LEO editor

Fred Whittaker I was a low person in the scheme of things at Minerva Road 1966-68. I
had a sort of admin role to perform which meant strolling around the various engineering
offices weekly and asking questions about timeliness of process. This was logged and
forwarded to a higher office in Kidsgrove. I guess it helped the chief engineers to plan
the end products. I had other duties to do. One was to receive engineering changes to
the display mainframe together with the parts to be installed…usually minor. My
dilemma was that I was not qualified to do any installation and the engineers had their
work to do. I had to ask any engineer available on the floor to do it for me. It always
worked. A bit off the cuff you might say.
That probably summarizes my work life there…lots of odd duties without a particular job
description.
When the end came and we all lost our jobs I got hurt, injured my spine, and was
hospitalized and off sick for months. The company continued to pay my salary until I
was well and found another job. My hat off to them.
One time I was phoned by MGM films who were enquiring about renting a main frame
for the film Hot Millions, starring Peter Ustinov and Maggie Smith. It was about a main
frame being compromised by some freak occurrence and millions being siphoned away.
Ustinov being the happy operator. The MGM producers came to Minerva Road to look
around and saw the Spectra 70…I think it was…..which was all glossy and new but only
there for testing and showing to potential buyers. I had to tell them that it wasn’t
available for hire and they had to settle for a second generation main frame which looked
dowdy and was full of external cables etc. The post office had bought a few I
believe? (Editor, actually a LEO 326, 3d generation computer) They agreed to rent that
plus an engineer to maintain it and so it went forward. I saw the film later and it wasn’t
very good.
I had a very good time there at Minerva rd, and by meeting so many gifted engineers had
an education nearly every day.
A few of our colleagues were installing a main frame in Ostrava Czechoslovakia when
the Soviet army invaded and took over the country. I believe it was a coal mine or coal
industry that had bought the machine. Our colleagues were eventually brought home
after some delay. No harm done…although I never heard anything more about the main
frame or if it was paid for.
I have no photos of my time there except for some photos of a cricket match between the
ladies and gentlemen. Plus a couple of photos of the Joe Lyons rugby team playing at the
Greenford ground. Nice memories.
After I left Minerva Road I worked at Ultra electronics until they also laid off about 300
people. I then thought I would go to another country and get laid off there. I applied to
Canada and arrived there in July 1970. I have been in Canada ever since. I now live in
Sooke on Vancouver island BC.
My main employment was for the Ontario government in the Ministry of
Community and Social something in Toronto. After eight years they made it clear that I had
no further use to them. I got the message and quit. I had saved up enough money to
buy a franchise in the printing industry and so I travelled to Long Island NY for a two
week intensive course. Back in Toronto I opened up for business hired a pressman and
hit the businesses around for work. This was successful for twenty years until at 61 I sold
the business and the unit I had bought earlier and retired.
I got married in 1990 and lived in suburban Toronto until retirement when we sold up
and drove west to BC in 1999.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/cxntixmcw30spej/Fred%20Whittaker%20memoir.doc?dl=0
More from Fred Whittaker
Here are some images of yesteryear. Bottom right is myself in my office in Minerva rd
pulling the strings on Mon General. The others are three images of Robin Stanley Jones
and Linda on their wedding day on the Thames somewhere. Also pictured is Nigel
something by Robin’s Borzoi. His wife is the central figure standing. Nigel was on the
commissioning of Leo Three in Czechoslovakia when the Russkies invaded.
Nigel and his wife coincidentally met me again in Toronto where he was playing Rugby
by Lake Ontario. They later moved west to Kitchener..I think..and then lost touch.
The others pictured maybe other employees or friends…can’t say. The lettering on the
wall is letraset by me.
I hope you find these interesting and if you want better images I can do that.

