Reared in England on a staple diet of science-fiction films and Airfix models, it was perhaps inevitable that Laurie would eventually end up doing what he does. Born 17th September 1961, he was named Laurence after his father and Grandfather making him the third to bear that name. Laurie would go on to get 9 'O' levels and 3 'A' levels at school and be top of his year for two years running. He later went to Art College having withdrawn his University application. Instead he wanted to work in Special Effects and this he achieved (as a special effects Light scan cameraman) with a rostrum camera company called Filmfex in London. This was as a direct result of his Star Wars interest and he worked on over 100 TV programmes and adverts and 5 feature films. He also does part-time work as a background artiste (extra). One role included work on Shakespeare in Love and he auditioned for The Phantom Menace too. He currently works as a Civil Servant. But none of this helps his amateur computer graphics (see below).

OK, so he has professional experience but this gives no advantage against other amateur film makers when it comes to computer graphics (CG). His CG film making skills were all learnt at home over many years. He is self-taught. His professional animation skills as a cameraman (not an animator) bear little resemblance to what he does on his PC. He worked on 35mm film, and nowadays hard drives. He used lenses, now computer digits. His old computer used paper print-outs and tape and moved an axis around, now his PC uses digital information and moves pixels. He used to film cardboard and gel artwork, now he has to animate computer generations. His professional rostrum 35mm film cameraman skills add very little indeed to his live action dramas too. He is proud of his amateur work and the levels this demonstrates amateurs can achieve just through commitment and hard work. He has had three CG films on ITV and was the first amateur to have a CG film in one particular film archive (East Anglian), a fact which makes him most proud. He is glad to be a member of the IAC and likes to promote their commitment to film making for the love of it rather than for the money.

Back to the history:

In 1978 a film was released at the old Romford Odeon. The film was to have a very big impact on Laurie. The film was Star Wars. This inspired Laurie to make numerous amateur films. So far Laurie has made 180 productions and had won 40 awards (by early 2006).

His first film, shot on Standard 8 film is called Space Wars (3 mins) and it features a battle between two craft. The Clone Wars (5 mins) and Surprise Attack (10 mins) were shot on Super 8 film and are both Star Wars based. Cubism (3 mins) is about an animating Rubik's cube, Fun & Games (10 mins) is a fantasy trilogy about computer games. Several rocket movies have been made, and the most recent films include the Trek based film The Brave and the Valiant (7 mins), Duke Starkiller (6 mins) which tells the story of a pilot who blows up stars, Vicky Voodoo (7 mins) the sexy star pilot, and Creatures of Hate (15 mins) the Dalek movie. His favourite home made movies are Star Wars X-Wing (5 mins) about a pilot facing a Stormtrooper and his Starfighter films. His ultimate movie is his 76 minute computer generated sci-fi feature film called 'The War of the Starfighters' and this he made on his own. When you consider Toy Story is 77 minutes and was made by hundreds of people, this helps put it into some perspective. In fact he has read that Final Fantasy had up to 960 workstations working on a shot. His poor little PC should put in for overtime!

Laurie has many other interests which can be read about on the 'Other Interests' page. Such as Star Wars, his unmodified XR3 which even Ford asked if they could buy back from him, and rocketry.

Laurie has had numerous articles published such as a letter to the Star Wars comic, and articles in the Romford Recorder and Street Machine magazine. TV appearances are not uncommon although they vary in clarity. Some quite obscure others clear. All fun:

197? - Mentioned by his sister on TV. Well you've got to start somewhere!

197? - In the crowd at a Hovercraft rally. ITV. Not much better.

198? - On Morning TV as a Customs Officer inspecting parcels.

1989 - In crowd at the British Grand Prix. A yellow dot.

199? - Dressed as a Star Wars Stormtrooper (with credit) on ITV. Getting better now.

199? - On BBC's Tomorrow's World inspecting parcels.

199? - Dressed as an X-Wing pilot at Elstree/Star Wars convention. ITV.

199? - Photo of Laurie and Jeremy Bulloch (Boba Fett) on QVC.

1998 - Interviewed by cable Channel One about rockets.

1998 - Interviewed again by Channel One about rockets.

1999 - Live rocket launch for South Today news programme.

1999 - Picture on QVC again.

1999 - His XR3 featured on Top Gear GTI (cable).

2000 - In the crowd at Techno Games 2000.

2000 - Film extra in ITV's In Defence.

2001 - Rocket car contestant in Techno Games 2001.

2001 - ‘Starfighters Attack’ on Meridian ITV. 9^th July 2001.

2001 - ‘The Force of the Starfighters’ on Meridian. 16^th Aug 2001.

2001 - 'The Lone Starfighter' on Meridian.

2001 - Laurie as a robot builder on Discovery Channel in 'Robots Revenge'.

2001 - Laurie in 'Robot Wars' audience.

2002 - Rocket contestant in Techno Games 2002 (Got World Record).

2002 - Laurie and Laurie Jnr filmed in audience for U.S. Robot Wars.

2002 - On GMTV in crowd for Attack of the Clones premiere.

2003 - Laurie on Robot Wars Extreme 2 as a robot driver/team leader. (25th appearance).

2003 - Laurie & Laurie Jnr on Techno Games March 2003. Got his son on TV.

2003 - Laurie on Robot Wars series 7, got to a heat final.

2004 - Laurie, Pauline and sons Laurie & Jon on 'The Way We Are' on Anglia ITV.

2007 - Lightning Trebuchet on 'Scrapheap Challenge Roadshow' on Channel 4. Laurie & Pauline on.

Laurie talks about his heroes, George Lucas and Ayrton Senna. 'Lucas because I admire the fact that he has created one of mankind's most special achievements and Senna because he always tried 100% even if the odds seemed stacked against him. These people all have qualities I admire and wish to have. Of course my parents have inspired me the most'.

Here is some stuff about his family:

His Granddad Laurence won a Victoria Cross medal for gallantry in WW1. He was presented this medal by King George and was one of the Honour Guard involved in the funeral of the unnamed soldier. Since only about 1355 VCs have ever been awarded out of the millions of soldiers that have fought (since the medal first came out in about 1856) it shows how gallant the soldiers have been that received it. He won the Military Medal too and commited several acts of extreme bravery. He died of old age in 1964. His nine medals are the VC, MM, 1914-15 Star, British War medal, Victory medal (with MiD), India General Service medal, Coronation 1937 medal, Coronation 1953 medal, and the Chevalier de l'Order de Leopold II (with palm). He is featured in the book 'Photographs of Old Conisbrough' (ISBN 1 872062 01 6) by June and Tony Greathead, plus several book about the VC. If you don't really understand how special the VC is and what it means, please read up about it. The medal is now part of the Ashcroft Collection to be displayed in the Imperial War Museum.