W. Heath Robinson

, illustrated by W. Heath Robinson, c. 1914 (reprint)]] The name "Heath Robinson" became part of common parlance in the UK for complex inventions that achieved absurdly simple results following its use as services slang during the 1914–1918 First World War. The spotting table used by the Royal Observer Corps during the Battle of Britain to determine the bearing and altitude of an incoming German raid before calling it in to the sector plotting room was known, affectionately, as "the Heath Robinson." In the Wallace and Gromit films, Wallace often invents Heath Robinson-like machines, with some inventions being direct references. During the Falklands War (1982), British Harrier aircraft…