Pat Whitaker Joined Cerebos Foods Limited – a LEO III customer – in 1964 – after
graduating with an honours degree in mathematics. Pat had taken the LEO aptitude test
before the job offer and taken the LEO programming course at Hartree House. Pat
worked on the Cerebos sales invoicing suite using Intercode. In 1967 Cerebos replaced
its LEO III with a System 4 computer

Michael Wilson Currently lives in Canada. I joined Leo in 1961 at Minerva Road. I had
just graduated from Teachers College and in those days a teacher was at the bottom of any
salary scale. So I applied for and was hired as an Instructor for the LEO III Field
Engineering Training School. Soon I was Manager of Leo 3 and KDP 10 training. I had
gone to Kidsgrove to learn the KDP 10 and then taught the first class in London. I worked
for Reg Allen and then John Wheeler, who I think are still members of our alumni, as I am
still in touch with Reg who lives in Dawlish. Until recently I still had Marketing Brochures
for Leo 3 and Leo 326 and the Lector and an organisation chart of the School! I took them
two years ago to San Jose when I was to meet Dag Spicer at the Museum of Computing.
Unfortunately, due to some health problem, we did not meet. However, now cannot find
them!!! After over 55 years!!! I will keep searching for them

Reminiscences in 2 parts. Part 1 Life with LEO, part 2 pre and post LEO career
Joined LEO: 1960
Role in LEO: Design Engineer working with John Pinkerton
Abstract: John had a long career as a design engineer in the electronics industry,
starting as electrician in the RAF after leaving School having specialised in Science and
Maths. Followed up with Degree at Durham University. Later took MSc at Birmingham
specialising in solid state physics and digital computing. Employed first by Lucas/CAV
and then MIRA was head hunted to join the Data Recording and Instrument Company as
Chief Engineer, a company associated with ICT. Left after contract dispute in 1960 to
join LEO to work with John Pinkerton. Associated with a number of high level projects
including a Government sponsored project on data transmission for the coming network
age. Also heavily involved with the establishment of standards working with ECMA.Left LEO
in 1969 as he felt the creation of ICL had emasculated the innovative LEO
research team. Joined Farrington – another specialist in data recording, working partly in
the USA. Finished career working in management department of Portsmouth
Polytechnic. John provides a fascinating account of life as an enthusiastic design
engineer as well as his appraisal of the people he worked with at LEO.
Repository: Dropbox Part 1
https://www.dropbox.com/s/pj9tnpi5dt36tqh/John%20Winterbottom%20Memoir.doc?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/search/personalpath=%2F&preview=John+Winterbottom+Memoirs.doc&qsi=73188041692784938776139646353975&query=winterbottom&search_token=maaZCi5EZfs9ghMHde3MaOmE5gIkeIs7mVlUbNhfSkQ%3D
Part 2
https://www.dropbox.com/search/personal?path=%2F&preview=John+Winterbottom+memoirs+2.doc&qsid=73188041692784938776139646353975&query=winterbottom&search_token=maaZCi5EZfs9ghMHde3MaOmE5gIkeIs7mVlUbNhfSkQ%3D
Copyright: LEO Computers Society
Restrictions: None Known

Links Broken

Norman Witkin, Memoir of working with LEO in South Africa
Norman had programmed an ICT HEC computer in South Africa, but seeking wider
experience applied for a programming job with LEO Computers in London. Passing the
aptitude test he joined the LEO team in Hartree House in 1959 aged just 19, working
under John Aris. When LEO reached an agreement with Rand Mines for a LEO III to be
managed by Leo Fantl, he was invited to join the LEO team in Johannesburg as a
programmer working on the Rand Mines applications, both traditional and more ground-breaking.
In 1967 Norman and his family emigrated to US in Cherry Hill, working in a
variety of IT jobs including the establishment of an IT start-up. Of his LEO and Rand
Mines experience he writes “…for its enlightened management, I tip my hat to LEO’s
leadership. The management and operation of LEO Computers in South Africa from
inception in the early 1960s and throughout that decade, was efficient, effective, courteous
— and principled and fair. I am proud to have been part of its history and lucky to have
enjoyed it.” Norman’s full memoir is held in Dropbox at:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/isb623nkoy0ouho/Norman%20Witkin%20Memoirs.doc?dl=0

