Wizards of Oz

At this time of year, it is standard media practice to remember some of the notables who have died over the last 12 months. Two people who are unlikely to figure in this litany of the great and good, but who have had a much bigger social impact than a Ronnie Barker or a Hunter S. Thompson are Arnold Hagenbach and Leo Sternbach.
Hagenbach was one of the men behind the Arndale Centres: the first American-style shopping malls in the UK and precursor of the Bluewaters and Metro Centres of today. Having spent many happy hours playing on the wooden animal sculptures at the Arndale Centre in Poole, Dorset and some less happy hours Christmas shopping at its Manchester cousin, I can vouch for the social significance of his particular achievement.
Not so for Sternbach's, although it is there for all to see: he was the Roche scientist who invented the tranquillisers Librium and Valium. The latter was the most prescribed drug in the US from 1969 to 1982. And at the peak of its popularity (1978), more than 2.3 billion tablets were sold. Something to chew on while watching yet another eulogy/apology for George Best.