There are 2 things about my Dad that I want to remind you about today and that both had a big influence on me when I was growing up and do as a person still today Firstly, he worked everything out from first principles. He never accepted anyone else’s logic without scrutiny • Okay that was about maths, science, engineering and logic • but on a human scale first principles meant you worked out what you wanted, what was the right things and then you aimed for it. And there was no logical reason why you shouldn’t achieve your goals • As a result, he was very ambitious for us not for power or money but for intellectual satisfaction. • That didn’t just mean exam results (although they were important) but to be in jobs in life where we had control over our destinies and didn’t do the same thing year after year • I think Peter probably recognises that too! The second thing was his complete resistance to peer pressure and fashion. And total lack of understanding for anyone who succumbed to these forces • Sometimes not a comfortable place to be an impressionable teenage girl! • Remember arguments about Top of the Pops? I was allowed to watch Tomorrow’s World on a Thursday but then I had to turn the TV off. • Remember when he started cycling and insisted he would wear his own clothes with cycle clips on his trousers? • It took him ages to work out that Lycra was actually functional and more comfortable What did this mean for 3 girls growing up under his guidance? • I have to say (this may sound harsh) that he lied to me. He never gave me any warning that life was different for women. • You might think that’s good but on the other hand, I just wasn’t prepared to become young woman in eighties Britain. I mean I really didn’t have a clue how to behave and deal with the real world outside the rather quaint bubble of home and school • Yes Mum did the cooking but our house was free of many aspect of normal gender stereotypes • No laddishness, pubs, jeans, football • I went to a girls school, and turned my nose down at girls who thought Physics was a boys subject (okay that’s a bit of irony because that phrase later came from Lucy at her mixed secondary school) • I went into the work with a naïve assumption that I could do anything I set my mind to So I still share his attitudes today but • I’m a lot more realistic about recognising the impact of those around me who do give in to peer pressure and accept or adopt stereotypes. I have learned to accommodate their weaknesses. • And if I’m honest, I have become more like them. I like painting my nails, wearing high heels and the nice things my salary buys. • But despite me changing and despite the struggles I faced growing up and emerging from my scientific and first principles background I honestly believe I would have achieved less and been a lesser person without his influence guidance. • Even today at work what motivates me is intellectual challenge and doing the right thing. Not power or money or security • So although he was wacky and sometimes misunderstood, I am too. I’m proud of him and proud to be his daughter