Ian has been a good friend for the last 49 years!

I can still remember when he asked me if I was interested in helping him to form a Photographic club at Glaxo. Even then, as in recent times, he liked to be at the forefront of technology & we were soon making our own processing solutions in the lab, to formulas which Ian had found out about (no internet in those days). Grappling with the intricacies of colour casts and printing soon followed.

Ian also arranged for one of the leading photographers in the North East, Myles Audas, to judge our competitions, so we had a photographic masterclass from Myles for the next 2 years.

He overcame my scepticism by introducing me to the merits of digital cameras and to Photoshop, for which I have been very grateful.

There was also a period at Glaxo when I worked for Ian. He was always an understanding & very supportive person to work for & I can still remember my amazement when he showed me how one beaker of clear oils and another of water-based substances could instantly become a stable cream when mixed together.

We were once scaling up a 2000 litre batch of a new cream product in the factory, as part of the handover from Development to Production. After the product was made we had to clean the massive vessel out. “We’ll just fill it with hot water, boil it up & chuck a bucket of soap solution in” said Ian, as he switched the emulsifier on. We climbed down the gantry & started to chat, no doubt about photography. All of a sudden the vessel boiled over, throwing boiling hot foam everywhere and flooding the floor. The head of the production unit shouted some rather uncomplimentary remarks at us, but Ian instantly, and very bravely, ran across the floor through the boiling & greasy water, clambered up the gantry & switched everything off!

To everybody’s relief Ian’s swift action averted an even bigger potential disaster. We were both home late that night as there was a lot of mopping-up to do!

John Corbett