[notsaussure] and the minoan civilization

Getting a line on the reclusive Not Saussure is not so easy. The man gives only the tiniest of hints in his official photo although some of his posts give a fuller picture. The profile blurb describes his blog thus:

I should like it to resemble some old deep desk, or capacious hold-all, in which one flings a mass of odds and ends without looking them through.

So when Notsaussure comes out with a glimpse into a former life, it is indeed a scoop and that's what we proudly present here.

An old boy of my school sent me today a newspaper article about someone's reminiscences of the place.

This inevitably, for anyone who was there at the time, entailed a mention of the sometime Head of History, a notorious brute who was, nevertheless, loved by some of his pupils (though not by me, I assure you).

The passage that had me laughing out loud concerned one Friday afternoon - time for Mr .....'s weekly history test and the subject was the Minoan civilisation in Crete.

'If I were looking at a mixture of a dragon, an eagle, a lion and a bull, what would I be looking at?' he demanded.

Quick as a flash, two desks in front of mine, somebody muttered, 'A mirror...'.

Dead silence, as we awaited wrath beside which the eruption of Krakatoa would have appeared as a mild sneeze.

We looked up - and our form-master was shaking with laughter in which, after a decent interval, we joined.

I'm wondering how much Notsaussure learnt of the Minoan civilization and so allow me to present the Minoan Quiz.