"I hate the tag inventor because it conjures up the image of someone slightly barmy and hopeless. So I would never introduce myself as that. I suppose I should really say that I am an industrialist on the grounds that I manufacture things and employ over one thousand people - but I’m not entirely comfortable with that label either. I would really like to introduce myself as a creator - but that sounds terribly pretentious. A few years ago I would say something like this - ‘hello, my name is James Dyson, I make wheelbarrows’. I used to enjoy that because I noticed that each time I did so the person would immediately change the subject, which used to drive my wife bananas. Anyway, call me obnoxious, but I have tended to stick to the same formula, except now I have to say that I make vacuum cleaners".

Well, that’s one way of putting it. Another way would be to say that Dyson is today the undisputed brand leader in the UK floor care market, outselling its nearest competitor by an impressive ratio of 9 to 1. Manufacturing over one million units a year, your angst inventor-cum-industrialist-cum-creator has well over half of the value share of the entire floor care market. That’s not bad going for a product which was launched just 5 years ago in the Spring of 1993. And before you start feeling too sorry for Hoover, Panasonic, Electrolux and the like - do remember that if they are feeling the pinch then they only have themselves to blame - each enterprise having turned their corporate noses up at Dyson’s invention, anxious to protect the lucrative bag replacement market, worth of £100 million in the UK alone. All of which had made James Dyson one of Britain’s wealthiest men - his company valued at over £300 million - the great man himself duly taking his place in the recently published Sunday Times list of the seriously rich.

And yet Dyson’s story, as told in his autobiography Against the Odds is one of intense financial hardship. The idea of the Dual Cyclone cleaner came to him in 1979 when he discovered whilst in his Cotswolds home (‘a little light housework was the least I could do’) that the new bag in his Junior Hoover clogged with the first dust that went in, so even the most powerful bag cleaner had very little suction. Having spent four years at the Royal College of Art, where he studied furniture and interior design, James was convinced that he could come up with something better. He would have been only too happy to put his money where his mouth was but his only asset, alas, was £10,000 worth of shares in the Ballbarrow market. Hardly enough funding with which to invest in let alone launch a new product - but shares which he duly disposed of in order to support himself during his first year developing a new vacuum cleaner. He even sold off his family’s vegetable garden in order to raise some additional funds. Five years and 5,127 prototypes later he had come up with his revolutionary cyclonic vacuum cleaner. It was fortuitous that Dyson happened to have an impressive record as a cross-country athlete during his school days, for he soon found himself on the R&D equivalent of a journey which, had a film maker been there, might well have been entitled The Loneliness of the Long Distance Inventor. Or Manufacturer. Or Creator.

"You could say that long distance running has been a metaphor for my career to date, yes", Dyson concurs, "because its all about overcoming pain and realizing that the very moment when you feel tired is precisely the moment when you have to accelerate. Because that is the time when everyone else is feeling tired too. Redouble your efforts just when you feel like giving up - for often that can be the turning point." It certainly was for him - and he has been whizzing past his competitors ever since. How did he do it? An engaging blend of grit and genius has to be the answer - although the technical response, needless to say, is a little more complicated. With no pore-clogging bags to impede suction in Dyson’s invention the air containing dust and dirt is accelerated to speeds of up to 900 mph inside the cyclone - that’s faster than the speed of sound - creating powerful G-forces which spin out the dust and dirt into a clear bin. With nothing to block the airflow, the Dyson is able to maintain 100% performance, 100% of the time. Once the cylinder is full, it is emptied, washed and replaced. It was the first breakthrough in vacuum technology since the invention of the cleaner shortly after the turn of the century.

Not surprisingly, in what tends to come across as an exceedingly large dose of sour grapes, these figures are hotly contested by firms such as Hitachi, Vax and Goblin - all of whom who long since been surpassed in terms of sales in common with the German giant Miele - and in common with the firms already mentioned. But love him or loathe him no one can contest the neat little slogan devised by the formidable Dyson marketing team - in fact there is a little sticker on each machine to remind you just in case you haven’t quite got the message - that its ‘Goodbye, inefficient bag and Hello, Dual Cyclone.’

Over 5000 prototypes? Goodness me. Its the sort of question which one hesitates to ask, especially in face of the softly spoken and absolutely charming Mr. Dyson, but no interview would be complete without it. "It sounds to me, if you don’t mind my saying so, that you are a perhaps a little on the obsessive side."

"Oh absolutely", he replies, completely unfazed. "There is definitely an obsessive side to my character. Its an odd obsession though, to do with objects and using new technology to make something work better. Its also a professional obsession - the more people tell me it can’t succeed, the more convinced I become. This is not an ‘up yours’ approach to life - rather the desire to do something really difficult and make it work."

Dyson’s appliances certainly do work. How else to explain the fact that in August 1995 his company won the largest export order ever for electrical goods from Japan? "It gives a new meaning to the old saying ‘shipping coals to Newcastle’", he chortled at the time, as turnover continued to break one record after the next.

But money is not what motivates James Dyson. In fact he will tell you that whilst he appreciates the importance of making a profit, money is of little interest at all.

"The best bit about the whole operation here is that we have a really good team. We can now create other wonderful things here. Nearly 50% of our management is involved in R & D - which is a huge percentage. We do that because we intend to remain streets ahead of our competitors Panasonic and Electrolux when it comes to questions of engineering and design."

Nor has Dyson been shy to use his new found fame and fortune to give back to the community. When Sir Ranulph Fiennes set out on the Antarctica Solo Expedition, aiming for a solo crossing of Antarctica in aid of Breakthrough Breast Cancer, it was Dyson who underwrote the project through a massive £1.44 donation. And in the summer of last year he was elected Philanthropist of the Year for his work.

"But have you not ended up by becoming part of the establishment yourself", I venture to suggest in another tactless aside.

"Looking in from the outside I can understand why you might see things that way. But I like to consider myself as they alternative face of business - someone out there trying to find a better way, a way that’s not dehumanized, that’s not just about making money - you know, where all people worry about all of the time about keeping up the share-price, directors’ perks and so on."

Is there a Dyson in Downing Street? Most certainly. In fact when Prime Minister Blair opened the Powerhouse UK exhibition recently organized by the Department of Trade and Industry - the timing of which was designed to coincide with the Euro-Asia summit - the DCO2 and DCO3 models were both on display - out there flying the flag for the best of British design and creativity. In fact the DCO2 won the European Design prize last year (the first British company to have won this award) in addition to having been selected as one of the first Millennium products. And so the awards and accolades go on. Which must mean, one would assume, that Dyson’s obsession has withered away with the passage of time?

"You must be joking", he replies. "The obsession has multiplied. Because now we have the money and people to develop other ideas. I love vacuum cleaners - and I am sure that I will love them until the day I die - but there are a number of other products which we are working on too. I wouldn’t be so bold as to say ‘you ain’t seen nothing yet’ - but there are a number of hugely exciting projects."

Call me a soft touch if you will. But I have been suitably convinced, returning home with the very latest translucent blue model - the DCO3. Not exactly a bargain at the best part of £300. But hopefully which will one day be worth its weight in dirt and dust. "Darling", I announce to my wife with some pride, "I won’t be a minute, I’m just going to Dyson the lounge."