COVER STORY Robin Mills met Wolfgang Grulke in Oborne, Dorset
© Wolfgang Grulke Photograph by Robin Mills
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orthern Germany just after WWII was a difficult place to grow up, and when I was a youngster my family moved to South Africa, where I first learned to speak English. I always had an interest in art, but that was not a subject taught at my school, so I ended up doing maths and physics at university—thankfully, I appeared to be quite good at those subjects. I was a passionate collector of odd things even as a young boy. For a while I was a DJ, and every few months I would fly to the UK to buy records (remember those?), which weren’t available locally. The destination was always the iconic One Stop Records in London, often meeting the music stars of the day including Hendrix, Clapton etc. London just seemed to be the hub of everything in the late ‘60’s. I think that must have spawned my love for all things ‘UK’. I love the unique English sense of humour, and the way it explodes in all areas of life and work. I worked for IBM in South Africa, and after a few years I was sent on an international assignment to the UK, in the early 70’s. Subsequently I worked for them all over the world in research, marketing and management. But in the late 1980’s, at the height of apartheid, IBM were faced with an ultimatum from shareholders to leave South Africa. I joined a team responsible for negotiating the disinvestment of the IBM company from South Africa—we were given just a few weeks. This was ironic in many ways, as IBM had always been in the forefront of Tel. 01308 423031 The Marshwood Vale Magazine August 2021 3
