Julie McDowall
@JulieAMcDowall
Followers
15,910
Following
402
Media
3,407
Statuses
31,930
ATTACK WARNING RED! out now Buy it here: ATOMIC HOBO podcast: Rep @zcosini
Glasgow
Joined June 2012
Don't wanna be here?
Send us removal request.
Explore trending content on Musk Viewer
Messi
• 404747 Tweets
Adriana Lima
• 231614 Tweets
Allred
• 210853 Tweets
Ted Cruz
• 208606 Tweets
Bolivia
• 104171 Tweets
Peru
• 97806 Tweets
Yankees
• 90455 Tweets
JENNIE KIMMEL LIVE
• 75502 Tweets
カレンダー
• 46119 Tweets
バーニス
• 33277 Tweets
#WorldFoodDay
• 29030 Tweets
शरद पूर्णिमा
• 27879 Tweets
ميسي
• 26286 Tweets
無断生成AI
• 25442 Tweets
Raúl Jiménez
• 23088 Tweets
期日前投票
• 21805 Tweets
The Next Prince Q10
• 20204 Tweets
Lakers
• 19770 Tweets
Nico Paz
• 19664 Tweets
Luiz Henrique
• 17666 Tweets
Andreas
• 17641 Tweets
CHENLE FIRST THROW
• 16249 Tweets
عبدالرحمن المطيري
• 11727 Tweets
メカジンベエザメ
• 10896 Tweets
ボスの日
• 10067 Tweets
Pinned Tweet
THREADS is on BBC4 tonight.
The final chapter of my book is about nuclear war and the BBC, and the director, Mick Jackson, tells me how he had to try and smuggle the topic onto the screen.
Here's a thread on how he did it.
13
72
212
I have synesthesia which means I can "taste" words. Ask me what your name tastes like.
14K
2K
18K
How cheap journalism works: I go to Chernobyl, do research, and write about it for The Guardian. Then the Daily Mail take it, change a few words, and call it their own.
295
5K
11K
Great pic from Lost Glasgow on FB showing the sooty traces of old fireplaces and chimneys.
48
1K
9K
Trip to Chernobyl today. We were the only people there. Near total silence. All we could hear was the crackle of the Geiger counter.
#coldwarhist
101
2K
7K
A photo from lockdown Blackpool this evening. The Big Wheel on the Central Pier.
(Russel Howarth Photography on FB)
83
530
3K
Abandoned theatre in a Chernobyl village's town hall. Sign above the stage says "Long live communism - the future of mankind."
14
593
3K
For those interested, my sister's synesthesia has an added quirk. She sees "personalities" and genders attached to numbers and letters. As a child, she'd get annoyed that no-one could understand that "Seven fancies four", and Nine is a bloke.
180
88
3K
The Palace of Culture (eg community centre) in one of Chernobyl's abandoned villages. The Soviet hammer and sickle is still visible and our Ukrainian guide kept pelting it with snowballs.
8
409
2K
We stood on a balcony in the grounds of St Elijah's, the only remaining active church in Chernobyl, and looked out onto miles and miles of abandoned villages.
8
434
2K
Wormwood Star Memorial, marking the nuclear disaster. Chernobyl translates as "wormwood" and the Bible said a star called Wormwood would burn the earth and kill men. This stands in Chernobyl town centre (still a working town. Only Pripyat and nearby villages are abandoned.)
7
446
1K
Argh, I REALLY need to go and write about nuclear war, but I can't stop tasting all you lovely people. (Except the Edwards and Donalds. Yuck. Edward makes me feel I'm ruffling a small man's hair, but he has dandruff, and Donald is a rubber duck dipped in vinegar.)
236
54
2K
The wind after Chernobyl blast took the radiation in a straight line across woodland. Trees turned red and died. Now known as "the red forest." We drove through it, and our Geiger counters HOWLED. Then the car passed the invisible line and all was quiet again.
21
332
1K
The massive Duga radar beside the Chernobyl plant. An illegal tourist from Belarus (known as "stalkers") died last week as he tried to climb it. The authorities frequently hide in these areas to catch the stalkers.
12
311
1K
There are so many stray dogs in Chernobyl, and one with yellow eyes came running at us. I backed away, but the guide laughed and showed us they're all as playful as puppies.
6
216
1K
@HodgkinsonJohn
I'm sorry to tell all the Johns that they are leathery buttons on an old man's cardigan.
35
33
1K
A lovely winter wonderland? No, it's the former main street of an abandoned Chernobyl village. The most irradiated villages were completely buried and only appear as gentle mounds in the snow.
#coldwarhist
10
353
1K
Here's a memorial naming each of the lost villages.
