You wouldn't think that someone who made their career as an air force and commercial pilot would have much interest in puppets. After all, what connection could there be between flying DC10s from Honolulu to Sydney and manipulating marionettes to make them come alive?
But for retired airline pilot Jim Gamble, creating and performing puppet shows has been a lifelong passion. The hobby that he picked up as an 11-year-old boy helped to pay his way through college when he spent holidays performing up to seven shows a day.
Today he has his own puppet production company which gives more than 2,500 performances a year - more than 1,000 of which Gamble does himself.
Much of his time is spent touring worldwide and next month Gamble is making a return trip to Hong Kong where he last performed Peter and the Wolf in 1997.
Gamble says he is fascinated by the mechanics that breathe life into the illusions and characters he creates on stage.
'I have a masters degree in engineering so I spend a lot of time creating puppets who can do a range of things like juggle a ball from one hand to the other and marionettes like Little Miss Muffet, who in one puppet transforms into a spider and then back into a little girl,' he says.