Paul Sloane

The idea that you can plan for success is a dangerous idea.

And most older people, if they look back and they're honest, they'll say that many of the most interesting things that happened to them in life were the result of an accident.

They started a business, it didn't work, but they stumbled on something else.

They met their future partner by accident.

So there's a famous story of an event that took place at the Moon's Lake House restaurant in Saratoga Springs, New York, in the summer of 1853.

A particularly demanding customer, who is rumored to have been the railroad and shipping magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, repeatedly sent his order of French fried potatoes back to the kitchen, complaining that they were too thick and not crispy enough.

This annoyed the chef, who was called George Crumb.

In a moment of pique, he decided to teach the fussy customer a lesson.

He sliced the potatoes paper thin, fried them to a brittle crisp in hot oil, and for good measure doused them with an extra helping of salt.

To Crumb's astonishment, the customer, instead of being insulted, was delighted with the Saratoga chips as they came to be known.

This accidental creation was an instant success and what are known as chips were born.

And it's an example of an accidental creation.

unexpected solution that came from repeated experiments and frustration and annoyance and it just popped out and somebody tried something and surprise, surprise, it worked.

And it's an unexpected solution.

Well, a little of both, but there are many, many examples, many, many scientific inventions which are the result of accidents.

And of course, the most famous is penicillin, discovered by Sir Alexander Fleming.

He came back from holiday.

He was a microbiologist.

He found that one of his Petri dishes had developed a mold that was resistant to bacteria.

And most people would be annoyed.