Dave Tong

Why am I not Chinese?

Although I grew up on the other side of Bolton I went to Canon Slade school in Tonge Moor until I was 17. I spent most of my last two school years in the room on the right of this picture - that was where the school computer (a Commodore PET 3032) was kept. For some reason I still have a recurring dreams involving my not having done my maths homework.!

The name Tong (in its various spellings) has a number of possible derivations. It may be Old Norse tangi, Old English/Anglo-Saxon tang, twang or tong or possibly Anglo-Norman thwang. These all have similar meanings; either a narrow strip of land or a fork in the river. There is a stack of information on the subject on Stephen Tonge's web page (which seems to require Explorer to view).

Either way, it seems likely that my family origins go back around eight centuries - not bad, eh?

What do I do

In my spare time (hollow laugh!) I used to maintain the Colormap and Frame Buffer FAQ lists. They haven't exactly made me rich, but they've helped an awful lot of people, and that's the main thing, isn't it? If you find them useful, please drop me an email.

I've got a 30 year old Gottlieb Kings and Queens pinball table at home, which I'm supposed to be repairing and restoring, but can never seem to find time to even play the thing.

I'm also very interested in fruit machines and am currently setting up a small business importing them from the UK and converting them to take US coins. If you're interested, drop me a line. I'm setting up a web page with pics and movies and info on how to buy one from me.