Stephanie Shirley - Let It Go: My Extraordinary Story - From Refugee to Entrepreneur to Philanthropist

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1. This portrait of me and Renate was taken immediately prior to our leaving Vienna on a Kindertransport in July 1939. I was 5 and my sister was 9 years old.2. My Jewish father, Arnold Buchthal, (born in Dortmund 0n 28 November 1900 and died in Pesaro, Italy, 5 August 1965) was a high court judge before the rise of Nazism forced him to leave Austria.3. My mother, Grete Buchthal (7 January 19067 January 1984) was a well-educated woman with great career prospects before the war. She eventually trained as a teacher and settled in the UK, never returning to Germany with my father.4. My mother and father photographed together whilst my father was on leave from the British army, in Oswestry, 1942.5. We arrived to live with our English family in July, 1939. Auntie and Uncle, as I called them, never had children of their own but I was very much theirs.6. Im photographed here wearing the uniform of the Roman Catholic convent that I attended.7. Checking the randomness of the ERNIE premium bond computer was an important part of my postgraduate work at the Post Office Research Station in Dollis Hill.8. Newly married and saving for our first home. It was a happy period but I still smoked.9. Moss Cottage, named after the moss rose in the garden, had originally been a pair of agricultural cottages. The large window dated from when it served as the village shop.10. I married Derek Shirley at Willesden Registry Office on 14 November 1959. The top tier of the cake went to my sister in Australia.11. Giles was born on 9 May 1963. This photo was taken three months later during some of the happiest days of my life.12. This is Giles when he was a weekly boarder at The Walnuts boarding school.13. Giles studied up at The Walnuts and we went through a couple of very good years.14. The celebrity photographer Baron took this portrait of me after my OBE award in 1980.15. My Freedom of the City of London, awarded in 1987, is a matter of enormous pride.16. I introduced Bill Gates to The Citys captains of industry in 1992.17. The FI team, Hemel Hempstead. Theres something exhilarating about co-ownership when things are going well.18. Voting at one of our Annual General Meetings.19. I served on a number of technical committees during the Thatcher years. Here I am meeting her when I was President of the British Computer Society in 1989.20. The University of Buckingham awarded me with my first ever honorary doctorate in 1991. I served on its Council for three years after it was opened by HM Queen Elizabeth II.21. In 1987 we had a big party at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham to celebrate the companys Silver Jubilee.22. The Old Schoolhouse in Chesham Bois was a much larger version of our first home, Moss Cottage. We were there for 25 years, joined at various periods by friends and family. My company was also headquartered there at one time.23. Balliol College honoured me for my contributions by commissioning this portrait by Saed Dai. The image on the tablet in my lap is of their churchs sundial. The geometric solid indicates mathematics and my Jewish heritage.24. Receiving my appointment as Companion of Honour in 2017 one of only 65 worldwide for distinguished achievement made me cry with sentiment.25. A portrait of me taken at Priors Court School.

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