I was born in 1941 in Nottingham, England. The first thing I can say is that life today is vastly different. It’s not just technology, science, medicine, though they have changed significantly, but customs, culture, society itself, so I’ll deal with this by subject area. Daily Life Back in the ’40s, my dad walked about three miles to work and back again each day. Like many men, he worked in a factory. … Read more
This is a tragic tale however you look at it. In 1966 I moved to Burnham in Buckinghamshire to work as a software engineer for Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. I lodged with a couple called Grace and Eddie. They treated me as their son. My immediate predecessor, a PhD graduate, suffered a nervous breakdown. I like to think my more stable personality was a pleasant change for them. However, another predecessor is the subject … Read more
Now, I’m not going to pretend that Bill and I are best mates or just friends or even that he vaguely remembers me, but we have met and shaken hands and conversed. This was back in 1983/4, so that probably explains it. Besides, he’s a very busy man, as I would be if I were building a huge global business. The encounter occurred one evening in Sydney at a computer exhibition. I … Read more