Merryn @rentaquill Twitter profile

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Merryn

@rentaquill

4 months

And we’re back. Send tweet. @AndyAitcheson

NewsOfTheWar

@newsofthewar

4 months

Scandal. Gossip. Everyday drama and details from the headlines that didn’t make it to the frontlines … Watch this space in Summer 2024, for a whole series of six-pod series… This is the News of The War! #NOTW

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Last Seen Profiles

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@Mojtahed_najran

Merryn

@rentaquill

1 year

Just occurred to me, seven VC recipients took part yesterday - seven. Don’t recall much mention of them in the main coverage. CSgt Beharry, here.

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@rentaquill

9 months

Filefind of the day. Eisenhower ordered soldiers to see Ohrdruf Nord camp for themselves. As a result, one man said, if Goering was to be shot, he'd like the job. Ike replied: "If ever we have the duty of shooting the fat ----, this man's request should be granted if possible…"

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@rentaquill

1 year

Don’t often buy the Torygrap but I knew Dame Edna had submitted her own tribute - to herself. Still sure she only did it to get a rise from referring to Hitler. Bless her. 1/3

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@rentaquill

3 months

Hard not to stop what you're doing for this. It was the shadows on the wall that got me. #dday80

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@rentaquill

2 years

She’s one hell of a pilot.

Will Meddings

@WillJMeddings

2 years

I’m not sure I could park my car this precisely.

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@rentaquill

2 years

It’s true, he’s here, the one and only - our good friend… PCA. @militaryhistori @WeHaveWaysPod @almurray @James1940

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@rentaquill

2 years

Too good not to share. Takes time to master it, but the results are impressive. Make your own situation maps. 😊

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@rentaquill

2 years

1st Tractor Armoured Division - divisional insignia...

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@rentaquill

1 year

World at War. ITV, £900k - pittance, now - and Carl Davis’s inimitable, unforgettable score. Recorded in Prague, “giving it a Czech flavour…” Still gives me the chills. Soundtrack includes Ike, Monty, and our darling Noel, too.

Davis, C.: The World at War

Compilation · Various Artists · 2010 · 27 songs

spotify.link

🇬🇧 The_Sub_Hunter 🇨🇦

@TheSubHunter1

1 year

50 years ago the BBC released a documentary series called The World at War narrated by Laurence Olivier It was one of the most expensive productions ever undertaken and remains a landmark series Link ▶️ #History #WWII

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@rentaquill

2 years

Sun setting. Boys watching over a bit of restoration work. Respects paid.

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@rentaquill

1 year

3/3

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@rentaquill

2 years

Big city walking.

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@rentaquill

3 years

Just getting ready for tomorrow's PMQs.

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@rentaquill

2 years

Anyone want random D-Day maps?

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@rentaquill

4 years

Christmas wrapping paper in my house just gets better and better now.

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@rentaquill

7 months

@sixteenthCgirl I visited a Triumph showroom. For an hour, the salesman patiently explained how my husband would enjoy the bike, in town or on a track - studiously glossing over the technical detail "because he can come in and we'll talk about it". Reader, I bought the motorcycle elsewhere.

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@rentaquill

3 years

For laughs, for lols, for facts-and-fiction ... and for friends. The #wehaveways community comes together, and this was something special. @HobbsTheGamer - @WeHaveWaysPod saluted you. If you want to see a real Band-of-Brothers ... watch this. 719 people, paying their respects. x

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@rentaquill

2 years

“Down this road, on a summer’s day in 1944, the soldiers came…” @FXMC1957 may be right with his updated costs, but he underestimates the value of WaW for the ages. Captured the memory, still captivates the nation. Priceless.

Prof. Frank McDonough

@FXMC1957

2 years

31 October 1973. The first episode of the 26-part classic ITV documentary series, World at War, was broadcast. It was narrated by Laurence Oliver, with music by Carl Davies. It cost £900,000 (worth £11 million today).

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@rentaquill

1 year

Low level, bad weather limitations of a Lancaster. Been thinking about it all day.

