ChatterBank5 mins ago
MM Links November 2009 [Week 1]
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Welcome to the first week of pitting your wits against “King Krophta the Quizzical” (aka crofter). Whilst previous setters have revealed part of their private lives, I have been hiding behind a cloak of anonymity. It is time I came out of the closet!
My father was born and raised in Belfast and excelled as a bagpiper from the tender age of 8 years ~ eventually being “recruited” at the age of 12 as the “Boy Piper” with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. When WWII broke out, he joined the Queens Own Cameron Highlanders as a piper, and at one point was stationed in a small seaside village on the Northumbrian Coast. There, he “courted” a young Geordie lass and shortly after their marriage, I was born in North Shields as an Irish Geordie!
My father was born and raised in Belfast and excelled as a bagpiper from the tender age of 8 years ~ eventually being “recruited” at the age of 12 as the “Boy Piper” with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. When WWII broke out, he joined the Queens Own Cameron Highlanders as a piper, and at one point was stationed in a small seaside village on the Northumbrian Coast. There, he “courted” a young Geordie lass and shortly after their marriage, I was born in North Shields as an Irish Geordie!
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For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.At the end of the war, the family moved to Belfast, where jobs proved scarce. At a very early age, I was made aware of the sectarian divide. However, on the positive side, I will always remember my voracious appetite for jigsaw puzzles. At the age of only 4 years’ old, I would take on adult-standard puzzles of several hundred pieces. I honestly believe that this was the start of my development as a convergent thinker. On the very day that I should have started infant school, I was diagnosed with German measles and was whisked off to hospital for six weeks in an isolation ward. Throughout this entire period, my parents were not allowed to visit me. This extended depravation of maternal nurture did lasting damage throughout my life ~ and temporary damage to my education.
In an attempt to gain employment, the family (now with an additional sister, Sheila) moved back to that same NE coastal village where we shared a two-up two-down cottage with an uncle, aunt and two cousins. My father finally was employed as a datal hand in one of the local coal mines with responsibility for transporting pit props here and there by pit pony and cart. I was then five and a half and it would be another seven years before I could enjoy the luxury of electricity, running water, a flush toilet and a bedroom of my own. Whenever anyone starts up their personal account of “We were so poor …”, they have no idea! As an 11+ failure, I was later classified as a “late developer” and, when I eventually passed the 13+, the old Grammar School system proved my saviour ~ and I didn’t look back!
In an attempt to gain employment, the family (now with an additional sister, Sheila) moved back to that same NE coastal village where we shared a two-up two-down cottage with an uncle, aunt and two cousins. My father finally was employed as a datal hand in one of the local coal mines with responsibility for transporting pit props here and there by pit pony and cart. I was then five and a half and it would be another seven years before I could enjoy the luxury of electricity, running water, a flush toilet and a bedroom of my own. Whenever anyone starts up their personal account of “We were so poor …”, they have no idea! As an 11+ failure, I was later classified as a “late developer” and, when I eventually passed the 13+, the old Grammar School system proved my saviour ~ and I didn’t look back!
As far as my MM Links are concerned, needless to say, I shall follow my very own rule on word length. Each of my chosen link words contains at least four letters and at most eight. Stray outside this range and you will be wasting one of your attempts! Each of my selected words may go in front of or after my challenge word. The competition will officially close at 7.00pm on Sunday evening when I shall disclose my selected words, then apply the same rules for awarding points that have been applied during all MM Link Games in the past.
My first set of four words to have their links predicted will appear below at 9.00am.
My chosen theme has the simple cryptic clue: M
My first set of four words to have their links predicted will appear below at 9.00am.
My chosen theme has the simple cryptic clue: M