About me

Me
Work
Me and computers
Other hobbies and interests
My greatest ambitions
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Me

I am 34 years old, 6'2", 12 stone (i'm getting fat), and (less) gangly. I live in a 160 year-old stone cottage in the village of Broadbottom, on the very eastern edge of Greater Manchester. A Northern Mancunian (Blackley, at the Moston/Harpurhey end) by birth, I have lived all my life either in or near this great city (which is getting greater with all the new buildings) .

Work

Call me a glutton for punishment as I actually work with computers as well as them being a hobby - though I actually work with Mainframes at the same place that spawned the comedy writing duo of Grant and Naylor (Red Dwarf). This temple of employment is Reality, part of the Great Universal Stores PLC (GUS) empire, based in Ardwick, Manchester. GUS PLC own famous catalogue companies such as Kays, Choice, Family Album and of course, Great Universal, not to mention Argos whom we bought out last year. You need a sense of humour and a fully operational bullshit radar to work there.

Me and computers

I first became interested in computers at the tender age of 14 back in 1980. My friend's Dad's friend (still with me!) brought a Sharp MZ80K round to my friend's house. I forget how long we were sat there playing a text based "explore the dungeons" type game (similar to Rogue on the PC). That was it.

I bought my first computer, a ZX81, back in January 1983. I have since owned:- 2 x Spectrum 48K (the first one broke), an Amstrad CPC464, an Amstrad CPC6128, an Atari ST, an Archimedes A3000, an Archimedes A400, a 386sx clone, a homebuilt 486, and am currently on my 4th generation of homebuilt Pentium class machine. The latter two have "borrowed" bits from the previous generation PC. I also have a laptop and various Psion pocket computers

Other hobbies and interests

Television and video
I am a particularly avid satellite fan and have a motorised dish attached to my wall for watching satellites other than Astra (the one Sky is on).

Music
I like a wide range of music from classical, through folk, to rock and heavy metal. My favourite instrument would have to be the Piano as it is represented across the musical spectrum, although the elecric guitar runs it a failrly close second. I wonder what Mussorgsky's Great Gate at Kiev would sound like played by Brian May?

Transport (sans anorak)
I have a keen interest in transport usually involving 4 wheels or a pair of wings. The plane angle comes from living at the end of Manchester Airport's runway for 5 years. I can still tell most planes apart. I now drive a bright yellow Fiat Punto Sporting - Fiat are still market leaders at making small cars

Science
This covers most things including space exploration, meteorology and any technological topic. If its got a chip in it.......

My greatest ambitions

I have two ambitions I hope will be fulfilled before I die. Number One is to fly outside of earths atmosphere. I also hope to be privileged and see earth's "first contact" with another life-form, although if the human race is as bent on self destruction as it is today, they will sensibly give us a wide berth.

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Tony Walker

tony.walker@zetnet.co.uk