The Videomatic Tutor

 

The clatter of typewriters in a nearby classroom

created a scene of women learning to type

Young ladies sitting before Imperials and Remingtons

with their handbags aside peering at the Videomatic Tutor

Few realised that burly young soldiers

inhabitied this sanctum of supposed feminine activity

Hands not made for the intricacies of a keyboard

struggled to hit the right keys

Fingers like sausages pressed two keys at the same time

A place of clerical mayhem in the hands of men

Standing in front of the class was the Videomatic Tutor

an illuminated key board for the attention of all

Keys would flash a light as an electronic voice said

s - now, i - now, t - now u  - now, p- -now.

To assist concentration and the development of rythm

a gramaphone played Glenn Miller´s Chattanooga Choo Choo

Keys were furiously hit, carraiges returned as expletives cut the air

This is how the British Army taught its troops to type

T - now, y - now, p - now, e - now