I am not an Inventor, but I have a theory....

I’ve never seen my theory as the subject of an official study, never the findings of a University research
programme, or even the widely held belief of
government officials...But I believe it to be true anyway.

I can trace it back to my early memories way back in time to when I was a young child. When my paternal Grandfather used to pick me up in his 3 wheeled Bubble Car (the finest German engineering of the day) and take me back to his home. Where my Grandmother would have prepared a royal spread, of the finest best red salmon and cucumber triangular shaped sandwiches with the crusts cut off, with jelly and ice-cream and the obligatory slices of bread and
butter, for afters.

Not being particularly partial to this ‘posh’ spread, my Grandfather would disappear into his garden shed and await the call when I needed
chauffeuring back home.

Irrespective of the fact this was my big opportunity to sit and watch a
television for an hour or two, the lure of the garden shed and to see what went on within was too great and much to my Grandfather’s frustration I would have to follow him.

The inner sanctum was an Aladdin’s cave of tools and gadgets. The
walls were festooned with screwdrivers, hammers, g-clamps, spanners and files of every imaginable size. Whilst on his work-bench was an
incandescent light bulb fixed to a huge magnifying glass with chips all
around it’s rim, clamped to a stand, that later in life I recognised as the type to be found in a school chemistry laboratory.

Piled on the bench were small drawer units, full of watch parts, little cogs, valves, transistors, coils, wires of various colours and to my amusement some things called ‘Cat’s Whiskers’ on which he could listen to
Billy Cotton’s Band Show, Around the Horne and The Navy Lark, amazing!

Of course I couldn’t touch or even go too close, I could smell the heat from the soldering iron sat in its cradle and see the flux trickling down onto the bench, making the ancient greasy stain ever bigger.

But there at the end of the bench was the star object, a cross between a large mantle clock and a small steam engine and if I stood quietly for ten minutes, or that’s what my Granddad said, I could hear the slow tick
suddenly turn to a bubbling then hissing sound, which eventually turned to a rumble and a spurt of water from one side of the machine to the other. With a deft flick of a little brass tap, a big white mug started filling with a steaming brown liquid. My Granddads hourly cup of tea!
WOW, a Tea-maker!

It was much later in life when I was bought a ‘Goblin Teasmaid’ as a
wedding present that I mused over the fact that I could have been an heir to a Teasmaid fortune had my Grandfather ever patented his little
comfort gadget. I wondered how many other technological gems never emerge from the garden shed.

Which finally, in a roundabout way brings me to the crux of my theory......?
It is my fervent belief, that EVERYONE has had an idea to improve upon an existing product or to invent in their own mind something that would do a job to make their lives’ easier.

Everyone knows someone that has had a great idea, but done nothing about it.


I believe it’s in our make-up, it’s what makes us human – My theory is ‘We are ALL INVENTORS’.