Born on 4 October 1916 in London. Wood was educated at Bromley County School before leaving home in 1930 to join the Merchant Navy. He left the Merchant Navy in 1934 when his service ended and began studying electrical and mechanical engineering. In 1937, after completing his studies, he set up a company developing radio, television and radar. In 1939 he sold the company and joined the Royal Air Force where he worked as an engineer at the Admiralty developing radar and electronic controls. Wood left the RAF in 1946 to set up the Kenwood Manufacturing Co Ltd where he was Managing Director. The first product he produced was the A100 turnover toaster, an appliance that was uncommon in Britain at that time. Kenwood’s products were successful because Wood identified household tasks that gave housewives most work and developed machines to do those jobs. Within a few years of setting up the company, he was one of Britain’s youngest millionaires. In 1968 Thorn Electrical Industries Ltd took over Kenwood. Between 1972 and 1980 Wood was Chairman and Managing Director of the Dawson-Keith Group of Companies and in 1984 he was appointed Fellow of the Institute of Ophthalmology. Wood died in Liphook, Hampshire on 19 October 1997.