The Early Years
Ancient Beehive Coke Ovens
My future career was sealed in 1938, the year my parents married. Father was a manager at the Redcar Works of Dorman Long and Company. Mother’s brother was Chief Engineer of the same company. My paternal ancestors had for some generations been involved in one or the other processes involved in the production of iron and steel. For the unborn child, there was no alternative. Unaware of my destiny, I arrived in June 1941–not in the industrial northeast of England, but in the relatively safer midlands, away from the intensive efforts of the Luftwaffe to damage the major manufacturing, chemical and basic industrial facilities that lined the banks of the River Tees in Yorkshire and County Durham. Mother went to her home in Leicester for my arrival leaving father to his fate in the north east.
I recall not a lot about the war, but I do remember being bundled up on at least one clear cold night and rushed to the air raid shelter with which every house was equipped. I remember another occasion when we didn’t make it to the shelter and were trapped in the house during a raid. Fortunately we did not sustain any damage, but father related some horrible events following the arrival of various bombs on the iron and steel works.
I recall not a lot about the war, but I do remember being bundled up on at least one clear cold night and rushed to the air raid shelter with which every house was equipped. I remember another occasion when we didn’t make it to the shelter and were trapped in the house during a raid. Fortunately we did not sustain any damage, but father related some horrible events following the arrival of various bombs on the iron and steel works.
From Yorkshire to Glamorgan
547 Marton Road Middlesborough
Maybe a hundred yards or so from our house at 547 Marton Road, Middlesbrough our defense forces had cast some huge, or so it seemed to a small boy of four, concrete cubes across the road, spaced sufficiently far apart to allow buses and cars to pass through, but not German tanks. In later years I wondered why it was felt that, encountering such an obstacle, the Germans would not drive off the road, round the barrier and continue their terror. Our house was among those designated to become a machine gun post for urban warfare after the Germans landed. With some good luck the Germans never landed, never were faced with our tank trap and we didn’t have our house blown up.
After the war a huge new integrated steel plant was to be built in Port Talbot, on the banks of the Severn Estuary between Cardiff and Swansea in South Wales. The essential technology, to say nothing of the financing had to come from America. Father was selected to become one of the key production managers at the plant and in the early post war years spent a considerable amount of time in Pittsburgh at the plant builders and at Inland Steel, Indiana Harbor near Chicago training on the closest reference equipment to what would be installed in Port Talbot.
After the war a huge new integrated steel plant was to be built in Port Talbot, on the banks of the Severn Estuary between Cardiff and Swansea in South Wales. The essential technology, to say nothing of the financing had to come from America. Father was selected to become one of the key production managers at the plant and in the early post war years spent a considerable amount of time in Pittsburgh at the plant builders and at Inland Steel, Indiana Harbor near Chicago training on the closest reference equipment to what would be installed in Port Talbot.
Four and a half miles of Steel Company of Wales, Port Talbot
During the installation and commissioning phases many American engineers and operators resided in South Wales near the new steel plant and I was fascinated by the way they talked and gained my youthful impression of their vast knowledge and experience. And so it was that I became an Americophile at the tender age of about ten. Expansion of the steel plant continued for several years, into my teens and my brother and I were often taken with our parents for dinner at the Seabank Hotel in Porthcawl with the visitors from America. I was introduced to the idea that Canada was not the USA when I asked a gentleman from Hamilton, Ontario, which part of the US he came from. He was quite insulted, but it took years before I could discern the difference between accents; in future, I was careful not to make assumptions. Little did I realize that several years into the future I would live and work near to Hamilton and there meet my lifelong partner.
The Educational Years
Cheltenham Junior School
In those early years after the war as the country struggled to rebuild itself, the schooling opportunities in Bridgend, some 12 miles or so from Port Talbot were limited and with an emphasis on mastering the Welsh language. Not so many of the ex-pats from England felt that Welsh, melodious as it may be, was the language of the future; the parents of many Welsh born children felt the same and at the age of eight, a host of us boarded the Fishguard to Paddington train with our regulation trunks filled with the mandatory school uniforms and off we went for 13 weeks at a stretch.
I am sure that it never dawned on many of us until our 20’s what sacrifices had been made for us to attend first class public schools. Cheltenham College Junior School was great for five years followed by another five years as a resident of Christowe House at the College itself. Many of the Welsh boys descended on Christowe and our housemaster, Charles Henry Boutflower was proud of his boys’ ability to excel at most if not all the sporting activities offered by College.
I am sure that it never dawned on many of us until our 20’s what sacrifices had been made for us to attend first class public schools. Cheltenham College Junior School was great for five years followed by another five years as a resident of Christowe House at the College itself. Many of the Welsh boys descended on Christowe and our housemaster, Charles Henry Boutflower was proud of his boys’ ability to excel at most if not all the sporting activities offered by College.
