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Chris Rand

@chrisrand.com

600 followers 290 following 18K posts

Ipswich, England. "In a Venn Diagram of one" – The Guardian. • Curator of the Half Man Half Biscuit Lyrics Project. #hmhb • Supporter of Ipswich Town FC. #itfc • Expect to see mainly stuff that amused me. https://chrisrand.com

chrisrand.com

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Mark Hamill @markhamillofficial.bsky.social · 19h

I have a very bad feeling about this...

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Rhodri Marsden @rhodri.biz · 1d

Was just reading about the history of BST, clocks changing etc, and discovered that the dude who campaigned for it in the early 20th century, a builder called William Willett, is the great-great grandfather of Chris Martin from Coldplay, which is what the song “Clocks” should be about, but isn’t

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Bainesic Channel @bain4z.bsky.social · 1d

The Guardian report that All Tech is Amazing

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Jason @nickmotown.bsky.social · Jan 22

I normally can’t stand quirky toilet signs, but seeing as this is The Carpenters Arms in Cambridge, I will allow it.

Two toilet doors, one with “Richard” on it, and “Karen” on the other.

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Dan Snow @thehistoryguy.bsky.social · 4d

Next time your mate is deep in a reverie about the immutable, exceptional nature of English identity, you might want to show them this picture and remind them that 300 years ago this would have been enough to send the entire kingdom into a revolutionary, effigy burning, chapel torching frenzy

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Larry & Paul @larryandpaul.bsky.social · 5d

🚨 BREAKING: Keira Knightley Writes Children's Book - The Latest In a Long Line Of Celebs.

👇🏻 Please watch, like and share this important update using the hashtag #BrokenNews.

youtu.be/MHNhvA9nL4I?...

Another Celeb Writes Lazy Children's Book - #BrokenNews

YouTube video by Larry & Paul

youtu.be

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Roland Smith @rolandmcs.bsky.social · 5d

Good Morning from Global Britain.

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Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 6d

I was involved at an early stage with this, and we found around 230 places – Ed's done an amazing job to get most of them on, shame there had to be some casualties. Maybe there'll be a version 2.0 (people have already pointed out a couple of errors and typos which have been fixed!).

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Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 7d

halfmanhalfbiscuit.uk/lyrics/all-a...

McCalliog And His Hens – The Half Man Half Biscuit Lyrics Project

The lyrics to 'Mccalliog And His Hens' by Half Man Half Biscuit, still banging out the classics in 2025 with the album 'All Asimov and No Fresh Air'.

halfmanhalfbiscuit.uk

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weloveallthat @weloveallthat.bsky.social · 10d

Chat GPT keeping me freshly informed with the latest pop gossip

Chat GPT generated text:

"Nigel Blackwell, the British musician best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the indie rock band Half Man Half Biscuit, has an estimated net worth of approximately $292.5 million. This substantial wealth primarily stems from his involvement in the publishing industry."

The claim is accompanied by a recent picture of Blackwell presumably in the middle of singing a Half Man Half Biscuit song.

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Jack Saundrs @jacksaundrs.bsky.social · 11d

If fans of an English team went to a foreign city, attacked locals, damaged property, sang racist songs and songs praising racist violence, literally every authority in England would support banning them from travelling. There would be zero caveats about how the locals had behaved towards them.

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Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 11d

No idea what reminded me of that old "bloke buys half a pint in a Cambridge pub with bitcoin" story, but they should update it because what Andy handed over is now worth about £1600.

www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/cambrid...

How one drinker paid £156 for half a pint in bitcoin

Andrew Bower bought half a pint at The Haymakers in Cambridge using Bitcoin

www.cambridge-news.co.uk

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Peter Chilvers @peterchilvers.com · 11d

The BBC are accidentally running the subtitles to Mrs Marple over the Mercury Prize, and it’s rather wonderful. A few of lines could plausibly have been written by Jarvis.

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Gary Delaney Comedian @garydelaney.bsky.social · 11d

A story in three parts

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Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 12d

The word 'unusually' is doing a lot of work at the end. I think it's taking the place of the deleted final word in the sentence, which was 'anything'.

Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 14d

YES! Toughest gig ticket to get for quite a few years. But I'm in. Did not think I'd ever get to see them again.

Confirmation of order for tickets to see Rush in 2026.

Reposted by Chris Rand

Jack Abbott MP @jackabbott.bsky.social · 14d

I'm absolutely delighted that new Government funding will mean that Christchurch Mansion - the iconic building at the heart of our town - can return to full open hours.

Supporting our museums is not just about preserving our past, it is about investing in our future too.

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bleary @bleary.off-the-records.com · 14d

If anyone needs me I will be in the museum, lying down next to the bog bodies.

Did people really memorize phone numbers before cell phones, or is that just a movie thing?
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I was watching some old shows from the 90s and noticed people would just dial numbers from memory - like they'd call their friends or family without looking anything up.
Made me wonder if that was actually normal back then? Did people genuinely have all their important numbers memorized, or did most folks keep a little address book or written list nearby?

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Andrew Orton @andreworton.bsky.social · 15d

The death of multi-camera TV: a thread. I know most of you will know the technical parts of this (and may have read it in the other place) but bear with me. 1/ 🧵

A shot from the studio rehearsal of Doctor Who: The Daleks' Master Plan episode 'Volcano', showing several actors ont he TARDIS set, with various video cameras around the scene.

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Andy Dawson @andydawson.bsky.social · 16d

Now free to watch on YouTube - a fantastic documentary

(You know it is, it really is)

Being Frank: The Chris Sievey Story

YouTube video by YouTube Movies

youtu.be

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Chris Rand @chrisrand.com · 19d

As a Brit who goes to most of the gigs, I've met several fans over from the US, and more are always welcome. I've also met up with a couple in the US, and it amazes me how much effort they've put in to understand the hundreds of parochially British references. Chapeau!

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Dan Snow @thehistoryguy.bsky.social · 20d

Own it. Take the win. You absolute clowns.

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Dan Snow @thehistoryguy.bsky.social · 20d

It also demonstrates the strength and appeal of the Britishness they’re always wanging on about. No one is queuing up to become Hungarian or Russian or North Korean. People want to be part of what we’ve got going on here. They want their kids to sing Jerusalem & wave flags when the king goes by.

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Dan Snow @thehistoryguy.bsky.social · 20d

It’s not a necessary evil, to be tolerated or have to live with. It’s absolutely extraordinarily brilliant. It offers a glimpse of a future where we all stop killing people with marginally different complexions or national identities
It’s a triumph of enlightened education over dark primordial urges

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Dan Snow @thehistoryguy.bsky.social · 20d

We have built a society in which people of different skin tones, religious backgrounds & cultures get along, share power, work alongside each other, procreate with each other, recognise the each other’s humanity and democratic rights. It is a STUNNING ACHIEVEMENT OF WORLD HISTORIC PROPORTIONS.

Omar Khan @omaromalleykhan.bsky.social · 20d

I know statistics are poorly understood and are misused. But facts matter

Between the 1991, 2001, 2011 and 2021 Census *every* ethnic group in the UK has become *less* geographically segregated and *all* groups, majority and minorities, are more likely to interact with people not like them

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