genius or just lucky?, page-3

I wouldn't describe him as a genius.
"His teachers say there was no hint that he would ever make a mark in the world, particularly after he failed his Higher School Certificate, coming in the bottom third of results in the state - or so he boasts. "He was just an ordinary sort of a kid," says his former headmaster at Inverell High, Paul Alliston. His only interests were punting on racehorses (he used to wag school to hang around the local TAB betting shop)"

Huge gamber with the gift of the gab

"The Tinklers may have looked like hicks but, says Lellman, "they could talk the talk and walk the walk, even though they were a bit clumsy on their feet, [and they] said how they could sell all these machines ... But it was all smoke and mirrors. We were conned." The pair walked out with a hand-shake agreement, and a few days later were back with a truck to transport three brand-new Japanese Kobelco excavators back to Muswellbrook"

Full article SMH sept 15th
www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/boom-and-bust-20120910-25n30.html