She runs a successful business, she’s lively and she’s determined that the BCC will succeed and serve its members.”Of the rumours that have recently resurfaced suggesting the BCC and the CBI are again contemplating a merger, Ms Moore is dismissive. She argues a union would not work: “We have different constituencies. We very much represent Middle Britain while the CBI represents larger businesses We are a deliverer of business support services. The CBI is primarily a lobbying organisation.” However, she concedes that the two bodies would do well to team up over certain issues, such as transport infrastructure, to increase their lobbying power with government.Like Isabella of Spain, who is also remembered for being the first woman to achieve the right to succeed to the crown, Isabella of the BCC is the first woman to achieve the right to head a major business body. The straight-talking Ms Moore softens slightly when asked about her achievement. “I know I’m going to be shot down by my male colleagues for saying it,” she confides, “but as a woman, having a family and my own business, I have the ability to juggle several things at the same time. It’s just something that women can do.”She sees her new position as a unique opportunity to push the issue of female entrepreneurs.

Although she cannot say how many of the BCC’s 135,000 members are female – because no one has ever thought to find out – she argues that her appointment shows that the organisation’s traditional “3Ms image – middle-aged male manufacturers” is changing.But for Ms Moore to be remembered for more than just her female status she will need to ensure the BCC makes something of this year’s structural shake up and, as she puts it, “stops navel gazing”. Appointing a new director general would be a start, although there seems to be little chance that the nominee will bring the fresh blood that, arguably, the 220-year-old body still desperately needs.ISABELLA MOORE TRANSLATING TO THE TOPAge: 54Pay: Nothing, except expenses.Career History: Born to Scottish father and Polish mother, born and grew up in Edinburgh. Graduate of St Andrews University and gained a master’s degree at Warsaw University before working on several major bilingual contracts translating for governments, the European Commission and international companies Runs Comtec, a translation company. Former president of the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce and the West Midlands Confederation of Chambers.Hobbies: “Being a typical Gemini I’m never satisfied with the level of knowledge I have.” Studying for European studies degree with the Open University, reads avidly and swims.Biggest influence: “The friendship of two women of very, very independent minds and who are considerably older than me.

Their thinking and approach to life has very much influenced my view of life.”. The important thing, Douglas Adams used to point out in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, was to know where your towel was. For, as the book noted, “any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with”. The reality is that things have moved on: today, a watch is more like the first step to true wearable computing.Take the Timex Ironman and the Suunto X6, which I’ve been looking at for the past couple of weeks.

Both are chunky, plastic objects, the sort of thing that doesn’t look out of place if you’re in to chunky plastic things. The Timex comes with an additional strap-on package, about the size of a cigarette packet, which contains a Garmin Global Positioning System (GPS) module that can calculate your position to an accuracy of 10 metres or so.Perhaps at this point you’re thinking that you don’t need to be told where you are, nor what the temperature is, or your compass heading, or the atmospheric pressure, or the slope. All those things can be found by looking around (hint: cloud formations tell you about atmospheric pressure changes). However, to dismiss these overlooks the number of people participating in active sports, or just easy recreational ones, who find such information invaluable. To a mountaineer, knowing whether it’s 0C or –1C, and whether the weather’s improving or worsening, can force the decision to carry on or turn back; and there are plenty of skydivers who have expressed interest in how accurately the X6 shows your altitude once you’ve jumped out of an aeroplane. It’s the sort of thing that matters.The Timex Ironman, equally, has the sort of functions that can be useful if you’re training for the Ironman (a combination of distance swimming, cycling and running). And since it can measure maximum and average speeds, and distance covered, it’s the sort of gadget that can enhance any sort of distance activity – walking and hiking, windsurfing, sailing, skiing (downhill and cross-country), riding and canoeing.