chippingnortonjournal

A HIGHLY talented engineer who worked on the creation of one of the world’s first television sets has turned 100.

Andy Andrews, who lives at the Henry Cornish Care Centre in Chipping Norton, celebrated his birthday yesterday and has been enjoying a few days of celebrations with family and friends. The modest Mr Andrews was a key member of the team who built one of the crucial parts which went into making John Logie Baird’s television. Now, some 70 years on, he described his work as “some of the most interesting” of his life as he enjoyed a surprise party at the care home where he lives.

Mr Andrews, who says he does not feel his age, credits his longevity to a daily dose of cod liver oil which his 102- year-old sister Doris Gair also swears by. “I think that has helped,” he said. “I’ve got used to it over the years.”

Born to a half Danish and half Irish mother on August 15, 1912, Mr Andrews was one of five children. He began his career as an apprentice engineer and worked for a firm in London before meeting Mr Logie Baird when he was 21. He worked with him at his South Tower laboratory at Crystal Palace making apparatus – including a disk used in one of the first-ever televisions – until the Second World War broke out in 1939.

Logie Baird built the first practical television. “He was a wonderful man – my hero,” said Mr Andrews. “He was a very clever man. We all got on very well. "When I look back on it it was the most enjoyable and interesting time of my life.”
He is still very active and enjoys painting as well as being a member of the U3A (University of the Third Age) and the history society as well as going to Probus meetings where he has given talks about the early days with John Logie Baird.

“I’ve had an interesting life,” he said. “I never expected to live to this age but I’m glad I’m living here