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@rentaquill

1 year

2/3

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@rentaquill

2 years

Studley Constable - not *quite* in the right place … but it still cracks me up, I can walk there from here. 😊

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@rentaquill

2 years

Okay, random bits from the map drawer and a bonus bit of *new* D-Day insight in a SubStack thingy at the bottom of the thread (do NOT panic, that's not going to become a habit). ☺️ Let's start with Montgomery’s post-war view. Remember peeps, more details in the Alt-text.🪶

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@rentaquill

3 years

Never underestimate the value of kneeling down to investigate what’s under the books on the bottom shelf, in a secondhand bookshop.

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@rentaquill

1 year

Only one question today. In a remake of The World at War - who'd be the voiceover?

AfricanStalingrad

@Tunisia_1943

1 year

@JonathanBoff Time for a remake or major edit - with the impact of Enigma included.

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@rentaquill

6 months

Was at the @I_W_M in Lambeth today - dropped in to see the great Sergeant’s gassed soldiers. It’s not until you can get really, really close, that you see the tiny, tiny details that make you want to ask art-questions.

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@rentaquill

2 months

Vive la France. Trouncing the far right with gusto since 1942. #FrenchElection

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@rentaquill

1 year

☺️ Something tells me the Russian ambassador didn’t get an invite.

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@rentaquill

3 months

"Politics don't matter." 'Down this road on a summer day in 1944, the soldiers came. Nobody lives here now. They stayed only a few hours. When they had gone, the community, which had lived for 1000 years, was dead. This is Oradour-sur-Glane.' Listen to Larry. cc. @No10Cat

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@rentaquill

2 years

Driving home through Sheringham, saw these chaps - it’s Revival Weekend - stopped to have a little chat, as you do. Was told they are the “Wiking SS, not the naughty SS, mind- we’re the volunteers that were sent to the Eastern front.” Gosh. You learn something every day.

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@rentaquill

3 months

This is exquisite. Exquisite. I shall never say Walther PPK again. "Vallter." Also, genius lesson in how to do vox pops, and how - As An Expert - to politely set your peers on a smoother path, and still defer graciously when the final choice is their own. h/t @StephenCVGraham

BBC Archive

@BBCArchive

3 months

#OnThisDay 1908: James Bond author Ian Fleming was born. Geoffrey Boothroyd was a gun aficionado who wrote to Fleming asking him to change Bond's signature gun – a Beretta – to one more powerful. In this clip, Boothroyd shows why he thought Bond needed a gun with more oomph.

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@rentaquill

3 years

Dresden. Hadn’t seen this photo in my timeline yet, so, here it is – Richard Peter’s iconic view of Schreitmüller’s sculpture “Die Gute”, or "Goodness" sitting high up on Dresden’s town hall, post-raid. Iconic. 1/3 🧵

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@rentaquill

3 years

I’m just saying, it would really help if **every** book had fold out maps like this.

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@rentaquill

3 years

This thing has nearly bloody killed me today. But now - now it’s fucking Christmas. 🤣

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@rentaquill

2 years

It is hard - it should be hard - to commemorate victory while there’s someone else’s war on your timeline. 🚜 🇺🇦

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@rentaquill

2 years

Great joy. Six days’ incessant 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿vs🇫🇷. Reminds me of a trip many years ago, mind. A friend was using the phrase “cheese-eating surrender monkeys”, ALL the bloody time. Until a visit to Bir Hakeim. At which point, he shut up. 1/6 🧵 IWM E13313

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@rentaquill

3 years

Irrascible map posting. No reason, other than I tripped over these in a folder marked 'interesting'.

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@rentaquill

2 years

Thought for the day. When Britain entered the Crimean War in 1854, nobody in Whitehall knew where it was until office-junior Bob got a map from a local stationer’s, and a retired officer called Jervis provided others he'd bootlegged from an antique shop in Brussels. True story.

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@rentaquill

3 years

We are the pilgrims, Master. The battle of Mirbat took place, 49 years ago today; there are still questions to be answered about 'a little-known war in Oman'. #OTD If you haven't heard of Talaiasi Labalaba ...

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@rentaquill

3 years

Cold out. But worth the walk.

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@rentaquill

7 months

Reminded by @FXMC1957 - does anyone else see images like this and *instantly* hear the music? "Duh-duh-duh-duh, duuuh-du-du-duuuuh.....

