Questions Asked Over Time

Where did all this come from?

I dreamt as a child and simply kept on going, though it wasn't until my late teens that I began to realise that I was dreaming in a way that others weren't. By then, however, in 1960's Liverpool I'd learned to keep my differences to myself and used them when it suited me. Its only recently I've begun to discuss it explicitly as something others can cultivate.

What do you do for a living?

I'm coming to the end of a career in aerospace engineering, its a world where considerable creativity is needed, and am looking forward to a new career encouraging others to use their imaginative and creative sides and benefit from the satisfaction and self-confidence that brings.

What do you enjoy about what you do?

Seeing people come alive for the first time.

What is creativity?

Your imagination made real, for others to enjoy.

What is imagination?

Pictures in your mind of things that exist nowhere else.

What is intuition?

Intuition is a considered response to a feeling (an instant response would be a reaction). The important difference here is that imagination comes into us from the outside in whilst intuition comes from inside us.

Are some born lucky in this respect?

I think we all have the potential for imagination and creativity, though what is creative and satisfying for one may not appeal to another. So long as we move into our teenage years aware that there is an area which touches our imagination and that we should seek to develop it more, then we're born lucky. We'll refine our tastes later when we become more aware of what the options are.

How did you find your voice?

There wasn't a clear route and in my teens it seemed like I was wandering aimlessly. But I was aware that dreaming was a strong point and that it needed balancing to avoid living in my dreams, so in those days I did whatever weekend jobs I could get. They all had a mechanical theme to them and studying Engineering seemed a natural step. In the world of Engineering, my dreaming developed into a useful ability to see an aircraft as a network of materials, processes, forces and people, interlinked and dependent on each other. That's a rare thing in the detailed world of engineering, and one that makes your ideas much more practical and likely to succeed.

Do you have any regrets?

When you look back like this its easy to see the order and why things went the way they did. Not quite a regret, but it took a long time to believe in myself, I'd have liked that to come earlier.

What's your creative achievement?

Over the years I've conceived and introduced about 70 new products. And if you multiply that by the number of planes they're on then that's over 50,000 flying parts. I get quite a buzz when one flies overhead.