WRITTEN ON June 18th, 2006 BY Ruth Kennedy AND STORED IN Identity

It was nice to hear that James Goodfellow, Scottish engineer, was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List. WIBBI-minded Goodfellow devised the pin-code in 1966: the mechanism of keying in a number code to cash machines, now used by hundreds of millions across the world. As I emerged from my Saturday morning fog to the overtures of the Radio 4 Today programme, I was very interested to hear a short clip in which he made comments relevant to the UK’s proposed ID scheme.

40 years ago I’d have put all my money on biometrics having taken over by this time. But even today I’m not fully convinced. The possibility of forgery, I think, is much more likely.

The BBC reports that “Mr Goodfellow said he had not earned a penny from his invention but did enjoy a smile every time he used a machine.” What a friendly-looking face he must have!