Thursday 28 November 2013

Uncle Albert - The Code Maker



In my book, The Sgt. Pepper Code, I talk about a hidden code that appears to have been embedded into the lyrics of the song ‘She’s Leaving Home’ that I christened The Y Code.



The code can be revealed thusly.



Firstly, take a pencil and paper and, starting at the beginning of the song lyrics, search for the letter Y. If you then go back three letters from each Y, and jot down that letter, you will begin to reveal the hidden code.



Example: "Wedne(s)daY morning at five o'clock as th(e) daY begins. Sile(n)tlY closing her bedroom door. Leaving the note that she hoped woul(d) saY more. She goes downstairs to the kitchen clutching her handkerchief. Qui(e)tlY turning the backdoor(r) keY".



SENDER.



Ok, that doesn’t mean too much, so let us carry on with this experiment, ignoring any lyrics in brackets, and we will also find ...



MARY.



SENDER MARY.



So, could this be a reference to Paul’s mother Mary?



Well, it is interesting to note that Mrs. McCartney had some interesting relatives, one of whom, her uncle, invented the gas meter – the original meter maid? – whilst another, Paul’s cousin, Bert Danher was a famous creator of crosswords.



It appears a Beatle had a code maker in the family? According to Danher’s obituary in the Daily Telegraph he was the “greatest inventor of anagrams” and “He particularly enjoyed linking two clues together so that the solutions created a homophone; thus the clues "fairy-like" and "ghost" made "elfin" and "spectre", or "botanical gardens" and "beast" made "Kew" and "brute”.

Bert Danher

Perhaps the most telling tribute is “Danher also liked to signal his authorship in cryptic puzzles by beginning 1 Across with a musical clue”.



Ok, so I exaggerated the title a little for effect, call it poetic licence, but Cousin Bert the code maker doesn’t have quite the same ring!



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