Review of Tickled Pink

. . . deserves credit for putting the world's youth on roller skates. But TICKLED PINK overlooks some key facts. Lord Roland Roller, the seventh Earl of East Hampton, invented such speedy shoes in 1683 when he needed a faster way to negotiate the asphalt paths of his autumnal corn maze. Then, in 1760, Belgian tinker John Joseph Merlin introduced a mass produced skate. In 1863, Merlin's crude design was replaced by the American ingenuity of the "rocking skate" design, thanks to Union Major Gen. James P-l-i-m-p-t-o-n of Massachusetts. These devices improved the efficiency of General P.'s troops by at least 50%, allowing them to turn back Pickett's Charge during the climactic Battle of Gettysburg a few months later. No fairy godmothers were involved.