Three world records

Set in official competition, each broken more than once. Here is what the numbers mean.

Names and faces

212 names and faces in 15 minutes. Strangers’ photos, first and last names, then a blank sheet. This is the one people think is impossible, and it’s the one I teach first.

Random images

360 abstract images in 5 minutes, recalled in order. No words, no numbers, just shapes and colours.

Random words

145 random words in 5 minutes, in order, spelling counted. This is the discipline closest to what students actually need.

The fine print

These are memory sport records, set under competition rules with judges at the World Memory Championships and other sanctioned competitions, not stunts filmed for television. Records in this sport get broken; some of mine may have been by the time you read this, and that’s how it should be. Across the three disciplines I broke a world record more than ten times. [Years and venues for each record.]

Why it matters to you

None of it was talent. I nearly failed high school. Every one of these numbers comes from techniques anyone can learn in an afternoon and improve for a lifetime. That’s what the Memory Masterclass is for.

Also on the record

Highest world ranking: seventh. Third overall at the World Memory Championships, and the first woman on a winning team there. The sport’s highest title, held by about 22 people at the time. Outside competition: the entire 328-page IKEA catalogue memorised in a week, which won a Webby, and a shuffled deck of cards in 22 seconds.

Square brackets mark details still being checked against the official results.