10
301
1K
Former grocery shop in an evacuated Chernobyl village. The old folk who insisted, illegally, on returning to their homes now have legal recognition and are visited weekly by a mobile grocery van
#coldwarhist
1
295
1K
THREAD: another astonishing story about
#Chernobyl
48 hrs after the disaster a huge fallout cloud, 10 miles wide, began drifting towards Moscow. The Soviet air force were sent up to chase it.
46
639
1K
Some of the Chernobyl robots, sent onto the roof to shove the lethal material to the ground. The grey one was the best, clearing 20sq m before radiation sent him haywire. Some refused to work at all. So men were sent in, the "bio-robots"
6
264
1K
Hours of fun! Even better when my sister is here, as she has the condition too.
147
14
1K
You have to be scanned for contamination at two of these checkpoints before they'll let you leave Chernobyl. A nice satisfying CLUNK sounds if you're clean, and the gate opens
10
275
1K
Hi
@MailOnline
if you pay for my article about the Chernobyl dogs which you, er, borrowed, I'll donate half the fee to
@CleanFutureFund
who look after the dogs in the Zone. How about it?
16
520
919
The wind took most of the radiation north into Belarus, and that is where the most viciously contaminated areas lie. But no-one visits as there is nothing to see but trees and gentle bumps in the earth, under which lie buried villages.
6
174
757
This was great fun last night, but at 2.30am I had to stop and go to bed. I'll try and answer some more this morning. If I don't respond then it's probably cos your name has been "done".
240
14
730
THREAD: Late this afternoon, Boris Johnson will write his "letters of last resort". He will write four identical letters by hand, and they'll be placed on a safe, within another safe, on each of Britain's nuclear submarines.
49
408
743
I just saw one Proclaimer, walking through Colinton. It's mad. Nobody sees *one* Proclaimer.
27
63
654
THREADS will be on BBC4 Wed 9th October.
Check the schedule here. A brilliant nuclear-themed evening:
43
151
607
In The British Library, I found old copies of Protect and Survive Monthly. Here are some of the front covers.
41
151
586
My sister is here, and we both have synaesthesia. We can taste your names, so ask us.
(I've probably tasted your name, so Jen will take your questions!)
What's your name?
722
21
572
Our boy died peacefully yesterday.
We loved him so much.
Tsar Bomba, 50 megatons of cute.
85
2
572
@robmcd85
Rob and Robert are both heads. Rob is a robber's head. He's wearing a balaclava, and if you bit his head you'd see it was made of chocolate. Robert is a gnome's head, and biting it shows it's full of strawberry fondant.
19
28
486
To my new followers: you came for the rubber ducks and the vinegar and the gnomes, but I hope you'll say for the nuclear war chat.
31
10
439
Dear
@Independent
- thanks for using my photography and my commentary. Nice of you to spread the word but you didn't ask permission. How do I claim my fee?
23
242
420
I've found that Johnson's Baby Powder makes a great fallout dusting.
21
27
392
Here's a little thread of pics I took in Chernobyl.
People often imagine "Chernobyl" as the abandoned city of Pripyat, but hundreds of villages were also abandoned. Some so contaminated they were actually bulldozed and buried. This is the main street of a village called Zalyssa
15
166
395
8
12
356
If I don't respond to your "taste" my name tweet, know that I'm not being rude. Just overwhelmed with volume of tweets. I have never been this *interesting* before. DISCLAIMER: Even though I am always vigorously interesting with my talk of nuclear war and good books.
47
6
357
@rooo_210
This is a good one! A kids' roundabout turning silently in the breeze. No kids on it. Just a sad, deserted roundabout.
13
2
351
My gran died this morning. I was due to go to Blackpool next week and would phone her from Coral Island and hold my phone up so she could hear the bingo caller and the atmosphere. She brought me up, and took us all to Blackpool every year.
65
2
347
Just had my first "dick pic" sent. Thankfully, that's not something I can taste.
41
8
337
My trip to Chernobyl includes a visit to this monstrous thing. The Duga radar, part of Soviet early-warning system. Some claimed its tap-tap signal had a role in mind control.
#coldwarhist
13
58
314
Hello all. It's 3.38am here and I *must* stop and go to sleep. I know there are a million people who want their names tasted, but I need to prirotise those who've offered a donation. Even then, there's a backlog. Had no idea it'd be so popular. I normally talk about nuclear war!
24
4
324
🎈Happy 40th birthday, THREADS.
On this day, 40 years ago, THREADS was shown on BBC2. I was a wee 3-yr old kneeling by the TV and my dad couldn't be bothered putting me to bed, so he thought "Most frightening film ever made? Och, the wean will be fine..."
