About the Author

John Stephenson is a chartered electronics engineer who was in at the birth of the personal computer boom and launched the UK's first minicomputer in 1969. By the time he was thirty four, he was Chief Executive of the German and French subsidiaries of the Data Recording Group. Soon after he became Vice President Europe for the Telex Corporation of America. He started his own companies in 1979 spanning the fields of hardware and software development, systems manufacturing and consultancy with a global customer base. He has written many articles over the years for the technical press and was the technology contributor for the Government s Diplomatic Handbook, which went to British Embassies around the world. He has broadcast on computer matters for the BBC World Service and he has his own current affairs programme on local radio based in Hertfordshire. He also commentates on business, economic and political issues for Al Jazeera television. In 1976, he co-founded the Coronary Artery Disease Research Association (CORDA) together with his friend, Professor Donald Longmore OBE, who pioneered the first heart transplant in the UK and has written a book about the NHS entitled; The Rise and Fall of the NHS. CORDA sponsors research into the early detection of heart disease and the charity established a non-invasive diagnostic unit at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London, now recognised as the world s leading unit for detecting coronaries and stroke in their early stages. The work of CORDA was further recognised in 2005 when Her Royal Highness Princess Alexandra agreed to become its Royal Patron. John was vice chairman for 33 years and is now Vice President. He was admitted as a Freeman of the city of York in 1996.