Kitchen Garden Forum

I went to a lecture about horticulture by a young lady who I managed to assist through college some years back. She is now very highly qualified with a PhD Hort and the group concerned were very lucky to manage to persuade her to give her lecture.
Of course there is always somebody in the audience that is hell bent on wrecking the evening and SHE kept on standing up and saying "I think you are wrong in this case" and the lecturer let her get away for four interruptions. On the fifth she simply stopped talking looked down at the person and said "there is a great difference between thinking and the truth. Now if you are interested in the truth do stay otherwise this lecture is obviously not for you"
At this there was an enormous round of applause and the chairman of the meeting stood up and asked the person to leave. She said she wanted to stay and he replied "in truth the entire audience wants you to leave!" and she reluctantly went.
I have had so much rubbish from this particular woman over the years that I was very close to wetting myself with laughter.
JB.

Hi Johnboy

What a splendid story

It puts me in mind of one of the late Professor Peter Medawar's putdowns. My apologies if I have not quoted totally accurately; I remember it from one of Richard Dawkins' excellent books, which I do not have to hand at the moment.

It went something like this:

Peter Medawar was lecturing on some contentious subject (probably to do with evolution) and at the end of his lecture a woman in the audience asked him, "But, Professor, what's your gut reaction?", to which he replied, "Madam, you may think with your gut, I prefer to use my brain."

Nice story John, you must feel proud to have had a hand in the lecturers early days and as you say there is always someone in the audience who thinks they know better.

Hi Losos,
The now Dr of Horticulture walked into my Nursery one day when she was 13 years old and asked if she could learn how to grow things, and ever the practical little girl, she said that she would be prepared to do all my weeding and any other nasty chore in return. That was 23 years ago and she now is married and has a family and a damn good job and I simply love her to death.
Do you know that within 18 months she was wonderful with cuttings and could graft Pine Scions onto Pine rootstock and make a better job of it than any of us with years in the trade. She got special treatment because she was special.
JB.