Wean was not fine.
35
62
327
Reading the news, and thinking there's a Threads screenshot for almost everything.
9
109
311
Everyone's asking me what Brexit tastes like, but no-ones asking about Remain.
Brexit is a snapped KitKat.
Remain is a Jammy Dodger.
39
49
310
Thread of my best photos from
#Chernobyl
for my new followers....
This is the former main street of an evacuated village, called Zalyssa
14
111
309
I can share my good news. I have a book deal! My nuclear history is going to be published by
@TheBodleyHead
41
8
297
I'm exhausted. Been tasting words all day. Starting to wilt.
Exhausted tastes of HP sauce. Start is thick rice pudding. Wilt is a peach rose petal lying stamped and trodden on a wet pavement.
31
6
277
It's that time of year when we remember the best Hallowe'en costume of all time.
9
19
274
Bloody 'ell! It's the THREADS anniversary. It was first broadcast on this day in 1984.
24
59
269
@saminsurrey
It's very strange and specific....It provokes a scene from Disney's Alice in Wonderland. The one where she's following a path in the forest then a dog comes along and sweeps it away.
13
14
264
Trying to work through all your donations, but this pleading face wants attention. To my new followers, this is Tsar Bomba.
12
4
262
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Five stars in the Sunday Telegraph for my "cracking" book.
22
28
262
According to this article, the BBC will be showing THREADS again in October.
21
58
255
Look! A nuclear siren! First time I've ever seen one in the wild. I approached it like David Attenborough, silent and careful so I wouldn't scare it away.
26
20
237
Found the agenda of a 1967 meeting to discuss medical help in a nuclear war. It's VERY British...
3.20 - 4.00 Nuclear Weapons
4.00-4.20 Tea
Then next day
9.45 - 10.45 Radiation Sickness and other effects
10.45-11.00 Tea
14
78
236
@Alan_Antimatter
Alan is one of my faves! It's a wee squeaky dog toy, dressed like a schoolboy with blazer and cap.
5
1
230
I am overwhelmed. I can't keep up with all the requests. Throw some money at my podcast here and I'll give you three names of your choice.
101
26
227
@Val_Kearney
@khaleda
Don't want to tweet her in case she takes my 140 characters and says she wrote it.
3
5
219
If that bloody Ross Greer is annoying you, and you want another Scottish ginger to go viral with, go viral with ME and my weird skills.
PS Ross Greer tastes like sausage rolls and rubber gloves.
15
11
225
The Daily Mail person who stole my Chernobyl story is trying to justify it. Here's an idea: buy a bloody plane ticket to Kyiv and do your own research.
10
79
216
Working through the archives of this fab 80s mag...
Don't recall seeing it on the shelves next to Smash Hits or Just Seventeen.
28
50
220
My gran's handwriting is very shaky now, but she still managed to get a birthday card to me with "God bless", and she told my aunt "put some money in it for the wean."
40, but still her "wean".
11
4
221
I can't possibly answer everyone's name taste requests. 6 MILLION Twitter activity in past 24 hours! But if you want to donate something to my podcast at the link below, I'll taste three names for you. Pls include your Twitter handle and name requests.
63
21
214
@CaptMikeYates
Mike? That's more of a sensation than a taste. Like the spokes of a bike wheel. Brittle and metallic taste.
6
5
201
Trump doesn't have a
#NuclearButton
American nukes would be launched via calls, cards, codes, and keys. The fact he goes on about big red buttons shows he has a childlike Hollywood view of nuclear war.
13
36
192
Just been on BBC Radio One Breakfast Show to talk about my synesthesia. Pressenter
@gregjames
was gutted to learn he is tasteless shortbread with the sugar dusted off.
17
11
202
I'm in a pub in Earl's Court on my own.
I know that is *nothing* remarkable, but there was a time when I was too frightened to leave my flat.
15
1
199
I'm a ginger nuclear historian. My sister is a blonde "Instagram influencer". I get invited to old bunkers. She gets invited to drinks receptions at Stobo Castle.
I regret nothing.
12
10
194
Let's talk about mannequins in nuclear bunkers.
Those bunkers which are now being run as tourist attractions often can't help throwing weird mannequins around the place. I say Budapest is the worst offender.
21
38
193
Let's compare how practical were the Canadian and Soviet responses to nuclear war. Both advise shielding your eyes from the flash; the Canadians, by having an alien close your curtains, and the Soviets by hiding in a tunnel and crying.
10
54
192
Comparing the British Protect and Survive with the Soviet one...
BRITISH: Oh dear. A small but perfectly manageable fire.
SOVIET: People actually rolling about in flames, dying.
13
95
196