About me...

Some things you might not know (or not want to know!) about me...

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I was born in the most beautiful country in the world, SCOTLAND, and brought-up in a town called Saltcoats, on the west Coast of Scotland in Ayrshire, just 30 miles from the greatest city on earth, Glasgow. My father's side of the family can be traced back to 16th Century Somerset.

The view of the Isle of Arran from Saltcoats...

I went to St. Mary's Primary School (1969-1976) and St. Andrew's Secondary School (1976-1982) in Saltcoats. When I was around 8 years old some St. Mary's pupils were moved to the "Old Public" school for a few years. This was really ancient and we were all worried that the roof would fall in on us! The "Old Public" is shown below in photo that dates to the turn of the century.

As a child I was interested in cars, football & Spaceflight (see below). I remember with particular affection the family cars we had during the 60's and 70's.

I cried my eyes out when I was 6 and my dad sold the MG1100 and bought the Fiat. I quickly fell in love with the Fiat 125 - it was so fast(!) but didn't last very long. I passed my driving test when I was 17 in the blue Mirafiori (see above).

As a teenager I grew up in "West Doura Ave", here in Saltcoats:

- that's part of the back garden (big enough to build 15 dutch houses!) with Georgina (youngest daughter) in the middle.

After doing pretty well at school I started at The University (1982), Glasgow University. I love Glasgow and the west-end.

The Main University building at night...

... the tilt is intentional, this is the view from the Queen Margeret Union bar!

I was shocked when I was awarded a 1st class honours degree in 1986, in fact I was so shocked I had to make 2 appointments with the head of department (Prof Archie Roy) because I thought he must have made a mistake the first time! After recovering I decided to do a PhD at the centre of the radio astronomy Universe, a.k.a. Jodrell Bank.

I was very quiet at Jodrell working hard on my PhD (1990) and post-doc research.

The picture below reminds me of the many 4am morning drives I made into Jodrell from Wilmslow during VLBI observing sessions when things had gone wrong - for me the sight of the Lovell telescope always inspires - no matter what the circumstances...

I married Caron Garrett in August 1993, we have 3 children - Jasmin, Jennifer and Georgina. We moved to the Netherlands in April 1996, when I started at JIVE. Here are Jasmin, Jennifer and Georgina (back in 1999):


Click on the pictures above for full size versions.

I like Football but I love Glasgow Celtic

See also my tribute to the Lisbon Lions ...

I love Cars, especially my own...

I like Omega wristwatches

I believe in social democracy and feel at ease with the policies of the current Labour party and in particular, the PM, Tony Blair. I usually can't abide the Conservative Party with the notable exception of Alan Clarke. I support devolution for Scotland but within the UK, and self-determination for the people of Northern Ireland. I believe in the United Kingdom playing a positive role in the European Community and International affairs (especially those that involve security issues). I don't believe in a "United States of Europe". I still believe the USA is the UK's natural ally in most circumstances. I cant stand US (or Euro) sceptics.

I used to be a bit of a space-buff, not so much now but I still take a strong interest in Manned Spaceflight .

I like Star Trek but mostly the classic version

I remember my dad told me, when I was about 5, that there was going to be this really good programme on TV, that I would like - he was dead right and James T. Kirk became an instant hero for me.

Here are some of the films I like:

The Swimmer Inspector Clouseau, I sometimes impersonate him, if I'm very, very drunk! 2001 - A Space Odeyssy! And of course all the original ST movies -esp the first!

I always leave a quotation (usually an obscure one) at the end of my .signature. This seems to entertain some people so I have created an archive going back to 1997.

We live in Hoogeveen. Here are some written directions (and an associated map map that should lead you to our door.

If you want to know more about Scotland, the Scottish SOC.CULTURE FAQ is a good resource. The impact of Scots around the world is enormous, especially considering that the entire population is no more that 5 million people. Scotland is particularly well known as a nation of inventors. In the last century Scots can boast to have discovered or invented: Penicillin (Flemming), anaesthesia (Simpson), anti-septics (Lister), the steam boat (ymington), the US Navy! (Jones), logarithms (Napier), the bicycle (Dalziel & MacMillan), the telephone (Bell), television (Baird), Radar (Watson-Watt), the first practical steam engine (Watt) and the theory of Electro-magnetism (Maxwell) and Heat (Kelvin). Some might argue, that the invention of Whisky is far more important than all of these added together and raised to the power of 999 - but not me...

Questions ? Comments ? e-mail Mike Garrett