Richard Francis Strawbridge was born on 3rd September 1959. The third of seven children, he was raised and educated in County Antrim, N Ireland. He was interested from a very early age in 'taking things apart', but had a very poor reputation when it came to putting them back together again - almost always ending up with a little pile of 'left-over-bits'. However, as long as he could still get whatever unfortunate machine he was 'fixing' to work, and wherever brute-force would suffice, he remained undaunted.

Dick believed, and still believes today, that understanding how and why things work, is as important in it's own right as actually 'getting the thing to work’ (this is, at any rate, what he keeps telling his wife!).

In 1978 Dick joined the Army, and a few years later did a degree in Electrical Engineering. Over the next 20 years Dick rose from Troop Commander to Lieutenant Colonel, and enjoyed serving and playing rugby all over the world. He also enjoyed becoming a husband to Brigit, a father to James and Charlotte, and cleaning up after various dogs, cats, goats and chickens! (He would like to take this opportunity to apologise to any of his neighbours who might have been woken up at 4.00 am by barking, meowing, bleating or cockle-doodle-doing.)

Dick was awarded the MBE in 1993.

Nowadays when Dick is not television presenting, Dick lives on an idyllic smallholding in Cornwall where he runs courses on all aspects of green living. He writes, host conferences, gives talks on British innovation, leadership and teamwork, lectures at schools and colleges, and makes keynote and after dinner speeches.