I was born in Yorkshire, England. Over the years I've lived in various places in England and Wales. I'm now living in rural West Devon, not far from the beaches and Atlantic swell of North Cornwall. Large scale solar and wind "farms" are within easy cycling distance.My interest in cars began at an unusually early age. My Dad was a motor engineer who owned two Citroen Light 15s. Those Citroens were the world's first ever mass produced saloons that used front wheel drive. They were pretty ancient even in those dim and distant days, and my Dad was always swapping bits from one to the other so that at least one of them would always be running. He encouraged me to help him whenever I could.I wanted a car of my own of course, but I was far too young to drive a real car. As a teenager I took to building 1:32 scale electric powered model cars. We raced them very seriously, sometimes for 24 hours at a stretch. From time to time the "grown ups" would buy a complete car off me. More often I just got paid to rewind their motors to deliver the maximum possible power.I started programming computers in the late 1960s, while I was still at school. In those days there were no computers in schools, so we had to build our own. The main components were a large pile of Post Office surplus relays, and lots of wire. Programmes were entered via a set of switches on the front panel. It took about an hour to persuade it to add 2 and 2, but it was extremely satisfying when it eventually produced the correct answer!Specialties:Microprocessors in servers, in desktops and in black boxes.Assorted conglomerations of microprocessors and electricity distribution.Assorted conglomerations of microprocessors and road transport.Assorted conglomerations of microprocessors and high finance.