Where have I been all of your life?

[shewhomust]

This is Keith Newstead, maker of automata:

Watch on YouTube

I only learned about him from his obituary in The Guardian. Not for the first time in reading an obituary, sadness that someone had died was outweighed by happiness that they had lived. This seems a waste. Elsewhere in the newspapers, people are only profiled if they have something to promote, but couldn't we have a section where random people are profiled just because they are interesting? It's not as if the obituaries weren't on file well in advance anyway, all you'd have to do is pick one to publish under the heading "Not Dead Yet".

Anyway ...

And then I fell into the wonderful world of automata: YouTube took me down the rabbit hole, leading me from Keith Newstead to Paul Spooner (and more Paul Spooner here, in a ten-minute walk through his wonderful contraptions including the Exeter Phoenix and the Borgias' cat). More examples on a website dedicated to contemporary automata... Meanwhile on YouTube, Scott Weaver's 'Rolling through the Bay' gives you a tour of San Francisco built from toothpicks - which doesn't sound like a good idea, but is rather wonderful (close-up images here).

And there's more - but it's lunchtime, so I'll have to come back later to Rowland Emett.

Comments

[nineweaving]

O my! O my! O my!

Nine

[shewhomust]

That is EXACTLY what I thought ...

[cellio]

I like the "not dead yet" idea. And besides, isn't it nicer if people can see the positive feedback their lives generate? How often do people say "he was a great X" but they never told him that directly?

[shewhomust]

Good point! I was half joking, of course, but half not: profiles of people during their lifetimes are usually about the latest thing they have done and want (or are contractually obliged) to promote. Not as interesting ...