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Clock This: My Life as an Inventor (Paperback)

by Trevor Baylis (Author)
4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 272 pages
  • Publisher: Headline Book Publishing, London; Numbered First Edition edition (2 Sep 1999)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0747273812
  • ISBN-13: 978-0747273813
  • Product Dimensions: 24.8 x 16.5 x 3.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 238,440 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

In Clock This, Trevor Baylis takes the reader on a jaunt through the mind of an inventor who, inspired by a television documentary about HIV and AIDS in Africa, immediately took to his workshop and set to work on a radio that would work without electricity or batteries. His now world-famous invention sells at a rate of 120,000 a month. No mean feat for a man who described his early educational abilities as "best suited to some form of early retirement."

However, after a childhood set against the backdrop of war-torn London--a veritable playground for Baylis and his buddies--and a life as an affluent teenager with 4 pounds per week, an apprenticeship with a soil engineering firm and one day a week day-release to study for a certificate in engineering, Baylis quickly found his feet in the real world.

But there is much more to him than an engineering prodigy who struck lucky. Indeed, his life has to date been well and truly less ordinary. A world-class swimmer who narrowly missed qualifying for the Olympics, and who then, incredibly, found his fins by demonstrating swimming pools and later by flirting with the circus, Baylis' sense of showmanship has certainly stood him in good stead for the later developments in his life that have brought him much publicity, an OBE, visiting professorships at numerous universities and a trip down memory lane as the victim of This is Your Life.

Clock This is the autobiography of a man whose infectious enthusiasm, dedication and humour have shone through every aspect of his life, and it certainly makes for an entertaining read. But through the effervescence of his writing Baylis also inspires, and indeed almost dares, the reader to sit down, think and create for themselves. He reckons that: "As long as you've got slightly more perception than the average wrapped loaf, you could invent something." So, what's stopping you? --Susan Harrison



Product Description

The story of Trevor Baylis, the man who invented the clockwork radio. Baylis's success as an inventor has won him an OBE, the Presidential Gold and Silver medals from the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, and numerous visiting professorships at British universities.

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Customer Reviews

4 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.8 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Marvellous!, 20 Jul 2001
By William Podmore (London United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Clock This: My Life as an Inventor (Paperback)
This is the fascinating autobiography of the inventor of many good things, including the clockwork radio. The book is enriched with a stream of anecdotes, humorous, lively and quirky, like the man himself.

Trevor has joined Britain's long line of outstanding inventors, such as John Harrison, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Michael Faraday, Frank Whittle, Christopher Cockerell, Tim Berner-Lee and James Dyson. (If you don't know what each one invented, you should look them up!) As Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry noted, over half the successful inventions since 1945 originated in Britain, only a fifth in the USA, and a twentieth in Japan.

But who benefits from them? Apparently, 56% of all Japan's exports since 1945 are based on British inventions. We invented, for example, the television and the high-performance motorcycle, but do not now make them. Every month, 120,000 clockwork radios are bought, but they are made in South Africa, after many British firms rejected the idea.

Trevor advocates creating an Academy of Invention, "to ensure that ideas conceived in Britain are developed here, to generate jobs and exports that would benefit our economy." He proposes that inventors should have the same automatic rights to copyright that songwriters and authors have.

He also argues that we should give pupils a stronger grounding in craft, design and technology (CDT) and that we should enrich CDT teaching with 'invention studies'. He writes, "Such a course would examine the rise of Britain as a great trading and manufacturing power. It would teach students basic woodwork, metalwork, engineering and design skills; look at the history of such historically important devices as the clock, the steam engine, the internal combustion engine, and require students to try their hands at making them. It would also outline the basics of taking a good idea, and proceeding with it to prototype, patent, and manufacture."

This is a truly marvellous book; everyone concerned with education or science or industry should read it.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars For those who like to tinker in sheds!, 17 Sep 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: Clock This: My Life as an Inventor (Paperback)
Trevor's wit (as seen on TV) comes across perfectly in this riveting read, taking us from his earliest childhood memories of the war, through Meccano and on to the life and times of a swimming pool salesman-come-stuntman! Every page reveals something different and culminates in the true story of the clockwork radio. Not a wind up, a mechanical masterpiece!
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A touching yet comic tour de force., 8 Sep 1999
By A Customer
An inspiring book for would be inventors who think they could be the next Thomas Alva Edison. Baylis traces an eventful life from childhood during the London Blitz to his hilarious adventures as an underwater stunt man. He recounts in detail the pit falls awaiting the tyro inventor and explains how he invented his clock work radio after watching a TV programme on the spread of the AIDS epidemic.

Baylis is not only a brilliant inventor he also proves himself here to be a clever and witty writer. This is a book that demands to be read at one sitting and should be on the Christmas list for everyone's favourite relative.

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5.0 out of 5 stars From Adversity to Success
I've met Trevor on many occasions as he & my Father were friends at School with almost the same Surnames & after nearly 50 years aoart through a chance phone call there... Read more
Published on 4 Oct 2007 by Mr. S. C. Bailey

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