This lathe was made by Myford of Nottingham, a firm which still exists. It dates from a period where the UK still made things, we had skills, and the man in the street expected to have skills and to use them, both in his work and at home. (The use of the male word is deliberate here - both full-size and model engineering have been male preserves, though when women have to use engineering tools, such as in wartime, or choose to, they are superb).
The ML7 was the first lathe made after WW2 at a price the man in the street could afford for his home workshop. This lathe was the definitive machine for home engineering. Mine was made in 1963, and is still a good serviceable machine, a bit worn in places, but the mainstay of my home workshop. Imagine a car from that period!
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Sadly, Myford went into liquidation in early July 2011. In its way, their demise is as much a microcosm of the history of the UK as its original prominence. The shift of manufacturing away from the cradle in which it was raised to new countries in the East is probably inevitable, but it is sad to see the loss of a set of skills that may still be needed, even in the digital world.