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@rentaquill

1 year

There’s more: John Waddington Ltd had worked out how to print on silk (and rayon, and cloth, and tissue). He was more than happy to develop the game boards - for chess as well as Monopoly - inside which a silk map was hidden. 🧵1/4

Helen Fry | WWII Historian

@DrHelenFry

1 year

Allied prisoners in German camps were permitted to receive packages from Britain. They received games like Monopoly to relieve boredom in the camp. Because of that, MI9 recruited Waddingtons to make special Monopoly sets to hide escape and evasion devices inside the pieces.

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@rentaquill

18 days

@monstroso Yes, weirdly. Make sure your alcohol is very cold, and if you're using ice, make sure it's smooth - the CO2 'grabs' at imperfections and thereby fizzes itself into a frenzy, faster.

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@rentaquill

3 years

Who's a fictional military leader you'd follow into combat?

Jenny Grant

@SilenceInPolish

3 years

Who's a fictional military leader you'd follow into combat?

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@rentaquill

4 years

Mood.

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@rentaquill

6 months

No particular reason, but perusing the Quadrant Conference notes, August 1943. Aren't these maps lovely? The D+ projections are a bit on the aspirational side. But still, just lovely* for a Friday afternoon. *Technical map descriptor.

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@rentaquill

3 years

Attagirl.

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@rentaquill

3 years

Friday evening, still working, short 🧵.Yesterday was #HolocaustMemorialDay . Today, @reassesshistory posted an excellent thread about Hamburg. Here’s a small insight about Sandbostel – Stalag X-B – and the humanity of Horrocks. Fair warning: graphic content. [© IWM B 9302]

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@rentaquill

3 years

T34. ‘nuff said. #wehaveways

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@rentaquill

3 months

UTAH Beach, just before the landings tomorrow. This is a map. Okay, it's a model - but it saved lives as men saw the lie (and the truth) of the land. It was used in briefings and then saved by Lt Commander Charles Lee Burwell (you'll meet him in a sec). @WeHaveWaysPod #dday80

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@rentaquill

4 years

Oh yes, where do I sign. 1/6 models - build them yourself - and I cannot tell you how my priorities in life may have just changed. The company is Armortek. Take my money, now. #wehaveways @WeHaveWaysPod

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@rentaquill

2 years

Awful walk along the cliffs this evening. Awful.

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@rentaquill

2 years

On West Runton beach, there’s a 300-year old erratic known as Sherman’s Stone. What people don’t realise, is it’s next to a piece of heavily riveted back stowage from a Sherman tank, a remnant from the Weybourne Reach combined ops training in Aug 1941. @wehavewayspod

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@rentaquill

3 years

In May 1941, a month before Operation BARBAROSSA, the intent to invade and get access to the Baku Oil Fields had to face a small but important fact: Ukraine is huge. It's the second-largest country in Europe and deserves more attention and support. #StandWithUkraine

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@rentaquill

3 years

Am I the only person in Britain who’s never watched Line of Duty, Eastenders, Made in Chelsea or *peers at paperwork* Big Brothers who Goggle the Box on Love Island?

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@rentaquill

3 years

"THERE WILL BE NO WITHDRAWAL." Knew I had it somewhere. @WeHaveWaysPod

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@rentaquill

4 years

Life's a bit strange at the minute. When you get over 1,000 people watching a live stream together on a Thursday night ... it's good to know you're among so many of the similarly afflicted. Thanks chaps. #wehaveways . @WeHaveWaysPod

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@rentaquill

4 years

To most people, this will seem pathetic. But today, I ran* 1.57km for the first time in 30 years and did not throw up. *Running: bit more grunty and sweaty than fast walking. Actual running may not have been identifiable by the oncoming pedestrians lurching out of my way.

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@rentaquill

1 year

Exhausted! Such a privilege to take part in We Have Ways Fest. So many open-hearted curious people, all coming together to have an epic time, enjoying talks, kit and camaraderie. **Thank you** to everyone who came along to suffer my inane mutterings about maps 😌 @WeHaveWaysPod

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@rentaquill

2 years

In among the mighty oaks, there were more than a few happy acorns this weekend. @WeHaveWaysPod #WeHaveWays

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@rentaquill

3 years

God love you Bernard, I’m not sure ‘He Wanted to Use The Big Willy Plan’ is going to get me extra marks in an MA essay on strategic intent.

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@rentaquill

3 months

If anyone is interested, there's a tool called 3D-Mapper, run by @team_templay , which - seriously - itmakes it easy to produce maps like this one. Zoom in, set the boundary box, hit generate. Incredibly helpful for understanding terrain. This is Arnhem. Took 30 seconds.

