John L Duncan was born in Australia in 1932 and graduated in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Melbourne. After a number of years in engineering construction he took up an academic appointment at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, followed by academic positions in Canada and New Zealand. He retired as Professor Emeritus from the University of Auckland in 1998. Professor Duncan and his wife live on a small farm near Auckland with part of their family. They have three children, eight grandchildren, and, at present, one great-grandchild. His hobbies include sailing, boat-building, restoration of historic automobiles, and writing. Along with numerous academic works, he is the author of Any Colour so Long as It’s Black (Exisle Publishing, 2011), a book on the design of the Model T Ford.