singapore University, and recounted this story about two of her classmates, both boys.

The first one did not like the idea of lugging around campus their very thick chemistry textbook, so he would tear out the relevant chapter on the relevant day, and go to class with the pages shoved into his trouser pocket(s).  At the end of the course, the book was just an empty shell with only the cover left and the contents lying around somewhere in his dormitory room or, worse, long lost to the dust bin.  This boy went on to get a distinction for his exam all the same, so my sister’s conclusion was that he’d done it all on memory.  (No, he did not procure a copy from the library for revision.)

My sister approached the second boy one day over a point she did not understand.  He said, “Well, let’s have a look and see what the textbook says,” and inserted his finger into the thick textbook at exactly the relevant spot.  The first time this happened, my sister thought it was just a fluke, but she went back to him a few more times, with a different query each time, and every single time he’d dip into the book at the very spot for my sister’s question.

My own experience involved attending a small lunch party thrown for us three teachers by Peter, one of my first batch of two FCO* students, at his parents’ flat.  Peter had once told me, as a conversation exercise in class, that his older brother, Andrew, was studying theology at Cambridge.  On the day of the lunch party, Peter’s parents had gone out for the day to give us space but returned just before our departure, so we stayed on for a bit to chat.  At one point, Peter’s father (Sir David Wilson, who was the penultimate governor of Hong Kong) started to say, "Peter's brother…" and I heard myself say out loud spontaneously, "Andrew".  His eyebrows shot up, "Now, HOW ON EARTH do you remember that?"  I answered nonchalantly, "Well, when you've filled your brain with a few thousand Chinese characters, what is a name or two?"

(Singapore 1960s / London 1992)

*FCO: Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the UK's ministry of foreign affairs