Brian Culshaw graduated from University College London with a BSc in Physics and thereafter a PhD in Electronic and Electrical Engineering, specialising in microwave semiconductors, completed in 1969. He spent 1970 in the US as a post-doc at Cornell, joining the staff of the then Bell Northern Research immediately afterwards and evolving into microwave system design, especially for long haul transmission. He returned to UCL as a post doc after three years in Ottawa joining the academic staff at UCL in 1975 thereafter developing an interest in fibre optics for sensing and measurement. With many co-workers, he produced some basic results in the use of phase modulation in sensors and the interferometric architectures to demodulate them. A sabbatical year with John Shaw at Stanford in 1982 gave an opportunity to contribute to basic research in fibre gyros.