Energy Heating a Lquid Anomaly

I believe I read somewhere about schoolboy who claimed something like it taking more energy to raise warm water to boiling point that it did if starting from cold. His teacher, being a good scientist, put it to the test and found he was right. Sorry to be so vague but does anyone here recognise that story?

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Gingery · 41-45, F

If you are talking about bringing liquid water to the boil, the energy required is directly proportional to the change in temperature (dT). Consequently, it will require more energy if the initial temperature is low.

However, evaporating water requires more energy than melting the same mass of ice. This is probably where the confusion comes from.

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