About me

Czesc! I was born in 1949 in a small village near York and christened Samuel Orville Radford and I've been SORe about it ever since! Maybe I should own up right away and say that Radford isn't my real name. Well it is my name now but my grandfather was a Polish immigrant called Peter (Piotr) Radowski and changed his name to the more English-sounding "Radford" when he was nationalised. (Sorry, I mean "naturalised" - thanks, Dave!) So Radford it is and I have Polish blood in me - although I regret to say, to my shame, that I don't speak a word of Polish. My mother was born in Germany and taught me German from an early age. I'm afraid I haven't used it since she died and I'm very (read "extremely") rusty now. Just to add to the mixture, my beautiful wife is Greek so I speak a few words of Greek, too.

I don't remember much about school as I was bullied interminably. I suppose that made me rather introverted and I spent most of my time reading books and learning languages. Science fiction stories were also a favourite pastime.

My working career included a short stint at the Dorman Long steelworks, followed by a move to ICI where I was an apprentice electrician. I progressed up through the ranks till madness overtook me and I quit to open a small shop selling TV sets and radios. In those days they still used valves and you could actually make a little profit selling them (unlike today!)

I got a friend to install TV aerials on a self-employed basis - I never wanted employees; too much hassle! He looked after the outdoor jobs while I looked after sales and repairs. Back then it wasn't too difficult to unplug a valve and stick a new one in. I even learned how to solder. The soldering iron was a massive thing with a wooden handle. I remember wrapping asbestos string around the barrel that held the heating element because I was forever burning my fingers.

Nowadays I'm more or less retired. I have an interest in satellite TV from the technical point of view. I don't actually watch much TV. I like to "surf the net" on my little iMac and chip in with suggestions in the discussion forums.

Contacting me

I don't always have time to reply. OK, let's be honest - I can't be bothered so don't be surprised if I ignore you - and, despite the impression I might give, I'm not terribly interested in discussing satellite TV. Nor am I offering a free help service here. If you have a question, post it in the many discussion forums. That's what they are for. If you have a contribution for my web site, I'll say thanks - I might use it. If you want me to link to your site you'll probably carry on wanting. I'm fussy about what I link to. If you still want to email me, here's the link.

and
Meet the wife