Andy Duncan

'Do not look at the trombones, it only encourages them' Richard Strauss. I like taking photographs, gardening, and playing in a brass band. Not simultaneously.

[Andy Duncan @AndyDuncanMJ]

@RonDeSantis Interesting. My wife’s parents spent 6 years of their young lives under German occupation in northern France. Neither of them spoke a word of German.

[Andy Duncan @AndyDuncanMJ]

@VoicesofWW2 The white bands on the helmets indicates that the soldiers are part of a Beach Group. These were responsible for setting up, running and defending landing zones both during and after initial assaults.

[Andy Duncan @AndyDuncanMJ]

@WarrenBonathan @SeaSpitfires Well I got it!

[Andy Duncan @AndyDuncanMJ]

@SKrucican @DrHelenFry Aged 14, my father in law watched one of his classmates abducted from school by police officers. He never saw him again and of course, he was murdered. His memorial page at Yad Vashem now contains a class photo.

[Andy Duncan @AndyDuncanMJ]

@SeaSpitfires Trouble is, he's got a somewhat soporific voice, even talking about the most horrific subjects. I regularly nod off to him narrating The Dictators on BBC Sounds. You wouldn't believe how soothing he can make one of Franco or Amin's crimes. And so many episodes to choose from!

[Andy Duncan @AndyDuncanMJ]

@SallyAnnely @archer_rs The Pâté Lorrain from the bakery round the corner from my MiL is far better. She doesn’t live anywhere fancy, just a town that is probably the equivalent of Stoke.

[Andy Duncan @AndyDuncanMJ]

@TopOfchain666 @BGatesIsaPyscho It looks normal to me. But if it isn’t, it could easily be a symptom of what is now more widely referred to as climate change.

[Andy Duncan @AndyDuncanMJ]

@historyrock_ If you good folks over there had pubs, you’d have the cultural phenomenon that is the pub quiz. An excellent question for the music round would be ‘where was Paul Simon when he wrote Homeward Bound’?

[Andy Duncan @AndyDuncanMJ]

@histories_arch @Dr_TheHistories In Manchester, we have the descendants of the ‘Salford Sioux’. Charging Thunder was Lakota Sioux. He settled in Gorton, changed his name to George Williams and got a job as an elephant keeper at Belle Vue zoo. His grandchildren, Rita and Gary, were interviewed a few years ago.

[Andy Duncan @AndyDuncanMJ]

Such a shame to hear about Chris Rea. I think he went through life having folks mispronounce his name. The clue was in the video from 1984, he pronounced his name in the manner common in Ireland, which rhymes with Ray.

[Andy Duncan @AndyDuncanMJ]

@The_Grey_Writer @anon_opin If you're expecting them to know how to change a headlight bulb through the wheel arch of a mark 2 Zafira, you're deluded.

[Andy Duncan @AndyDuncanMJ]

@carl_thompson70 True. Sausage barm from there t'other day. Grand.

[Andy Duncan @AndyDuncanMJ]

@carl_thompson70 Late 80s, I'd been working evenings as an usher at the Palace. Got some extra work at GMEX from the guy who sorted the bouncers at the Apollo. I'd get matched up with a pair of bikers and do the talking. Folks'd look over my shoulder, look nervous, then follow my every request.

[Andy Duncan @AndyDuncanMJ]

@martharoberts My guess is it’s a sparrowhawk. We get a lot of birds in our garden, and they are regularly ambushed by one that, I think, lives up on a local hill. It’ll swoop down the ginnel at the side of the house and surprise a jackdaw or a pigeon.

[Andy Duncan @AndyDuncanMJ]

@Thighboots2 In one instance in our area, the vendor turned out to be the local Green Party candidate.

[Andy Duncan @AndyDuncanMJ]

@carl_thompson70 Walked various dogs down there for 20-odd years. Usually went up and over, only went through a handful of times.

[Andy Duncan @AndyDuncanMJ]

@BradRTorgersen @gwen_novak9 Who knew? Anyone who’s ever visited a bookshop. There are loads in the series, written by Bernard Cornwell, a well known writer of historical fiction. There are various TV adaptations of his works, eg The Last Kingdom. They’re cracking romps, albeit a bit formulaic.

[Andy Duncan @AndyDuncanMJ]

@news_numen @Jordan_W_Taylor In itself, Manchester may well be a net contributor. The north west covers a large area.

[Andy Duncan @AndyDuncanMJ]

@RealCounties @carl_thompson70 Postcodes put big chunks of Derbyshire in either Stockport or Sheffield.

[Andy Duncan @AndyDuncanMJ]

@GroomB @MENnewsdesk Bought a twin lens Yashica 124 in the camera shop down there. Lovely camera.