I've mentioned before, I think, that my pseudonym comes from Regina Strinasacchi, an 18th century violinist much admired by Mozart father and son.  Leopold's description of her playing - never a note without feeling and expression - is something to aspire to, as is her determination at pursuing and maintaining her career at a time when female instrumentalists were pretty rare (outside Venice's Pietà, anyway).  I found her on Grove one day when randomly reading through violinists' biographies and noticing how standardised and boring they all are after about 1850.

My real name has as many syllables but in a different rhythm, and falls two letters shorter.

I was registered at TOP but could never log on after the first time because I couldn't remember my password and couldn't find any way of getting the beeb to email it back to me...   

I never attended convent school.  But I like lemons, especially in sorbet.

I remember that major <snork> very well, Anty Termite grubs all over the keyboard, soldier ants up the nose. Oh, we were so young and carefree then. I do believe it was that same long hot summer before the war when Bryn turned into 'Nethersage' for a couple of months. How innocent we all were.

I chose my name because I was under the impression, wrongly I think, that we weren't supposed to use our own names over at TOP. I just liked the sound of it. It turns out, somewhat to my embarrassment and possibly to his too, that there is a George Garnett who has got himself a nice little number pottering about at Oxford teaching Mediaeval History: http://www.history.ox.ac.uk/staff/postholder/garnett_gs.htm   I believe Ollie thought that was me for a while but then I thought that he, Ollie, was Richard Barrett. 

Like Andy D I very boringly really am John W, and am so on the BBC boards, but the funny thing is all these years ago when I logged into the BBC boards for the first time I got the login and the nickname the wrong way round 

John W should have been my login and the nickname should have been zelenka as there was a topic at the time and I was constantly playing a just-acquired Camerata Bern LP set from ebay. Glad the mistake was made as (a recent thread on here shows) I don't know much about Zelenka other than that set and what's written in the notes    and also initially most of my postings then (2003) were on the Radio 2 boards (light music) and I found several posters there who knew my website on dance bands and guessed who I was, which wasn't a problem and got me some contact with a producer at R2.

John W does get me into trouble, though - not just here  . I post on the forum of a professional institution (with screen name my full name) and I keep signing postings John W which annoys someone professionally more senior than me whose screen name is.... John W


John W

Wagner and left-wing politics, eh, pw? I expect you encountered lots of generous, broad-minded people.

My user-name didn't take much imagination.  I used it over on TOP and decided to carry it forward to here. It was just the first one that occurred to me, that's all. I wish I'd been more creative. 

I've posted on lots of messageboards, musical and others, and try to use my real, full name wherever possible (I changed to simply IanP on M&S, but it's obvious who I am - may change that back). I would ask why various people feel the need to hide behind pseudonyms - if they have something to say, why can't they put their real name to it (I certainly feel less inclined to give respect towards those who do use pseudonyms)? The only place where I don't use my real name is on dating/sexual sites (though usually give it to people reasonably early when I've chatted to them a bit) - but that is a different matter, I believe, mostly because some people might be fishing for dirt; furthermore, they are private places for people to make contact, not arenas for airing thoughts, opinions, information in public.

Have already explained my messageboard name on the boarders biogs thread  ( a Bob Dylan reference..there was a time when certain elements in rock journalism thought it cool to refer to him as BobbyZ ) Oddly though, this thread prompted me to do a google search on "BobbyZ" just now, had never occured to me before. And what a weird bunch of references it threw up.

My real name happens to be Robert but I've very rarely been known as Bobby !