ENDPAPERS
All in the Mind
By LESLIE ADRIAN HAVE you ever wondered what would happen if you
filled in the coupon for one of those 'Have a better memory' advertisements?
A reader has recently sent me all the sales literatpre that she received over the space of three months after sending in one of them. The first envelope con- tained a letter of welcome, a reply-paid envelope, a 'Free Trial Certificate,' a booklet on the advantages of not being forget- ful, and a leaflet of press cuttings.
Two weeks later the dose was repeated. The letter said : 'I am eagerly awaiting permission' to send the course (on free trial, naturally)•and attached a fifteen-point case for having a better memory. According to • this, trainees would be- come devastating card-players, impressive orators (without notes) and human filing cabinets. - There followed a hurt letter arguing the case for applying for the course, plus a questionnaire designed to show what a fumbling, absent- minded clot the recipient was. Offer renewed.
Item four was a bribe. Sign for the course now (send no money) and receive a dictionary (`One of the world's best reference books') gratis. Five was a blend of bribe, persuasion and hypnosis: 'Think of a pillar-box. Try to see it in detail . . . bright red . . . royal initial on the door. . . Furthermore, you are standing on top of the box. On your head you are balancing a large red book. On top of the book is a show- card that says: "Free!"' And so on.
Sixth and last, the course fee was cut by a guinea. But there Was one more trick up their sleeves. Although they stopped selling the memory course, a seventh mailing shot arrived bearing a bargain offer for a book on memory training. The writer of the letter conceded that the recipient was not going to enrol for the course but must have been interested enough to fill in the form, so why not have this 'outstanding new book' instead?
My correspondent hopes that the memory men have now forgotten her rash action in filling in the coupon. She can't remember why she did.
_ Just for the hell of it, I sent a coupon for a trial read of Mr. Al Koran's book Bring, Out the Magic in Your Mind. The advertisement said that page 33 would tell me how to get a Jaguar or a Bentley, or anything else that I might be unable to afford. The simple method is to `visualise' the car. All you have to do is feel as if you already had it. Or buy a scrapbook and paste a picture of yotir favourite car (or girl or food mixer) into it and it will all come true. I have a nasty feeling from skimming freely through Mr. Koran's text that anyone who parts with twenty shillings for it is liable to be dis- appointed. But, naturally, it will be his own fault. * The wines of Alsace have suffered many vicissitudes and setbacks, and it says much for the courage and honesty of the Alsatian wine- grower that today the pale, slightly acid, fruity and fragrant contents of 'those green Niles d'Alsace that look so like Moselle bottles have gained such respect and popularity. They ate pure, natural wines, simply named, not expensive, and perfect, like some Austrian wines, for slaking a' summer thirst. They are low in sugar and alcohol, which may upset some gluttons, but makes them appropriate for drinking at lunch on a hot day.
Bottles labelled `Vins d'Alsace' are bottled from the product of one grape (designated a plant noble): Traminer or GewUrztraminer, Riesling, Pinot or Muscat. Whatever the grape, the wine is usually as dry as a manzanilla. A blend of these is called Edelzwicker. Zwicker alone should not, legally, be accompanied by the Vins d'Alsace designation, being a blend of lesser grapes from plants communs: the Chasselas (much used in Switzerland), the Sylvaner, and a few other experimental or little- used varieties.' Not long ago the winegrowers of Alsace, headed by M. Jean Hugel and M. Rend Dopff (who 'spoke at a tasting in London last week), agreed to conform to the appellations d'origine rules. My fervent wish is that this, coupled with their undoubtedly high reputation, will not inspire'an outbreak of imitations. With prices ranging from 9s. or so to just over 20s. for a beerenauslese (Dominic have one for 23s.) there should not be much likelihood of it yet.
Correction.—I do not blame the agent of Terimpex, the Hungarian trade agency, for getting stuffy with me. I said that Globus straw- berry jam was Bulgarian. It is Hungarian, the Bulgar version is called Balkan, and it was not listed as good value among the cheaper brands. It was no fault of Which?'s excellent table. Merely that Globus is the star hotel at what one would once have called John Bloom's Sunny Beach. It was one of those slips, and it showed.
Previous page
