Roy MILTON is the perfect example of the 'quiet' celebrity, someone who deserves recognition for special skills, but is not a public figure. Roy visited the police photographic section once a month for routine maintenance on an expensive automatic processor we had acquired. Over the years we became friends and took to having a yarn after he had performed his magic tune-up of the machine.
A vociferous and outspoken Scot, Roy was an enjoyable man to spend time with and his puckish appearance and sense of humor made him a natural portrait subject. However, it took many months of quiet coaxing to get him in front of the camera.
In those conversations I learned that Roy was a highly qualified aeronautical engineer and had been part of an elite team which was flown to any air accident involving a Rolls-Royce engine. The painstaking reconstructive investigation would take months, but was necessary to discover the true nature of the crash and the liability of the engines as a causative factor. In his retirement he had chosen to remain in touch with intricate machinery, but in a less dramatic milieu.