Ancestors

Toot

Written by Jon Roach on 2025-01-05 at 10:10

Here's a 🧵, answering the same questions as the Guardian asked Andrew Ridgeley in an interview just before Christmas. To be tooted at a rate of one daily. This is not a guaranteed service level.

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Descendants

Written by Jon Roach on 2025-01-05 at 10:12

When were you happiest?

When I was 15 or 16, living in Germany, having mostly left my childhood behind, possibilities stretching ahead, and not having taken on any responsibilities.

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Written by Jon Roach on 2025-01-06 at 09:00

  1. What is your earliest memory?

In my Mum's arms aged about three, being lifted up to see a green Wessex helicopter using the field behind our house in Taunton.

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Written by Jon Roach on 2025-01-07 at 07:45

  1. Aside from a property, what’s the most expensive thing you’ve bought?

Andrew Ridgeley replied "a pension" which is probably the true answer. The children's accommodation costs at uni are going to come close. My friend Mike once joked that he was counting on having thick kids.

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Written by Matthew Booth on 2025-01-05 at 10:22

@FourT4 Were you also a military brat by any chance?

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Written by Jon Roach on 2025-01-05 at 10:56

@mattb yes, dad was Army (RCT/RLC). Germany was our one overseas posting. So I had 4 years in Mönchengladbach and then JHQ Rheindahlen, albeit in a British bubble as far as school and friends went. How.about you?

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Written by Matthew Booth on 2025-01-05 at 11:04

@FourT4 RAOC/RLC. 4 years at Wulfen, then 2 in Fallingbostel.

I know what you mean about the British bubble. It was less marked in Wulfen, though, as we didn't live on base. The downside of that was having to search the car before touching it EVERY TIME it left your sight. I was 10 when I was taught to use the under car mirror and what to look for ☹️

Loved Germany, though. Been back many times since. Still do.

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Written by Jon Roach on 2025-01-05 at 11:22

@mattb we had a house off base too, in MG. Then we moved into the JHQ bubble in 1989. I think I heard the bang when the bomb went off in Rheindahlen, although I was in bed several miles away. And we were deeply involved with the sailing and windsurfing club in Roermond, where the IRA ASU was arrested.

I remember cycling to Bruggen & Wildenrath to watch the Tornados and Phantoms take off from outside the base fence. Made a change from seeing them over the school.

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Written by Ronan on 2025-01-05 at 10:37

@FourT4 I imagine for many with settled backgrounds that age is it. A better sense of self, and a better view of a future. But both of those are gone and yet to come, for a while there's a moment without pressure. So it was for me.

Coincides with transition year in schools here

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Written by Jon Roach on 2025-01-05 at 10:57

@ronanmcd indeed - and as it happened I also moved schools, putting a lot of baggage behind me. And "settled backgrounds" gave me pause, as after a difficult year for the family, things were settling down. Age 13-14 was in that sense a fulcrum.

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Written by Ronan on 2025-01-05 at 12:29

@FourT4 yep, same. Family stuff at age 13 had largely resolved for me by then

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Written by Jon Roach on 2025-01-08 at 08:10

  1. What is your most treasured possession?

I keep thinking the first thing I'll grab is my wedding photos, since they were pre-digital, and not backed up,

but...

Consider my birth certificate, which shows that I was born in a prosperous country to a middle-earning stable parental setup in the second half of the 20th century. Compared to most of the last 50,000 years of humanity, I'm ridiculously lucky to have been born, and lived, here and now.

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Written by Jon Roach on 2025-01-09 at 08:02

  1. Describe yourself in three words.

Reserved. Callow. Selfabsorbed.

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Written by Jon Roach on 2025-01-10 at 08:01

  1. What makes you unhappy?

Being trapped, in the sense of "Losing the opportunity to have opportunities." For example, pandemic travel bans, living in Europe after Brexit.

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Written by Jon Roach on 2025-01-11 at 07:15

  1. If you could bring something extinct back to life, what would you choose?

A sense of community and shared responsibility.

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Written by Jon Roach on 2025-01-12 at 08:01

  1. Who would play you in the film of your life?

A better question would be "who would you like to direct the film of your life?" to which I'd answer Hayao Miyazaki. The notion of a film of my life is entertaining; I mean, what if I didn't have control of the edit? I'm not really much good at casting, but I do remember being compared to Rowan Atkinson once. Sorry, Rowan.

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Written by Jon Roach on 2025-01-13 at 07:55

  1. What is your most unappealing habit?

Probably biting my nails, which has been with me since I stopped sucking my thumb. At the moment we're on a break, with additional help from a pot of clear nail varnish, but I've gone from biting the nails to scraping off the varnish. And as they get longer, flicking the corners of the nails is immensely difficult to stop. I sometimes wonder if it's worth trying hypnotism, but I don't think I'm suggestible in that way.

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Written by Jon Roach on 2025-01-14 at 07:49

  1. What scares you about getting older?

Loss of physical capability, specifically, something secret that I've been mostly on top of since I was a teenager, which makes day to day life "normal". When that goes, it'll be a significant change. I'm not talking about a superpower, it's something you can all do that I can't, without drugs and fitness.

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Written by Peter Oram on 2025-01-14 at 19:28

@FourT4 I have been thoroughly researching Jon Roach for at least three and a half minutes, and the answer to Question 7 fits well with my new mental model of Jon Roach. In comparison, the answer to Question 5 seems incorrect.

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Written by Jon Roach on 2025-01-15 at 08:06

@peterwyrm supplementary answers to q5: inconsistent and lacking self knowledge.

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