A 1964 Olympic silver  medalist swimmer spent his infant years in Helensburgh and returned in his 40s to make his home in the town.

But contrary to what is stated on a number of websites, Robert Bilsland McGregor MBE was not born in the burgh — he was actually born in Glasgow on April 3 1944.

This article is the text of a talk given by Andy Andrews to Bliss Probus Club in February 2011, at the Chequers Public House, Goddard Lane, in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire. Andy was 99 in August 2011 and is still going strong. His original handwritten manuscript was transcribed by Kenneth Crawford in March 2012.

John Logie Baird was born in Helensburgh, Scotland, in 1888 and died in June 1946. He was Superintendent of Clyde Valley Electrical Power Company until the end of the First World War. In 1920, because of very poor health, he went to Trinidad and opened a jam factory.

He notes that the passenger steamer burst upon the early 19^th century with all the suddenness and immediate widespread popularity of e-mail and the internet today. Leading the way was Henry Bell.