The Lighter Side of Ben and Book Week

Above, Brian Alfond prepping his trivia  gear -- which works with an app on participants phones, early Wednesday evening at Teddy Gallagher's.

Brian Alfond, the Trivia Meister who has long run a popular 'trivia' event on Tuesday evenings at Teddy Gallagher's on Main Street, made a second trip to Franklin Wednesday night. And the fun began just after 7 pm.  Know how many years of formal schooling Ben Franklin had? If you said two, you are in the winner's circle.  Or the name of the 1996 novel that became a 1999 hit movie starting Tom Hanks? If you said Green Mile, you scored (but no bonus points for knowing Stephen King was the author).

Alfond, who lives in Foxboro, was only too happy to research a new batch of questions for Ben Franklin Book Week and, in the process, learned a lot about Franklin's history, he said.

Today also saw the relaunch of the Ben Franklin Autobiography Readathon at the Historical Museum, kicked off with readings by Congressman Jake Auchincloss, State Senator Becca Rausch, and Rep. Jeff Roy.  The event began at 9:30 am and continued nonstop until just after 4:30 pm.

A high point was when Fire Chief James Mclaughlin arrived to tackle a few pages of reading and, after a few paragraphs, found himself reading Ben's description of how he organized and launched the nation's first volunteer fire company in Philadelphia.  It was a development widely copied and very effective in sharply reducing fire losses, first in Philadelphia and later in cities in the rest of the colonies. It was also a development that is generally given as the origin point for the modern fire services across the United States.  The irony of McLaughlin's arrival at "just the right moment" provoked smiles and chuckles amongst listeners and McLaughlin himself.

The steady stream of readers occasionally struggled with 18th century words barely heard today, and with Ben's well-crafted but often extremely long sentences. They smiled at his self-deprecation and wit. And expressed wonderment at each fresh example of his perspicacity and innovativeness. And several said they were already looking forward to a repeat event in 2025.

Below, Fire Chief James McLaughlin, reading the portion of Ben Franklin's

Autobiography describing the creation of the first volunteer fire company.