Business Diary: September 7

WHEN Ted Zdanowicz first put on his overalls as an eager 16-year-old, Harold Macmillan – known as Supermac – was Prime Minister and a young politician named John F Kennedy was thinking about running for US President.

Fifty-two years later, Mr Zdanowicz has finally decided to call it a day, after staying with the same firm, DavyMarkham, all his career.

He started off as an apprentice-trained machinist based in Chesterfield and rose to become one of the company's most skilled employees.

He even stayed on after his retirement age to help DavyMarkham upgrade its machinery.

Sam Wragg, the chairman of Sheffield-based DavyMarkham's shop stewards' committee, said: "Ted has passed on his skills to many of us,

and the employees are grateful to him for helping us all to develop

our skills."

Kevin Parkin, the managing director, said: "The traditional training schemes developed highly skilled engineers in techniques which are still used today. We should not assume that all modern teaching methods give lifetime skills to everyone."

Mr Zdanowicz insisted on using the cutting tools he had grown up with and, as a token of thanks, he was presented with one of his own

tools, engraved with a "Father Ted" message.

Royal colours

Richard Flint, managing director of Sky Betting and Gaming, this week revealed some of the unusual bets placed by some of its customers. Over the last year, punters have had a flutter on how many Arsenal players would wear gloves during a match on a cold day as well as activity on X Factor and Big Brother and what colour hat the Queen would wear at Ascot.

But those hoping to become millionaires by predicting the Queen's headgear will be disappointed.

"With those sorts of bets, you can only bet a small amount," said Mr Flint. "There is always the risk that someone with inside information, such as the Queen's hat maker, will make a bet. But you can only bet 5 or 10 on those sorts of things so you're not going to make a load of money by predicting what colour hat the Queen is going to wear."

Spice route

RUNNING a plc carries some big responsibilities, as former Spice chief executive Simon Rigby will testify.

The larger-than-life entrepreneur, who founded the Leeds-based utility support services company in 1996 but left in February after a profits warning, said current management have a tough job in deciding whether to sell out to private equity Cinven group.

"You've got a big responsibility," said Mr Rigby. "You've got a lot of wives, cats and goldfish depending on you making the right decision."

Mr Rigby, who favours Cinven's 70p a share approach, said the buyout group will have grand designs for Spice. "They're not going to buy it to set it in aspic," he added.

Reaching for the stars

WHEN you're starting out in business, it's always good to get a tip from the top. Cambridge Correlators, a technology start-up based in Wakefield Council's Cedars Business Incubation Centre in Hemsworth, decided to reach for the stars, by picking the brains of a senior

NASA scientist.

The company, which has developed a technology that uses light to process vast amounts of image or pattern data, is exploring collaborative opportunities with Dr Richard Juday who spent 35 years at NASA, where he worked as a senior scientist and head of the Hybrid Vision Laboratory at the Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas.

Dr Juday managed multi-million dollar development projects for the US space programme.

Cambridge Correlators has secured more than 500,000 in private

and public sector funding, so Dr Juday's words of wisdom could

help to create jobs in an area far removed from the final frontiers of space exploration.