Peter Cook

Some years ago I learned that my wife’s mother, who’s maiden name was Neve, had a cousin called Rupert. I met him 10 years ago at Bredon when he was in the UK celebrating his 80th birthday and yes – he is the one we have all heard of. Living in Wimberley Texas he is still building analogue audio equipment.

What is also fascinating is that, in conversation with my wife’s 94 year old uncle, I learned that when he worked for EMI / Marconi, one of his close colleagues was Adam Blumlein. Many people will be familiar with some of Blumlein’s electronic inventions even if you don’t know his name: stereo sound and black level clamps to name but two inventions.

I found https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Blumlein an interesting read. “The Walking and Talking Film” and “Trains At Hayes Station” are worth searching for,  especially for sound chaps and railway enthusiasts.

The uncle in question designed the first radio altimeter used by the RAF, a prototype of which he personally tested in a Wellington over Chesil beach where the bouncing bomb was trialled. Had the dam busters raid not been brought forward by some weeks, the production version altimeter (still being manufactured) would most likely have been used for the raid, although Barnes Wallace was not apparently fond of electronics. Uncle Dennis also designed a satellite transmitter and dish which was portable in pieces. The limiting weight factor was a small generator which restricted power RF output. The kit was first used operationally by Sandy Gall in Afghanistan (the Russian conflict). In the London ITN news gallery everyone refused to believe that it would work, but Dennis’s calculations reflecting its low power output accurately predicted a transmission window which started about 1 minute before the agreed time slot and ended about 30 seconds after the slot.