Before it even started …

My first encounter with creative genius was my brother. He was 3 yrs younger than me. And, said the psychologist, at age 3 and a 1/2 had the mind of a six yr old. His talent was music so my parents bought him a ukelele. He played this with gusto. But as he grew he also loved to act, write, compose and direct plays.

Then there was Belinda Medlin, in Highschool. She was a Maths genius at the age of 13. Her reputation had preceded her, and the whole school was murmuring about her arrival. No teacher wanted her in their class, afraid that she would show them up, or worse talk about something they didn’t understand. I don’t know for sure, but I think her father was a Maths Professor, and that Belinda went on to study medicine. But don’t quote me on any of that!

When I studied Zoology at University we had two genius in our class. One was a Rhodes Scholar. The other was John Read. I think it was my greatest achievement in life when at the end of second year Zoology the academic results were posted on the board. There were 3 Distinctions. Mr Rhodes Scholar came first, then my best friend Rebecca Brown, and then there was ME! My first and last brush with brilliance.

I was friends with John Read because he was so energetic. He was part of our group, and a little younger than us. He had won an academic scholarship. We ran the Biology Society and went camping with the Herpetologists. John went straight from Uni to work as an Environmental Scientist at Olympic Dam. He is still there nearly 30 years later and has written many books on his adventures with the desert wildlife.

And then in 1986, I met Ross Williams and Simon Hackett. And unbeknown to me, that would be the beginning of Big Blue Chips.