User:Cbh

About me

I'm Chris Hedley. I came from Jarrow and ended up in Oxford via Bishop's Stortford. I like curry and whittering, except, apparently, for actually writing anything useful in my profile, where I seem to have got carried away with userboxes instead.

But for those who must know, I was born in the late '60s and do things to computers for a living. I do not like Microsoft Windows. I like the UK early '80s music scene and play bass indeterminately well. I spend far too much time using the computer and probably not enough of it watching the telly, and definitely not enough of it getting any exercise.

I decided to move from being a reader of Wikipædia to an occasional contributor after I spotted a missing apostrophe one day and thought that civilisation would end without my immediate intervention. Since then I've meandered around adding and changing various things, the things in question often concerning the likes of tanks and engines because I get all excited about that sort of stuff. I quite like it here, and have warmed to it just that bit more after reading the bizarre vendetta from one of the otherwise excellent The Register's writers.

Languages

My articulation of English is mainly conveyed by the medium of grunt, and I excel in my ability to be incoherent. Unfortunately people who aren't Geordies simply mistake this for my accent so my meandering prose is largely wasted on them.

I have possibly been somewhat optimistic in my claimed understanding of German. I intend to rectify that at some point, and would like to improve it to the extent that I am at least fluent in my reading and conversant enough to cause confusion beyond being simply unintelligible. Or wrong.

Contact

Feel free to email me about stuff. Or splatter something in my talk section. Go on, you know you want to, and it only takes me a few months to reply.

Lists of things

People like lists. Well, some people like lists. Some lists, anyway. So here're some lists for some people that might like them. A bit.

Favourite TV programmes

I don't watch enough TV, as mentioned previously, but when I do I'm sometimes inclined to watch the following things:

• Blake's 7, the finest Sci-Fi series ever devised.
• Dr Who, in spite of Michael Grade's attempts to kill it.
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. There's that BBC SF budget again!
• Later... with Jools Holland, good for my CD collection, bad for my bank balance.
• The League of Gentlemen, black comedy at its blackest.
• Life on Mars, top nostalgic TV programme based on a wonderfully silly premise.
• Never Mind The Buzzcocks, except for Mark Lamarr.
• The Young Ones, a guide to life if ever there was one.

Favourite films

If I don't watch enough TV, then I definitely don't go to the cinema enough. But some things that have still managed to catch my attention are this lot:

• Alien.
• Brazil. Isn't this a reality show?
• Dark Star. Yay, hippies in space!
• Jabberwocky.
• Max Headroom, at least the feature-length pilot episode.
• Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
• Sophie Scholl – Die letzten Tage.
• Suspiria, a rare example of a horror film that's actually a bit scary.

Favourite computer games

I spend far too much time on the computer, as already mentioned. I spend some of it playing computer games. Some of these computer games are...

• Half-Life 2, probably the most atmospheric game I've ever played.
• Half-Life 2: Episode One, after yet another mammoth wait!
• Doom 3, a very rare example of something genuinely scary.
• and some other stuff.

Favourite music

So according to Audioscrobbler, this lot are my favourite bands.

• Stereolab. Are they really a bunch of right-on lefty agitators? Er, don't care, really, they sound cool.
• Toyah. Yay, shouty Brummie titch!
• The Stranglers, except for Keith Floyd's theme tune.
• Kasabian. How'd they get in there?
• Hawkwind. Far out, baby.

Favourite curries

• Phaal (or paal, if you like). No, I'm not a masochist, I really do like them hot and tasty.
• Vindaloo. I don't care if it's not supposed to have potatoes in it, I want them in mine!
• Jalfrezi. I love all those green chillies!
• Tandoori chicken. I could eat this for breakfast, lunch and tea.
• Chicken pakora. I tried to eat less of these to diet. I failed.

Other stuff

Things for my own benefit, because I keep losing them:

• Essjay's counter thingy

Contributions

Mostly blundering around Wiki Gnoming, correcting things here and there and probably introducing subtle spelling mistakes.

New pages

• Johann Reichhart, German executioner, because I'm cheerful, me.
• Kennington, Oxfordshire, a small village stapled to Oxford's bottom.
• Ordnance QF 20 pounder, a tank gun.
• Phaal, a rather spicy curry.
• Taden, an ill-fated friend to the ill-fated EM-2.
• The Blue Meaning, Toyah album.
• Toyah! Toyah! Toyah!, live Toyah album.
• Anthem (Toyah album), self explanatory, really.
• The Changeling (album), another Toyah album.
• Warrior Rock: Toyah On Tour, and yet another.
• Love Is The Law, er I think that's enough Toyah albums for now...
• Mayhem (album) ... or maybe not.

• Toyah! Toyah! Toyah! (compilation), another one.
• Phil Spalding, her bassist, and
• Joel Bogen, her guitarist, albeit one of the shortest pages going.
• Minx (album), her first solo album.
• Desire (Toyah album), her second one, with less covers.
• Prostitute (Toyah album), her third and scariest album.
• Ophelia's Shadow, Toyah goes prog.
• Take The Leap!, yet another one.

Other significant contributions

• Jarrow, the Jewel of the North.
• Jarrow School, since I'm a Hedworthfield alumnut.
• Toyah Willcox, endless fiddling about with her discography.