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There Is An Invention In All Of Us

We were joined recently in the Science Museum by renowned British inventor Trevor Bayliss, who was keen to visit the Make it in Great Britain exhibition.

We were joined recently in the Science Museum by renowned British inventor Trevor Bayliss OBE, who was keen to visit the Make it in Great Britain exhibition.

Inventing is Trevor’s life long passion, and after seeing a programme in 1991 about the spread of AIDS in Africa, he set about inventing a wind up radio. Three years later, his first working prototype ran for 14 minutes and it was featured on the BBC’s Tomorrow’s World programme. By 1996, the radio had been awarded the BBC Design Award for Best Product and Best Design, and in the same year, Trevor met both Her Majesty The Queen and Nelson Mandela.

Yet despite Trevor’s achievements, his view that “there is an invention in all of us” has not changed, and he dismisses the suggestion that to be an inventor you have to wear a white coat.

Jet Engine

As Trevor strolled around the exhibition he looked up at the Rolls Royce jet engine (pictured above), describing the legendary inventor Frank Whittle, as just “a young lad with a good idea”. Trevor explained that ideas do not have to be as complex as the jet engine or as ingenious as BEA’s unmanned aircraft, the demon, and that often it’s just down to luck, “you do not have to be a genius, often inventions are just pure chance.”

Before he left, Trevor told us that “art is pleasure, invention is treasure”, and we hope the exhibition has gone some way to showcase this belief by championing one the UK’s greatest assets, its manufacturing industry.

The Make it in Great Britain exhibition can be found on the first floor of the museum. The exhibition closes on Sunday 9th September.