Will Iredale
@WIredale
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Author of The Sunday Times top ten bestsellers The Kamikaze Hunters and The Pathfinders. My next book — Churchill's Pirates — will be published by Penguin.
England
Joined February 2009
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Really excited to share the news that
@penguinrandom
will be publishing my next book — entitled "Churchill's Pirates" — about the incredible bravery and sacrifice of the thousands of small boats and their crews throughout the Second World War. 1/5
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My old friend Chris Cartledge has died, aged 100. Chris was one of the last of The Kamikaze Hunters — the British fighter pilots who saw action in the Pacific and over Japan in 1945 as the Second World War reached its climax. 1/4
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Seventy-seven years ago this evening, 27-year-old Ulric Cross, a Pathfinder Mosquito navigator and one of the most decorated West Indian airmen of the war, walked down to Trafalgar Square to take part in the VE Day celebrations. 1/3
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On a personal level, I shall miss Chris very much, for he was one of the wonderful band of men who helped me write my first book. On a wider note, his death is yet another reminder that we are perilously close to losing the direct link with that Second World War generation. 4/4
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This is Freddie Hockley, a 22-year-old Seafire pilot in 894 squadron who served on the British carrier Indefatigable. 78 years ago today, he was shot down during a dogfight over Tokyo Bay and executed by the Japanese. Hockley was one of the last Allied airmen to die in the War.
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Please forgive the trumpet blowing, but this landed on my doormat today and I’m feeling bloody proud. Published 4th August.
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And here he is in 2015 at Duxford, pictured with friend, squadron mate and fellow fighter pilot Keith Quilter, in front of the Corsair fighter they flew all those years ago (although — geek klaxon — wartime Royal Navy Corsairs didn't have yellow noses!) (Pic: Emilie Sandy) 3/4
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He was a softly spoken, gentle man who loved art and music — but under this veneer lay a steely grit. Here he is in 1944 (second from left), aged just 21, on board the aircraft carrier Formidable, after attacking the German battleship Tirpitz — for which he won a DSC. 2/4
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Although I still miss him hugely I’m pretty okay now about my old man’s death, three months ago. But visiting my parents place and seeing all his war books — some he had for years and others, new and unread neatly in piles, which he was planning to read — just gets me.
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Believe it or not, this picture is almost 80 years old! An original colour print, it shows a de Havilland Mosquito of 571 squadron, in 1944. Isn't it glorious? Pathfinder Mosquitos had no guns, relying instead on their speed and agility to escape the enemy. [Pic credit: RAFM]
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I've been going through some of my father's old pics, and came across this snap of my grandparents in around 1933. It's just such a joy to see them young and full of life.
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‘I just felt that a lot of people had been killed. This was not a cause for celebration. The war did not stop people from being killed and a lot of my friends were killed...I was extremely glad the war was over.’
#pathfinders
#VEDay
[Pic:RAFM] 3/3
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Very sad news. Keith Quilter has died, aged 99. He was one of the last Royal Navy fighter pilots from the war, whose story inspired me to write The Kamikaze Hunters. More importantly, he was a top bloke. Enjoy the party up there, old friend. We shall all miss you so much x 1/2
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Isn't this a brilliant picture of Royal Navy fighter pilot Keith Quilter? Taken in 1944 just before he bombed the Tirpitz and then went out to face the Kamikazes in the Pacific. Anyhow, Happy Birthday Keith — 99 today and still going strong!
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But when he got there, it didn’t seem right somehow, and he quietly made his way home. ‘Everybody was overjoyed and I just didn’t feel like taking any part in it,’ Cross said later. 2/3
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Having a quiet pint with a mate when this happens…(volume up!)
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Well, after many evenings and weekends toiling away, my new book The Pathfinders is published today! I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Perhaps most importantly, I hope it goes some way to keeping alive the memory of the women and men of the Pathfinders.
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My latest book The Pathfinders is officially a Sunday Times top ten bestseller! Thanks to everyone who's bought a copy. It's a lovely bit of news after a pretty rough month. Most of all, thank you to the Pathfinder airmen and women whose stories I've been fortunate to tell.
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Bursting with pride that this morning’s Times has run obit on my Pa, Martin. ❤️
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It's paperback publication day for The Pathfinders! I shall be raising a glass later — not only to this — but also to my brilliant father Martin, who died on Sunday. It was he who got me hooked on history and, while I'll miss him terribly, I'll always be grateful for that.
