How to Develop a Perfect Memory (5 page)

As I said earlier, the trouble with numbers is that they have no resonance.

There are, of course, notable exceptions like 13, 21, 69, 100. By and large, however, numbers have little significance outside their own world, which is why they are so difficult to remember.

Enter The DOMINIC SYSTEM. It is based on a new language, so you need to

learn a new alphabet. But don't worry, it couldn't be simpler. There are only ten letters, which refer to 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. Ascribe a letter to each digit, and you begin to pull numbers out of the mire of anonymity.

THE ALPHABET

0 = O

5 = E

1 = A

6 = S

2 = B

7 = G

3 = C

8 = H

4 = D

9 = N

Let me explain how I arrived at the various letters. Zero obviously looks like the letter O. The first, second, third, fourth, and fifth letters of the alphabet are A, B, C, D, E. Why does 6 not translate into F? This is a personal foible of mine. If it troubles you, or you are a stickler for logic, replace S with F.

Personally, I prefer S. Six is a very strong S word. It susurates, and sounds sexy.

The seventh and eighth letters of the alphabet are G and H; although the ninth is I, I have chosen N, because NiNe is a strong N word.

Memorize this alphabet, and don't continue unless you are certain what each digit stands for.

THE LANGUAGE

You are now in a position to give two-digit numbers a character by translating them into the new language. Take 20, for example. This translates into BO (2 =

B; 0 = O).

Let the letters suggest a person to you, and use the first association that comes into your head. BO might suggest Bo Diddley or Little Bo Peep.

Or take 27, for example. This translates into BG (2 = B; 7 = G). Again,

think of the first person who comes to mind. Barry Gibb, perhaps, a member of the BeeGees.

The numbers are coming to life. One moment 20 is 20, 2 x 10 at a stretch; the next, it's a celebrity. There is no doubt in my mind which is the more

memorable.

Write down a list of numbers from 20 to 29 and translate them into letters.

Then think of the first person they suggest.

Number

Letters

Person?

20

BO

21

BA

22

BB

23

BC

24

BD

25

BE

26

BS

27

BG

28

BH

29

BN

Personally, BB suggests a baby; BC makes me think of Jesus Christ; BS

reminds me of a BuS driver, BE a BEE-keeper friend of mine.

Every time you look at that number again, you want to think of the same

person.

ACTIONS

Staying, for the moment, with these ten numbers (20 to 29), you must now ascribe a unique action to each person. BN (29), for example, makes me think of Barry Norman. His action would be operating a projector. The bus driver's action would be driving a red doubledecker. Each action should involve a prop of some sort. If the action is playing the piano, the prop is the piano. If it's skiing, the prop is a pair of skis.

The action should also be as versatile as possible. Later on, when you are memorizing longer numbers, actions and persons are going to fit together like pieces of a jigsaw. It's possible to imagine Barry Norman driving a bus, for example; the bus driver can operate a film projector; an image of him could even be projected.

If the person does not have an obvious action peculiar to him or her, you must discard that person. The importance of actions will become apparent later. Suffice it to say, they make life very easy when you are memorizing more than two digits - telephone numbers, for example.

Once you have drawn up a list of ten persons and actions, start assigning characters to every number from 00 to 99. I suggest doing ten to twenty numbers a day. Each action must be unique, so don't have more than one barmaid, or golfer, or tennis player, or guitarist, and so on.

AUDITIONING THE CAST

For the system to work most efficiently, your cast of characters should include a healthy mixture of public and personal names. Don't dwell on the letters themselves; they are simply an intermediary, a way of getting to a memorable image. And try not to ponder on why letters suggest particular people to you. It doesn't matter if your associations are strange, silly or even downright obscene.

Here is a sample of my cast of characters:

01 is my mother, the first person I came into contact with.

My family initials are OB, so 02 (OB) is my father.

17 (IG) reminds me of a pIG farmer friend.

When I see 28 (BH), I think of someone I know who spends all their time in the BatH.

60 (SO) makes me think of an old seamstress I know (SO...Sewing).

79 (GN) reminds me of a friend called GordoN.

80 (HO) makes me think of Santa Claus - Ho! Ho!

81 (HI) suggests a hippy I know who is always coming up to me in the street and saying 'Hi'.

HG is the symbol for mercury, so I associate 87 with a scientist I know.

I have a friend who has a very prominent NoSe; he has become irrevocably linked with 96 (NS).

MEMORABLE NUMBERS

Certain numbers won't need to be translated into letters because they already suggest someone. For instance, 07 makes me think of James Bond; 10 makes me think of Dudley Moore (star of the film
10
). It doesn't matter how you arrive at a person, providing you are sure to make the same association every time.

INITIALS

You can probably think of around fifty people using the methods I have

outlined above. Personally, I managed to come up with about forty-five

immediate associations. I then had to start scratching around for the more difficult numbers.

If you are having problems with a number, treat the letters as the initials of a person. Take 33, for example; using the alphabet, this now represents CC (3=

C; 3 = C). Or 65, for example: this now translates as SE (6 = S; 5 = E).

Who do you know with the initials CC? Charlie Chaplin, perhaps, or

Chubby Checker? or a family friend? What about SE? Stefan Edberg? Sue

Ellen?

Write down a list of all those numbers and letters that fail to trigger off any immediate association. Study the letters. Who has the initials BG (27)? Bob Geldof? Boy George? Billy Graham? What about BB (22)? Benazir Bhutto?

