Born into a typical middle-class family, I had an uneventful early childhood until my mother caught me disassembling the household electronics and building a ham radio set. Concerned that I was not like all the other kids, my worried mother took me to the doctor where I was diagnosed with "The Knack" - a rare condition characterised by an extreme intuition about all things mechanical and electrical, and utter social ineptitude. Unable to lead a normal life, I became an engineer...