| Year (age) |
Decision |
Motive (as now interpreted) |
Evaluation (as viewed now) |
| 1967 (9) |
Continue with piano lessons |
My grandfather promised to give me his piano on condition I carried
on with lessons |
One of my best decisions. A clear case for the morality of bribery. |
| 1971 (12) |
Don't become a lawyer. (I had read some popular novels about a crusading
lawyer, and was attracted by the idea.) |
My form teacher told me that "Lawyers
are people you pay to tell lies for you". |
This is my life's primary example of someone else's prejudice (or perhaps
it was just a semi-witty comment) influencing me. Disproportionate though
it may seem, I suspect that this single comment pushed me towards the sciences,
where I thought my integrity would be safe. |
| 1972 (13) |
Chose subjects to study at 'O' level - no more history, geography,
literature, French, etc.. |
I thought I was better at science; mum and dad thought a job was more
secure in science. |
I couldn't say |
| 1974 (15) |
Chose subjects to study at 'A' level. Took five instead of three. |
Determined to keep music. Everyone thought I should keep my science
options open. Everyone (including me) thought I could handle five. |
1974 was the beginning of my golden age of extra-curricula activities
(which lasted until the end of my first degree), and the accompanying lack
of commitment to academics. Perhaps if I'd only done three 'A' levels,
I could have got to Cambridge. Perhaps if I'd worked I could have done
well on all five. Who knows? |
| 1976 (17) |
Study mathematics at University |
Science was frustrating. Few of the experiments worked properly. Maths
was reliable. (On one occasion a chemistry experiment produced the correct
result and I wrote in my exercise book "By careful planning and mere chance
the result was...". I was surprised to find that the chemistry
teacher actually read the books when they were handed in.) |
I should have done engineering. |
| 1979 (21) |
Took a job in engineering with Standard Telephones and Cables. |
Determined to get away from maths, I'd applied for management. But
they offered me engineering as well. The engineering job was at a nicer
location than the management job, so I took it. |
One year and six months into this job, I plugged my prototype adaptive
DPCM boards into the 68Mbits/s video codec and they worked as designed.
I experienced my first and greatest thrill of invention. This is why I
am still an engineer. |
| 1981 (23) |
Went to Essex University to study Telecommunications |
Wanted to redeem my earlier mediocre academic career. |
Did. |
| 1982 (24) |
Married Gill |
Wanted to. |
Still married and still want to be. Good decision, made rationally.
(Sometimes this does happen.) |