Christopher Hinton, Baron Hinton of Bankside (12 May 190122 June 1983) was a British nuclear engineer, and supervisor of the construction of Calder Hall, the world's first large-scale commercial nuclear power station. Career Hinton was born on 12 May 1901 at Tisbury, Wiltshire. He attended school in Chippenham where his father was a schoolmaster, and left school at 16 to become an engineering apprentice with the Great Western Railway at Swindon. At 22 he was awarded the William Henry Allen scholarship of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated with a first class honours degree. Hinton then worked for Brunner Mond, later part of ICI, where he became Chief Engineer at the age of 29. At Brunner Mond he met Lillian Boyer (d. 1973) whom he married in 1931. They had one daughter, Mary (1932–2014), who married Arthur Mole, son of Sir Charles Mole, director-general of the Ministry of Works. During World War II, Hinton was seconded to the Ministry of Supply and became Deputy Director General, running ordnance factory construction and in charge of the Royal Filling Factories. In 1946, Hinton was appointed Deputy Controller of Production, Atomic Energy, and in 1954 when the Atomic Energy Authority was formed, was appointed Member for Engineering and Production as managing director of 'Industrial Group Risley' which comprised the Risley headquarters and laboratories at Culcheth, Capenhurst, Windscale, Springfields and Dounreay plus factories at Springfields, Capenhurst, Windscale, Calder, Dounreay and Chapelcross. Hinton's department was responsible for the design and construction of most of Britain's major nuclear plants, including Windscale, Capenhurst, Springfields and Dounreay. In 1957, Hinton became the first chairman of the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB). He retired in 1964 but right up until the time of his death the CEGB kept an office for him at their headquarters in Paternoster Square. For his 80th birthday the Research Division gave a party at which a birthday cake was equipped with 80 candles. These were so closely spaced that when he lit the central candle, the flame spread rapidly to all of the others – Sir Christopher had initiated his last chain reaction! In 1965 he worked for six months in the Ministry of Transport and afterwards became a special adviser to the World Bank. He served as Chairman of the International Executive Committee of the World Energy Conference, 1962–68. He was created Baron Hinton of Bankside, of