When I was a teenager I fell in love with a type of car called a Moke - girls came later. Eventually a mate and I started the Moke Owners' Association of Victoria which was the first club in the world for this marque. Many years and three Mokes later I was frustrated by the fact that lots of folk in the club had really creative names for their cars and I didn't. All the good names like SMOKEY and RE-MOKE-ABLE seemed to be gone. Then one day we started an outing in a pub car park where there was a huge sign advertising a certain whisky. That was it! My car was black. My name is Douglas. So the car became Black Douglas.

Not many years after this naming ceremony I had to tootle off to London for a year to study. Packing was a nightmare until I realised that if I packed as much black stuff as possible, it would be easy to match everything and I wouldn't have to cart so much. So Black Douglas became associated with the person Doug. Williams as well.

When I returned from England, the new Victorian 'liberal' government encouraged me to begin my consultant business. What would I name it? Easy - I would be using the car to travel to my various jobs, so Black Douglas Professional Education Services it became.

Over the years the business has expanded to develop a publishing arm and I now have to take aeroplanes to some jobs, but the name stays. I guess if the business ever expands sufficiently to require me to have my own plane, then it will be black too.

The irony of the name however is that I am a non-drinker!