James Dyson launched his latest invention on Tuesday; the 'Dyson Air Multiplier', or desk fan without blades. A small fan inside the base blows air out through an annular slit in the back of the blue hoop, which has the effect of drawing more air through the hoop, thus saving much electrcity. He said it worked using the viscosity of air. I think it uses Bernoulli's principle - moving air has a lower pressure than still air and low pressure attracts more air, just like a low pressure weather system. Perhaps it's a bit of both.

James came over as a really nice guy, who was perfectly happy to risk making a fool of himself farting about with a scrap of handkerchief.

I took the photographs using the glass table of a conference room at the Dyson HQ in Malmesbury, Wilts, using a single Elinchrom 1500 joule flash bounced off a white wall on my left, and a six foot flat silver reflector slightly behind and to the right of him to fill in the shadows. It was very simple arrangement giving some latitude for him to move around without the exposure going awol - and made up on the spur of the moment. I spent an hour with press officer Mario Seisdedos Garcia (Yes! That's Mario Sixfingers Garcia!) setting up and refining the picture before James arrived, and the handkerchief was his idea.