Fascinating float advert on ebay - Clue to BB's favourite?

[Necarper]

Not quite that way Vole, there are a few like that still out there. The principle is that you wind it on the line so that the line runs inside the spring coils and you stop it each side in the conventional manner with shot.

As a side, there is a movement led by Mike Thill (who owns one of the biggest float making companies over here) to use Euro style floats (ie with an eye or quick change adapter) waggler style, rather than the springs which he often shows his distaste for. While not quite traditional, he has also introduced the euro style 10m poles for float fishing, hair rigs and the method feeder into the US specifically for the growing breed of carp fishermen.

[Vole]

Hey, I remember Mick (as he was then) "Captain America" Thill; met him at a match in the late sixties. Very much a thinking angler.
I thought he was over here at the moment?