Cooper, M, MBCS: Baking the First Business Computer, ITNOW, Volume 66, Issue 1, Spring 2024-You can read the article at ITNOW Volume 66 in the event there is a paywall there is a brief summary below as well as the original Press Release. A project celebrating the world’s first business computer took a highly commended second place in the BCS IT Industry Awards’ charities category. The project explores the […]
Billy Dalziel and Corby Steelworks LEO II:-Billy Dalziel of the Corby Heritage centre gave a presentation about Stewart and Lloyds and the LEO II installed at the Corby Steelworks. The presentation was on 05 May 2023 and can be viewed at the LEO Computer Society Website The presentation is rich in the industrial heritage of the UK and Corby in particular, […]
David Holdsworth – The Leo III Reloaded:-Speaker: David Holdsworth Date: Tue 23rd Jan 2024 Time: 17:00 for 17:30 Location: Manchester Metropolitan University. John Dalton Building, Room E0.05 This talk describes how someone completely unfamiliar with Leo III converted assembly language printer listings into working code, with the help of volunteers from the Leo Society. As well as describing techniques, there will be […]
Aeberhard, J (2022) LEO Remembered published 28thSeptember 2022 – Press Release.-IN AT THE START OF BUSINESS COMPUTING What was it really like to be in at the start of business computing, to attempt what no-one had done before, to develop totally new ways of processing and managing data that would eventually completely change the way business operates across the world?A flavour of what it felt like […]
Anon, (1951), A Royal Visitor: Princess Elizabeth visits Cadby Hall,-Lyons Office Journal, Vol. 2, Number 21, March. Report with photo of the visit which includes meeting John Simmons and T.R. Thompson showing LEO I to Royal Party. A copy is held in the London Metropolitan Archive under catalogue number ACC/3527/310 Also CCH
Anon (1947-1954) LEO Chronicle-Lyons and Office Management Association. Papers of John Simmons, Reference Number: 363/S4/11, Warwick University, Modern Records Centre. The Chronicle is a diary of events and activities relating to the development and operation of LEO computing – an invaluable source. The Chronicle
Anon (1952) ‘The Laymans Guide to LEO’,-J. Lyons & Co.Intended for the Lyons’ Management only a small number were printed. The original version was about 75 pages, though later versions were much longer. Copies are held in the John Simmons Archive at Warwick University Modern Records Centre Showcase: Pioneers: Innovators in Science and Technology, and can be seen on: https://warwick.ac.uk/services/library/mrc/archives_online/exhibitions/pioneers/ and at […]
Anon (1953), Personality Profile T.R. Thompson,-Lyons Office Journal. Vol. 1, July 1951 to June 1953, available as part of the Lyons archive held at the London Metropolitan Museum, catalogue entry: ” ACC/3527/311 Lyons Office Journal. Published for J. Lyons and Co. Ltd. Clerical department.
Anon (1960) Advanced Data Processing,-A clip from the “Engineer” for 22 July 1960, probably the earliest reference to LEO II in print, and concentrating on the microprogramming feature.
Anon (1960) Introducing LEO III,-A clip from The Stock Exchange Gazette for 12 August 1960, announcing the development of LEO III in more general terms.
Anon (1962), LEO: Three Jobs at Once,-Advertisement in for LEO III Computer Journal, Vol 5, Number 1. A copy of the advertisement is held at the Cambridge Centre for Computer History and can be obtained from the archivist
Anon (1964), Quis LEO Aptitude test,-Comprising Introduction and Explanation, Instructions for giving test, the Test Itself, Correct answers’ The document as digitized by John Hoey in Australia and a copy is available from CCH
Anon (1967), September LyonsMail -Short note and photos of Lyons Managing Director Samuel Salmon viewing restart of LEO III/7 following the catastrophic fire at the Lyons computer installation. More information on the incident can be found in Peter Bird’s book LEO: The First Business Computer page 164 to 166.
Anon, LEO Computer,-A useful summary of the LEO story which does need editing ,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LEO_(computer)
B-Beck, Arnold, (194) Oral History, Electronic Engineer, interviewed by William Asprey of the Charles Babbage Institute, describes working for Standard Telephone and Cables in the late 1940s on designing thermionic valves for Lyons and EDSAC which failed. Asked why they failed he notes “Mainly because it wasn’t reliable enough. I don’t want to make excuses, but when development […]
Behr, B. (ed.) (2014) LEO Computers Society Newsletter, Autumn,-with contributions from Jessica Bradford (Science Museum), Peter Byford, Bernard Behr, David Holdsworth (Computer Conservation Society), Frank Land and Michael Storey. http://www.leo-computers.org.uk/images/LEONe wsletterAutumn2014.pdf
Behr, B. (ed.) (2015) LEO Computers Society Newsletter,-summer, with contributions from Peter Byford, Ralph Land, Norman Witkin, Neil Lamming, Gloria Guy, Bill Sant and David Holdsworth. http://www.leo-computers.org.uk/images/NewsletterSummer2015.pdf
Bentley, R. (2003). The Teashops that ruled the IT World,- Computer Weekly. Available at: http://www.computerweekly.com/feature/The-tea-shops-that-ruled-the-IT-world Based on review of Georgina Ferry’s book A Computer called LEO.
Bergin, T. J. (2007) Mainframe Computers,-A listing of mainframe computer manufacturers providing a chronology of their main products, including LEO Computers and the successor companies: IT
Bergin, T. J (1997) User-Driven Innovation: Review,-ACM Computing reviews, July,http://www.computingreviews.com/review/Review_review.cfm?review_id=120073&listname=search – link takes you to the login page of ‘Computing Reviews’ – need to be a member of ACM to access.
Bird, P. (1990/91) LEO, the Pride of Lyons,-British Journal of Administrative Management,5pp 20,21, included is brief biography of Peter Bird on page 20. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QDni8SZmBFNfy-RPbWUZX8IqmXnx_GyU/edit?usp=share_link&ouid=106995194925914651236&rtpof=true&sd=true
(2019), The Future of Computer History,-ITNOW, pages 65-66, December issue. Blobel, University of Paderborn, advocates the need to teach computing history for an understanding of IT today.
