Barees. Thats great. It is an easy and very useful little torch now.
Vermin, I hadn't seen that article. It is very interesting and I may give it a go. When I get a chance I will take a photo of the oscillator circuit and post it here. Though this "joule thief" appears to be much simpler and does the same thing.
By the way, if you are after a very bright torch check these LED's out
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/NEW-50X-10mm-...QQcmdZViewItem
They probably have a narrow beam but they put my 6000mcd LED to shame.
rmcpb, you are right. I wouldn't have believed some of the topics that come up on this forum and still relate to astronomy.