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Really excited to reveal the paperback edition of my latest book which will be published by
@PenguinUKBooks
on June 9th! I'll also be appearing at the
@WeHaveWaysPod
WarFest in July in conversation with the legend that is
@beaver_paul
. Thank you
@James1940
for inviting us!
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I absolutely love this picture. What types of aircraft can be seen?
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Fun morning filming at the RAF Club with 101-year-old Colin Bell for a new documentary about the Pathfinders and the mighty Mosquito.
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Very honoured to have contributed to this obituary in today's Times for Charlie Sargeant, an RAF Pathfinder airmen and one of the very last Bomber Command rear gunners. He was a smashing bloke.
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Amid all the grim news today, it is heartening to hear on
@BBCR4
Today how
@PeoplesMosquito
is looking to build a Mosquito from scratch using original parts. Here's a wonderful original colour pic of the Wooden Wonder in action in 1944. (Credit RAF Museum Archives.)
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This is just wonderful
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All the ice and snow around at the moment reminds me of this rather beautiful image (credit IWM), which I saved when researching pics a couple of years back, but stupidly didn’t save the details. Does anyone know date or squadron? Just imagine operating in those conditions…
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Watching the local beacon being lit and it appears the Pathfinders have dropped some target indicators…gulp…
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How exciting! I've got my first troll, who called me a 'phoney little twerp' for suggesting there were women in The Pathfinders. Try telling that to all the WAAFs I interviewed, who very much considered themselves part of the force. Blocked for being ignorant and misogynistic.
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Lots of gorgeous people have helped me write my new book but perhaps the one who means the most is this bloke. Keith Quilter first flew 80 years ago and knows his Mossie from his Messerschmitt. It meant such a lot to give him a finished copy today. He’s a very special man.
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Really chuffed to see The Pathfinders is the Daily Mail’s book of the week! Thank you Tony Rennell for the double page review in today’s paper.
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Stumbling across an early episode of Dad’s Army whilst channel flicking, it’s pretty remarkable that a show now more than 50 years old featuring many actors born in the 1890s still draws over a million viewers and is often the most watched prog on BBC2. That’s staying power.
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Boom! Four-hundred reviews on Amazon and over 20,000 copies sold. Chuffed to bits. Thank you to everyone who's bought a copy. For those who haven't, the paperback edition will make a great stocking filler this Christmas!
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The classic film Appointment in London has just been re-released. It stars Dirk Bogarde and is considered one of the finest films made about Bomber Command. The new release features various extras including an interview with me about the role of the Pathfinders. Available now!
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Good grief I'm proud of dear old Keith — he'd no doubt be wondering what all the fuss is about, but he deserves every column inch in today Times. Thank you,
@TimesObits
for the lovely read.
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Hats off to
@James1940
and
@SpitfireFilly
for spearheading this campaign, reported in today’s Mail. “There are other options - alternative sites throughout the UK that do not share Scamptom’s heritage, nor an already oven-ready levelling up plan.”
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Well this is exciting - here’s the final cover for the paperback edition of The Pathfinders, to be published next year!
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One of the many shit things about losing someone close is that when you get a bit of good news you instinctively think "Ooo, I'll just let them know," before remembering you can't. It's *most* irritating.
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A lovely surprise in today’s Sunday Telegraph! Thank you,
@sauldavid66
for your very kind review of The Pathfinders
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Went for my annual heath check today.
"Do you want the dementia test?" the bloke asks at the end. "It's just a few questions. No extra cost."
"I'm 47 years-old", I scoff. "But why not!"
"First question: What's today's date?"
"Erm."
It went downhill from there.
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76-years ago today, Keith Quilter, a Corsair fighter pilot in the Royal Navy, was shot down during a low level daylight attack on a ship in a harbour in the Japanese town of Owase. Remarkably, he was picked up by a US sub from inside the harbour an hour later...
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My six-year-old daughter has asked for a plane in her stocking from Father Christmas, so it’s the least I can do. Thing is, can I stop myself from opening them for a sneaky play before the big day?
