Well known/famous things, buildings or places you have been associated with.

[swee'pea99]

I gained a certain cachet hereabouts a year or two back by revealing that my dad wrote:

"Long grain rice all the way from America,
Red peppers, green peppers, juicy green beans
Carrots and peas and a pinch of seasoning
Batchelors Savoury Rice."

 

[RedRider]

You get the idea.......anything we may be interested in that you were DEFINITELY involved in.

Well into retirement now I was mulling over jobs/things that I have been associated with that people see/look at every day. Got me wondering what famous landmark buildings/items etc. other CCs have been involved with.
For me.....3 things just out.

1) 1962 I was office boy to the directors of the Royal Liver Building. I had free access to all of the top floors. I was able to roam all the attic spaces that no-one else was allowed access to.
I even stood on the roof, next to the bells when the clocks chimed. I served tea/coffee to them in the board room........women were NOT allowed past the BIG doors.

.

My grandad worked in the boiler room of the Liver Building. I have an early memory, must have been around 1973 or 4 because he died not long after, of him taking me to his work and I'm lifted up and peering into a port hole-shaped window at the furnace thinking this must be the best job ever.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Is this you?

I have never been as good looking as him.

 

[slowmotion]

My partner and I sealed ourselves inside the Imperial War Museum's archive at Duxford for a day. We were measuring the air change rate using a gas chromatograph with an electron capture detector. There were some fascinating captured technical documents about WW2 German armaments we could browse at will as the gizmo did its thing.

 

[Dave 123]

I gained a certain cachet hereabouts a year or two back by revealing that my dad wrote:

"Long grain rice all the way from America,
Red peppers, green peppers, juicy green beans
Carrots and peas and a pinch of seasoning
Batchelors Savoury Rice."

That's more sachet than cachet....

 

[postman]

I trod the boards of the Leeds Grand Theatre.Don't be too impressed i was a part time painter and decorator there.

 

[Dirk]

I did the final road testing of the Watsonian Oxford sidecar before Mr Watson signed it off for production in the early 1980s.
Had it for a month attached to a Honda 1100 Golding, with the instruction to "break it". I did my best, but it held together.
The final test was to take a very elderly Mr Watson for a 50 mile ride around the Cotswolds.
He seemed happy with it and gave it the thumbs up for production.

Stock image - not the prototype.

 

[TVC]

Only one patent?

Yes, sorry, a clear under achiever.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

I was the last member of the public ever to travel on a 'Glasgow Blue Train', AKA a class 303.

I have been part of various medical trials and studies, so I will have helped medical science in my own small way over the years.

I was brought up in the same town where The Cutty Sark was built (about 100 years before mind), not to mention other famous ships.


There will be other things I have forgotten about.

 

[raleighnut]

I gave a photograph I'd taken to a guy called Jackie Leven, a couple of years later he used it as 'artwork' on an album of his and credited it to me on the 'sleeve notes'.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

I posted this elsewhere and then realised....:

we went up the ArcelorMittal Orbit, must say fantastic view from the top and the family enjoyed the slide down, first time I've been in that part of london, very nice and some interesting food places at the Westfield food court....

I remember when the Westfield Centre/'lympic park/Stratford International was the site of a railway depot. Seriously, that place has changed out of all recognition, I couldn't beleive it the first time I saw it!


The last time I was ever at Stratford TMD must have been in the early '00s* when it had all but closed, and we found a shed full of locos, incuding stored/withdrawn class 58s, which to a Scottish enthusiast were pretty exotic at the time (still are in fact).

The place was deserted, so I was able to examine the '58s 'properly', which made it all the more memorable. I only wish I had taken more pictures.....


* - It says it closed in 1997, clearly as a full depot, but it was still used as a stabling point and/or for the storage of locos for several years after.

 

[nickyboy]

You know those ubiquitous orange concrete mixers that every jobbing builder has?

Components like the motor, switches, bearings, wheels, gears ....I sourced; found the suppliers, negotiated the contracts, managed the supply etc

 

[summerdays]

My parents were involved at the beginning of the Chiltern Open Air Museum. I remember helping to plant a tree to mark the occasion, and I often wonder how big it is now. I've not been there in 20 years or more I must make the effort to visit it. I remember many a weekend spent there. The main buildings I remember going up were the barn and the Iron Age fort.

 

[Beebo]

I consider myself top trumped

Shaun

Back in the 1970's i developed a childrens card game called top trumps, i sold the rights worldwide and made millions.
So consider yourself double top trumped.

Some or all of the above could be made up.

 

[nickyboy]

Absolutely nothing. Although my name is on the patent as sole inventor, the rights belong to the company.

It's interesting that the law is far from black and white on this matter. Whilst employees often have a clause in their contract that says any "inventions" belong to the company, it can depend on circumstances.

Whilst the US law is almost certainly different, here is an interesting example. I went on a boat tour of fabulous multi-million dollar dockside mansions somewhere in Florida. One of the biggest was owned by a guy who used to work for General Motors. He worked on the shop floor and came up with an idea regarding the air con system. Result was a massive legal fight for the rights. He won and got a royalty of a couple of dollars per unit. GM installed about 30 million