Boris Becker? Brigitte Bardot?

If you still can't think of someone using the numbers as initials, refer to the following list,
but use it only after you have written out as many numbers as
you can. Your associations are the most important.

NUMB LETTER

PERSON

ACTION

00

OO

Olive Oyl

Eating spinach

01

OA

Ossie Ardiles

Playing football

02

OB

Otto (von) Bismark

Sitting in an army tank

03

OC

Oliver Cromwell

Loading musket

04

OD

Otto Dix

Painting

05

OE

Old Etonian

Wearing boater

06

OS

Omar Sharif

Playing backgammon

07

OG

Organ Grinder

Holding monkey

08

OH

Oliver Hardy

Swinging plank of wood

09

ON

Oliver North

Swearing on oath

10

AO

Aristotle Onassis

Carrying oil can

11

AA

Arthur Askey

Dancing with bees

12

AB

Alastair Burnet

Reading news

13

AC

Andy Capp

Lighting cigarette

14

AD

Arthur Daley

Selling second-hand car

15

AE

Albert Einstein

Chalking a blackboard

16

AS

Arthur Scargill

Carrying sack of coal

17

AG

Alec Guinness

Drinking Guinness

18

AH

Adolf Hitler

Goose-stepping

19

AN

Andrew Neil

Reading newspaper

20

BO

Bill Oddie

Holding binoculars

21

BA

Bryan Adams

Shooting arrow

22

BB

Betty Boothroyd

Banging, order!

23

BC

Bill Clinton

Waving US flag

24

BD

Bernard Davey

Pointing at weather map

25

BE

Brian Epstein

Playing records

26

BS

Bram Stoker

Driving stake in

27

BG

Bob Geldof

Knighting

28

BH

Benny Hill

Driving milk float

29

BN

Barry Norman

Operating film projector

30

CO

Captain Oates

Building snowman

31

CA

Charles Adas

Weightlifting

32

CB

Cilla Black

Blindfolded

33

CC

Charlie Chaplin

Bending cane

34

CD

Christopher Dean

Ice skating

35

CE

Clint Eastwood

Lassooing

36

CS

Claudia Schieffer

Striding along catwalk

37

CG

Charles de Gaulle

Cycling with onions

38

CH

Charlton Heston

Baptizing

39

CN

Christie Nolan

Writing

40

DO

Dominic O'Brien

Playing cards

41

DA

David Attenborough

Crawling in bush

42

DB

David Bowie

Putting on make-up

43

DC

David Copperfield

Performing magic

44

DD

Dickie Davies

Combing hair

45

DE

Duke Ellington

Playing piano

46

DS

Delia Smith

Cooking

47

DG

David Gower

Playing cricket

48

DH

Daryl Hannah

Turning into mermaid

49

DN

David Niven

Percolating coffee

50

EO

Eeyore

Chewing thistles

51

EA

Eamon Andrews

Presenting red book

52

EB

Eric Bristow

Throwing darts

53

EG

Eric Clapton

Playing guitar

54

ED

Eliza Doolittle

Selling flowers

55

EE

Eddie 'The Eagle' Edwards Skiing

56

ES

Ebeneezer Scrooge

Counting money

57

EG

Elizabeth Goddard

Miming

58

EH

Edward Heath

Conducting

59

EN

Emperor Nero

Giving the thumbs down

60

SO

Steve Ovett

Running

61

SA

Susan Anton

Diving into water

62

SB

Seve Ballesteros

Playing golf

63

SC

Sean Connery

Holding gun

64

SD

Sharron Davies

Swimming with rubber

65

SE

Stefan Edberg

Playing tennis

66

SS

Steven Spielberg

Pointing with ET

67

SG

Stephane Grappelli

Playing violin

68

SH

Sherlock Holmes

Smoking pipe, magnify

69

SN

Steve Nallon

Wearing blue dress

70

GO

George Orwell

In rat cage

71

GA

Gary Armstrong

Passing a rugby ball

72

GB

George Bush

Fishing

73

GC

Gerry Cottle

Swinging on trapeze

74

GD

Gerard Depardieu

Wielding sword

75

GE

Gloria Estafan

Singing

76

GS

Graham Souness

Operating table

77

GG

Germaine Greer

Burning bra

78

GH

Gloria Hunniford

Interviewing

79

GN

Gamal Nasser

Riding camel

80

HO

Hazel O'Connor

Breaking glass

81

HA

Howard Aiken

Operating computer

82

HB

Humphrey Bogart

Wearing mac and

83

HC

Henry Cooper

Splashing aftershave

84

HD

Humphrey Davey

Holding 'Davy' lamp

85

HE

Harry Enfield

Wearing diamond

86

HS

Harry Secombe

Weighing himself

87

HG

Hughie Green

Knocking on door

88

HH

Hulk Hogan

Wrestling

89

HN

Horatio Nelson

Manning the helm

90

NO

Nick Owen

Sitting on sofa

91

NA

Neil Armstrong

Wearing spacesuit

92

NB

Nigel Benn

Boxing

93

NC

Nadia Comaneci

Balancing on beam

94

ND

Neil Diamond

Sitting on rocks

95

NE

Noel Edmonds

Covered in gunge

96

NS

Nigel Short

Playing chess