We like to think of ourselves as a land of triers, improvisers and number 8 wire savants. We have a strong history of giving it a go, even if we didn't have the technology or the materials, or even much of an idea of what we're doing. We tried to build a tank in the early 1940s. What emerged resembled a squat Dalek that'd crashed into a cowshed. It was slow, unstable, poorly armoured, and had to come to a complete stop to change gears, but cor blimey we had go.
But not everything that emerged from our sheds was destined for invention ignominy: In 1904, Richard Pearse achieved powered flight in his bicycle-glider hybrid; Burt Munro set numerous speed records from
