As you will probably have heard by now, Arthur C Clarke passed away earlier this week.
I'll admit that i've never personally been a big fan of his writing, or at least his style of writing, but I've always thought of him as an innovator and original thinker.
I also had the pleasure of meeting him once. Back in the 1980's I guess, the world famous Forbidden Planet shop used to be a single shop in Denmark Street, West London It was your quintessential niche shop back then , not the current bloated supermarket. I was in there buying my monthly fix of comics when some "geek" sense made me look more closely at the old chap browsing the sci fi book section. As soon as I got a good look, I knew it was him and before I knew what I was doing, I wandered over to him and mumbled something about how my dad thought 2001 was the best film ever made. Mr Clarke said "Tell your dad, thank you. So do I" and I wandered off to pay for my comics. A small incident but one that stayed with me.
