![[DM's Face]](dm-head.jpg)
The basics; I was born on the 27th of April, 1957, in Darlington, Co. Durham, England. My parents gave me the name David Edward Miller.
I am six feet tall (in thick socks), my hair is 'auburn' and my eyes are blue. I admit that I might be over twenty stones on weight.
Straight to the Work, Rest or Play routes. Or read on through.
Over that summer, the Computer Centre had desposed of its ICL 1900 series rig (dispite the fact it could 'sing' via a speaker connected to the CPU!) and replaced it with God's Own Computer. They installed a DECsystem-10 (KL10A)
During this first week, in a secret corner of a secret room, on a green plastic cube which in those heady days passed for a VDU (gasp!), I was initiated into the secret circle of STRTRK players!!! In later months, (after the operators had played it a lot!), I advanced to ADVENT and roamed Collosal Cave deep into the night.
But the Real Game was to draw me in. Actually doing programming. Writing code at a keyboard and screen. Editing files online rather than repunching cards. I did some of that ALGOL(-60) stuff and also discovered that something I had done at QE6FC was FORTRAN, so I did some graphics. However, whilst sitting at one VDU one day, I noticed some meaningless heiroglyphics on the screen next to me. One of the System Programmers ('awe!!') was working on some MACRO-10 assembler code. I was entralled, another whole new world, with power and kudos over mere mortal users of Languages. Also the bizarre satisfaction of causing the Mighty One to pop it's cloggs on a couple of occasions.
Crashing the -10 was one of those examples of serendipity in My Life. It encouraged The Systems Guys (except we wouldn't use the term 'guys' in those days) to actively guide me in the arts of MACRO-10 and TECO, so that at least they would know what I was likely to break next!! Also, in the light of the non-arrival of my degree at the time it was mostly required, I think the old boys' network assisted in my being offered a position at that other great bastion of the DEC10 world; The Hatfield Polytechnic, home of MIC.
My achievements there included; looking after the PDP11/70 which involved me
in the RSTS EduSIG, writing the first public live Prestel Gateway server,
PDP8s & Z80s, Coloured Book networking. Yeah, yeah, I used e-mail in 1982.
Also my boss Geoff and his mate Subodh helped me fix my car a lot.
I stayed at The Poly until August, 1983, when the call of a house and therefore a mortgage and therefore a bigger wage called me on to...
They sent me out to America (Ann Arbor) for a couple of weeks once, and to Milan (Yes!) and Lisbon (No!) for a few days each.
Eventually, the US parent company decided that making money hand over fist was no reason not to remove an item which did not match its Corporate Strategy Plan. So they closed down the UK operation, over a year or so. I did quite well out of this, as I was moved to a semi-retirement in the Luton office (10 miles drive from home) and in September, 1988, was duely presented with my wheelbarrow full of dosh and told to sod off.
I wisely invested this in His And Hers Motorcycles, musical instruments and wild living, rather than retain anything for the next career move, as I hadn't expected to be....
Eventually, I gurded my C.V. and allowed myself to be taken on by..
But I'm a SLADE man, there is no denying, even if I wanted to. I don't know why, and I don't care. SLADE works for me.
I'm a child of the Seventies POP! generation, Mud, Showaddywaddy, The Rubettes, I can still sing along to all that.
Recently, well, erm 1987 or so, I have been introduced to and quite like that nice Mr Jeff O'Tool and even more his friend Peggy's day-job crowd; 'Fairlight Convulsion'.
After a while, I discovered that the local 'proper' musical instrument shop sold, strangely enough, music writen on paper, popular ballards of ye age, with ..ah-ha.. pictograms of guitar chords as well as all those tadpoles on telephone wires.
Chris (1994)
My best friend Chris acquired a bass guitar and I a microphone and we
were away. We built up quite a set of equipement for kids on pocket
money. Oh and working Saturdays and perhaps a summer for
Edgeworth Audio Visuals, run by that Irish entrepeneur Jim Edgeworth
whose business empire still include the Torque range, and a load of
other badged amplifiers and speaker cabs.
I had two EAV based amps; a guitar version with a graphic equaliser channel (circuit from some electronics pocket diary!!) and a PA version with 'some' input channels.The guitar amp played through a pair of 2x12" cabs (which I still use today). The PA amp drove a pair of 2x10" 50W Richard Allens in a pair of cabs cut for 13x8" chassis. Who cared. Also a Melos tape cartridge echo unit. Hot!
Chris had one or two EAV clone amps and a 1x18" cab. Also a pair of 2x12" cabs. He had another Hofner which cost 20 quid!
Our disillusion with the world probabley started when one summer day, we took all our gear into my dad's garage so we could turn it all up a bit! And the neighbours, when challenged had the afrontery not to complain but to say they thought we sounded quite good. What's a guy godda do to be a rebel round here!!!!!!
When I moved to Hatfield. And passed my driving test. And got a car. I bought myself a new axe to play through the gear I could now ship down to my St Albans digs. The Hondo II Strat appeared, and I got involved with one of the Computer Centre operators, Neil who played bass, his girlfriend Maxine who was cajoled to operate a keyboard for us, and Neil's mate Dave Potter on guitar also. Neil and Potter ran The In Town Sounds mobile disco ("A party isn't a party without T.I.T.S."). They split up as TITS. Neil went on to operate the StartBurst Mobile Disco, he bought a van ('Daisy') to run all the gear around in and co-opted me to help, because he didn't have a license at the time and I had some amplifiers and speakers. Sounded like fun to me, at the time. My fee for all this was that I would borrow the van on Sundays to use running around collecting all the members of Skratch for band practice. Eventually, Neil passed his test, wanted a real car, sold me the van, and eventually got bored with discos and sold all that.
