You can learn something new every day. Years ago, I learnt touch typing and sporadically honed what skill I have with Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing. I always vaguely assumed there was a real touch typing expert called Mavis Beacon behind it all – perhaps owner of a successful chain of secretarial colleges in New York State or some such .
However she isn’t, being created from whole cloth. This near 20-year old New York Times article discusses this phenomenon, including her significance as a female African-American role model.
Séamus Sweeney 