Christowe, home of the Boyceites
CH Boutflower with one of his winning rugby fifteens–note lad with the big hair...*
CHB was a great man, although at times somewhat difficult to love, but neither were we; he controlled 90 boys, many of whom were quite strong willed. In those days, it was clearly understood by all that a serious infraction of the rules would result in a beating with a nice flexible garden cane. I was a regular infractor and was suitably beaten for my efforts. I was not offended. I was not damaged mentally or physically. I did not consider I had been abused. I did not think CHB was a paedophile. I did not think the discipline harsh. I do think a good thrashing of strong willed or rebellious children is an excellent way for them to understand, in non-Newtonian terms that for every action there will be a corresponding reaction. Beating a child or teenager is not child abuse. We have lost an essential component in allowing today's generation to acquire self-discipline.
Despite my upward passage through the teenage years and an attitude, which resulted in my being considered a “bolshie bastard” by some of the prefects, I rose to the rank of House Prefect and, in my final years, to the level of College Prefect. Receiving discipline was something I handled well. Determining and meting out discipline was neither something I enjoyed nor at which I was good. I did not then or at the end of my business career enjoy authority, although certainly I was glad to have ascended to those high levels.
*Click on photo to see career details of the team
Despite my upward passage through the teenage years and an attitude, which resulted in my being considered a “bolshie bastard” by some of the prefects, I rose to the rank of House Prefect and, in my final years, to the level of College Prefect. Receiving discipline was something I handled well. Determining and meting out discipline was neither something I enjoyed nor at which I was good. I did not then or at the end of my business career enjoy authority, although certainly I was glad to have ascended to those high levels.
*Click on photo to see career details of the team
Student Apprenticeship
Launching the heat exchanger
One’s exploits at school can fill a book, but that’s another story. Academically, I did pretty well at College and after passing all required exams with flying colors and minimal difficulty, I reached that conclusion that I was pretty smart. In fact this was not the case. During my interviews with the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Sheffield it was determined that I would be accepted but only after a year working as a student apprentice in industry–to ‘knock off some of those Public School corners’.
Thus I started at Head Wrightson on Teesside in the Autumn of 1959 and learned engineering drawing and all the processes from pattern making, molding, steelmaking, casting, fettling, testing machining and assembly that are involved in the production of the machinery used to produce and process steel.
In the foundry I learned, but never retained, the amazing combinations of obscenities that the foundrymen had perfected over the years. I stayed at a youth hostel on the Stockton side of the River Tees and took a rickety old boat rowed across the river to the Thornaby side every morning and back in the evening. I clambered down through the exceptionally small entrance of a 220 ft long heat exchanger that was being fabricated for a nuclear power station to observe the process of descaling the welds prior to gamma ray inspection. I risked my manhood learning about the process of inspecting castings using Cobalt 60. I was allowed to work with the operator of a large milling machine, but prudently never allowed to operate it. I discovered the meaning of the term ‘piece work’ and how the shop estimators established the time to be allocated to the machinist for a particular operation. I learned the process for tracking parts through the manufacturing processes and the way they were routed from one operation to the next with intermediate inspections. I learned a lot which was to be essential for most of my later career assignments.
Thus I started at Head Wrightson on Teesside in the Autumn of 1959 and learned engineering drawing and all the processes from pattern making, molding, steelmaking, casting, fettling, testing machining and assembly that are involved in the production of the machinery used to produce and process steel.
In the foundry I learned, but never retained, the amazing combinations of obscenities that the foundrymen had perfected over the years. I stayed at a youth hostel on the Stockton side of the River Tees and took a rickety old boat rowed across the river to the Thornaby side every morning and back in the evening. I clambered down through the exceptionally small entrance of a 220 ft long heat exchanger that was being fabricated for a nuclear power station to observe the process of descaling the welds prior to gamma ray inspection. I risked my manhood learning about the process of inspecting castings using Cobalt 60. I was allowed to work with the operator of a large milling machine, but prudently never allowed to operate it. I discovered the meaning of the term ‘piece work’ and how the shop estimators established the time to be allocated to the machinist for a particular operation. I learned the process for tracking parts through the manufacturing processes and the way they were routed from one operation to the next with intermediate inspections. I learned a lot which was to be essential for most of my later career assignments.
University Of Sheffield, Faculty of Engineering
The Faculty of Engineering, University of Sheffield
It was a good, productive year from the Fall of 1959 to September 1960 when I arrived at the Crewe Hall of Residence at the University of Sheffield.
The first few weeks at University were fine and unchallenging because they were repetitious of the studies at Cheltenham College. I was able to exempt myself from studying Chemistry and Physics again and, my training in Engineering Drawing got me exempted from having to study that. That was the easy bit. Having exempted myself from all this basic stuff I moved quickly into the second year syllabus and there I discovered that as great as I thought my brain was, it scarcely compared with the fellows who had gone to Grammar Schools. From that moment on until graduation, the theoretical side Mechanical Engineering was not something that I liked at all.
It is now just over 50 years ago since I graduated, in June 1963, from the University of Sheffield with my distinctly non First Class degree in Mechanical Engineering. For years thereafter I awoke from nightmares convinced that the 'morrow held a critical exam in Thermodynamics, which was foremost among the topics that had terrified me at Sheffield. But I passed despite this terror. I recall that, for my final exam in Metallurgy, I was obliged to write an essay on botanical-type trees to fill the remaining time; this was due to my absolute inability to understand what Metallurgy was all about; but, I passed anyway.
