LEO editor

BBC Radio 4 – Computing Britain, LEO the Electronic Office.

Comments on the Programme from Peter Byford

I heard the programme in your Computing Britain series about LEO. Whilst I was
delighted that you made a programme about LEO and Lyons, I was disappointed about
a number of aspects about it.
You used our film and other recordings that we provided, I should also state that
we hold the Copyright of the LEO film, made in 1957 as I told you. Despite this there
was no acknowledgement of the Society or mention of its excellent website – see below. I
looked at your website and there was no mention there either. Please correct this when
you can and acknowledge the Society.
You used a number of people in your programme who were not LEO people to
describe Lyons and LEO and possibly because of this you made some mistakes. The only
LEO people the late Ernest Kaye, Mary Coombs and Gloria Guy were taken from
recordings/YouTube that we provided to you. The Society has a number of quite
eloquent speakers who are, of course, knowledgeable about LEO. We could have
checked your facts corrected any errors you have made before it was broadcast. One
significant error was that you stated that LEO was operational in 1956 – no it was in
November 1951 when the first LEO program went operational.
I know Tilly Blythe of course, but who were that other people who were on
the programme? Other than the presenter of course, they were not mentioned

BBC 4 TV: The Joy of Data July 20th, 2016, 9.00pm.

See The Joy of Data
David Crawford in the Radio Times writes: “We live in a data driven world, where
every industry you can think of relies on digital data, and there’s the constant threat of
drowning in information overload. But why are we so enamoured of all this stuff, and
how did we get to this point? Happily the ever enthusiastic Dr Hannah Fry – the Beeb’s
new go to mathematician – is here to throw a lifebelt with this witty explainer. She
argues that data is the bridge essential for scientific discovery, to move from problem to
solution – and invaluable in the modern world.
Along the way you’ll learn how J Lyons purveyor of fine British tea and cakes was at
the forefront of the computer revolution.” The programme includes interviews with
Mary Coombs and Frank Land

Guardian Review at https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/jul/21/the-joy-of-data-review-who-knew-data-could-seem-so-magical-so-sexy
The Program was repeated on 18th September 2018 at 2.00 am

Wall Street Journal, August 14th 2018, correspondence from John Kelly III, of IBM
claiming IBM invented business computing and response from Norman Witkin refuting
the claim and putting forward the LEO precedence. Frank Land has copy of
correspondence. See
https://www.dropbox.com/s/nva7ep5ejpuarde/Wall%20Street%20Journal%20Correspon
dence%20August%202018.docx?dl=0

BBC News East (West) One of the world’s first computers gets VR reboot, The
LEO story retold in the context of the Cambridge Centre for Computer History
partnership expectation to build a virtual reality version of LEO I – news item on local
BBC News 24th October 2018 6.30 pm Reboot

BBC Look East 2018 BBC World ServiceBBC Look East news segment from October
2018 on the LEO story retold in the context of lottery funding received by the Centre for
Computing History and LEO Computers Society partnership project Swiss Rolls, Tea
and the Electronic Office. Includes Pathe footage of Lyons teashops and an interview
with Dr Lisa McGerty. A live studio interview with Jason Fitzpatrick was also broadcast
at the time.
Both the Centre for Computing History and the LEO Computers Society
have a copy of the recorded broadcast, and it can be viewed at CCH but we are restricted
from making this available on display due to copyright restrictions

ITV Grantchester, Episode 3, 25th January, 2019 investigating a break in at a
computer laboratory includes a sequence mentioning EDSAC and the LEO teashop job.
Available for viewing until Spring 2019 at
https://www.itv.com/hub/grantchester/2a2958a0022

BBC 2 TV The Dream Machine a series of episodes on the history of
computers televised on Sunday evenings in November and December 1991. The story of
LEO is briefly recounted in episode 2 with extracts from an ICL film on LEO. Episode 1 includes Maurice Wilkes and EDSAC

Episode 1

Episode 2

Inventing the Future, PB Series on Computer History S May 9th 2012. A 1 hour long programme telling the story of the birth of the electronic computer and its rise from obscurity as a machine for computing tables of trajectories for the American military to the universal machine of today. The program tells the story from an American perspective through interviews with some of the early pioneers and with computer historians. Much of the program is taken up by the story of ENIAC and its founders, the attempt by them to build a universal machine, the UNIVAC, and the rise of IBM to dominance. But the program switches briefly to the UK and the story of Lyons and LEO including an interview with John Pinkerton. It notes that in 1954 Lyons added computers to
their product range. The program is well constructed, informative and provides a good
analysis of, for example the rise of IBM to dominance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GropWVbj9wA X

BBC World Service, Mike Lanchin introduces Witness History including: From
cakes to computers, Wednesday 27th November, 2019 at 8.50. 12.50 and 1.50 local
time. See http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/56531/Witness-History-FromCakes-to-Computers/