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'It's like panning for gold'

Angela Kelly
22/10/2008

IT WOULD be impossible to invent a man like Trevor Baylis – as Manchester is about to discover.

Arguably England’s most famous modern inventor, at 71 he shows no signs of slowing down, or of backing off from his one-man campaign to encourage new scientific ideas.

Trevor is best known for creating the wind-up radio, which he invented in response to the need to communicate information about AIDS to the people of Africa.

An inspirational communicator, he should offer an entertaining afternoon on Monday, October 27 when he hosts a session at the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry as part of the city’s Science Festival.

Talking to him is a bit like his wind-up radio.

He cranks up the information, sets off at a cracking pace and then it’s full speed ahead into the state of British invention, the need for patenting ideas and the short-sightedness of UK plc when it comes to protecting home-grown projects.

He grew up in Middlesex: "I couldn’t read or write but I could create wonderful things with a Meccano set," he explains.

A talented swimmer, he narrowly failed to qualify for the Olympic team but started his National Service as a physical training instructor. Afterwards, he worked for swimming pool companies, then became a stuntman.

It was in this latter role, with friends whose injuries had ended performing careers, that he came to appreciate the physical limitations of disabled people.

"You’re never more than a banana skin away from disability," he warns.

As a result, he developed a range of products for the disabled called Orange Aids.

In 1989, he saw a TV programme about the spread of AIDS in Africa and, before the programme had finished, he was in his workshop creating the wind-up radio. This innovative device stores energy in a spring, which drives the electrical generator that operates its radio receiver.

Unable to get this marketed, he was featured in the BBC TV programme Tomorrow’s World and, with money from investors, formed a company to develop the product.

More TV exposure about his work let the nation know that here was someone special – a true British eccentric inventor with principles, determined to help others.

An OBE and many honorary degrees and doctorates later, he not only set up his own company – Trevor Baylis Brands plc – to help and protect inventors but is still inspiring others with his enthusiasm.

So, are there still plenty of inventors and potentially viable inventions around to help?

"Oh, definitely yes," he insists with natural enthusiasm and the easy confidence born of a thousand interviews.

"We’ve helped around 5,000 inventors so far – they come to me, four or five a day. It’s like panning for gold.

"Every now and then you get a real nugget in your tray.

"The main problem is actually protecting your idea by patent, which is not easy and takes a while. But I think that the theft of intellectual property should be a white-collar crime."

Trevor firmly believes that this country has done itself a real disservice by failing to recognise or support various inventions over the years.

"Look at Frank Whittle," he says. "If he had been encouraged and helped with his plans for a jet engine in 1930 when he was a young man then our pilots could have been flying jets instead of Spitfires and Lancasters and it would have been World War One and a Half."

He would love to see children being taught invention at GCSE level – "better than my one GCSE in football, and that was only because I used my coat as a goalpost" – and a BA in Invention as soon as individuals filed the patent of a viable invention.

This could move up to a Masters after four or five years, and then a doctorate when it went into production.

"Inventing is not about money, though," he states with the same galloping enthusiasm. "It’s about fun. You can only wear so many suits and have so many cars.

"Now, have I told you about my latest idea? It’s a walking stick with a torch in the handle, the stem has flashing lights and there’s a hooter…"

For more information about Manchester Science Festival events go to www.manchestersciencefestival.com