But having had your bright, fresh, original idea, the really hard part is turning it into a successful product. That's what takes all the sweat.

Visionaries and dreamers have always been dusted with a little oddity.

The notion that inventors are anorak-wearing crackpots with glasses held together with Sellotape is beguiling but wrong.

I was on automatic pilot; ideas for gadgets kept coming, fed by a force of energy flowing through me and around me.

The key to success is to risk thinking unconventional thoughts. Convention is the enemy of progress.

Invention isn't some impenetrable brand of magic; anyone can have a go.

A good idea turns every cog in your mind, making you scared of bed in case the whole machine grinds to a halt.