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Lovely obit for Chris Cartledge — one of the last of the kamikaze hunters — in today's
@Telegraph
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My darling Dad died a year ago today. Not a day goes by when I don’t think about the old boy and I’m looking forward to raising a few glasses later. 🍷❤️
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Well look what's just arrived through the post! Thank you so very much
@James1940
@JohnNicholRAF
@beaver_paul
@KeithLoweAuthor
for your lovely reviews. It will be published on July 15th but you can pre-order a copy here:
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The family of an RAF airman who featured in The Pathfinders has got in touch. He died years ago but his wartime letters were donated to an archive, and I used them extensively in my book. However, the family knew nothing of these or his wartime adventures! 1/2
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Earlier this year a leading production company approached me about contributing on and off screen toward a doc involving the RAF Pathfinder Force. I agreed, and for a modest fee I provided lots of background info mainly garnered through research from my book 1/6
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Visiting granny’s for half term and introducing my daughter to some of my childhood motors…how to feel old…
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What a treat to speak to former Mosquito pilot Colin
Bell at
@TheRAFClub
last night, in front of more than 100 guests in
person and online. Colin is now 100 years old — yet the memories of
his 50 ops over Germany for the Pathfinders remain crystal clear. What a legend.
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Royal Navy fighter pilots and WW2 vets Chris Cartledge and Keith Quilter saw action against both the Nazis and over Japan. The squadron mates are still good friends 70 years later, captured in this brilliant photo by
@emilie_sandy
- an entry in this year's 'Portrait of Britain'.
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Losing someone close can be such an odd experience. It's been over a year since my father died, yet just now I thought for a split second "I must call Fa and tell him" before remembering I can't, because he's just a pot of ashes in the ground. Had a one-way natter nevertheless.
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Honoured to be in such esteemed company as
@sauldavid66
@BeaverWestminst
@hoyer_kat
@WW2TV
@ww2research
. Thank you
@James1940
and
@almurray
for inviting me to speak at
#WeHaveWaysFest
about the Pathfinders. It was such fun, and a real tonic.
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I’ve just finished reading this. It really is a remarkable novel and I’d hugely recommend it. Just brilliant.
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Back in the summer I commissioned the very talented
@emilie_sandy
to shoot some pics of the last remaining Pathfinders, as part of publicity for my book. Now, they’ve each chosen their favourite image which we’re getting framed as a thank you. It’s a real honour.
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I have no idea what this car is, but it’s in our local and it smells amazing.
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Sorting through some old research files I came across a fascinating letter from naval aviator Buster Hallett to his parents in 1942, describing how he cheated death while trying to land his aircraft on HMS Victorious. He would have been 29-years-old when he wrote this...
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I’ve just seen an outraged post on our local village FB about “seasonal dogging” in the local woods and I now feel that, whatever today throws at me, it can’t get better than that.
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I was expected to drop everything over Christmas to give up my time for no credit, yet they balk when I ask for a half decent fee. Fascinating. 6/6
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"[It's a] terrifically colourful, surprising and enjoyable story — which is not a sentence I expected to write about East Germany." Great review of
@hoyer_kat
's new book in todays Sunday Times. Looking forward to reading it.
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After a 9-hour round-trip time for a large G+T! It was an absolute joy to be at the
@CVHISTORYFEST
today, speaking about the RAF Pathfinders. A huge thank you to
@BeaverWestminst
@James1940
and
@AHippisleyCox
. See you at
@WeHaveWaysPod
fest
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Really chuffed with this. Thank you
@MilHistMag
and to everyone who voted for the book!
This year's Bronze Award goes to 'The Pathfinders: the elite RAF force that turned the tide of WWII' by
@WIredale
, published by
@EburyPublishing
. Congratulations!
#MHMAwards22
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Meet Don Bennett and his wife, Ly. In 1942 he was given command of the RAF's new elite Pathfinder Force, aged just 32. Bomber Harris called him ‘the most efficient airman I have ever met'. But as Bennett soon found out, he wasn't just fighting the enemy
#Thepathfinders
,
#july15
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Isn't this utterly gorgeous? Original colour pic of a 571 Squadron Mossie in the autumn of 1944. (Credit: RAF Museum).
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Sad git that I am I still find it a bit of novelty and get a thrill to see copies of my books in shop windows. Spotted this on my morning run - thank you
@theryebookshop
— for anyone who lives nearby they now have signed copies. (Yes I went in and offered to sign some!)
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I went for a quick embracing walk and somehow found myself in the pub. Ah well.