Greg Wojtan MY DAYS WITH LEO
At the beginning of October 1963, aged 25, I went to the Milk Marketing Board to do an aptitude test
for a job as a LEO computer programmer, thinking that it might be more interesting than selling
brushes for Kleen-E-Ze, which had been my job since leaving Edinburgh University that year without
a degree but with lots of flower power.
There were some 120 of us programmer aspirants who, like me responded to the Times job ad placed
by the Milk Marketing Board, but only 2 of us would be hired that day to programme their LEO III
(Editor: MMB not on list of LEO III owners). I came in 3rd in terms of the aptitude test, so the lady
running the show suggested I nip down to Earl’s Court where there was an Office Efficiency

exhibition and where the LEO computer was being shown. Maybe, with my good results LEO would
hire me, she said.
So I did that and a nice LEO lady at the exhibition fixed me up for an appointment the following
Monday, in Hartree House with the then LEO Programming Manager, at the time; one Bernard
Pierce.
When I sat down with Bernard he didn’t say anything for about 7 minutes until I asked whether one of
us should say something, and asked if it should be me.
He stopped doodling and asked me; ”if you have a cup of tea and a cup of milk of the same volume as
the tea, and you take a spoon of milk and mix it into the tea, then take a spoon of the tea & milk
mixture and mix it into the cup holding only milk, will the tea cup have more milk in it than the milk
cup have tea? Or what? Justify your answer”.
Hang on, I thought – I’ve already done and passed my aptitude test! But there was no messing with
Bernard. So I thought a bit more, gave him the correct answer and was hired to start at LEO the
following Monday.
A couple of weeks later English Electric appeared and ‘fused’ with us, but I stayed on working on
LEO for several years.
So, after learning Intercode and CLEO, I was a sort of accolyte to real programmers for several
months before I was sent out to my first solo job at Shell (Editor: Shell Mex & BP) in Hemel
Hampstead. My task was to use the Shell LEO to find out whether there was any sense in Shell
running their Green Shield stamp schemes. In hindsight, the job wasn’t all that difficult, but I did have
several panic attacks, especially as it was my first project – when the word project in the world of
computers had not yet been invented. Anyway I delivered on time, rushing the results on the final day
on my scooter to Shell Mex & BP’s headquartes in the Strand. The results incidentally were that
Green Shield stamps did boost Shell sales, but only for some 6 or 7 weeks after the scheme was
introduced.
In 1965 I worked at Hartree House again, on stuff that really stretched my brain axons to breaking
point. This was because I was working with a bright wire called Gordon Scarrot from the Ferranti
stable. He taught me Zipf’s law, which I used for years after to detect monopolistic practices, and
masses of other esoteric stuff. E.g how to debug radix problems using machine code directly on the
machine: Sort of open brain surgery on the poor LEO. Gordon was surely one of the geniuses that got
attracted to LEO like a magnet. I did
odd jobs for him – him Mentor, me Apprentice. One worthwhile one I remember was to produce a
ready reckoner to estimate the duration of sort programmes run on different Mag.Tape
configurations. (I think our first 6.5MB LEO discs only appeared a year or two later, essentially
solving the data sorting problem. Meanwhile we used painful and unpredictable tape sorting).
As I was finishing the reckoner I got to know Ralph Land. Ralph it was who thought it would be a
good idea to give me something useful to do. This turned out to be a payroll system for the several
thousand employees of the NHKG, Steelworks in Ostrava, Czechoslovakia (Editor: LEO III/41). At
the same Mike Carrington (died in the UK in 1967) had to volunteer to do a stock control system for
NHKG. We had a year for each job and both managed our assignments OK. (One problem I had that
sticks in my mind to this day, was that the payroll programme had to deal with a lady employee of
NHKG who was paying for an elephant in installments to an Indian Maharajah that she had been
married to, but had run away from).
How I got to that first East European LEO job in December 1965 is written up in Hilary’s
compendium of Leo reminiscenses (Editor: Remembering LEO).
After Czecho, I got moved to Poland to do a monstrous stock control system for all the steelworks in
Silesia, for an oufit called HPMOA on a Leo 360. At the time I and my fledgling new family lived
just down the road from Katowice in Chorzow – the dirtiest town in Europe!. On an average day 80
tons of dust were deposited on Chorzow from the skies and my daughter spent her early childhood in
dark grey nappies.
The office was in Katowice, but I and the 4 Polish computer specialists assigned to me to produce this
system had to fit into a room measuring 15 sq.m