Dr Simon Reads...

Dr Simon Reads… 500 Words 2020 Final Hopefully you know the drill by now, how 500 Words is a writing context for children aged 5-13 organised by the BBC, started by Breakfast Radio host Chris Evan (not the Captain America one) and now continued by his successor to the same slot, Zoe Ball, patronised by Camilla Duchess of Cornwall and offering a stack of books, tours of UK landmarks and a personalised illustration by a well-known children’s illustrator to the six winners. If not, see my introductory post here. Check out this year’s fifty finalists here ( http://bbc.in/2pWJLrW ). This year’s final was definitely a reflection of 2020 so far. Not only was it held via Zoom, thanks to coronavirus, but it was also more ethnically diverse not only in the celebrity readers but also in the representation of the winners. A good year for the boys this year, and most of them with clever sensitive tales rather than the entertainingly comic. Oh. And should I mention that I guessed every winn...

Wisdom of Solomon 16-19 The Very Long Night Of The Unbelievers. Welcome to the next instalment of An Atheist Explores Sacred Texts (Apocrypha version). In this series I work my way chapter-by-chapter through the Old Testament Apocrypha, commenting on it from the point of view of the text as literature and mythology. For more detail, see the introductory post http://bit.ly/3aEJ6Q5 For the online KJV I use, see here http://bit.ly/2m0zVUP Wisdom 16 “ For the hope of the unthankful shall melt away as the winter's hoar frost, and shall run away as unprofitable water.” This is an odd chapter. It reads as if it is referring to prior events, such as the plagues of Egypt or the Exodus (with mention of God giving his “ own people ” “ quails to stir up their appetite ”). But there’s a lot of other stuff about “ the bitings of grasshoppers and flies ” that kill the unbelievers, and “ with strange rains, hails, and showers, were they persecuted, that they could not avoid, and through fire w...

Wisdom of Solomon 11-15 Talk Like The Qur’an Day. Plus: Statues = Bad. Welcome to the next instalment of An Atheist Explores Sacred Texts (Apocrypha version). In this series I work my way chapter-by-chapter through the Old Testament Apocrypha, commenting on it from the point of view of the text as literature and mythology. For more detail, see the introductory post http://bit.ly/3aEJ6Q5 For the online KJV I use, see here http://bit.ly/2m0zVUP And now: Wisdom 11 “ For a manifest reproof of that commandment, whereby the infants were slain, thou gavest unto them abundance of water by a means which they hoped not for.” There’s something like the Qur’an in the tone and language of this chapter. Although it begins with a reference to “ She ”, the Holy Wisdom, it is mainly addressed to God and appears to be an elliptical reference to the Egyptian plagues intermingled with reference to the Exodus – “ They went through the wilderness that was not inhabited, and pitched tents in places wher...

Dr Simon Reads… 500 Words 2020 The final 50 stories are now up for the 2020 run of the BBC 500 Words Competition. For more information on the 500 Words competition see my post on the 2017 awards; but in brief it’s a creative writing competition run by the BBC for children aged 5-13, who can any kind of story they like, as long as it is within 500 words. Three winners from each of the two age categories (5-9 and 10-13) get their stories read out by a famous actor in a live final, plus win a big stack of books.   The prizes have grown in recent years; now each winner gets a hard-bound copy of their story illustrated by a famous children’s illustrator (e.g. Quentin Blake, Helen Oxenbury etc.), and first prize not only wins books for their school but now gets a personal tour of a famous landmark. I’m going to do what I did in 2019 – give a brief description and discussion of each of the finalists and at the end make my predictions for winning stories. After, I’ll do something simila...

Wisdom of Solomon 6-10 The Cult of the Holy Wisdom. Welcome to the next instalment of An Atheist Explores Sacred Texts (Apocrypha version). In this series I work my way chapter-by-chapter through the Old Testament Apocrypha, commenting on it from the point of view of the text as literature and mythology.  For more detail, see the introductory post http://bit.ly/3aEJ6Q5 For the online KJV I use, see here http://bit.ly/2m0zVUP   And now:   Wisdom 6 “ If your delight be then in thrones and sceptres, O ye kings of the people, honour wisdom, that ye may reign for evermore.” This chapter is addressed to rulers, advising them that their best course is to seek wisdom. God sees all things and judges all men, great or small – “ he which is Lord over all shall fear no man's person, neither shall he stand in awe of any man's greatness: for he hath made the small and great, and careth for all alike ”. There seems to be a difference in the expectations of rulers versu...

Dr Simon Reads… 500 Words 2020 The final 50 stories are now up for the 2020 run of the BBC 500 Words Competition. For more information on the 500 Words competition see my post on the 2017 awards; but in brief it’s a creative writing competition run by the BBC for children aged 5-13, who can any kind of story they like, as long as it is within 500 words. Three winners from each of the two age categories (5-9 and 10-13) get their stories read out by a famous actor in a live final, plus win a big stack of books.   The prizes have grown in recent years; now each winner gets a hard-bound copy of their story illustrated by a famous children’s illustrator (e.g. Quentin Blake, Helen Oxenbury etc.), and first prize not only wins books for their school but now gets a personal tour of a famous landmark. Since its inception in 2011 it’s grown massively with tens of thousands of entries each year. I’m going to do what I did in 2019 – give a brief description and discussion of each of the ...