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THE BIG READ | Tech pioneer James Dyson on how it took 5 126 failures to create his game-changing vacuum cleaner

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After thousands of failed attempts, James Dyson succeeded in developing the world's first bagless domestic vacuum cleaner. (PHOTO: Gallo Images/Alamy)
After thousands of failed attempts, James Dyson succeeded in developing the world's first bagless domestic vacuum cleaner. (PHOTO: Gallo Images/Alamy)

Failure is the true mother of invention, the British tech pioneer says, and we need to stop fearing it.

When I arrive, he’s busy tinkering in his shed. But this is no ordinary garden shed – as befits Britain’s best-known inventor, James Dyson has test rigs, hoists, machine tools and other paraphernalia set up in a giant aircraft hangar.

In fact, he bought the entire airfield in Wiltshire in southwest England to give him the space to assemble things and pull them apart.

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