A journalist sets off on his next investigation, equipped with  a 1908 Standard Folding Typewriter

- note the shiny shoes!

Formerly a design engineer, Richard Milton has been a writer, journalist and broadcaster for more than 30 years.  He is the author of six books, both fiction and non-fiction.

Says Richard, 'I bought my first old typewriter in the 1960s, to teach myself to type.  As a journalist I have been using typewriters for several decades.  In the last few years, I've become a serious collector of antique machines and was lucky enough to discover a historically important machine -- the prototype of the first successful portable typewriter invented in 1904'. (Pictured here).

'From this discovery, I was motivated to research the history of the Corona typewriter, but I discovered a much bigger subject -  the portable typewriter industry and its famous-name companies like Smith-Corona, Remington, Underwood, Royal and Imperial, which today have all disappeared.  This site is my personal tribute to those companies, their entrepreneurs, inventors, engineers and salespeople, and my way of celebrating the passing of an invention that was an important part of my life, too.'

    His web sites include