Invention isn't some impenetrable brand of magic anyone can have a go.

But there is only one person I blame for getting shafted, and that's myself. I went into the deal which I thought would secure the future of Orange Aids with culpable impetuosity. I had been used to doing business on a handshake and my work of honour, and I made the error of actually believing what the men in the pin-striped suits told me.

The key to success is to risk thinking unconventional thoughts. Convention is the enemy of progress.

I'd work eighteen-hour stretches and fall asleep in my clothes. Then I'd wake up in the middle of the night, brew a pot of tea, and start work again. I was tired, but work had become pure enjoyment.

As long as you've got slightly more perception than the average wrapped loaf, you could invent something.