Mike Senior - Translator of Johann Bessler's Works, has Passed away.

Back in 1996 I had all these pieces of paper all in German, which were the culmination of many years research into the life of Johann Bessler.  I was utterly stuck because I had all this information and I could not read it.  I had copies of 'Grundlicher Bericht', 'Apologia Poetica' and 'Das Triumphirende', in my hands and no way of knowing what it said.  I obtained quotes for translating it and I recall DT was going to cost in excess of £3000!  No way could I have afforded that.

With little hope of success I wrote a letter to the local newspaper explaining my situation and asking if there was anyone who might like to try and help me out.  Imagine my surprise and pleasure to get not one but five responses!  To cut a long story short, four of them gradually dropped out, only Mike Senior remained.  He turned out to be one in a million.  He was completely computer illiterate and translated everything in handwriting, filled with a profusion of notes about things Bessler had written.

His first task was to translate all the letters and news reports of the day, then he did Gruendlicher Bericht, but his hardest task was Apologia Poetica which unfortunately was in poor condition and nothing like the copies you can download from the internet now.  Some of pages were overprinted from the adjacent page, ink migration, and made reading the text very difficult.  Finally he undertook the mighty Das Triumphirende.  It took many months to obtain finished copies of each book and then I had the task of transcribing his handwritten sheest of paper onto my computer, readying it for printing and then finding a method of obtaining finished printed copies.

Mike and I met many times for a beer etc, he enjoyed strong beer with whisky chasers, but not for me, I would have fallen sleep!  We discussed Bessler and his machine and although Mike never believed in Bessler, he did enjoy reading him.

Mike had a degree in 18th century German and spoke German fluently.  He could also recite from memory much ancient Greek literature, also had a degree in Botany and was a permanent freelance researcher for Warwickshire Museum, providing annual reports on the flora of this county.  He was also an avid amateur astronomer and had his own telescope and travelled to witness various eclipses.  He was a regular contributor to one of the top science magazines whose name temporarily escapes me, but I know he was in long running debate on the origin of the universe, string theory and quantum mechanics!  He used to try to explain all this to me but I confess it went clean  over my head.

He was originally a school teacher but got bored repeating himself each year  and said he didn't like kids any way!  So he left to take up his favourite past time which was walking the high ways and byeways of Warwickshire recording all that he saw of a botanical nature.

Latterly he suffered some serious hip problems and had to undergo five hip operations in one year and never really recovered.

I'll miss his great sense of humour and his wonderful laugh; he told some risqué jokes but you could not help but  join in, he was that kind of man.

Please remember Mike, we owe what we know of Bessler's words to him, and to those who seek inaccuracies in his translations, bear in mind he asked me if I wanted something that read well or a literal word for word translation and I chose the former, so Bessler's words carry a flavour of Mike's personal inflections.

Here's to you Mike,

JC