Non-motoring > For men of a certain age.... Miscellaneous
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 Tue 30 Dec 25 13:25 
 For men of a certain age.... - Zero
On BBC Radio 4 just now was a documentary about Lew Grade and ITC productions

The list is amazing, too many to list

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Television_series_by_ITC_Entertainment

I am sure we all remember a lot of them. The use of blockbuster opening titles*, and theme setting scene music was impeccable. Loads shot on 35mm colour film.

* The Barron. youtu.be/ddX-Sj-edow

I have a little person experience I fixed the IBM MC 72 (with its Orator Golf Ball) a few years after the series UFO was made..

www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2PoXfZdYVU


Anyways, take an hour out and catch this. The World of ITC

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0025ss6




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 Tue 30 Dec 25 15:32 
 For men of a certain age.... - Kevin
Gerstner kippered over the weekend.

That should save a few bucks from the company aircraft budget.
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 Tue 30 Dec 25 17:28 
 For men of a certain age.... - Falkirk Bairn
Did Lou Gerstner save IBM?

He might have saved IBM but he cost me my job.
Wholesale cut in jobs.

Jobs in the South but I had 3 kids - 2 going into their final year at school.

27 yrs after they graduated - Senior Engineer on major North Sea Project and the other is an Engineering VP in a major US O&G company.
Not moving cost me a lot in income and pension BUT worked wonders for my boys.
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 Wed 31 Dec 25 03:38 
 For men of a certain age.... - expat2
>>Not moving cost me a lot in income and pension BUT worked wonders for my boys.
Going south might have meant more income but it also would have meant much greater costs for an equivalent house and probably increased commuting costs also. Your wife would have had to look for another job, you would have left your friends behind and 40% of the extra income would have gone on tax. You made the right decision on many levels.
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 Wed 31 Dec 25 08:10 
 For men of a certain age.... - Duncan
>> You made the right decision on many levels.
>>

Possibly, but possibly not.

We can never know what would have happened.

It might have worked even better for your sons. It might not. You don't know and can't know.

All comment is speculation.
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 Wed 31 Dec 25 09:14 
 For men of a certain age.... - Falkirk Bairn
It would have been very difficult for me & the family to move.

Total income down south was less - staff job was an increase in salary but no commission so a big drop. Mortgage to pay against being mortgage free. Options of commuting , rent / work 2 weeks/home for a long weekend were dismissed.

From making £45K+ 32 years ago and "very comfortable" to looking for a job was hard. 2 bad jobs in 4 years before finding a job with reasonable salary, "nice people" & good set of customers.

Made it to 59 and the small company had been taken over - within a short period there was a cull of "over 50s". I retired 5+ years before I was due my State Pension.

It has all worked out so far for me & my 3 sons. 6 grandkids are all doing well @ school & university!

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 Wed 31 Dec 25 08:32 
 For men of a certain age.... - Zero
>> Did Lou Gerstner save IBM?
>>
>> He might have saved IBM but he cost me my job.
>> Wholesale cut in jobs.

You have done OK since, & you were in IBM at its best, happy years,. kept my Job under Lou, but I also had to suffer IBM at its unhappy worse, but I have done ok long term.
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 Wed 31 Dec 25 14:07 
 For men of a certain age.... - Kevin
>Did Lou Gerstner save IBM?

Difficult for me to say because I joined IBM the same time as Gerstner so I had no experience of the 'old' IBM. His 'fix' for IBM was buying young companies that had products in upcoming technologies and pumping the IBM share price by shedding staff. But then he forgot to tell the rest of the C-Suite that it was only a stopgap not a long term strategy.

The one thing I do give him credit for is recognising that the internet would totally transform consumer buying habits and the way that businesses operate while not subscribing to the dotcom mania.
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 Wed 31 Dec 25 14:43 
 For men of a certain age.... - Falkirk Bairn
Kevin
Are you still there 32 years later?
In the distant past there were many with 40+ years under their belt.
I knew an engineering manager who retired at 56 with 40 years service - started straight from School at the Greenock Factory.
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 Wed 31 Dec 25 18:41 
 For men of a certain age.... - Kevin
>Kevin
>Are you still there 32 years later?

Good Glub no! I was in the High Performance Computing Div. and they sold us to a new pimp as part of the x86 sell-off to Lenovo. When Lenovo needed to trim staff in 2018 I jumped at the chance, signed the NDA and left with more than enough cash to see me through to retirement.

My time at IBM was a bit unusual in that IBM UK paid my salary but I was sent to work in AIX development in Austin about 6mo after I joined. When I came back to UK I was assigned to ECMWF in Reading and I worked there until they sold me to Lenovo so I hardly ever saw the inside of an IBM UK office from joining to leaving.
Last edited by: Kevin on Wed 31 Dec 25 at 18:41
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 Wed 31 Dec 25 19:38 
 For men of a certain age.... - Zero
I joined in 1972, and rode the wave of good stuff till 1990, starting off as a CE and on to Systems Engineer. Fabulous years, staff were valued, products were good, customers house trained.

1990 onwardfs was a battle of survival by career / division surfing till I got an early retirement offer I couldnt turn down in 2010.
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