Jose turns Tommy's magical dream into a reality where even Margaret comes out of the 80's smelling of rosies.
Its the compelling tale of a little boy who always did well told by the woman who knew him best. The wonderful way Josephine takes Tommy and turns his car turning business into the engineer supremo who transforms the industrial landscape is phenomenal.
All of the time patting the wee boy on the head and telling him well done. Jose's control of Tommy with soft brush strokes let's him roam on his long leash and still be called in for his dinner.
In the 1960's Tommy gets a job turning cars in people's driveways on the Barnton Road in Edinburgh and within 3 years he's got a van and a platoon of students working for him throughout the city, reversing cars onto main roads at 4am and reversing them back into the driveway. Its £5 a week, at its peak Tommy is turning 30,000 cars.
He designs a plate for turning them based on a skateboard prototype and with an engineering pal James from the inch in South Edinburgh, they manufacture the 'H', which quickly becomes the "ITCH" and is sold throughout the UK. A tiny turn table that can sit on your driveway and once the car drives aboard it can rotate 180 degrees. James' load bearing skills ensured that when they demoed it using a tank and Tommy's 5 year old daughter Linda, it was the star of the 1974 UK car show.
In 1975 they had scratched that itch, sold 800,000 of the H in the UK and commenced sales abroad. James and Tommy spent the rest of the year counting their money and opening up plants around the country recycling several steel and car plants that had been closing. By 1978 they had sold over 100 million worldwide, manufacturing them all in the UK. They would manufacture both wind and wave turbines, solar panels, greenhouses, lithium and cadmium batteries latterly.
Tommy was inspired by his work force. During the early days his proudest achievement included buying all his students bikes and then giving them the company vans which many used to cart gear to gigs during the early punk days which led him into the music business but that's another story.
When Margaret Thatcher was elected in 1979, Tommy was invited into the inner circle and was asked to help out in the heavy industries coal and steel. He immediately went to the unions and sought their counsel. The mines had various lifespans some had 5-10 years of workable coal deposits and some had 50 years but Tommy wanted to talk about the communities and longevity. What happened when a mine closed and what could we do now to mitigate it. They hatched a plan that seemed simple. There were a number of studies suggesting that deep mines produced tremendous heat and so capitalising on that heat they approached a pal of Jimmy's, Sheila, who had been working on heat exchangers. The art of moving heat from underground to the house. Sheila identified a row of miners cottages and fed them all with hot water and heat from the mine underneath using her dark art of free heat exchangers. Within 6 months the prototype had been rolled out to three mining villages in Midlothian and each was given an Olympic outdoor pool with the water heated via the heat exchangers.
There followed the next challenge, a city. Edinburgh was surrounded by coal fields and plenty underneath. By 1983 hot water and heating was being provided free of charge and Thatcher and the Tories received a landslide in the election. By 1987 the whole of the UK had benefitted and another landslide saw Margaret become the longest serving prime minister of the century. Her industrial policy had transformed the UK's heavy industries without a single job loss.
Tommy turned his attention to his other businesses during the 90's, led by his 3 daughters who had started them. They were all different but uniquely community based. From greenhouses, green gyms, raves in his factories and a major record label Tommy watched a the girls diversified from farming to the leisure sector. Tommy had seen leisure as key as early as 1981 when he moved all his staff to a 21 hour week at rates commensurate with the old 40 hour week.
Edinburgh came calling again and he designed the spoke and wheel system for electric vehicles we see today. The tram model had been suggested but Tommy identified locations for park and ride and you could hire an electric scooter or car for minimal cost. All charging stations had solar and wind turbines providing the power to the latest battery technology. Electric power was now free and nobody died in the mines. The massive cycleways and bus routes constructed had used the tram template route but provided free electric bikes, cars and buses instead. The routes were seamless in allowing all forms of traffic to flow.
In 2000 he'd been invited along to parliament to discuss the Olympic bid. By this stage Tommy's free parks, pools and gyms for under 16's had caught fire. Many Olympians had started out in a TC inspired pool or gym. During the meeting there was a leak and rain poured onto the parliamentary table. Tommy leaned back and laughed. You've got your legacy right there. He had known for years the Houses of Parliament were not fit for purpose and with the 2012 Olympics coming to London there was the perfect opportunity to construct something that would become the Grandmother of all Parliaments. The Olympic Stadium and village would provide, accomodation, security, media, access and infrastructure for the 21st not the 18th century. The politicians had a lot of trouble at first thinking 'shiny new' might not work but Tommy won the day and the HP museum was born at Westminster. Meantime the 50,000 fans in the new debating chamber could see and hear their politicians. It was like a throw back to Athens said Tommy when asked to comment on the opening of parliament in 2013.
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