There was one more subject, which was totally incomprehensible and was delivered by a lecturer named Dugdale, who was totally devoid of any interpersonal skills; after soundless greetings to the class, he turned his back and wrote on the board for several minutes in some cuneiform script, which he alleged was a differential equation; he observed that this equation would certainly be the solution to the knotty problem of an unspecified but plastic material being extruded for unspecified purposes through an orifice of indeterminate shape; being assured of the class's full attention to the problem which had clearly been of major concern to all present, he spent the balance of the period, back turned to the students, solving the equation to his complete satisfaction and then left. Fortunately, it was possible to scrape by the final year without an examination in whatever subject it was that Dugdale lectured, so I skipped the exam and still graduated.
The first few weeks at University were fine and unchallenging because they were repetitious of the studies at Cheltenham College. I was able to exempt myself from studying Chemistry and Physics again and, my training in Engineering Drawing got me exempted from having to study that. That was the easy bit. Having exempted myself from all this basic stuff I moved quickly into the second year syllabus and there I discovered that as great as I thought my brain was, it scarcely compared with the fellows who had gone to Grammar Schools. From that moment on until graduation, the theoretical side Mechanical Engineering was not something that I liked at all.
It is now just over 50 years ago since I graduated, in June 1963, from the University of Sheffield with my distinctly non First Class degree in Mechanical Engineering. For years thereafter I awoke from nightmares convinced that the 'morrow held a critical exam in Thermodynamics, which was foremost among the topics that had terrified me at Sheffield. But I passed despite this terror. I recall that, for my final exam in Metallurgy, I was obliged to write an essay on botanical-type trees to fill the remaining time; this was due to my absolute inability to understand what Metallurgy was all about; but, I passed anyway.
There was one more subject, which was totally incomprehensible and was delivered by a lecturer named Dugdale, who was totally devoid of any interpersonal skills; after soundless greetings to the class, he turned his back and wrote on the board for several minutes in some cuneiform script, which he alleged was a differential equation; he observed that this equation would certainly be the solution to the knotty problem of an unspecified but plastic material being extruded for unspecified purposes through an orifice of indeterminate shape; being assured of the class's full attention to the problem which had clearly been of major concern to all present, he spent the balance of the period, back turned to the students, solving the equation to his complete satisfaction and then left. Fortunately, it was possible to scrape by the final year without an examination in whatever subject it was that Dugdale lectured, so I skipped the exam and still graduated.
An Engineer is Graduated and Begins to Work
I am convinced that the Senior Lecturer in Mechanical had been threatened, probably by his son Bruce, that if I failed to graduate, his father should be aware of serious consequences to his future well being. I had been obliged to accept residency in the Senior Lecturer's home to acquire extra tutoring and Bruce did not care for my presence at all.
Thus I did graduate. My certificate was handed to me by The Right Honorable R.A. Butler, etc., Chancellor of the University and former Chancellor of the Exchequer. At that time I was unaware that Lord Butler was an alumnus of Bedford Modern Grammar School from which my maternal grandfather had graduated at the turn of the century.
Thus I did graduate. My certificate was handed to me by The Right Honorable R.A. Butler, etc., Chancellor of the University and former Chancellor of the Exchequer. At that time I was unaware that Lord Butler was an alumnus of Bedford Modern Grammar School from which my maternal grandfather had graduated at the turn of the century.
The Graduate
After a week or so to recover from the mental strain of obtaining a degree in Mechanical Engineering, I rejoined the Head Wrightson Machine Company Limited at their Commercial Street, Middlesborough offices. As a result of my impressive qualifications I was employed as a detail draughtsman; I enjoyed my work located at a drawing board next to a chap called Steve Roberts. My first assignment was to make detail drawings of something called a Kaufman Sheet Classifier. This seemed to be a pretty complicated thing, but with my high education and amazing draughting skills, I was able to get my drawings approved, without much correction, by the Engineering Department hierarchy, Messrs. T.A. "Taddy" Dodds, Alf Milner and Chief Engineer Jim Black.
As a result of my impressive skills, I was quickly moved to the Design Department, which actually did require some mechanical engineering skills. I enjoyed the work there designing large plate levellers and interacting with some fellows, who would precede or follow me across the Atlantic in years to come.
Even though I don't remember exactly when I found out, someone at some point, maybe it was Steve, told me that my great skills as a draughtsman and designer were only in my imagination as, if I cared to check, not one of my drawings was ever released for manufacture as they were, to put it gently, devoid of rectitude and filed in the archival garbage can…
As a result of my impressive skills, I was quickly moved to the Design Department, which actually did require some mechanical engineering skills. I enjoyed the work there designing large plate levellers and interacting with some fellows, who would precede or follow me across the Atlantic in years to come.
Even though I don't remember exactly when I found out, someone at some point, maybe it was Steve, told me that my great skills as a draughtsman and designer were only in my imagination as, if I cared to check, not one of my drawings was ever released for manufacture as they were, to put it gently, devoid of rectitude and filed in the archival garbage can…