At the age of 4, Charles had received a Christmas tree gift from a friend of his father whom they were visiting. The gift was just a little something chosen quite carelessly from a shop full of chotchkas meant as last minute casual things for absent minded shoppers needing a quick make good item. It could be a moments amusement for almost anyone, nothing special in any way.
It consisted of twelve gold coloured circular magnets about 1" diameter with a dozen button magnets that fit inside the circles. If the stack of buttons was turned upside down and reinserted they floated halfway up the stacked circles and a finger pressed down on the buttons made the stack behave like a spring was beneath it.
Charles was utterly fascinated with this little gift to the exclusion of all other temptations even Christmas pudding There were so many ways these magnets could be rearranged in various shapes all of which had unexpected properties that rewarded exploration.
It was simply the properties of attraction or repulsion, at least that was the simple way to look at the phenomenon but in fact some shapes, some interactions were strange and unpredictable! Why, for example, would a ring magnet suddenly jump up and flip over whilst its fellows remained where positioned. If you stacked the buttons alternately how come they would float above one another or else suddenly eject one and collapse in a huddle?
In a year or two most of the magnets were lost or broken because the material was very brittle. However they had made a deep impression on Charles mind and occasionally he would look around various shops and catalogues hoping to see another set like it but nobody seemed to know where such a novelty could be found.
The next thing to attract Charles enquiring mind was painting and drawing which was encouraged by his mother who liked to think of herself as a creative person interested in sculpture, music and the arts. Subsequent child births of a brother and two sisters rather put a crimp in his mothers artistic ambitions and meant that the various art materials became Charles' to use as he pleased which compensated largely for the loss of attention since three babies will overwhelm almost anyone to some degree, including their eldest brother.
Which meant that Charles became ever more interested in what his father did and Mr Ramsey was rather flattered in this sudden interest not really understanding its cause, so the two lonely males learned to interact and eventually rely upon each other to provide what help was needed when necessary.
So Charles inherited a number of important posts such as lawn and hedge cutting, coal scuttle filling and transporting from the end of garden bunker to the voracious AGA and fireplace. Charles didn't mind these chores because he was also getting full access to all his fathers little secrets, workshops and tools, nothing sinister.
His mother might well have disagreed about this last point but father neglected to mention the chemicals and glass blowing tools, the jet and rocket propelled models and a plethora of boys toys such as electric drill accessories and machine tools for model makers, lead casting and so forth.
All of the above and a lot more besides was overlaid with the caution 'best not mention this to mother" mostly because of how expensive some were rather than the possibility that any harm could arise from carelessness or misuse. After all what 8 year old boy isn't aware of how sulphuric acid demands respect? Surely everyone knows that old warning verse of "Once there was a thirsty boy, alas he is no more. For what he thought was H2O was H2SO4!"
However Charles did have a shortcoming from his fathers point of view and that was a distinct aversion to most school work especially mathematics. The more he was berated about this the more attention he paid to the subjects of Art, History, Geography and English Lit. and Lang but especially Art.
Charles discovered that he could draw or visualize much of what he was supposed to do using some ancient Greeks formula and generally get a better result faster than his classmates. This is important because his school decided to punish him by not allowing him to take Physics because his Math wasn't up to it.
All of these early influences were to play an important part in what came to be known as Charles Event Horizon, a scholarly little jest that owed nothing to Einstein, as will shortly be revealed.
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