Briscoe, G. (2016) 1950s Computer Training Package,-A collection of texts and https://www5.open.ac.uk/library/library-resources/graham-briscoe-productivity-collection Resurrection, Issue Number 73, pp25-33.
Briscoe, G, (2019), LEO and the Managers: Unearthing its ownership,-An account of the research carried out by Graham Briscoe to discover the copyright holder for the John Simmons book LEO and the Manager and the successful transfer of publication rights to the LEO Computers Society. Resurrection, Issue Number 85, Spring 2019, pp. 25-26. The LEO archive in Dropbox includes three documents including a letter from Stuart […]
Bryant, A., Land, F.F., (2020, 2021), A Conversation between Frank Land and Antony Bryant,-paper published in Journal of Information Technology. Part 1 and 2 published online June 5, 2020 Research Article. and accepted for publication over two issues in 2020 Part 1 Part 1 in print version, Vol. 35, issue 4, pages 361 – 375, A ‘conversation’ between Frank Land (FL) and Antony Bryant (AB): PART I – Antony Bryant, Frank Land, […]
Bryant, A., Land, F.F., (2020, 2021), A Conversation between Frank Land and Antony Bryant,-paper published in Journal of Information Technology. Part 1 and 2 published online June 5, 2020 Research Article. and accepted for publication over two issues in 2020 Part 1 Part 1 in print version, Vol. 35, issue 4, pages 361 – 375, A ‘conversation’ between Frank Land (FL) and Antony Bryant (AB): PART I – Antony Bryant, Frank Land, […]
Buelow, R., (2021), Business Computing, Nixdorf Museum Forum,-Commemorating LEO I’s first business application in November 1951. The blog notes inter alia the filing of German patents for the LEO computer in the Munich Patent Office in 1964. https://www.hnf.de/en/home.html
Butt, P. J., (2011), TR Thompson – The Leo Computer:-A London connection, GLIAS Newsletter, GREATER LONDON INDUSTRIAL ARCHAEOLOGY SOCIETY, The newsletter copies extracts from the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography the obituary of TRT, and adds a comment from Roy Irons who had been an operator on the LEO II.9 at Ilford Ltd. http://www.glias.org.uk/news/256news.html
Byford, P., (2020), Lions on the Loose,-ICL All Stars Magazine, Issue 67, summer/autumn 2020, page 18. Report and photos of lunch in Melbourne of LEO Australian veterans. file:///C:/Users/Dell/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20 Files/Content.Outlook/CVA422EG/ICLISP.%20Edition%2067%20Final.pdf Local File Reference
Caldwell, J. (!962), Review, Automatic Programming Languages for Business and Science,-A two-day conference held at Northampton College of Advanced Technology with the co-operation of the BCS.in April 1962. T.R. Thompson presented a paper on considering the fundamental principles for expressing a procedure for a computer application independently of any compiler or computer considerations. See review by Caldwell in Dropbox at: http://www.dropbox.com/s/08ap89c8n26oxjs/J%20Caldwell%20Report%20Automatic%2 0Programming%20Conference%201962.docx?dl=0
Caminer, D.T., (1951), Personal diaries,-David Caminer kept a personal diary for a few months in 1951, chronicling, both domestic and business events. Hilary Caminer his daughter, secretary of the LEO Computer Science has scanned them for collection in the in the LEO archive at the Cambridge Centre for Computer History.
Caminer, D.T. (2000) Back to Basics,-interview in Institute for the Management of Information Systems Journal, Vol. 10, Issue 1. Copy held by Hilary Caminer.
Caminer, Hilary, (2016). Editor, LEO Remembered,-essays and reminiscences by LEO people compiled to Hilary Caminer. honour the role played by Peter Bird in bringing public attention to the history of LEO and of the Lyons Food Empire, Published by LEO Computers Society, 108 pages. Available from Hilary Caminer. http://www.leo-computers.org.uk/images/LeoBookWeb.pdf
Caminer, H. and McGerty, L., Editors (2022), LEO Remembered 2nd edition.-Book was launched September 28th 2022 by Zoom to an international audience and included presentations by Catherine Griffith of the AITT Trust, Peter Byford, Hilary Caminer, Lisa McGerty and Frank Land and included a question and answer session and comments by members of the audience. For a recording of the event and purchase of the book https://www.leo-computers.org.uk/launch-of-the-massively-revised-leo-remembered-on-28-september/
Caminer, Hilary (2016) editor, Unveiling the plaque, November 29th 2016,-Edited version of presentation at the unveiling of the plaque commemorating 65 years of business computing at Lyons Walk, including presentations from Peter Byford, Frank Land, Dame Stephanie Shirley and Tony Morgan,https://drive.google.com/file/d/1W7crYOqEN3ZGD6qet3i1kMkuWYKbzU6K/view?usp=share_link
Caminer, H., (Editor), Behr, B., (Production), (2018), Newsletter and Review,-Leo Computers Society Vol. 4, Spring 2018, pp. 1-22, http://www.leo-computers.org.uk/images/LeoNewsletterSpring2018.pdfThe issue includes articles by Peter Byford, John Daines, Frank Land, Lisa McGerty, Elisabetta Mori, Phillip Bird, Mike Storey, Tony Morgan, Stan Holwill, Bill Forfar, WEJ Parry, Tony Davies, Bob Stevenson. The issue can be read or downloaded from the LEO Computers Website at http://www.leo-computers.org.uk/
Caminer, H., (Editor), Behr, B., (Production), (2020), Leo Matters, ,-Leo Computers Society Vol. 8, Winter 2020, pp. 1-17. Accessing LEO Matters as of November 2020: Firstly the edition is embedded in LEO Computers Society new Website as a “Post” which means members will be able to comment or ask questions when they view it. To do this you members have to be logged in […]
Caminer, H., (Editor), Behr, B., (Production), (2021), Leo Matters, ,-Leo Computers Society Vol. 9, Spring 2021, pp. 1-16. This Issue – Index 1. Message from our Chairman Peter Byford, pp. 1 -2. Letter from HM Queen Editor pp. 2-3. Special Visit to Cadby Hall Neville Lyons pp. 3-4. NHLF Project Update Lisa McGerty, pp. 4-5. Zoom, Zoom, Zoom Hilary Caminer, pp. 5-6. Braille Computing […]
Ceruzzi, P.E. (1996) LEO: The First Business Computer, Review,-ACM Computing Reviews, February, http://www.computingreviews.com/review/Review_review.cfm?review_id=119311&listname=search Note: this review was rated the best review in Computing Reviews for 1996.
Coombs, M. and Lanchin, M., (2019), From cakes to computers-, BBC Witness History Coombs recalls her work as an early computer programmer on LEO, the first electronic office system, pioneered by the Lyons catering company. In the early 1950s, the leading British catering firm, J Lyons & Co, pioneered the world’s first automated office system. It was baptised LEO – the Lyons Electronic Office – […]
Cooper, A., (2018), A Virtual LEO III.-The story of LOLA the consortium of London local authorities who replaced their LEO III with an IBM 360/50 and for whom IBM produced a LEO III emulator to enable them to run legacy systems. LEO Matters, Vol. 5, Spring 2019, pp. 9– 10, Newsletter of the LEO Computers Society,https://www.leo-computers.org.uk/images/Leo%20Newsletter%20Spring%202019.pdf
-Cooper, G. (2016) How Lyons Produced the World’s First Large Business Computer, Power Point Presentation to IET retired branch, https://www.dropbox.com/home/LEO%20Oral%20History%20project/Copied%20from%20old%20Leo%20interviews%20shared%20folder?preview=Cooper+IET+Lecture+2016.pptLink Broken
Cooper, M., (2020) From baking to business computing, -Martin Cooper interviewsPeter Byford, Neville Lyons and Frank Land members of the LEO Computer Societytell Martin Cooper MBCS RITTech about their memories of a computer, created by acatering company, that revolutionised business computing. Published in ITNowmagazine of British Computer Society May 2020 https://www.bcs.org/content-hub/from-baking-to-business-computing
Cummings, J.G., (2012), The Great Railway Caper: Big Data, -O’Reilly Strata Conference October 2012 on Big Data. The paper gives an account of the LEO railway distancing job. http://blog.jgc.org/2012/10/the-great-railway-caper-big-data-in- 1955.html
Daines, J. (2017) LEO, Lyons Electronic Office:-The World’s first Business Computer, presentation at Cambridge Centre for Computing History November 2017. Copies can be obtained from John Daines and Frank Land.
Daines, J., (2019), collector. LEO III Training Course,-Daines, J., (2019), collector. LEO III Training Course, including examples of CLEO, INTERCODE and LEO II coding. Held on loan at Cambridge Centre for Computer Research and in Dropbox athttps://www.dropbox.com/s/2zooadee7pyxa4r/LEO%20III%20Training%20Course%2 0Coding%20Example.pdf?dl=0
Daines, J., (2019), collector, GPO stuff from jd-articles published in PO Telecomms Journal, reporting on in purchase and installation of LEO Computers by Post Office, including photographs, held in LEO Dropbox archive at https://www.dropbox.com/sh/np1gbf6xo06t9pz/AAA-WrhY-7hlrGJ3bs44AMs5a?dl=0
Daines, J., (2019), Lecture “On the origins of LEO, -presented to Manchester branch of Computer Conservation Conservation Society. September 2019. An edited version of the talk is available from Frank Land John Daines.
Daines, J., (2020), Tony Morgan, an Appreciation,-Daines, J., (2020), Tony Morgan, an Appreciation, in LEO Matters, Spring, 2020, pages 14-15 http://www.leo-computers.org.uk/images/LeoNewsletterSpring2020.pdf
Daines, J., (2021), The History of LEO Computers,-Presentation given to Winsford U3A Science and Technology Group on January 20th and reported on in the Winsford U3A Science and Technology Newsletter in February 2021 at https://u3asites.org.uk/files/w/winsford/docs/february2021newsletter.pdfThe editor provides a summary of the Power Point presentation and comments on itshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGx15K7RYDM&feature=youtu.beDaines, J., (2021), The UK not the USA produced the first ever business computer, presentation Daines 30th April, attended […]
Daines, J., (2021), The Story of LEO, Presentation to LEO Computers Society Zoom Forum, 14th July 2021.-The presentation, including the follow-up discussion is available at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LuUJsj4LO0sYOYq7A4uFwfDanNsLXEQr/view?usp=share_link Daines, J., (2022), Collected CLEO material. The material includes training manuals, and CLEO code. The collection can be viewed at:https://1drv.ms/u/s!Am-Eh_3csbLuj0cw5DM4fiZJK_Vd?e=WqOJUb
Daziel, Billy (2015) Corby & The Electronic Brain:-LEO II, pamphlet describing exhibition at the Corby Heritage Centre July/August, in memory of the Stewarts and Lloyds’ LEO II computer, the first LEO II delivered to a commercial customer, Ravenscraig Article.pdf
Deane J., (2004), Timesharing History:-An Update, in Leatherdale, D., editor, Resurrection, Bulletin of Computer Conservation Society, Issue 32, New Year. The article updates an article in Issue 31 which had omitted LEO’s role in the development of Timesharing and its implementation in early 1962 ahead of its rival, the Ferranti Orion, though Ferranti had first launched its timesharing plans. http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/CCS/res/res32.htm#f
Ferry, G. (2015) Pioneer of Business Systems-“Father of Office Computing, John Simmons”, Old Brightonians, Brighton College, https://www.oldbrightonians.com/news/notable-obs/business/243-john-simmons-bc-1916.html
Furey, C. (1975), LEO III: a rave from grave, Computing, September 4th 1975,-an article noting the retirement of the London Boroughs LEO III from Greenwich and lamenting the failure of any British Museum to take an interest in the machine. The lament is reinforced by the edition editorial “A Maker from History”
Gibbs, G.R., (1965), The LEO I, Datamation,-Pages 40-41, an article describing LEO I on the date of its decommissioning, including two photos of the computer, download from http://www.bitsavers.org/magazines/Datamation/196505.pdf
Gibson, A., (1991), British Journal of Administrative Management (1991), 75th Anniversary Issue:-Copy held as manuscript text at John Rylands Library, Manchester University in box GB 133 NAHC/LEO/A6 http://archives.li.man.ac.uk/ead/html/gb133nahc-leo-p1.shtml The contents include:Simmons, the visionary, April 1991. O&M and Simmons, November 1991. The contents of the collection can be viewed by application to the librarian.
Greening-Jackson, T. (2008) LEO I and the BR. Job, -Including transcript of interview with Roger Coleman, programmer in charge of railway distancing job,https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/53368/Roger-Coleman-Interview/
Hartley-Smith, A., (2030), editor, Marconi in Computers and Automation. -Hartley-Smith, A., (2030), editor, Marconi in Computers and Automation. The account includes a graphic showing the various components involved in the evolution of the UK computer industry including the LEO enterprise. http://marconiincomputers.pbworks.com/w/page/86849797/Marconi%20in%20C omputers%20and%20Automation
Holdsworth, D. (2016) Intercode and Master Routines, Resurrection, Issue 73 pg.7.-David has commented:“…it looks a lot like a real Leo, or so I am told by people who knew the real thing. What is more important than the replica is the software that we have, namely the Intercode Translator, the Master Routine and its accompanying generator programme. All three run successfully on our replica. There […]
Holdsworth, D., (2019), Software,-Further account of LEO III facilities and correspondence related to making facilities available, Resurrection, Spring 2019, number 87, page10,. http://computerconservationsociety.org/resurrection/res87.htm#b
Holdsworth, D., (2019), Software Leo III:-I have been co-operating with Leo Society members in updating their LEOPEDIA, and it now contains links to our stuff both on sw.ccs.bcs.org and Resurrection. I am looking for information on early assembly language programming, in an attempt to comprehend the state-of-the-art at the time that Intercode was designed. My amazement at Intercode is documented […]
I Programmer (2010) LEO –-Lyons Electronic office a short but comprehensive account of the LEO story, http://www.i-programmer.info/history/machines/670-leo-lyons-electonic-office.html
Jackson, M.J., (1970), Freemans (London, SW9),-Paper presented at Computer for Profit Conference, 6 pages, sponsored by British Institute of Management, Confederation of British Industries and ICL, at Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, January 22nd 1970
Jones, S., (2011), How Lyons Teashops Powered Computers, The Guardian, 26th August.-The article recapitulates the story of LEO origins and finishes with an extract from the New Scientist a decade earlier: “In today’s terms it would be like hearing that Pizza Hut had developed a new generation of microprocessor, or McDonald’s had invented the internet.” https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/aug/26/how-lyons-teashops-powered-computers
Kaye, E.J. and Gibbs G.R. (1954) ‘LEO – A Checking Device for Punched Paper Tape’-Electronic Engineering, Vol. 29, pp. 386-392.Reprinted as part of ‘LEO –Lyons Electronic Office’ in Electronic Engineering, pp 18-24 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/outriders/2011/11/leo_making_history.shtml Bristol Industrial Archaeological Society Journal (BAIS), No. 47, pages 21-33.
Kemp, K., LEO Software Demonstration,-The full set of demonstrations developed by a team headed by David Holdsworth of the CCS are held at http://sw.ccs.bcs.org/leo/ITdemo.zip.
Kemp, K., (editor), LEO III and PROGRAMMING TECHNIQUES,-This document has been produced by people who programmed the LEO III computer in the 1960s to describe some of the techniques and methods which were in use at the time. The objective is to provide information to help people understand how the LEO III was used for data processing using the hardware and software […]
Land, F.F. (1996) Information Revolution,-in Malcolm Warner (ed.), International Encyclopaedia of published in LSE Working Paper Series, Number 95.The Information Revolution
Land, F.F. (1996) Information Revolution,-in Malcolm Warner (ed.), International Encyclopaedia of published in LSE Working Paper Series, Number 95.The Information Revolution
Land, F.F. (1997) ‘Information Technology Implementation:-The Case of the World’s First Business Computer: The Initiation Phase’, in McMaster, T., Mumford, E., Swanson, E.B., Warboys, B., and Wastell, D. (eds.) Facilitating Technology Transfer through Partnership: Learning from Practice and Research, pp. 3-19, Chapman & Hall: London.
Land, F.F. (1998) ‘LEO, The First Business Computer: A Personal Experience’, in Glass, R.L. (ed.),-In the Beginning. Personal Recollections of Software Pioneers, IEEE Computer Society, Los Alamitos, CA., pages 134 – 154. Republished in Glass, R.L., (2020), In the Beginning: Personal Recollections of Software Pioneers 2, published by Developer Books, Hogansville, Chapter 5: LEO the First Business Computer: A personal recollection, Frank Land, pp 249 – 288 and brief biography of Frank Land, pp 611 – 613.
Land, F.F. (2003) A Computer Called LEO: Review: -ACM Computing Reviews, June 24th, http://www.computingreviews.com/review/Review_review.cfm?review_id=127849&listname=search – link takes to the login page only – need to be a member of ACM to access. British Computer Society Journal, Vol. 49, No. 6, pp. 650 – 656.
Land, F.F., (2010), The use of history in IS research: an opportunity missed?,-Journal of Information Technology, Vol 25, pp. 365 – 394 Reprinted 2016 in Enacting Research Methods in Information Systems: Volume 1, pp 213-234, editors Wilcocks, L., Lacity, M., Sauer, C., Springer International Publishers.Enacting Research MethodsReprinted as a selected paper in Schlagwein, D. (Editor, December 2020, Thirty-Five Years of the Journal of Information Technology. To celebrate this, the editors have […]
Land, F.F. (2006) LEO II and the Model T Ford(2),-British Computer Society Journal, Vol. 49, No. 6, pp. 650 – 656. https://doi.org/10.1093/comjnl/bxl041Access on this site is behind a BCS/Oxford paywall but will be available to people who are members of certain institutions and libraries. Free access to scanned copy is available via the CCH website on the link below https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/53776/LEO%20II%20and%20the%20Model%20T%20Ford
Land, F.F., (2014), U3A: Remembering LEO,-lecture presentation to Ivybridge U3A Science and Technology Group. The presentation material can be obtained from Frank Land on request. F.land@lse.ac.uk
Land, R.R., (2018), Mysterious Death of Dennis Skinner,-Land, R.R., (2018), Mysterious Death of Dennis Skinner, commentary on report of death of LEO Moscow Office Manager. Commentary held by Frank Land and in Dropbox at Commentary. (Broken Link) NY Times Also see Monica Porter below
Lenaerts, E.H. (1950-1967) Note Books,-set of 48 manuscript diaries covering the work of LEO engineer Ernest Lenaerts from LEO I to LEO III. http://www.billp.org/LEO/ The note books are held at the Cambridge Centre for Computer History and being professionally archived and made available for exhibition. See also electronic Engineering, Vol. 23, pp. 140-141.https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/sec/55629/Lenaerts-Notebooks/
Logan RS et al Ravenscraig use of LECTOR V3 (2022)-Colvilles Ltd., Ravenscraig Steelworks – Use of Lector OMR in LEO III systems Introduction Colvilles Ltd. Steelmakers installed a LEO III (No.32) in its Ravenscraig Works in Motherwell in 1965. The References describe the systems implemented using the Lector Optical Mark Reader and LEO IIIhttps://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/po53hazoo0ba5kyrx16nc/Ravenscraig-Article.pdf?rlkey=42cr00ngjp3294u8j20bzi9ck&dl=0
Lyons, N. (2015) LEO: The Lyons Electronic Office.-The story of the First Business Computer, Journal of the Royal Signals Institution, Vol. 33, Issue 1, pp. 32-37. An abridged version was published in Kai Kai Baluch Journal September 17th 2017, pp. 29-32.
Lyons, N. (2006-2018) Correspondence, Research items gifted to London Metropolitan Archives, City of London:-Accession reference: Lyons Neville The material includes history of J Lyons and Company Limited and its achievements (presentations includes images mainly sourced from Peter Bird, historian) and media interview recordings. Details here https://www.leo-computers.org.uk/london-metropolitan-archives-lyons-neville-lma-4803/nhill
Lyons, N, (2017), Sir Joseph Lyons: -A double anniversary, an article commemorating Joe Lyons, chairman of J.& Co from its inception to his death in 1917, by his nephew and member of LEO Computers Society.. https://leo-computers.org.uk/images/JosephLyons.pdf
Lyons, N. (2018), The Joe Lyons Story-Food for Thought, Computer Conservation Society, talk presented at meeting of CCS in May 2017 tells the story of the company which produced the World’s First “electronic office”. Available at You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrwGDC8Bdow
Lyons, N., (2020), Byting the Biscuit-in the U3A Third Age Matters journal, Feb, pages 159-161, U3A member Neville Lyons tells how LEO, the first ever business computer, was developed by cakes company J Lyons &Co.
Margolis, J, (2018) Review: ‘Electronic Dreams’ by Tom Lean,-Financial Times, March 12th, 2018, https://www.ft.com/content/e1afa168-ef79-11e5-9f20-c3a047354386 , “Another remarkable fact from Electronic Dreams: which UK company would you imagine was, by 1951, the world’s first to use a computer for business, and started making computers for other companies? It was J. Lyons and Co, the teashop chain. Its computer business, LEO, kept going until 1963. Lyons’ role as […]
Mason, R.O. (2004) ‘The Legacy of LEO: -Lessons learned from an English Tea and Cakes Company: Pioneering efforts in Information Systems’, Journal of the Association for Information Systems, Vol. 5, No. 5, May, pp. 183 – 21
MICROSERVIOS, (2011) LEO 1-el primer ordenador comercial de la historia, cumple 60 años, a Spanish version of the 60th LEO anniversary including the video of the event at the London Science Museum.
❖ Mills, G., (1937), Clerical Research Paper-presented to OMA Conference and refers to his work forJ. Lyons in its systematic approach to improving efficiency.Mills., G. (1938), follow up to above given to Conference in Canada
Moller, M. and Hoey, J., (2018), QUIS-the aptitude test devised by TRT for applicants for programming or operator jobs with LEO and its client users. The documentation was collected and digitised by Mike Moller and John Hoey. QUIS was widely used by the LEO community and regarded by many as better than the IBM aptitude test for identifying programming talent.
Monk, C., (2019), LEO I Virtual Reality Project.-The project is part of the Heritage Lottery funded LEO project. For more information click on:http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/leodev/photos/
Morgan, A. B. (Tony), LEO Lives: LEO DME,-Another story……, in LEO Matters, Newsletter of LEO Computers Society, editor Vince Bodsworth, Vol.5, Spring 2019, pp. 10 – 12, https://www.leo-computers.org.uk/images/Leo%20Newsletter%20Spring%202019.pdf
Morgan, A. B,, (2019), III/33 – Phoenix Assurance Company-summary of a report by Tony Morgan of his inspection of the relics of LEO III/33 in Edinburgh Museum, in Caminer, H., (Editor), Behr, B., (Production), (2019). LEO Matters, LEO Computers Society, Vol 6, page 16, Autumn. And at CCH Website
Mori, E. (2016-2021), Presentations, list of presentations: Elisabetta’s presentations – to be added to cumulative listing-2017 October 3rd-7th: paper presented at 4th Conference on the History and Philosophy of Computing in Brno, Czech Republic. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8771208 October 11th: presentation about Validity and Correctness in LEO I and II at the Alan Turing Institute. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/history-and-philosophy-of-programming-meeting- tickets-37255156175? October 20th, presentation of paper about LEO at PROGRAMme: roundtable CNAM – Conservatoire national des arts et métiers, […]
Niewlsdomski, S. (2016) British transistor manufacturers in the 1950s-British Vintage Wireless Society Bulletin, Vol. 41, No. 4, pp. 10-22. The paper includes a section on LEO III, and displays a job advert dated 1957 for Computer Engineers from LEO Computers Limited. It may be referenced and read but not copied. See http://www.bvws.org.uk/publications/bulletins.php/volume41number4
Page, C.A. (2010) LEO Computer Reunion 2010,-Anna C Page’s Blog, WorldPress.com weblog. An account of the 2010 reunion by the daughter of a LEO programmer, including photos of LEO artefacts. https://annacpage.wordpress.com/2010/04/18/leo-computer-reunion-2010/
Parry, W.E.J., (2018), John’s (John Parry) Story-Living Legends Hidden Histories Exhibition, Corby, May 3rd 2018. Copy of presentation can be obtained from Frank Land (f.land@lse.ac.uk) and Wej Parry, (wej@theparrys.co.uk).
Pasquali, V.. (2019) The Formation of ICL and the New Range-an interesting account of the merger forming ICL and the discussions involving ex Leo managers, including john Pinkerton, David Caminer and John Aris in defining the New Range to succeed the ICT 1900 range and EELM System 4 range, written by one of the key members of the New Range team. Resurrection, Spring 2019, Number […]
Pearson, I., (ed) (2017) ICL AllStars Magazine, Issue 50, Autumn-The newsletter of ICL Australian veterans includes a number of references to the history of LEO. Pages14 and 15 refer to the collaboration between John Pinkerton and Conway Berners-Lee, ex Ferranti.
Pearson, I., (ed) (2019), ICL AllStars Magazine, Issue 61, Summer,-the Newsletter of ICL Australian veterans, includes a number of references with a LEO theme: Report on Heritage Lottery Fund to LEO Computers Society and CCCH, page 4-5; an article entitled ‘Two Faces of note’ by Neil Lamming providing a sketch of the roles played by David Caminer and John Pinkerton in the LEO story, pages 16-17; […]
Pearson, I., (ed) (2019), ICL AllStars Magazine, Issue 62, Autumn,-the Newlsetter of ICL Australian veterans, includes a number of references and photographs with a LEO theme, including on pages 6 – 9 a report on the visits to Australia of Peter Byford and Hilary Caminer in the very hot summer of 2019, and includes a photo on page 27 of the Shell Data Centre LEO III […]
❖ Pearson, I., (ed) (2019), ICL AllStars Magazine, Issue 63, Winter,-the Newlsetter of ICL Australian veterans, includes a number of references and photographs with a LEO theme: a very full report on the LEO Reunion, 2019, pages 11-12, and a report on Frank Land’s OBE awarded June 2019.
Pelling, N. (2002) The Case For The First Business Computer,-http://www.nickpelling.com/Leo1.html The business cases behind the five proposals made to the board of J. Lyons & Co. by Thompson and Standingford in 1947 – which led to the construction of the first business computer – are analysed, but found to be strategically lacking. Both an alternate reading of the case and some contemporary implications are then […]
Pearcey, T. (1948), Australian Journal of Science,February-Pearcey wrote; In the non-mathematical field there is wide scope for the use of the techniques in such things as filing systems. It is not inconceivable that an automatic encyclopaedic service operated through the national teleprinter or telephone system, will one day exist.” The article by Piercey who may is honoured as father of Australian […]
Pinkerton, J.M.M., (1949), Use of EDSAC on the Wages Problem,-manuscript typescript of a paper prepared by John Pinkerton with the help of Derek Hemy one month after John joined Lyons. The paper attempts to provide an analysis of how long it would take to prepare a payslip under various assumptions about input/facilities. A copy of the transcribed document is held in Dropbox in Word […]
Pinkerton, J.M.M., (1951), A Short Description of the EDSAC Type Calculator Circuits used in LEO-Copy No 1′ of a 63 page report on the LEO computer for J Lyons & Company Ltd. including text and ‘small block schematic diagrams’ for submission to the Patent Office. The report has the handwritten and stamped mark ‘88147 Presented 27 July 1951’ as well as being stamped ‘Patent Office Library, 27 July 1951’. Listed in the report and […]
Pinkerton J.M.M. (1952) Patent Application:-GB000000767192A 29.05.1952 30.01.1957 JOHN MAURICE MCLEAN PINKERTON; LYONS & CO LTD JImprovements in and relating to data transfer apparatus. Complete Specification published January 1957. See https://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/originalDocument?CC=GB&NR=767192A&KC=A&FT=D&ND=4&date=19570130&DB=EPODOC&locale=en_EP
Pinkerton, J.M.M. (1954) Operating and Engineering Experience Gained with LEO, in Automatic Digital Computing,-Proceedings of a Symposium held at National Physical Laboratory, March 1953, pp. 21-30, published by HMSO. Key points from the article include: in building the “calculator” (i.e. LEO) Lyons’ intention was to get it into operation as quickly as possible because they felt that until it had actually been in use over a period of time […]
Pinkerton, J.M.M. (1988) ORAL History – self interview-Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, 54 pages, http://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/handle/11299/107600/oh149jmp.pdf?sequence= 1&isAllowed=y
Pinkerton, J.M.M, (1997), ‘Evolution of Constructional Methods from Radios to Computers’. -This is a 25 page illustrated booklet containing a reprint of a talk by John Pinkerton ‘read at a joint meeting with the Computer Conservation Society at the Science Museum on 8 -9 April, including references to and photos of LEO. Published in Transactions of the Newcomen Society for the study of Engineering and Technology, […]
Porter, Monica, (1979). Mysterious Death of Dennis Skinner, -Coffee Break: 2, 15 Years Ago. Report of death of manager of LEO Moscow Office in 1964. Copy of report held by Frank Land. Donated by Frank Skinner (no relation). See also blog by Ralph Land with more information, held by Frank Land and in Dropbox at https://www.dropbox.com/home/LEO%20Oral%20History%20project/LEO%20Memoirs%2C%20Reminiscences%20and%20Anecdotes?preview=Dennis+Skinner+mysterious+death.docx This link is broken and need to […]
Quest, M. (1962) Living with Computers, -The Journal of the Hotel and Catering Institute, Vol. 9, No. 4. The article recounts the LEO story and includes an interview with Ralph Land about computers and the hotel business.
Richardson, M. (1964), User’s experience of CLEO.-Richardson, M. (1964), User’s experience of CLEO. An analysis carried out by Richardson of the Board of Trade, Central Office, Lime Grove, Eastcote, Ruislip, Middlesex, of the use of CLEO. The analysis refers to an article in Volume 5, Issue 3, November 1962 of the Computer Journal by T.R. Thompson entitled Fundamental Principles for expressing a procedure for […]
Ryder, A., (2019), Lyons: Pride before a fall-Waitrose Weekend, page 7, October 31st issue. From penniless immigrants to industrial titans, the story of the family behind the famous teashops is told by one of their descendants, Thomas Harding, in his new book ‘Legacy’. The article documents the company’s highs and lows in 5 thumb-nail texts with photographs illustration episodes in Lyons history. The 1947 episode […]
Schmidt, E. (2016) From LEO to Deep Mind: Britain’s computing pioneers,-presentation at the London School of Economics on 14th October 2016. The presentation took the form of a conversation between the speaker, the Executive Chair of Alphabet, the Google parent company, and Professor Chrisanthi Avgerou of the LSE and the audience. The presentation can be heard on the LSE podcast at Podcast The event was jointly sponsored […]
, Sercombe, A., (2019), A Life in Computing,-Resurrection, Issue Number 85, Spring 2019, pp. 27-28. Alan notes his appointment in 1960 as senior programmer at Standard Triumph working on their LEO II/8 following a programming career in aero- space industry.
Simmons, J.R.M., (1949), Development of the Electronic Calculating Machine, -Report No. 2, April 9th 1949,reporting on a visit by John Pinkerton and John Simmons to Cambridge University on 17th March 1949 to see a demonstration of EDSAC’s first working, leading directly to the decision for Lyons to commence the LEO project. Modern Records Centre, Warwick University, 3 pages, MSS.363/S4/2/1/61support the EDSAC project.
Simmons, J.R.M., (1950), Circular relating to demonstration of LEO 2nd March 1950, -an invitation to members of the Lyons Board and other senior executives to see LEO performing some elemental operations. Including a briefing on LEO, Modern Records Centre, Simmons archive, 5 pages, Warwick University, https://mrc- catalogue.warwick.ac.uk/records/SIS/4/6/11
Simons, P., (2019), Why Lyon’s Leo was the Met Office’s cup of tea,-article in The Times, December 30th 2019. Met Offices Cup of tea Article and for more information on Met Office initiatives including reference to its pioneering use of LEO see https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/learn-about/how-forecasts-are-made/computer-models/history-of-numerical-weather-prediction
Simpson, I, LEO III (13)-from HigherSystems summarises the computers the author worked on starting with the British Oxygen LEO III – 1962 – 1965. See http://www.highersystems.co.uk/Leo_3.htmlThis Website is closed.
Spicer, D., (2019), Update from USA,-in LEO Matters, Vol. 5, Spring 2019, pp,12 – 13. https://www.leo- computers.org.uk/images/Leo%20Newsletter%20Spring%202019.pdf
Spicer, D, From Cambridge to Café, -a brief account of Lyons and LEO and pictures of the holdings of LEO artefacts at the Computer History Museum, Mountain View, CA – click From Cambridge to Café – CHM Revolution (computerhistory.org)
Spooner, P. (1957) Electronics in the Office, -Business Magazine, November Issue. manufacturers also were offering for business. The Decca twin magnetic tape drive of which a photo appears was available with LEO II
Standingford, O. (1956) Using a Computer Service and Multum in Parvo-Standingford’s summary of papers and discussions at the conference in The Electronic Office, a bound collection of articles assembled by the Office Management Association following their conference in April 1956. Bound volume held by Hilary Caminer.
Studebaker, D. (2000) The First Business Computer: -A Case Study in User-Driven Innovation Review, ACM Computing Reviews, June 1st. http://www.computingreviews.com/review/Review_review.cfm?review_id=123033&li stname=search– link only takes you to the login page as need to be a member of ACM to see.
Sumner, J. (2015), Defiance to Compliance: Vision of the computer in post-war Britain-History and Technology, an International Open Access Journal, Volume 30, 2014, Issue 4, pages 309-333 | Published online: 24 Feb 2015. An interesting analysis of Britain’s changing role from apparent leadership in innovation and scholarship to a diminished role dominated by USA technology. The place of Lyons and LEO is outlined on page 311 amongst other notable technological achievements unmatched […]
Sylvan, A.C. (2007), editor, Mr. Thomas Raymond Thompson: Bio/Description, -IT History Society, a compilation of biographical information and recollections of TRT from a number of sources including Peter Bird, Frank Land and Ralph Land. http://www.ithistory.org/honor-roll/mr-thomas-raymond-thompson and in Dropbox at https://www.dropbox.com/s/zyqe4p2qltrrcbb/T.R.T.%20Bio%20IT%20History% 20Society.docx?dl=0
Thomas, Edd, (2006) Historic Archive of Early English Computing 1955-early 1970s. -A collection of LEO material including schematics and manuals. The collection is offered for sale for £10,000. This consists of 50 schematics and waveforms for the LEO II some of which have been annotated (One of the schematics looks to be from LEO I). Developmental notes, notebooks, waveforms, schematics, draft manuals, photos and publicity all […]
Thompson, T.R. (1962) ‘Fundamental Principles of Expressing a Procedure for a Computer Application’,-The Computer Journal, British Computer Society, Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 164-169, paper presented at Automatic Programming Languages for Business and Science held at Northampton College of Advanced Technology, April 1962. See Caldwell review on Dropbox at https://www.dropbox.com/s/08ap89c8n26oxjs/J%20Caldwell%20Report%20Automatic%20Programming%20Conference%201962.docx?dl=0http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/54559/Fundamental-Principles-of-Expressing-a-Procedure-for-a- Computer-Application/:
Thompson, T.R. and others ‘The LEO Chronicle, Major Events from 1947 to 1962’,-Leo Archive, National Archive for the History of Computing, Manchester, LEO Computers, see https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/367f3633-3a28-3fa9- 837c-039693dcf8ee for listing of items held at John Rylands Library. As part of the library’s special collections, the Archive is located in the main building of John Rylands University Library of Manchester, Burlington Street (building 18 in the campus map). Note the collection is not digitised and can […]
Thomson. A., (2004), Timesharing History: the UK Story, in Leatherdale, D., editor, Resurrection, -Bulletin of Computer Conservation Society, Issue 32, New Year. LeoComputers developed the Leo III as a medium size commercial computer, and included timesharing after several members of John Pinkerton’s development team attended the colloquium on the design for Orion timesharing presented by George Felton at the Cambridge Maths Lab. Timesharing was demonstrated on Leo III […]
Walden, E., (2022), Private Correspondence. -Eric Walden; Director of the Texas Tech Neuroimaging Institute Rawls Endowed Chair of Information Systems and Quantitative Sciences Rawls College of Business, writes ‘when I teach intro to IS, I have a whole thing on LEO, and I know you (ed. Frank Land) worked on it.’ Note: Eric Walden Director of the Texas Tech Neuroimaging Institute Rawls Endowed […]
Wilcock, J., (2019), English Electric and its successors at Kidsgrove,-in Resurrection, the Journal of the Computer Conservation Society, Number 86, pages 25-26 Spring. The article summarises the history of Kidsgrove including the period following the merger of English Electric and LEO Computers, resulting in the production of the System 4 range at Kidsgrove. See http://www.computerconservationsociety.org/resurrection/res86.htm.
Bidmead, C. (2011) David Caminer,-creator of the first business computer, Reg Hardware, Unsung Heroes of Tech, 27th September 2011 https://www.theregister.com/2011/09/27/heroes_of_tech_david_caminer/
Bird, P. (1990/91) LEO, the Pride of Lyons, -British Journal of Administrative Management, XXX1025pp 20,21, included is brief biography of Peter Bird on page 20. Peter Bird Bio at CCH https://docs.google.com/document/d/182uQqCWNLF-0KkgHSJEXYcrqLIVLAlNn/edit?usp=share_link&ouid=106995194925914651236&rtpof=true&sd=true on Google Drive
Blyth, T. (2015) Information Age?-The challenges of displaying information and communication technologies, Science Museum Communications Spring 2015, http://dx.doi.org/10.15180/150303 The Thein October 2014 including the LEO exhibit.
Bodsworth, V., (2019), Editor: LEO Matters, -Newsletter of LEO Computers Society, Vol. 5, Spring, pp 1 – 14. The issue includes articles by Vince Bodsworth, Edd Thomas, Lisa McGerty, Graham Briscoe, Alan Cooper, Tony Morgan, and Dag Spicer, as well as an introduction by Peter Byford. https://www.leo-computers.org.uk/images/Leo%20Newsletter%20Spring%202019.pdf
Bergin, T. J. (2007) Mainframe Computers, -A listing of mainframe computer manufacturers providing a chronology of their main products, including LEO Computers and the successor companies: IT
Bentley, R. (2003). The Teashops that ruled the IT World, -Computer Weekly. Available at: https://www.computerweekly.com/blog/Cliff-Sarans-Enterprise-blog/LEO-Office-automation-is-still-going-strong. Based on review of Georgina Ferry’s book A Computer called LEO. (New Link) (New link to different article. The original link http://www.computerweekly.com/feature/The-tea-shops-that- ruled-the-IT-world no longer exists.)
Behr, B. (ed.) (2015) LEO Computers Society Newsletter, -summer, with contributions from Peter Byford, Ralph Land, Norman Witkin, Neil Lamming, Gloria Guy, Bill Sant and David Holdsworth. http://www.leo-computers.org.uk/images/NewsletterSummer2015.pdf
Behr, B. (ed.) (2014) LEO Computers Society Newsletter, -Autumn, with contributions from Jessica Bradford (Science Museum), Peter Byford, Bernard Behr, David Holdsworth (Computer Conservation Society), Frank Land and Michael Storey. http://www.leo-computers.org.uk/images/2014_Newsletter.pdf
Aeberhard, J., (2011), From Tea Shops to Computer Company:-The Improbable Story of LEO (Lyons Electronic Office), published as background story for 60th anniversary of roll-out of first LEO job. See ComputingHistory.orgGoogle Drive LEO 60th editorial backgrounder
Aeberhard, J (2022) LEO Remembered published 28thSeptember 2022 – Press Release. -IN AT THE START OF BUSINESS COMPUTING Photo caption: Frank Land, now in his nineties, an early LEO programmer, with the new book, “LEO remembered.” He led the LEO company’s early sales and systems consultancy team for 15 years and then took his experience in another direction into academic research and education. 1. The LEO Computers […]
Ainsworth, B. (2013) Leo Computers in Australia-in Museum Victoria Collections http://collections.museumvictoria.com.au/articles/12682 This link is broken but some relevant information is at CCH https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/51031/LEO-Computers-in-Australia/
Anon, (1951), A Royal Visitor: Princess Elizabeth visits Cadby Hall-Lyons Office Journal, Vol. 2, Number 21, March. Report with photo of the visit which includes meeting John Simmons and T.R. Thompson showing LEO I to Royal Party. A copy is held in the London Metropolitan Archive under catalogue number ACC/3527/310
Anon (1952) ‘The Laymans Guide to LEO’, -J. Lyons & Co.Intended for the Lyons’ Management only a small number were printed. The original version was about 75 pages, though later versions were much longer. Copies are held in the John Simmons Archive at Warwick University Modern Records Centre Showcase: Pioneers: Innovators in Science and Technology, and can be downloaded from: http://contentdm.warwick.ac.uk/cdm/ref/collection/leo/id/263 http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/library/mrc/explorefurther/images/pioneers/ files as […]
Anon (1953), Personality Profile T.R. Thompson, -Lyons Office Journal. Vol. 1, July 1951 to June 1953, available as part of the Lyons archive held at the London Metropolitan Museum, catalogue entry: ” ACC/3527/311 Lyons Office Journal. Published for J. Lyons and Co. Ltd. Clerical department.
Jack. W (1967) a report on LEO III/32 at Colvilles Ltd 1965-1974-• Production Tracking and Control • Payroll BackgroundIn 1963, a decision was taken by ColvillesLtd, the Scottish steel manufacturer, to acquire a LEO III computer and the machine was installed in a custom-built facility at their Ravenscraig works in 1965. The first two projects were to be computerisation ofproduction planning and control and the works payroll system. […]
Williams, C. (2015) Of Bunkers, Bytes, and Cakes-An abridged version is printed in March 2014 issue of Cyber Talk Magazine, Issue 4.https://flipflashpages.uniflip.com/2/84078/324868/pub/document.pdf
