Q In a recent issue of Word magazine the actor Eddie Marsan (Happy Go Lucky, Vera Drake, Gangs of New York, 21 Grams) revealed that he served an apprenticeship in the printing industry. It seems the experience inspired him to take up acting. Does anyone happen to know where he worked? According to his internet profile he was born and raised in Bethnal Green, London.
Yours curiously, A Film Buff

A Absolutely no idea, but perhaps someone from print’s east London contingent, or indeed elsewhere, will have a clue. It seems the likely timeframe when Eddie had ink on his fingers would probably have been sometime in the early 1990s.

Q We recently bought a used Duplo DC-6000 collator and need a few spare parts for it. However, Duplo’s UK spare parts department said that a lot of the parts had been discontinued. Does anyone else stock Duplo spare parts?
Martin Benson, via the Help Line forum at printweek.com

A I must thank ‘Boris the Fox’ and ‘Bill Cheesman’ for stepping in on the forum with some answers to this one. Suggestions included getting your engineer to source the parts, checking out the availability of suitable secondhand kit that could be cannibalised, as well as checking with Duplo about cross-compatible parts that may be available. Bill also recommended Duplo’s Mike Price as a particularly helpful contact (01372 478279 www.duplouk.com).

Mac’s back #2
A follow-up to a Help Line request from last month (16 April), regarding supplies of secondhand Apple Macintosh computers. David Boswell of Boswell Printers in Ipswich suggests the aptly-named ScrumpyMacs (01473 680100 www.scrumpymacs.net), also of Ipswich, and says he has found them to be very helpful. Many thanks for the pointer.

Swatch watch #2
Belated thanks to Eleanor Lockhart at Academy Digital Colour in Belfast, who kindly sent me a copy of the company’s useful four-colour chart book following Leonie Witten’s request for sources of such an item back in March. The wire-bound book is easy-to-use and contains more than 100pp of tint variations, along with useful advice about selecting and referencing colours. It costs £69 plus £3.50 P&P. Details at www.academy-digital-colour.com.