Two histories of British Computing

[EdS]

First, from the VCF Pacific North-West held last month, Steve Jamieson’s slide deck can be seen here in the original powerpoint and here in a PDF.

As is hinted in the image, starting at Babbage we go from Alan Turing to Alan Sugar, and a little beyond. You’ll meet Lyon’s tea houses, Ferranti’s computers and supercomputer, and Sinclair’s micros and wafer scale integration. IBM’s Hursley Park, Inmos, and of course ICL. Oh, and Psion. And so many more!

And secondly, in the IT Archives you’ll find many (many) interviews relating to British Computing (Iann Barron jumps out, as do Chris Curry, Steve Furber, Kenneth Baker, Martyn Thomas) and also three storylines:

• ICL - THE RISE AND FALL OF THE UK’S FLAGSHIP COMPUTER COMPANY
• ACORNS TO OAKS - THE SILICON FEN PHENOMENA
• BBC MICRO - THE COMPUTER THAT LAUNCHED A THOUSAND GEEKS
  Presumably in ALL CAPS for authenticity.

[drogon]

A “dramatisation” made for TV thing, however “Micro Men” is worth a watch if you’ve not seen it - especially for non UK folks - it does give a bit of an insight into the early 80’s in the UK, if nothing else.

-Gordon