What Did You Want To Do When You Were At School?

I can remember having a couple of ” informal chats ” with a careers advisor when I was in my last year at high school. To be honest I didn’t have a clue of what I wanted to do or be – should I stay on and do my A Levels or go out into the big wide world of employment and start earning some cash to fund my increasingly expensive tastes? The financial argument won the battle I am afraid.

Not for me the yearning to become a vet or a nurse or some such worthy profession.

Looking back – isn’t hindsight a great thing? I wish that I would of put a bit more thought into it – but you cant repeat history and If I had, I may of possessed the motivation of a young boy named Stephen Payne OBE – never heard of him? Neither had I until I read about his dreams of becoming a naval architect. In 1965 he was watching an episode of Blue Peter that featured RMS Queen Elizabeth, this fascinated him and so began his desire to design ocean liners.

He even won a Blue Peter Badge a few years later when he complained to the programme about the comments made whilst showing a film of the RMS Queen Elizabeth on fire in Hong Kong that, ” nothing like her will ever be built again “.

He did not allow his dreams and ambitions to be thwarted, he went on to design ships for the Carnival Group. But it doesn’t end there. After the success of the film ” Titanic “, a feasibility study was ordered to find out if people were interested in a new ocean liner.

And the rest is history, this very clever man went on to design the Queen Mary 2, a truly magnificent liner. Built to withstand the Transatlantic weather and sea conditions.

She is very special and I suspect the Man who designed her is justifiably proud, and in Cunards 175th anniversary year can not wait to see the Queen Mary 2, Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth on