It was during this period, I myself had an accident....I was carrying a large 16mm projector into a hospital to give a lunchtime lecture when I slipped on ice at the entrance. I did not fall down but with the weight of the projector I performed a rotational move and I felt something go pop in my back..I did the meeting and drove home. At home I felt I had a hardboiled egg on the centre of my lower back. After tea I could not move my legs and I was locked in a sitting position. I had to go to the loo so I crawled there and then crawled back..The doctor was called and subsequently had to lie on my back in plaster until the swelling went down..It was some time before I could move my legs properly so to keep me out of mischief my wife brought upstairs our old coffee table which had screw-in legs. I took the long ones out and replaced them with shorter ones and the table was lifted over me so the legs were either side of me.. With micropore tape I attached paper and documentation to the underside of the table and used this to draw, write and the like. Then I was given a marketing exercise to do at home for work while I was hors de combat for nearly six months ! This was the start of my TT Race Game which I put together to the instructions "Take something, develope and market it" with a useful book of how to do it. A hobby would turn into a very marketable item......
From the Press Release:- "The TT Game was patented as long ago as 1978 by TT Superfan Ian Huntly whilst he was recovering from serious spinal injuries. Ian found a method of working flat on his back in a plaster jacket, with a drawing board suspended over himself on four short coffee table legs. Ian used his enforced time off to study and made the project a marketing exercise. The game was initially sponsored by Geoff Dukes "Manx Line", the Isle of Man Tourist Board, and Ian's uncle George Bambrough, and then by Duke Marketing, Motorcycling Weekly (no longer with us) and the TT Supporters Club. Motor Cycle News supported one major run as did Ferodo and the local Bikeright Motorcycle Training School. The late great Mike Hailwood and Castrol gave valuable advice and help as did friends, TT riders Doug Randall, Nick Jefferies, Denis Parkinson and Mick Grant, plus journalist Mick Woollett and Peter Kneale, and Ian therefore acknowledges the help received and the social visits from the aforementioned people while he was hors-de-combat.
The game still sells world wide and has been updated annually as the lap record went higher and higher
(NB-The game is copyrighted)
At a Motorcycle Club Night a few years ago, 26 people played this game in one sitting. It was not until everyone had completed their assigned laps that the winner emerged."
I used a photo of Doug on his RG 500 on the box lid...