Professor Russell Burns attempts to offer a balanced biography of one of the twentieth century”s outstanding inventors, published to coincide with the 75th anniversary of Baird”s first public demonstration of a rudimentary television system. The author”s meticulous treatment is based on primary source documents although many personal recollections are included to add humour, colour and context. A great deal of material regarding Baird”s business partnerships in the early 1920s has only recently become available to researchers and is covered here for the first time.