# Transcript

Benjamin Zephaniah

We couldn't live the way we do without engineers, and the city of Newcastle has a proud history of engineering. The person I'm meeting today was inspired to continue this great tradition. Chi Onwurah is an MP, an electrical engineer and a lifelong Newcastle United fan. Her love of engineering started here.

Chi Onwurah

When I was a kid, my mother would take us to the science museum, and I'd see this ship. It was just such a work of beautiful engineering, and the fastest ship in the world at the time it was built, but also powerful and useful. It wasn't beautiful and useless. It was useful, I guess. And it was from Newcastle, you know, and that really did inspire me.

Benjamin Zephaniah

As a kid did you think, 'In the future, I want to go into engineering'? Or did you just like it as a hobby?

Chi Onwurah

I think really early on – maybe 7, 8 or 9 – I wanted to be an engineer or a scientist. Because, you know, there was never any doubt that I was going to have to earn my living. We had no money. And if you're going to earn your living, I wanted to do something that inspired me.

Benjamin Zephaniah

Did you go to university?

Chi Onwurah

Yes, I went to Imperial to study electrical engineering. Whilst I wasn't designing beautiful objects like this, I was learning how to be an engineer. Telecommunications, that was my speciality. I mean, this is something which I think is absolutely gorgeous, still to this day. I mean, you could put that on your mantelpiece, couldn't you?

Benjamin Zephaniah

Give me an example of something that you've done that is working, that's out there now.

Chi Onwurah

Well, it's a bit of a confession, but I actually have kept one of the first circuit boards that I designed myself and had manufactured. And what that did was to manage 32 telephone calls at one time on this piece of A4 circuit. And I'm really proud of that. That was like the Turbinia of telecommunications at the time, so it was all cutting edge.

Benjamin Zephaniah

Why do you think there's not more people from the ethnic minorities and black people involved in science and engineering?

Chi Onwurah

I think it's something to do with the fact that there aren't black and minority ethnic engineers and scientists visible, so you don't get children being inspired. It's something to do also with the fact that, you know, there aren't more black and minority ethnic physics and maths teachers.

Engineering is absolutely everywhere. It's understanding the world about you, how it works, and being able to make a difference.