| rdfs:comment | - Stokes had a very poor childhood, growing up in the small town of Milchester with her stepmother, with several quarter-sisters by way of a half-brother and with a waxwork model of her father. At the age of twelve, she quit school, packed up her things, and moved two doors down, never again to hear from her stepmother.
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| abstract | - Stokes had a very poor childhood, growing up in the small town of Milchester with her stepmother, with several quarter-sisters by way of a half-brother and with a waxwork model of her father. At the age of twelve, she quit school, packed up her things, and moved two doors down, never again to hear from her stepmother. At the age of sixteen, Stokes moved to a larger house in a more urban area of Milchester and found a dusty book in the cupboard — a copy of How to Predict the Future with How to Make Money scored out with a black felt tip pen. This was when she informed the local newspaper, The Milchester Chronicle, that she could predict her future. In her initial meeting with the Editorial Board, she was asked for an example, and foresaw that she would become a professional fortune-teller. This came true and the Chronicle paid her £1000 for every prediction. Stokes avoided predictions such as the evening's pari-mutuel winners, striving to predict events that would not become obviously false for several days, given the check-cashing policies of her era. Two years later, national papers became interested. Her column was syndicated and her predictions earned £10,000 a pop, making her a national celebrity. Unfortunately, it was then that she got her first prediction wrong. She stated that there would never be a Second Great War, during a period in her life when she was "very tight" with Mr Neville Chamberlain. A day later, when World War II began, and a brief period of insisting, 'That's not the same thing,' given that World War II was not in fact a Great War, she opted for early retirement and to live off her money until the war ended or, as she put it, 'the heat dies down.'
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