I'm a sample of one but many of the most useful things I know I learned by rote, often without understanding. These include:
- Multiplication tables
- The alphabet
- The words of William Blake's "Jerusalem" (and subsequently a million pop records)
- Wilfred Owen's "Strange Meeting", TS Eliot's "Journey Of The Magi", the beginning of Macaulay's "Lays Of Ancient Rome" and half a dozen speeches from Shakespeare
- The words of at least twenty hymns
- The capital cities of the countries considered significant when I went to school
- "I before e except after c when the sound is ee"
- "Thirty days hath November etc"
- "Willie willie harry stee etc"
Have I, er, forgotten anything?