A self-described “bodgineer”, Rex Garrod worked as a speedway driver before switching to the world of make-do-and-build engineering. He first came to wider attention with the Channel 4 daytime education show The Secret Life of Machines, where he and co-host Tim Hunkin explained how everything from vacuum cleaners to office lighting works. He went on to build the car featured in annoying kids’ TV show Brum as well. But it’s for his work on the TV show Robot Wars that he’ll be remembered, the leader of the team that built the Team Cassisus series of robots. He never won the contest, but his work finished runner-up in both of the first two series, and he was credited with a number of innovations in the world of battling robots that are still being used today.
Rex Garrod
C.1944 – April 8, 2019
Died aged 75 (four picks)