Potter and I made up some 1x12" wedge monitors and The Great PA Build began.He acquired a 24"x18"x0.125" sheet of STEEL from work, which he got bent and J.B. and I started filling with electronics to form the famous Mixer. Then 721 folded (well, I left!) and we had a bit of a hiatus.
We recovered some RP02 disk drives (washing mashine size +) from the Computer Centre's upgrade scheme, more of later, but the urge to garner PA about me was not fully re-kindled until I purchased a pair of 2x12" Electrovoice loaded reflex units ('bass bins') from a shop in St Albans. We took one of the RP02 basic chassis; a sheet steel cube about 24x24x30" with neat magentic clip on side panels and castors. We took two RP02 power crates and striped the out and built a power supply in the RP02 chassis, fully mains filtered and rated and a causal +/- 55 volts at TEN AMPS!! After losing a few screwdrivers we were very warey of this. We bolted two 100+ watt FET power amp modules into this small caravan of power, with cooling fins in a duct which were then cooled by a huge rotary fan also from an RP02 (so it fixed in easy!) (Sorry, guv'nor we DO have to turn it up this loud so you can't hear the cooling fans!)
Our field test of The Bins and friends, driven by this FET-centred monster was most satisfying. JB lived in a non-conurbation area at the time. (I would say rural but that is only legally so, not esthetically) Anyway. We arranged the speakers along his from path, pointing 'left', down the lane towards the way onto the main road. We turned it up a bit, and lpayed some ZZ TOP. His house was the furthest from the road in a block of 2 semis. We walked past these houses, across the tarmaced area where parking was done, to the edge of the (then) A405. The music was still quite loud. We crossed the near carriage way and the far carriage way. We crossed the grass and footpath and leaned against the fence. Dispite the traffic, we could still feel the bass drum in our chests. It was a good day.
When The Font was shut, during vacations, we took to attending at the Crooked Billet Public House, in Colney Heath. Here I met the rest of the ABC.
After some time of socialising with them, we were elevated to the status of Drinking Executive. (A.B.C.D.E.) about 1981. During 1982, as I had the frequent company of the fair damsel Wombat, I took a step down a slippery slope. I borrowed a CB125 from a chap at the Computer Centre for a couple of weeks and then later purchased a CG125 from one of the security guards for a massive 35 quid. I began the process of learning to ride a Motor Cycle.
To put this into perspective, I should point out the for reason of never needing to, I had never learn to ride a pedal cycle, so there I was at 25 years old with no idea how to balance this thing. So to practice, I would push it out of JB's shed, across the (then) A405, along this several 100 yards to the roundabout to the road to the 'Poly, the more hundreds of yards into the 'Poly car park. I would the start it up, sit on it and try and persuade it to propel me. After about 12 hours in total (4+ sessions), I could travel the length of the main car park with my feet on the pegs. Subsequently I advanced to steering (the art of not going in a straight line as required) and began to navigate the 'Poly's car parks and access roads in my search for Mastery Of The Motor Cycle. After the great day when I actually rode my trusty steed back from the Poly to JB's, I set off to routinely traverse the country lane's of Hertfordshire. The crazy world being what it is, once I was capable of riding the distance, I could then make my way to Luton of a Sunday morning to avail myself of the Star Rider Training scheme.
With their longsuffering help, and trips to the 'Poly carpark where a different group had marked out the cone placings for the Part One Test, one the second official try, I got throught the Part One in early 1984 and then the Part Two later in 1984.
Oh joy, to travel to the 1994 Prowlers Party without L-plates. Was I a Man at last, I don't remember cos I was very, very drunk!
During the winter of 1984/5, I acquired a 'real' (500cc) machine from the brother of some friends. The magnificient CB500T has a poor reputation amongst many bikers, as it is a rice burner, but not suited to being trashed. After a long war story about getting it running it was ready to be MOTed et al and I was On The Road in early 1985. I later acquired another CB500T which had a chequered life. The second 500T was named 'Cutie Pie' by Oona. This was during the period while she and Sam where living together in Welwyn Garden City. Oona had a reputation as being bad luck for vehicles, Everything she touched turned into a repair bill. Everything except this 500T. Hence the name. Anyway, as a perverse corrollary to this, I decided that that must make the other 500T 'Nasty Sandwich'. I personally only every rode 13 miles on Cutie Pie, but Nasty Sandwich took me everywhere. We did the Simmer Dim Rally (in the Shetland Isles!!!) for three years in a row (85, 86, 87) and various other events in the South and West of the country. In early 1988 I acquired a Moto Guzzi California II (Ethel The Fish-California) but Nasty Sandwich kept going and provided Fozdyke with transport for a year or so until the total wear on the cycle parts and his unfortunate prediliction for rubbing against buses took its toll.
I used the Guzzi to commute for a year or so when I started at Harlequin, but although LRP has put so much into my life, it also took out Biking, as I ended up with So Much Stuff to carry around and so little time to go Rallying. Another Maxi made the scene, and the Bike stayed in the garage more and more. I knew I was being cruel to her, and hugged her when I could, but in the end I gave her up. I sold her to Taff and she is his regular transport to this day.