John Lofting moved to London from the Netherlands in the wake of William and Mary in 1688. He was granted a patent for a fire engine, the first in England, then for a thimble knurling machine. His first manufacturing plant was in Islington He moved the operation to Marlow in Buckinghamshire and produced over two million thimbles a year. This was a huge operation in his day, and was the forunner of the factories in the later industrial revolution. He also invented the beer pump, much to the delight of pub landlords. He was dragged into a high profile court case in which the top lawyers of the day argued in Westminster Hall about colonial rights in New Jersey. This is a biography and a drama about one of the most exciting periods in London's history, when London was being transformed into the commercial centre it is today