Very stiff fibres woven into history – very personal recollections of some of the British scene

A personal memento is given concerning how the author became interested in the ideas of fibre reinforcement in 1960 and how he watched as a close consultant the invention of very stiff fibres at Farnborough by Watt and Phillips. Some account is also given of the early work at Farnborough both before during and after the second world war and the part played by de Bruyne and then by J.E. Gordon and his team. The early development of the materials science of composites by the author and his colleagues and the discovery and enunciation of the principles of how all brittle materials can show appreciable works of fracture are dealt with.Some short remarks follow on the part played by academics in the development of a new technology.