"The Hunt for Alan B" by Barry Fox - New Scientist, 16 October 1999

If you want to find out about Thomas Edison, you could consult any one of about 60 books. But look for Alan Blumlein and, until now, you’d be lucky to find the merest mention. What, you may ask, did he do? Nothing that affects you—as long as you’ve unplugged your personal stereo, turned off the TV, and resolved never to travel by air or sea. Not only did Blumlein invent stereo, he was the creative force behind electronic television and radar too.

Why Blumlein’s life and work has remained an unofficial secret is as fascinating as the story of his achievements. I should know, because for 25 years I’ve been doing my best to get his name more widely recognised. New Scientist readers may recall this brought me into conflict with Francis Thomson, who began writing Blumlein’s biography in 1972. Thomson was proud he had researched the Blumlein family history back to the 14th century, and that he had collected vast quantities of material from those who knew the inventor. Initially, he worked with the backing of Blumlein’s family.

But in the 1980s Blumlein’s son Simon grew increasingly frustrated by the lack of progress and Thomson’s refusal to let anyone else access what he had collected. Thomson died last year, with Blumlein’s biography still unpublished. The whereabouts of the collection are not known.

Then Robert Alexander decided to try his hand. After an abortive attempt to persuade Thomson to allow him to examine the collection he decided to write a biography on the strength of information in the public domain. He used Blumlein’s 128 patents plus all available archives, mainly those of Blumlein’s old employer EMI.

The strength of Alexander’s book is alsoits weakness. Although there are delightful anecdotes, Alexander’s analysis of dusty patents inevitably obstructs the narrative flow. This book may lack mass market appeal, but it is a painstaking chronicle.

The bare bones of the story are that Blumlein was 25 when he joined Sir Isaac Shoenberg’s research team at the Columbia Gramophone Company in 1929 —later to form EMI.

Blumlein’s brief at EMI was to find a way round the patents on electrical sound recording owned by Bell Labs. He did this and more—he went on to design a complete new electrical recording system, which could work in stereo. He cut two-channel discs and recorded stereo on film. It took decades for the world to catch up with stereo LPs and Dolby stereo cinema.

In the mid-1930s EMI and the Marconi Radio Company joined forces to develop an all-electronic TV system to compete with John Logie Baird’s spinning wheels. The project was a winner, and Blumlein was a key contributor. In June 1942, Blumlein flew in a Halifax bomber to test H2S, a scanning radar that produced a map of the ground, with the new magnetron-microwave-amplifier. The plane crashed, killing everyone.

The accident was kept secret. After the war Blumlein’sname remained unknown. A British engineer, Basil Benzimra, had started to write a biography but died before achieving his goal. Through extraordinary hard work, Alexander has now achieved what Benzimra said he wanted to do and “raised this man from the dead”.

A broader issue of concern remains. There is nothing in law to prevent one man’s failure to deliver a biography burying the reputation of another. It’s a national tragedy that the Blumlein papers are inaccessible.

The Blumlein biography dilemma - 1966 to 1999

The story of how the biography of Alan Dower Blumlein eventually came to be published in August 1999, is a mini-drama all of it's own - read about it in complete detail below as I have added chapter eleven and chapter twelve of my book 'The Inventor of Stereo: The Life and Works of Alan Dower Blumlein' - ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎0240516281   ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎978-0240516288

The Inventor of Stereo - The Life and Works of Alan Dower Blumlein by Robert Charles Alexander, Publ. Butterworth-Heinemann/Focal Press, August 1999 - ISBN-10: 0240516281 and ISBN-13: 978-0249516288

The veteran IT Journalist Barry Fox has been a long time advocate of the Blumlein biography and an enormous help to me while I was writing my book.

Russell Burns, the Trent Polytechnic Ph.D. student who had contacted Francis Thomson at Easter 1972 equiring about Alan Blumlein, eventually wrote a second biography on Blumlein published late in 2000 by the IEEE.

The Blumlein family with author Robert Charles Alexander.

Left to Right: Simon Blumlein, Charles Blumlein, Robert Alexander, Alan Blumlein, William Blumlein and David Blumlein.

Among the 150 VIPs were Simon Vaughan, Archivist of the Alexandra Palace Television Society, John Trenouth, Curator of the National Museum of Photography, Film & Television, Bradford, and Andy Emmerson, Editor 405 Alive Magazine.

Four living colleagues of Alan Blumlein with author Robert Charles Alexander.

Left to Right: Dr Eric White, Bernard Greenhead, Robert Alexander, Felix Trott and Maurice Harker.

The two ladies who really made the evening possible with author Robert Charles Alexander

Ruth Edge, Archivist CRL (left) and Margaret Riley, Commissioning Editor Focal Press.

Renowned author and audio engineering specialist, Keith Spencer-Allen, with Jenny Whelham and Beth Howard key members of the Focal Press team who, with Margaret Riley were responsible for the publishing of the book.

Dr Eric L C White and Maurice Harker, both colleagues of Alan Blumlein, signing copies of the book during the presentation ceremony.

Author Robert Charles Alexander with his mother, Mrs Jean Levy (right) and aunt, Mrs Ruth Underwood (left) during the book signing at the end of the evening.

Author Robert Charles Alexander with Focal Press Commissioning Editor Margaret Riley. It was Margarets knowledge of Alan Blumlein and his achievements prior to being approached by Robert Charles Alexander with his plans for a biography that assured that this project came to fruition. Margaret Riley retired from Focal Press following the launch of this book after 14 years with the company.

Author Robert Charles Alexander with his mother, Mrs Jean Levy.

Author Robert Charles Alexander signing copies of the book.

Author Robert Charles Alexander with his father Bernard Alexander who, as a young engineer straight after the war, joined EMI and worked in the same Reserach & Development building that Blumlein had. It was my father who first told me about his fascination for Blumlein, and inspired me to find mroe about him, eventually leading to my writing the book.

Author Robert Charles Alexander standing outside Central Reserach Laboratories (CRL) in Hayes, part of the EMI Group, August 1999