This article is classified "Real"
Anthony John Blews was born on either the 18th or 19th of May 1971 [1], the
son of a mechanical engineer and a housewife/hairdresser [2]. He lived in
Preston, Lancashire for 18 years, in that time amassing 9 'O' Levels[3] and
3 'A' levels[3], before moving to Stafford, Staffordshire to attend
University.
Blews lasted for four years as a student, being thrown off a variety of
courses until 1993 when he was finally told not to be a student anymore,
and was employed as a technician. This lasted until February 1997, when he
was tempted away by a promised 50% pay rise. Currently he works as a
database programmer in the transport industry, and thinks that buses are a
lot less interesting than people assume [4].
Blews has been playing with computers since 1982, when he got his hands on
a Vic 20, and has been playing with computer networks since 1988, when he
found out about the Joint Academic Network, AKA JANet [5] (precursor to the
Internet in the UK). In the past he has owned (and in many cases still
owns): a Vic 20, a Commodore 64, three Sinclair Spectrums, a ZX81, roughly
eight IBM PCs, four Psions, a Bull XPS-100 minicomputer, three Concurrent
CP/M machines, a Macintosh LCII, two Amstrad PCW8512's and an Amstrad
CPC6128. When he has nothing better to do, he writes software for some of
them.
Live Roleplaying is also one of his hobbies, and he currently runs the UK's
largest Live Roleplaying website (http://www.netlrp.uk.com/), whilst
playing an NPC role at the largest LRP event in the UK.
He also spends a lot of time reading books and watching films. His
favourite films are The Usual Suspects, Clerks, Mallrats, The Hunt
for Red October, Clear and Present Danger, UHF, and Highlander. His
favourite books are those written by Robert Rankin, Terry Pratchett, and
Tom Clancy. His favourite TV shows are The Tick, The X-Men, and
anything by Vic Reeves.
Anthony John Blews is 6'5" in height, weighing in at a blubbery 14.5 stones
[6].
[1] There is some confusion over this. All official records point to the
19th, but the little wrist-tag that they put on new-born babies clearly
states the 18th.
[2] Which goes a long way towards explaining why his hair looks like a
dandelion clock constantly on the brink of telling 3 o'clock and why
even now he can't change a spark plug without the manual.
[3] In the United Kingdom, there are various grades of education. An
'O' Level was the the basic qualification that proved your knowledge of
a subject (until 1988, when the nebulous GCSE was introduced, which
required less knowledge). An 'A' Level is a higher qualification,
gained at college [7], the main benefit of which was/is to get you into
a good university.
[4] For some reason, some people like to collect the numbers inscribed
upon the sides on many road based public transport vehicles. The main
center of this activity is Preston, Lancashire, which, if you have read
this carefully, you should realise is my home town (much to my
chagrin).
[5] The Joint Academic Network is still in operation, although these
days it uses the TCP/IP protocol and is called SuperJANet. It is often
confused with the Internet in many academic establishments.
[6] A 'stone' is an archaic British measurment term meaning 14 pounds.
[7] The differences between a British college and an American college
cannot be summed up here, save for that when Brits say college, Yanks
should read university.