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Came across this from a 2019 C4 doc with Carey Mulligan, about her grandpa who served on board a RN carrier hit by a Kamikaze. Here we are with Harry Anderson, who served alongside him. I’ve not met many movie stars, but she is such a lovely, down to earth person. I was smitten!
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As it's
#WorldBookDay
that's a good enough excuse for this otherwise gratuitous plug...available at all good book shops and even online!
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That moment you’re walking by a bookshop and your mate *insists* on taking a keepsake snap.
#pathfinders
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Thinking of those who lost loved ones in 2022, including my own dear father, Martin, in July. He’d have been chuffed to get an obit in The Times, so I’m hanging it on the wall of my office in between the obits of two other souls I knew fondly. Here’s to brighter things in 2023.
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On this day I always think of my old friend Keith Quilter. Here he is a few years back with 1842 squadron mate Chris Cartledge — who turns 100 next month — in front of the mighty Corsair, in which they both saw action attacking the Tirpitz and mainland Japan, and were shot down.
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Lots today about
#VJDay75
but (as always) very little on Britan’s role in the Pacific. So a great excuse to post this wonderful pic of squadron mates Chris Cartledge and Keith Quilter, who as Royal Navy fighter pilots flew the Corsair fighter plane over Japan. (Pic Emilie Sandy)
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If you’re still on the hunt for Christmas presents it’s not too late to grab a stocking filler! Spotted these in Piccadilly
@Waterstones
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Here again. First files ordered…usual excitement as to what they might throw up. Now time for a coffee!
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So we've set up a video call to speak next week. I can't wait to fill in some blanks for them and hear more about this remarkable man post-war, which the letters didn't reveal. For me, this is what makes it so worthwhile. The fact his legacy lives on and he's not forgotten.
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Six months today we lost our darling Fa. I’ll be raising one of these to him this evening and thinking of the fun times. ❤️
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Humans are amazing. We have put men on the moon. We have split the atom. We have created a vaccine to combat a global pandemic in under a year.
And yet. And yet. We cannot invent an office printer that doesn't fucking paper jam.
Where are our priorities?
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Date yourself by dropping a pic of your first celebrity crush
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It was a great honour to be invited to march with veterans past the Cenotaph in Whitehall, in memory of my friend Keith Quilter, who died a year ago and would have turned 100 this year. Keith was a regular here and hugely missed today, but we raised a pint (or ten) to him later.
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Taking a brief break from all things Pathfinders to prepare for an appearance on
@WW2TV
tomorrow with the legendary
@navalhistorian
to talk about the British Pacific Fleet and the Kamikazes. Dug out these pics of HMS Formidable being hit on May 9 1945. Still give me goosebumps.
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I've been going through boxes of old family pics today, and as it's
#HistoryWritersDay
here's what the stress of writing non-fiction history can do...believe it or not, these two images were taken just a year apart. Anyhow, cheers to everyone who loves writing & reading history!
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My nomination for
#HistoricalHottie
would have to be 22-year old British fighter pilot Wally Stradwick. Men wanted to be him and women wanted to be with him. Tragically, 18 months after this pic, Wally was shot down and killed over Japan. RIP Wally
@WhoresofYore
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Can anyone help me, please? A 3-year-old boy was playing on a street in Workington on a quiet Sunday morning in the spring of 1943 when he was hit by an army despatch motorbike. The handle bar smashed a hole the size of a 50p through front of his skull 1/6
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In hospital with my poorly daughter and there’s only one radiologist on duty for the whole of East Kent NHS Trust this weekend. Bonkers.
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Chuffed to see the old book roosting next to the great Richard Overy and just a stone’s throw from
@JohnNicholRAF
in St Pancras…
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@militaryhistori
@milcotto
The Mail reporter who covered Churchill’s Lying-in-State opened with:”Two rivers run silently through London tonight, and one is made of people. Dark and quiet as the night-time Thames itself, it flows through Westminster Hall, eddying about the foot of the rock called Churchill”
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This is superb, balanced analysis from
@militaryhistori
— essential reading for all — with insights which (I think) have been somewhat lacking from supposedly experienced journalists from some other major media outlets over recent days...
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@hwallop
This reminds me of the time I went undercover at a Royal Mail sorting office during the anthrax scare after 9/11 and an envelop burst open showering me in white powder.I was swiftly quarantined only for the local copper to arrive and shake me by the hand as he introduced himself.
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