On Fri, 07 Jan 2005 01:13:05 GMT, tony roberts
wrote:

. . . is named after its inventer, John L. McAdam . . .

I believe that to be incorrect.
It was invented by Edgar Purnell Hooley in 1901
In 1903 he formed the TarMacadam syndicate, which today is a company
named Tarmac Plc.

Macadam or MacAdam devised the system of laying down small or crushed
stones to make a weatherproof road.

Tarmacadam improved on this by using tar as a binder, making the world
safe for the bumper-to-bumper traffic we now know and love. (Oh, I
know there's concrete, but that's not much used in the cold climates
like mine.)