BOREDOM

British conductor Sir Thomas Beecham wasn't a great admirer of the music of his fellow Briton, composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. During the rehearsal of a Williams symphony, Beecham seemed to be doing little more than listlessly beating time. In fact, he was still beating time after the orchestra had stopped. "Why aren't you playing?" Beecham mildly asked the first violinist. "It's finished, Sir Thomas," came the reply. Beecham looked down at his score. "So it is!" 

Today in the Word, September 16, 1993.

The Rev. Dr. Robert South, while preaching one day in 1689, looked up from his notes to observe that his entire congregation was fast asleep--including the King! Appropriately mortified by this discovery, he interrupted his sermon to call out, "Lord Lauderdale, rouse yourself. You snore so loudly that you will wake the King."

Source Unknown.

Director Billy Wilder was asked how he liked a new film. "To give you an idea," he said, "the film started at eight o'clock. I looked at my watch at midnight--and it was only 8:15."

Source Unknown.

Drama critic Clive Barnes's one-word review of a play in London called "the Cupboard": "Bare."

Source Unknown.

STATISTICS AND STUFF

Percentage in a 1985 survey who said that, aside from earning a living, the reason they work is to keep from getting bored: 54. Percentage in a 1989 survey who said they are sometimes or often bored at work: 41. Percentage in a 1990 survey who said they are generally bored by what goes on in Washington: 48. Percentage in a 1991 survey of 7th through 12th graders who said they are tired or bored at school: 70. Percentage in a 1991 survey of teenagers who said they drink alcohol because they are bored: 25. 

U.S. News and World Report, June 24, 1991, p. 14.