Gordon Brown claims a Brit invented the iPod

Grosse Pointe, Surrey?

By Austin Modine • Get more from this author

Posted in Bootnotes, 9th May 2008 23:37 GMT

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Bad news for Tony Fadell, a Michiganite and inventor of the iPod. In an interview yesterday, Gordon Brown claimed the ubiquitous device in the name of Mother England.

While talking about the economy during daytime television show, This Morning, Brown let it drop that it was a Briton who in fact invented the iPod.

"Companies will come and locate in Britain if we have the talented people to offer them," said Brown. "People with ideas and innovative things that they can market. You know it was a Brit that invented the iPod. If you've got really innovative things, people will come to your country to locate."

Perhaps Brown was confused about the role of design engineer, Jonathan Ive, a Brit who crafted the casing and packaging of the iPod and many other Apple products. We dare say there's a subtle difference between the house painter and architect. (Let's also ignore that Brown's one example of British ingenuity came from an American company, and that mp3 player sales aren't exactly keeping the US economy primed at the moment.) And even then, Ive ran off to America for a job at Apple in 1992 and currently lives in California.

Brown's historical revision begins at about seven minutes in.

Let's be perfectly fair to everyone. Brits have a long and distinguished history of invention. Here's a somewhat abridged list that Brown could have chosen from:

British inventions

Downhill skiing
Corrugated paper used as liner in tall hats
Rubber bands
The Royal Navy
Smallpox vaccine

Note the glaring omission of the iPod. Quite contrarily, we'd find that device in another list:

Inventions not at all from Great Britain

Racoon hats
1989 Toyota Celica
The number 0
**iPod**
Leslie Nielsen

So, there you have it, kids. Hitch your wagon to corrugated paper futures, if you want to prosper in the homeland. Otherwise, it's off to America where you can wrap metal in expensive white cases for a living. ®

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