TOM FLETCHER
THE MASTERMIND
Tom, whose father was a pioneering engineer, worked on his first Lathe at the very tender age of 7!
By the age of 12, he was workshop foreman for 10 other Engineers. When he was about 16 years old, Tom and a couple of mates sneaked into a Nottingham pub to try and get served an under aged pint. They followed the noise of music coming from upstairs and Tom got very surprised to see his art teacher up on stage blasting away on his trumpet, playing in a New Orleans jazz band. Tom was completely blown away by this first musical experience.
He then went home and listened to his Lp´s on some old record player and realized then, this was not anything like what he´d just heard in real life. And so the quest for the illusion began. Tom went to his machines and without even making a drawing, started making his first record player.
Part 1 of interview with Tom Fletcher from Fletcher Audio. www.nerds.dk
He did a few years in the army during the 2nd world war but the Officers had a hard time trying to get Tom to conform to their rules and regulations. After a few years, he was given permission to leave the Army which he gladly did and dived straight back into what he was born for – engineering.
In the early 1973, Tom started his own company– New Line Engineering and bought a building which was formerly a chapel. Here, on the outskirts of Nottingham, he started production of his first commercial record player – The Dais (They were named Image to begin with but there turned out to be some conflict with another brand name).
During the last years of Tom’s life, he did solely research and development for his new company – Fletcher Audio.
Part 2 of interview with Tom Fletcher from Fletcher Audio. www.nerds.dk