Born at a time when a computer could just squeeze into a small cathedral, it comes as no great
surprise that Stuart’s early years were spent trying to be Han Solo. Sadly as the years progressed
and it dawned on him that being Han Solo was unlikely to be a long term career, his attention was
drawn to a strange brown box that had been installed in his primary school. This brown box turned
out to be none other than the BBC Micro! This compact machine, which could be moved from room to
room of the school using only 12 pupils, was the start of Stuart’s love of all things electrical.
Sadly, because he was only 7, and in those days he had to be in bed by 7.30 in the evening he was
limited in the time he had to master this strange brown machine. Undeterred, he borrowed the
manual and set about learning it in the evenings between cricket and the A Team.
As the years progressed Stuart’s other passion for architecture and all things graphical grew and
grew and it is this mix of computing and design that is the backbone of Innovate Software. When
he is not working, which is rare, he had been known to enjoy a glass of wine and play the guitar.
Ben was born on Friday the 13th and sadly it has been downhill since then! As a child, instead of
playing in the streets of Sunderland with an old football, he was idolising Tommy Flowers and
Alan Turing. These two fine gentlemen helped win the war for us, not with weapons, but with a
computer and a pretty big one at that – Colossus! Tommy was a brick layer by trade and it was
this very fact that attracted Ben to computers, proving that you didn’t need to be a scientist to
use one.
When Ben is not working wonders with computer code he is enjoying his favourite meal – lamb with
all the trimmings. Unfortunately Ben is a terrible cook and is forced to travel back home to enjoy
his special meal, cooked of course by his mam (they say ‘mam’ in Sunderland, apparently it means
‘mum’). On his days off he enjoys sleeping. Ben also holds the Innovate Software record for the
worst punctuation in an email – 162 words without a break; we don’t trust him with the letter
writing.
Russell derives from Shrewsbury and loves housework, in fact given a day off work Russell would be
found cleaning his house to ensure that every bit of dust is cleaned up! This rather strange
desire to cleanliness is however quite useful in the office as we not only have graphics work that
is precise and accurate, we also have a spotless photocopier. His heroes, or should I say heroines,
are Kim and Aggie, which should come as no surprise!
He is due to be married soon and would choose to take his fiancée Kirsty away on a desert island
with him (I guess he would have to say that wouldn’t he?). He cites his inability to think on the
spot as the thing he is worst at and for some bizarre reason Toulouse Sausage Pasta as his
favourite meal – we didn’t ask any more questions about that.
Richard is our design consultant and therefore it should come as no great surprise that he
originates from the hub of graphic design in the UK, Stroud in Gloucestershire. Armed with only an
old pen he is able to whip up great designs with virtually minimal effort. Outside work he takes a
more relaxed approach to his life and is often seen enjoying a steak or a sandwich with friends.
Sadly Richard does have a dark side in that he was hugely influenced in his life by Margaret
Thatcher, no one knows why and we thought better not to ask.
He is also a compulsive problem solver and believes that his greatest asset is his ability to talk
to people. Interestingly he believes his worse trait is that he doesn’t know when to stop talking
to people! In the rare chance that he was to be sent to live on a desert island, he would take
Wikipedia with him.