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He was not limited by convention or practice barriers, as he went about fixing that crunch point

John: Sanjaya Singhal

Technology came easily to him, electronics in particular. Invention too. I worked closely with John for many years, and had the chance to observe how he worked, which lent me a unique insight into the apparently undisciplined world of a genius.

From the experience of all the years of working with him, I started to develop a model of how John’s mind worked. It was on my flip-chart when Bob came into my office to ask me what I was doing. When I told him of my endeavour, Bob’s reaction was one of utter disbelief. Bob and I had discussed a succession plan for our ageing genius before, so he could see why I was doing it; Bob’s disbelief probably came from the fact that I had the temerity to even try! Rather than explain the doodles on my flip chart, I said to Bob that once I was ready, I would discuss it with him in detail.

A couple of days later I called Bob in to show him my model. It was now neatly on one sheet of A1 paper. It showed John’s uncanny ability to break down a problem to the single control point; fixing that meant the problem was solved. It went on to show how he was not limited by convention or practice barriers, as he went about fixing that crunch point. All of this was covered by the umbrella of John’s vast knowledge base of electronics (bigger than most people I have met), but this umbrella had holes – John’s blind spots. Covering the blind spots were tenacity and an insatiable curiosity. The curiosity inevitably eliminated the blind spot. The umbrella was anchored in common sense. Bob and I went over this diagram in some detail. We must have spent some three hours. It was now a bigger and more complete picture.

Covering the blind spots were tenacity and an insatiable curiosity

As we finished our session, Bob casually picked up the phone and called John. He told John that the two of us were coming to show him something, without telling him what it was. I was shocked. I had not intended this work to be shown to the man himself! Indeed I would be seriously embarrassed for John to know that I had attempted something like this. These arguments meant little to Bob, so off we went.

As we sat in John’s living room with cups of coffee and shortbread which Val had produced, Bob introduced the subject. John smiled, amused. With some fear, I pinned up the diagram and started to talk John through it. What came out of the following two hours was completely unexpected and extremely useful. While he agreed with a lot of what was already there on the chart, John himself contributed to improving the model. I need not have feared.

A few years later, when John too had passed away, I pasted the following poem on his memorial.

Somebody said it couldn’t be done, but he with a chuckle replied,

That maybe it couldn’t, but he would be one who wouldn’t say so till he tried.

So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin on his face; if he worried he hid it.

He started to sing as he tackled the thing that couldn’t be done, and he did it.

Somebody scoffed: “Oh you’ll never do that, at least no one has ever done it”.

And he took off his coat and he took off his hat, and the first we know he’d begun it.

With a lift of his chin and a bit of his grin, without any doubting or quiddit,

He started to sing as he tackled the thing that couldn’t be done, and he did it.

There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done there are thousands to prophesy failure,

There are thousands to point out to you, one by one, the dangers that are sure to assail you.

But just buckle in with a bit of a grin, then take off your coat and go to it.

Just start in to sing as you tackle the thing that “cannot be done”, and you’ll do it.

And this short rhyme represents only one part of the genius’s mind we had mapped together.