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This is a story of feats of speed and endurance, of record-breakers, of champions… Typing champions.
Recorded live at the Hot Docs Podcast Festival in the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema in Toronto on 4 November 2018, WPM is performed by me and Martin Austwick.
There is one swear word in this episode. See if you can spot it.
ADDITIONAL MATERIALS:
Watch the Guinness World Record-holding fastest typist Barbara Blackburn explain the Great Typing Controversy on Letterman in 1985.
The Dvorak Keyboard: Forty Years of Frustration.
There’s a Dvorak Keyboard zine!
About Rose Fritz, the first ever typing world champion.
Marcellus Wiley: ESPN host, NFL player, high school typing champ.
There are plenty more typing champs we didn’t get to cover in the song.
The Ultimate Typing Championship, and the first person account of Ultimate Typing Champion Sean Wrona.
Fastest time to type a text message whilst performing head spins.
Compete at typeracer.com.
Don’t bother competing on a reality TV show to become a spy.
The transcript of this episode is at theallusionist.org/transcripts/wpm.
Scroll to the bottom of this post to see pictures of the typing champs featured in this episode.
Cool new Allusionist merch awaits at theallusionist.org/merch! There are typing T-shirts, baby onesies and totes, featuring the exclusive artwork by Eleni Kalorkoti, depicted above. AND! Get your multidenominational festivewear with the new Winterval T-shirt, based on the Winterval episode and featuring nods to Christmas, Diwali, Hanukkah, Chinese New Year, Yule and Saturnalia in a fab design by Kristyna Baczynski.
YOUR RANDOMLY SELECTED WORD FROM THE DICTIONARY:
kalpa
CREDITS:
WPM was written and spoken by me, Helen Zaltzman; the music and singing is performed by Martin Austwick. Hear his songs at palebirdmusic.com.
Find the show online: facebook.com/allusionistshow, twitter.com/allusionistshow, twitter.com/helenzaltzman and instagram.com/helenzaltzman.