SHOUT OUT
Who / what I think deserves recognition, my gratitude or to be celebrated.Pencil A number of weeks ago, I saw Sandi Toksvig live on stage. For those that don’t know who she is, she is a Danish-British writer, comedian and broadcaster on British radio, stage and television, as well as being a political activist. It’s fair to say she’s a smart lady! During her show, she gave away pencils - simple HB pencils with an eraser on the end. People went crazy to get one of these simple instruments that most of us have at home, school or work. Sandi also shared a little about the history and significance of the humble pencil. Pencils - like much of the modern English language - originate from ancient Roman writing instruments called styluses. While originally a thin metal rod that left a light, but readable mark on papyrus, other early styluses were made of lead. This quickly developed to be non-toxic graphite. Graphite came into widespread use following the discovery of a large graphite deposit in Borrowdale, England in 1564. Originally, graphite sticks were wrapped in string and later become inserted into hollowed-out wooden sticks and, thus, the wood-cased pencil was born! Nuremberg, Germany was the birthplace of the first mass-produced pencils in 1662, spurred by Faber-Castell (established in 1761), Staedtler and other companies. But the real reason to shout out pencils - a little like last week’s HANDS shout out, is the number of hugely historical things that are linked to them. Shakespeare used one to write his plays and Leonardo da Vinci sketched in pencil. Vincent van Gogh was also known for sketching in pencil, inventor and President, Benjamin Franklin was an avid pencil user, Edison used pencils to jot down his ideas and designs. Just think of all the things that were first recorded with pencil - music, poetry, love letters, agreements, ideas, inventions… I know I love my pencils and the joy of just sketching things out.
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