Jack Bowsher - Forgotten Armour

@HistoryBowsh

3 months

Getting ready for my talk on the Admin Box for @WeHaveWaysPod WHWFest Vier. I’ve been messing around with this WD map overlayed on 3D terrain&just can’t get it to work,so I’m canning it-but I thought some people might find it interesting, enjoy! @James1940 @almurray @robert_lyman

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@rentaquill

1 year

**taps mic** So .... ever wondered who was making the maps used during the Second World War? Well, find your way to the @WeHaveWaysPod Festival website, grab yourself a ticket, and I'll tell you. 😊 Can’t wait. @almurray @James1940 #WHWF

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@rentaquill

3 years

Now this … *this* was a British Military Vehicle worth posting letters for. I had one of these for a bit. Prayers, not steering. Could do cheese toasties in the the cab heater.

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@rentaquill

1 year

Only visible on this springbank tide, a Cromwell tank track - the remnants of Operation FLOTSAM… @SeaSpitfires will confirm this clandestine combined operations training exercise never took place on the North Norfolk coast. @WeHaveWaysPod

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@rentaquill

2 years

Electric heater going full tilt on a railway platform, so that staff “aren’t uncomfortable as they have to be outside all day”. Please tell me why I’m bothering to recycle everything. Reduce wrapping. Or buy green. Please. 🫠

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@rentaquill

3 years

As we're commemorating all things operational this week, I give you three Veritable giants. Brian. Bernard. And Tiny. Lt. Gen. Sir Colin Muir Barber KBE, CB, DSO & Bar of the 15th (Scottish) Division - standing tall at a magnificent six feet and nine inches. [no 📷 source😔]

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@rentaquill

2 years

Some might say, the image on the left is the cover of an album released 53 years ago today. But I prefer to think of it as a still from Mapledurham Mill's audition for The Eagle Has Landed.

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@rentaquill

2 years

Why @project4_4 isn’t funded by hundreds of commemoration or divisional history organisations I do not know - the work is phenomenal, bringing the stories to life. (Obvs, **maps rock**). 👍

Project '44

@project4_4

2 years

10-second history! Battle of Normandy timelapse. June 6th to the 31st of August 1944. #DDay #Normandy

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@rentaquill

4 years

If you're not interested in second world war stuff, daft pictures of an anti-tank trench and a bit of beach (there's quite a bit of beach) then this isn't a thread for you. This is the Weybourne walk - Weybourne Hope being where we *thought* the Germans might try to land.

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@rentaquill

3 years

People laugh at our road signs. But we take traffic control seriously in north Norfolk.

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@rentaquill

2 years

@ManMadeMoon Yup, Battle of Besang Pass. Maj. (Guerilla) George M. Barnett, led the 121st (Guerilla) Infantry with Capt. Walter Cushing: part of USAFIP-NL. You want Volckmann too. At the risk of being rude, if you chuck me a DM, I’ll WeTransfer you 120MB of the 121st Infantry's file.

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@rentaquill

3 years

Some trends are more revealing than others. Try this one: Venereal Disease and Scabies in the British Army of the Rhine - Feb 45 to Feb 46. I’m having a lovely Sunday. HBU.

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@rentaquill

1 year

I love it when maps and words collide.😊 'Geodetic design in Wellingtons', says @James1940 . Spot on. Geodetic members followed a geodesic line, the shortest distance twixt two points on a curved surface. In the UK, we say ‘geodetic’, the US says ‘geodesic' - a quick note on that:

Al Murray - DKMS.ORG.UK 🇺🇦

@almurray

1 year

Today's @wehavewayspod : the strategic bombing campaign. @james1940 and I discuss the context of the Dams Raid - Harris and Bomber Command.

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@rentaquill

3 years

Worked it out. It's @giantpoppywatch season. It's the RAF, and that's what they're doing - they're drawing giant poppies. 😂😂

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@rentaquill

4 years

The second world war - it's not just about things blowing up and armies fighting. It's about real people. Being human. Thanks so much to Carina Birrell, and to her grandfather, Harry. What a privilege.

