I met Prof Eric Laithwaite - a really original thinker - on a committee if the IEE (now IETE). He got the essence of what was needed, and they used his idea. He pioneered linear motors and warned about a maglev at Birmingham Airport. Something about technology used for small models not scaling linearly. Unfortunately that lot didn't listen to him, and it was an unmitigated mistake.

I also knew Eric Idle while at school. He was a thoughtful guy, a thinker too. Anything theatrical, he was there, but outside of that - no ego I could detect. Not that I knew him well enough to see all his aspects, he was years above me.