Turned out to be a very strange wear pattern to the offside rear tyre. More than a flat spot, there were undulations on the surface of the tyre. So that's that noise solved I reckon.
Also surprised at wear on the front tyres. The tyre fitter I had asked to put the 2 new tyres on the rear of the car last year, who told me that was the wrong thing to do in their opinion obviously ignored my wishes, and fitted them on the front. So two new Goodyear F1s GSD3s, manufactured in June 2013, now with 5K on them, are at 4-2-4mm and 4-3-4mm. Weird thing is I tend to run them a little under inflated, not over.
So given I need 4 new tyres I can chose something other than F1..