How Mrs Thatcher invented soft-scoop ice-cream (and other unlikely celebrity inventions)



Being famous isn’t all glamour and showbiz parties. Sometimes, the great and the good tire of the high life and recreate themselves as inventors, developing gadgets to benefit mankind. Or so they hope. From Margaret Thatcher to Michael Jackson, and Marlon Brando to U.S. president Abraham Lincoln, here Gwyneth Rees lists some of the madcap — and occasionally inspired — celebrity inventions...

Sweet tooth: Then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher visits Largs in Scotland where they tried to tempt her with some ice cream. Little did they know that she helped invent Mr Whippy

Margaret Thatcher - soft-scoop ice-cream



Before entering politics, former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher put her Oxford chemistry degree to good use with a research job at food manufacturer J. Lyons and Co.



Tasked with whipping more air into ice cream, she produced a type of ‘soft-scoop’ cream which could be pumped through a machine. It heralded Mr Whippy vans and the ‘99’ cone.

Michael Jackson - gravity-defying dance shoes



Ever wondered how the King of Pop managed such seemingly airborne dance moves? Well, he used specially adapted shoes that enabled him to lean forwards at a 45-degree angle without losing his balance, as demonstrated in the video for Smooth Criminal. The shoes, patented in 1992, would be connected to a raised hook that popped-up from the stage, allowing Jackson to perform his trademark moves without losing his balance.



James Cameron - underwater JET for 3D filming



After working on a new 3D version of his Oscar-winning 1997 film Titanic — to be released next year to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the ship’s sinking — film director James Cameron was approached by Disney to make a 3D documentary exploring the ship’s wreck. Not satisfied with existing cumbersome cameras, he patented the Fusion 3D Camera System to revolutionise underwater filming. The lens is mounted on a motorised gadget with two jets to propel both camera and diver through the water. Just watch out for icebergs.



Francis Ford Coppola - back-scratcher T-shirt



We’d all love to be able to scratch that itch we can’t reach. Or at least direct someone else to its exact location. This invention does just that, and was dreamt up by The Godfather’s director after he had polio as a boy.



The Back Scratcher T-shirt comes with a numbered grid on the back dividing the area into scratchable sections. The wearer then consults a card featuring a replica grid, and directs an obliging friend to where to scratch.



Andy Warhol - five-face watch



Why have one watch face when you can have five? That was Pop artist Andy Warhol’s philosophy. In the Sixties, he invented a watch without a strap but joined by five interlinking faces.



The designs only came to light two years after his death in 1987, and were patented by his estate. Each of Warhol’s five watch faces told the time in a different country — the essential accessory for an internationally famous jet-setting artist.

Abraham Lincoln - inflatable steam boat



President Abraham Lincoln’s brainwave came in 1849 while travelling by steam boat on the Illinois River.



The boat hit a rock and was in danger of sinking, but was buoyed up by empty barrels. Inspired, Lincoln created a model of a steamboat with inflatable skirt that could be pumped full of air. It was never taken up, but his idea anticipated the hydrofoil by 50 years and the hovercraft by a century.



Marlon Brando - drum tuner



He may be famous for his acting — but it was his Bongo drumming hobby that turned Brando into an inventor. In 2002, he created an electronic device that stretches the surface of a drum correctly, so it makes the right sound.



The contraption pulls four tension points at the same time, uniformly tightening or slackening the surface at the touch of a button. It has since been used in many drum products.



Mark Twain - self-pasting scrapbook



American author Mark Twain kept scrapbooks to document his travels around the U.s. and Europe. As this was in the days before the invention of glue-sticks, he had to carry around a pot of glue and paint brush that was impractical and messy.



So he created a scrapbook with a dried strip of glue running through the centre of each page to which you could affix photos and cuttings. Patented in 1872, the scrapbook was an immediate hit.



Roald Dahl - the brain valve



He’s the king of wacky literary inventions — from everlasting gobstoppers to George’s Marvellous Medicine. Less well-known is the author’s Wade-Dahl-Till brain valve, created in 1960 after his son, Theo, suffered a brain injury in a car accident.



Theo regularly needed excess fluid drained from his brain, but the tube kept blocking, causing him pain. So Dahl, hydraulic engineer Stanley Wade and neurosurgeon Kenneth Till invented a new valve mechanism to improve the pump. It was introduced through The Lancet medical journal in 1962, and, although its invention came too late to be used on Theo, who had mostly recovered, the WDT valve has helped roughly 3,000 others.



Tony Benn - The Seatcase



In 1981, the veteran Labour MP was struck down with Guillain-Barré syndrome (a nervous system disease often accompanied by partial paralysis), which reduced his ability to stand for long periods. So he invented the seatcase — essentially a foldable stool attached to a rucksack to be used at bus stops, or anywhere else it is required.



Currently in prototype form, Benn is still looking for a business partner to turn it into a reality. He recently sent it to Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson for his consideration, but has so far not heard back.



Prince Charles - wine-fuelled Aston Martin



He is a champion of sustainable living, but he has a soft spot for his gas-guzzling Aston Martin. Faced with two contradictory enthusiasms, the Prince poured his time, energy and money into finding a solution. The answer? A car which runs on wine or bioethanol — a surprising environmental fuel.



The EU places tough restrictions on wine production and rather than letting any excess Highgrove wine go to waste, the Prince found a use for it. The car was used by Prince William on his wedding day to drive his bride from Buckingham Palace.