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@rentaquill

2 years

Okay, boys* - I have questions. 🤨 (*6th Battalion Royal Scots Fusiliers)

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@rentaquill

2 years

Maps. Maps need triangles. Everything happens somewhere (amirite, @OrdnanceSurvey ?!), and to find a point precisely on a map, we need to triangulate that position. Let’s talk about Maj. Gen. William Roy. I'll take questions at the end. 😉🧵/ @natlibscotmaps

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@rentaquill

3 years

Man! Tank! History! 🤣 #cvhf @CVHISTORYFEST

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@rentaquill

7 years

Life - is a tale of sound and fury, told by an idiot, signifying little or nothing. #ShakespeareSunday

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@rentaquill

4 years

@mrjamesob What you're looking at, is the new definition of 'clusterfuck'.

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@rentaquill

2 years

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@rentaquill

8 months

If you’re in the @UkNatArchives and waiting for folders to arrive - treat yourself. There’s a whole drawer of goodness that’s freely available available: ‘misc individuals who assisted Allies and Evaders’. A few cards …

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@rentaquill

11 months

Favourite pillbox* in walking distance,** next to the Lion’s Mouth. *Everyone should have one **Spoilt for choice here ☺️

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@rentaquill

2 years

Jeez. Just had someone say to me, “Fed up of it, be glad when it’s over. They can’t last much longer, anyway.” When I mentioned that the siege of Sarajevo lasted 3 years, 10 months, 3 weeks, 3 days - you know what they said? “Oh. Is that in Ukraine?” FFS. 😔

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@rentaquill

9 months

North Norfolk, you do know how to finish a long day.

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@rentaquill

4 years

Obviously not authentic. That Lee Enfield clearly has the wrong strap on it.

Brad St.Croix

@BradStCroix

4 years

Went down the Second World War gif rabbit holt and can’t tell if this authentic footage or not.

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@rentaquill

3 years

Right: the poppy thing. This post gets rolled out once a year whether people like it or not - and then I delete it. It's a 15-minute read, and it's not easy going. But all the facts are here.

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@rentaquill

3 years

I don’t know, you leave the kids alone for two minutes and look at them. 🤣

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@rentaquill

3 years

War diaries aren’t all dirge and DETAIL and decisions. Sometimes they throw up the most human insights of all. Like this one. “Padre apparently took the hint.” 😆

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@rentaquill

2 years

FUCKSAKES. PUT **ALL** YOUR LIQUIDS IN A BAG **BEFORE** YOU GET TO THE CONVEYOR BELT. 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

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@rentaquill

3 years

Oh, hello Boys. **IT’S A BREN CARRIER** *niche*

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@rentaquill

1 year

The Great Escape - and your regular reminder that Steve McQueen’s bike was in fact a post war 1961 TR6 Trophy, very very badly disguised as a BMW R75 — which just goes to show that the film was, indeed, all about Triumph. @guywalters ☺️

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@rentaquill

2 years

Seriously. Echoing a consensus now: the entire bunch of eedjits judging the quality of this so-called sensitivity writing and, indeed, the appetite for these adaptations - should fuck off, fuck right off, and when they get there, fuck off a bit more.🤨

James Bond novels to be reissued with racial references removed

The changes to the spy novels include the removal of the N-word and omitting references to the ethnicity of minor characters

www.theguardian.com

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@rentaquill

7 months

Sooo... tube maps, eh. Time for a bit of Harry Beck. Here he is. This is Harry. Should be on a stamp or something. Would you like to see his first attempt at mapping the Underground? And find out who perhaps SHOULD have got the plaudits for even more of an influence, map-wise?

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@rentaquill

2 years

Got to say, this is brilliant - but I was the nerdy kid who'd have solved the problem by moving the books. 🤓

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@rentaquill

4 years

Colonel John Waddy, OBE; a fitting obit in @thetimes today - spaniels and all. True character.

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@rentaquill

3 years

Bed at ten, woke at two. Half two. Three. Ten past three. Half three. Four. Couldn’t work out what was making an unusual noise. Just pulled next door’s cat out from under the bed and punted it over the back fence.

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@rentaquill

3 months

OMAHA Beach. The beaches from Colleville-sur-Mer to Vierville-sur-Mer. Their notes only a hint at these BIGOT maps' complexity and what it took to compile them. “Map from GSGS 4490, sheets 79 & 80, and Air Photo Examination.” #dday80 @wehavewayspod